What Is the Coronavirus Disease COVID-19?

Told in a new Who HQ Now format for trending topics, this is the story of how COVID-19, a coronavirus, was first identified and how it spread throughout the world. On March 11, 2020, the National Basketball Association (NBA) canceled a game just moments before it was scheduled to begin. Why? Because a player had contracted COVID-19, a highly contagious coronavirus disease that spreads quickly from one person to another. Within days, other sports organizations cancelled or postponed their games, too. Within weeks, cities all around the world closed restaurants, movie theaters, and other public spaces in an attempt to contain the virus from spreading further. Soon, most citizens of the globe were placed under orders from their governments to stay indoors and limit human contact. This is the story of how the coronavirus changed the world overnight and forever.