ANKARA

Since its outbreak in China last December, the novel coronavirus claimed 3,383 lives and 97,945 people were infected with the fast-spreading disease.

The virus, now infected mainland China, its provinces and Taiwan along with 84 other countries, has beaten SARS- and MERS-associated coronavirus in terms of its infection speed and death toll.

Here are the markers of the the deadly virus threatening the global public health:

Wuhan, Chinese epicenter of outbreak

On Dec. 31, 2019, China announced a mysterious respiratory tract disease, with the source yet unknown.

This disease caused pneumonia, and was thought to have been caused by