Covid-19: a comprehensive review of a formidable foe and the road ahead

The Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) caused by the novel beta coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) started in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Within a short span, COVID-19 was declared a global public health emergency affecting 214 countries with 5,939,234 confirmed cases and 3,67,255 deaths as of 30 May 2020. With limited knowledge about SARS-CoV-2, no approved treatment or vaccine is available till date.

We performed a review of literature on PubMed on the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 illness including trials of preventive and therapeutic measures. This review presents the basic biology of coronaviruses, epidemiology of COVID-19, clinical presentations, investigational therapies and vaccines, infection prevention and control measures and the lessons from the present pandemic.

The scale of the outbreak has brought the governments, health-care professionals, and scientists around the world under tremendous pressure to devise control strategies and develop novel prevention measures. While availability of vaccine for COVID-19 may take time, the disease may be contained through hand hygiene, physical distancing, travel restriction, and aggressive steps such as 'lockdown.' Clinical trials at different phases are ongoing across different countries to expedite the development of effective drugs and vaccine to overcome the pandemic.