Title:Current Overviews on COVID-19 Management Strategies
Volume: 23
Issue: 3
Author(s): Pankaj Kumar Rai, Zeba Mueed, Abhiroop Chowdhury, Ravi Deval, Dinesh Kumar, Mohammad A. Kamal, Yogeshwar Singh Negi, Shubhra Pareek, Hemlata Sharma and Nitesh Kumar Poddar*
Affiliation:
- Department of Biosciences, Manipal University Jaipur, DehmiKalan, Jaipur-Ajmer Expressway, Jaipur,
303007, Rajasthan, India
Keywords:
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, epidemiology, diagnosis, drug targets, therapeutic.
Abstract: The coronavirus pandemic hit the world lately and caused acute respiratory syndrome in humans.
The causative agent of the disease was soon identified by scientists as SARS-CoV-2 and later
called a novel coronavirus by the general public. Due to the severity and rapid spread of the disease,
WHO classifies the COVID-19 pandemic as the 6th public health emergency even after taking efforts
like worldwide quarantine and restrictions. Since only symptomatic treatment is available, the best way
to control the spread of the virus is by taking preventive measures. Various types of antigen/antibody
detection kits and diagnostic methods are available for the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients. In recent
years, various phytochemicals and repurposing drugs showing a broad range of anti-viral activities with
different modes of actions have been identified. Repurposing drugs such as arbidol, hydroxychloroquine,
chloroquine, lopinavir, favipiravir, remdesivir, hexamethylene amiloride, dexamethasone, tocilizumab,
interferon-β, and neutralizing antibodies exhibit in vitro anti-coronaviral properties by inhibiting multiple
processes in the virus life cycle. Various research groups are involved in drug trials and vaccine development.
Plant-based antiviral compounds such as baicalin, calanolides, curcumin, oxymatrine,
matrine, and resveratrol exhibit different modes of action against a wide range of positive/negative
sense-RNA/DNA virus, and future researches need to be conducted to ascertain their role and use in
managing SARS-CoV-2. Thus this article is an attempt to review the current understanding of COVID-
19 acute respiratory disease and summarize its clinical features with their prospective control and various
aspects of the therapeutic approach.