Literature review of prospective drugs for COVID-19

Abstract

A new public health disaster arises with the spreading of novel coronavirus in early December 2019, originated in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. The novel coronavirus which is identified as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was accountable for causing pneumonia like disease to patients after that novel coronavirus is identified as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is assumed that bat is the primary source of coronavirus because its homology matches 80% to SARS-CoV which is responsible for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ADRS). Because of this virus World Health Organization (WHO) officially announced a pandemic throughout the world on March 11, 2020. SARS-CoV-2 is highly transmittable from human to human, more than 99,804,787 confirmed cases and 2,139,791 thousand confirmed deaths and 71,797,201 recovered cases globally to date (25/01/2021) according to WHO. SARS-CoV-2 virus firstly affects respiratory system and other organ systems too as time passes. Symptoms starting from fever, dry cough, tiredness and to serious symptoms includes difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain, loss of speech or movement and multiple organ dysfunction which leads to death. As a result, an immediate treatment option in needed for this current situation. Although, several potent antiviral drugs, vaccines are under urgent investigation but no candidate found so far for SARS-CoV-2 virus. In this literature review we summarized all the latest research progress of the causative agent, pathogenesis, epidemiology, immune response, clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, management of diseases, control, prevention strategies of COVID-19.