Six months and more than ten million confirmed cases later, the COVID-19 pandemic has become the worst public-health crisis in a century. More than 500,000 people have died worldwide.

It has also catalysed a research revolution, as scientists, doctors and other scholars have worked at breakneck speed to understand COVID-19 and the virus that causes it: SARS-CoV-2.

They have learnt how the virus enters and hijacks cells, how some people fight it off and how it eventually kills others.

They have identified drugs that benefit the sickest patients, and many more potential treatments are in the works.

They have developed nearly 200 potential vaccines — the first of which could be proved effective by the end of the year.

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