COVID – 19 Pandemic

 Coronaviruses are known to infect both animals and humans. A strain of Coronaviruses known as SAR-CoV also belongs to the Coronaviruses family and is known to have caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes (SARS) in 2002-03. This infection has also affected humans at a faster pace. Coronaviruses are found in various animal species like cattle and camels. Recently, Coronavirus disease, abbreviated as Covid-19, emerged as a highly transmittable and pathogenic infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is believed to have been originated in Wuhan, China, around November 2019. Currently, almost all the countries of the world have been affected by this infection, and millions of people across the globe have died with the virus so far, and the overall toll is likely to go much higher. In March 2020, this infection was labelled as a pandemic by World Health Organization. Genome analysis was conducted, which revealed similarities of Covid-19 viruses with that of SARS. This led to a hypothesis that, like SARS, Bats can also be the possible primary reservoir for Covid-19 as well. There are many theories going around regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2; one study pointed out that Covid-19 originated from Bats while the other indicated its origin from pangolin. Both the studies failed miserably to establish the spread of Covid-19 to humans as both the animals have no frequent contact with the humans. There are a lot of pieces of evidence suggesting SARS-CoV-2 as a possible zoonotic source for COVID-19. Some theories also pointed out the laboratory origin of COVID-19, but no evidence has been provided to this claim. Contrary to this claim, its genomic sequences do not contain a mix of known elements. Studies are being conducted to know the intermediate source of origin of COVID-19 and its possible transfer to humans. A lot of vaccines have been approved against it that are supposed to prevent its spread during clinical trials conducted across the globe. These are broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that could help recover the infected patients. 

Keywords: Coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2.