COVID-19 Infection: Epidemiology, Virology, Clinical Features, Diagnosis and Pharmacological Treatment

Abstract

Coronavirus was first discovered during the year 1930 and since then, various coronaviruses like HKU1, MERS-CoV , NL63 and SARS-CoV-2 have been found to infect humans. The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is spreading at an alarming rate, thereby creating a health emergency around the world. SARS-CoV2 is reported to be originated from a wet animal market of Wuhan, China. Since then, the world is searching for effective ways to manage and treat the COVID-19 infection. The infections have already multiplied with several folds compared to the number of persons infected by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. In order to fill the gap of knowledge about this virus, several pieces of evidence are required to control it so more lives could be saved. The present review is based on the publicly available literature in order to explore the knowledge regarding epidemiology, virology, diagnosis, clinical features, pharmacological and therapeutic ways to treat the novel coronavirus. This can be helpful in offering novel insights and potential therapeutics for fighting this disease.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; clinical trial.; cytokine syndrome; vaccines.