Robert Rodriguez/CNET Health officials around the world continue to battle an outbreak of respiratory disease, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December. The causative agent was traced to a novel coronavirus, dubbed SARS-CoV-2, which has now infected more than 70,000 people in China and claimed over 1,700 lives . The spate of illness was first reported to the World Health Organization on New Year’s Eve and in the following weeks was linked to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses, the same family responsible for the diseases SARS and MERS , as well as some cases of the common cold. On Feb. 11, the WHO and other organizations agreed to name the new illness COVID-19 (for " co rona vi rus d isease 20 19 ") A special WHO committee declared a public health emergency on Jan. 30, citing "the potential for the virus to […]