Virus profile
SARS-CoV-2
Also known as: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, COVID-19 virus
draftLast reviewed 14 May 2026
Overview
- ICTV name
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus
- Virus discovery
- 2019
- Baltimore class
- Group IV · (+)ssRNA
- Genome
- Linear, non-segmented, positive-sense single-stranded RNA ~30 kb
- Virion structure
- Enveloped, ~80–120 nm, with prominent spike (S) glycoprotein projections and a helical nucleocapsid.
- Key proteins / segments
- Spike (S) Envelope (E) Membrane (M) Nucleocapsid (N) ORF1ab non-structural proteins
- Pathogenesis
- Placeholder: ACE2-mediated entry with respiratory and systemic effects.
- Epidemiology
- Placeholder: pandemic emergence and the ongoing endemic picture.
- Natural history
- Placeholder: incubation, acute illness, and post-acute sequelae.
- Clinical presentations & complications
- Placeholder: the spectrum from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia.
- Diagnosis
- Placeholder: nucleic acid amplification and antigen testing.
- Management
- Placeholder: supportive care and antivirals — broad principles only; see the linked topic and current guidelines.
- Prevention
- Placeholder: vaccination and infection prevention measures.
Phase 1 placeholder. Identity and narrative fields are a first pass and need clinical review before publication. SARS-CoV-2 is a virus within the ICTV species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus. Each summary is deliberately brief — the depth lives in the linked topic.