A term interchangeably used to refer to COVID-19.

The word novel means “new”, and a newly identified coronavirus strain is often called a novel coronavirus.

A coronavirus strain that has not been previously identified, according to the CDC. COVID-19, for example, is novel because it is a new respiratory virus that was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

Scientists use the word "novel" to distinguish the new form of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) currently making people sick from previous types of coronaviruses (such as SARS and MERS). Because it is a novel virus that no one has previously been exposed to, that means no one has had a chance to build immunity (with the possible exception of people who have recently recovered from COVID-19).