COVID-19: a review

Abstract

The enduring epidemic outbreak which started in Wuhan city of China, in December 2019 caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID- 19) or the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has created a dangerous and deadly Public Health disaster of International apprehension, with cases confirmed in several countries. This novel community health trouble is frightening the universe with clinical, psychological, emotional, collapse of health system and economical slowdown in each and every part of the world infecting nearly 200 countries. A highly virulent and pathogenic COVID-19 viral infection with incubation period ranging from two to fourteen days, transmitted by breathing of infected droplets or contact with infected droplets, belongs to the genus Coronavirus with its high mutation rate in the Coronaviridae. The likely probable primary reservoir could be bats, because genomic analysis discovered that SARSCoV-2 is phylogenetically interrelated to SARS-like bat viruses. The transitional resource of origin and transfer to humans is not known, however, the rapidly developing pandemic has confirmed human to human transfer. Approximately 1,016,128 reported cases, 211,615 recovered cases and 53,069 deaths of COVID-2019 have been reported to date (April 2, 2020). The symptoms vary from asymptomatic, low grade pyrexia, dry cough, sore throat, breathlessness, tiredness, body aches, fatigue, myalgia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, to severe consolidation and pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction leading to death with case fatality rate ranging from 2 to 3%.