[2] It is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus which enters its host cell by binding to the APN receptor.

[3] Along with Human coronavirus OC43 (a member of the Betacoronavirus genus), it is one of the viruses responsible for the common cold.

However, such high morbidity outcomes are almost always seen in cases with co-infection with other respiratory pathogens; there is a single published case report to date of a 229E infection that caused acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in an otherwise healthy patient having no detectable co-infection with another pathogen.

[9][10][11] HCoV-229E is one of the seven human coronaviruses which include HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1, and SARS-CoV-2 and are globally distributed.

The other six are:[18] Chloroquine, a zinc ionophore, inhibits the replication of Human coronavirus 229E in cell culture.