Title:Insights into Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19):
Current Understanding, Research, and Therapeutic Updates
Volume: 16
Issue: 1
Author(s): Dudala Sai Sushma, Varun Jaiswal, Arvind Kumar, Syed Asha and Tarun Pal*
Affiliation:
- Department of Biotechnology, Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology, and Research
(Deemed to be University), Vadlamudi, Guntur-522213, Andhra Pradesh, India
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben Gurion 84990, Israel
Keywords:
COVID-19, SARS- CoV-2, non structural proteins, epidemiology, pandemic, variant, pharmacovigilance.
Abstract:
Background: Humans can be infected with various coronaviruses that can cause serious
illness and death. One such pandemic strain of coronavirus was recently identified in December
2019, and it led to a devastating outbreak in Wuhan city of China. It is caused by severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2). It is highly contagious and
causes symptoms such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath.
Objective: The objective of this review is to highlight the current understanding, research, and
therapeutic updates of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Methods: A thorough literature search was conducted for research papers and patents in the
context of COVID-19. All the related articles were extracted from various public repositories
such as Google Scholar, Pubmed, ScienceDirect (Elsevier), Springer, Web of Science, etc.
Results: The present analysis revealed that the key areas of the inventions were vaccines and
diagnostic kits apart from developing the treatment of CoV. It was also observed that no specific
vaccine treatments were available for the treatment of 2019-nCov; therefore, developing
novel chemical or biological drugs and kits for early diagnosis, prevention, and disease management
is the primary governing topic among the patented inventions. The present study also
indicates potential research opportunities for the future, particularly to combat 2019-nCoV.
The current focus of the researches has turned towards developing four potential treatments,
including the development of candidate vaccines, development of novel potential drugs, repurposing
of existing drugs, and development of convalescent plasma therapy. The PCR based diagnosis
is the gold standard for the COVID-19 testing, but it requires resource time, expertise,
and high associated cost; hence researchers are also developing different diagnostic methods
for the COVID-19. Although vaccines are being developed by various companies and have
passed the pre-clinical stages but there still exists no guarantee for these to come into effect.
The current treatments that are being used for COVID-19 patients are not well established and
have shown limited success.
Conclusion: The pandemic has challenged the medical, economic, and public health infrastructure
across the globe. There is an urgent need to explore all available and possible methods/
approaches to study this disease for drug and vaccine development at the earliest.
