In light of the health care emergency brought on by the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 “new coronavirus”, the Editorial Committee of Anales de Pediatría asked the Working Group on the Outbreak of Infection by Coronavirus of the Asociación Española de Pediatría (Spanish Association of Paediatrics) to elaborate a special article that is published in this issue of the journal.1 We also decided to prioritise any manuscripts submitted to the journal describing the early clinical experiences with children infected by the virus in Spain. Thus, this issue includes 2 scientific letters on the subject, one describing the epidemiology of the first paediatric cases and updating some information on the infection,2 and another describing a case of infection in a newborn.3

We are aware that some aspects of these articles may be outdated due to the rapid evolution of this disease. On the other hand, the accelerated pace at which the 2 scientific letters went through the review process could have resulted in some errors of language, without affecting their scientific rigour. We apologise if any of these possibilities materialises, but we believe that the value of any contribution on the subject that Anales de Pediatría may offer its readers will outweigh such small mistakes.

The first published articles4,5 on paediatric cases in China corroborated the initial impression that the disease is not as severe in children compared to adults. The few cases in Spanish patients described in this issue confirm this trend.

We will continue to strive to convey any information on the pandemic that authors submit to our journal as expediently as possible.