COVID-19: An Emerging Global Threat

Rekha Bisht; Mangal Jyoti Das; Pankaj Dixit; Dinesh Kumar Mishra

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019 has worsened global health worries. It is now declared by World Health Organization (WHO) as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Till 22 March 2021, there have been 122,524,424 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, with 2,703,620 deaths, and more than 216 countries are suffering from this fatal virus. The transmission of coronavirus occurs via droplets, filthy hands, and surfaces with an incubation period of 2 to14 days. The speed of the transmission of this lethal infection airs a severe danger to public health. To alleviate COVID-19 patients, it is imperative, to begin with, the initial diagnosis, isolation, and supportive management. As a part of the massive worldwide response to limit and contain the pandemic, an important consideration was placed on producing research intelligence to monitor evidence-based responses to confine the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Currently, the novel variants of the COVID-19 have been detected in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil. These variants represented several mutations on spike proteins. A potential escalation in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans due variants development has raised a serious concern. The present review highlights the general characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, pathogenesis, transmission, diagnosis, epidemiology, and treatment of COVID-19 infection. It also focuses on the current information on new variants of coronavirus-19, emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccine, and regulatory requirement for developing and introducingCOVID-19 vaccines in the Indian market.

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