The New Coronavirus COVID-19 Infection.

In December 2019, the first cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology were found in Wuhan (China). Later, the pneumonia was associated with a new coronavirus; in February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave the name COVID-19 to the new disease, while the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) gave the name SARS-CoV-2 to the virus causing it. By March 11, 2020, when the virus had spread to 114 countries, the number of diagnosed patients had reached 118 thousand and the number of deaths was 4000, the WHO declared the outbreak of the disease a pandemic.

Inheritance of litter size at birth in the Brazilian grass mouse (Akodon cursor, Sigmodontinae, Rodentia).

By means of complex segregation analysis we studied the inheritance of litter size in two large pedigrees of captive-bred colonies of the Brazilian grass mouse Akodon cursor. Genetic analysis has revealed a highly significant influence of genetic factors on the variation of litter size (heritability, h2, was estimated as 0.44).