One size does not fit all – Patterns of vulnerability and resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic and why heterogeneity of disease matters

Abstract

A new decade has started with the emergence of a novel zoonotic coronavirus, now termed COVID-19, and also known as 2019-nCoV or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS)-CoV-2 (Zhu et al., 2020). Originating in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, with a cluster of patients presenting with pneumonia, COVID-19 has quickly spread not only throughout China, but also throughout the world. As of March 11, 2020, with nearly 125,000 cases and more than 4000 fatalities in 118 countries and territories, COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO)