[Comment] The COVID‑19 pandemic as a scientific and social challenge in the 21st century

Abstract

The coronavirus disease‑2019 (COVID‑19) pandemic, caused by the new coronavirus SARS‑CoV‑2, has spread around the globe with unprecedented consequences for the health of millions of people. While the pandemic is still in progress, with new incidents being reported every day, the resilience of the global society is constantly being challenged. Under these circumstances, the future seems uncertain. SARS‑CoV‑2 coronavirus has spread panic among civilians and insecurity at all socio‑political and economic levels, dramatically disrupting everyday life, global economy, international travel and trade. The disease has also been linked to the onset of depression in many individuals due to the extreme restriction measures that have been taken for the prevention of the rapid spreading of COVID‑19. First, the socio‑economic, political and psychological implications of the COVID‑19 pandemic were explored. Substantial evidence is provided for the consequences of the pandemic on all aspects of everyday life, while at the same time we unravel the role and the pursuits of national regimes during this unforeseen situation. The second goal of this review is related to the scientific aspect of the pandemic. Hence, we explain why SARS‑CoV‑2 is not a so‑called 'invisible enemy', and also attempt to give insight regarding the origin of the virus, in an effort to reject the conspiracy theories that have arisen during the pandemic. Finally, rational strategies were investigated for successful vaccine development. We are optimistic that this review will complement the knowledge of specialized scientists and inform non‑specialized readers on basic scientific questions, and also on the social and economic implications of the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Figure 1.

Graphic presentation of the total number of publications per month regarding SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Presentation is of the monthly number of publications that were recorded in PubMed, from the 1st of December 2019, i.e., the first recorded case, until the 16th of June 2020.

Figure 2.

Deaths involving COVID-19 in Scotland. Registered between weeks 1 and 19 (beginning of year to 10th of May 2020), by the Health Board of residence, Scotland (28).

Figure 3.

Partial homology between SARS-CoV-2 virus and HIV. On the top line are the letters of the coronavirus genome (from the letters 14,366 to 14,403) and below are the homologous part of the virus causing AIDS. The vertical lines show the identical letters between the two genomes.