{"id":13208,"date":"2021-02-15T10:31:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T10:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.britishportraits.org.uk\/?p=13208"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:31:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T10:31:27","slug":"a-portrait-of-coronavirus-by-anna-linch-and-dr-mark-linch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishportraits.org.uk\/blog\/a-portrait-of-coronavirus-by-anna-linch-and-dr-mark-linch\/","title":{"rendered":"A Portrait of Coronavirus by Anna Linch and Dr Mark Linch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coronavirus: a noun familiar to everyone today, but perhaps lesser known before the pandemic, unless you work in the field of science or medicine. COVID-19, or its longer name of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has dramatically changed society and will undoubtedly be taught in history lessons in the future. As we look to the scientists, doctors and policy makers to get us out of this pandemic here we present, through the lens of the National Portrait Gallery collection, historical pioneers and contemporary history-makers in the battle against COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Human coronavirus was first described by virologist David Tyrrell in 1965 at the Common Cold Unit in Wiltshire, England. The virus was then imaged by June Almeida using an electron microscope, revealing a circular structure with distinctive spikes with rounded tips that reminded the scientists of the appearance of the sun\u2019s atmosphere, known as its corona. This is the image that we are now all too familiar with due to its frequent appearance on news briefings. The virus had typically caused cold symptoms such as a sore throat, cough or stuffy nose, but its mild-mannered reputation changed in 2002 with the outbreak of SARS-CoV-1 in Southern China, which was far deadlier. In 2012 an even more virulent form of coronavirus, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV), was detected but fortunately had less than 2,500 cases. COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. To date it has infected more than 93 million people worldwide with a death toll that has surpassed two million.<\/p>\n

In humans, the virus continues to mutate leading to small changes, for example to the shape of the surface molecules. If these changes are beneficial to the survival of the virus, by making it more infective for example, then these new variants are likely to persist. There are currently several new variants that have evolved impacting the UK. It was Charles Darwin who first described the concept of these evolutionary changes in his book On the Origin of Species <\/em>(1859). The rather mournful, imposing figure of Darwin has hung in the Gallery since it was given by the sitter’s son William Erasmus Darwin in 1896, as a constant reminder of the power of knowledge and understanding of our planet and its organisms. Using the principles laid down by Darwin, scientists will be able to study the evolution of COVID-19 to learn more about how the genes of the virus function, to track how the disease is spreading around the world and to work out what the most effective treatments will be.<\/p>\n