Introduction
Coronavirus is an RNA virus consisting of positive-sense single-stranded RNA of approximately 27–32 kb. Coronavirus belong to the family Coronaviridae, which comprises of alpha, beta, delta, and gamma coronaviruses [1,2]. As the name indicates, the spherical external spike protein displays a characteristic crown shape when observed under an electron microscope [3,4]. The virus is known to infect a wide range of hosts including humans, other mammals, and birds. Infected hosts exhibit different clinical courses, ranging from asymptomatic to severe symptoms in their respiratory, digestive, and genital organs [1,2]. There are 6 known coronaviruses that typically cause infection in humans. Among these, coronavirus 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1 generally cause mild cold-like symptoms, whereas severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003, and Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012, caused severe respiratory diseases such as pneumonia and death [5,6].
Following the first outbreaks of unexplained pneumonia in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, a new coronavirus was identified as the causative agent in January 2020 [7]. As of February 11th, 2020, a total of 45,000 cases of pneumonia, have been reported from 26 countries, including China. Approximately 96.8% of all cases have been reported in China, and patients in the Hubei province account for 75% of all cases [8–10]. In Korea, the first case was reported on January 20, 2020, when SARS-CoV-2 was detected in a traveler entering Korea from Wuhan, China [11].
This study reports the full genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from putative the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in Korea, by cell culture. The isolated SARS-CoV-2 was named BetaCoV/Korea/KCDC03/2020.