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Abstract/Summary
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The COVID-19 pandemic is evolving rapidly, and its course is altering the landscape for all citizens of the world, including plastic surgeons. Much remains unknown. However, an increasing body of evidence is guiding swift global action against the virus. The novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), responsible for COVID-19, was identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019, notably close to a wet animal market that sells poultry, snakes, and bats.1 The virus shares most of its genetic sequence with coronaviruses found in bats and is thought to arise from that animal, although an infected bat with SARS-CoV-2 has not yet been identified to confirm this theory.2 From Wuhan, the virus crossed over to the human population and spread throughout China and beyond: by March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, which is the worldwide spread of a new disease that crosses continents and affects a large number of people.
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