https://www.wired.com/story/chinas-swift-id-of-a-new-virus-is-a-win-for-public-health/

Since mid-December, a mystery illness has gripped the central Chinese city of Wuhan, in the same region where a deadly viral epidemic emerged nearly 20 years ago. So far, one person has died and dozens of others have been hospitalized with unexplained pneumonia-like symptoms, including high fever, lung lesions, and difficulty breathing. While initial reports were limited, government officials announced Thursday that a task force of Chinese researchers has identified the microbe causing the outbreak. The culprit, they say, is a virus never seen before in humans; a newly discovered member of the coronavirus family, other branches of which cause the common cold, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).

Reports from state media last week indicated that the Chinese-led research team already has copies of the virus growing in cell lines. Under pressure from the global public health community to release more details, the consortium published a draft genome of the novel coronavirus over the weekend, encouraging researchers around the world to analyze and share the data. The development is an important one for containment efforts. That information will enable hospitals to more effectively test for new cases, and can provide some guidance for potential treatments. Some scientists in the US have already determined that the as-yet-unnamed new virus appears to be most closely genetically related to its more contagious SARS-causing cousins. But so far, there is no evidence that it can spread as easily between humans.