Abstract

CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19): AN OVERVIEW

*Manoj Kumar, Uday Prakash, Pawan Gangwar, Sanni Gangwar, Parul Bisht, Rizwana Bee, Richa Gangwar, Ramveer Maurya, Pratuish Saxena and Dr. Atul Gangwar

Abstract

In early December 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), occurred in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This began as an outbreak in December2019, and till February 28, 2020, there have been 83,704 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) globally, with 2,859 deaths, resulting in an overall case fatality rate of 3.41 per cent (95% confidence interval 3.29-3.54%). By this time (February 28, 2020) 58 countries or territories and one international conveyance (Diamond Princess Cruise Ship) were affected. As a part of the global response to manage and contain the pandemic, major emphasis was placed on generating research intelligence to guide evidence-based responses to contain the virus, which was named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), owing to its genetic similarities with the SARS virus. In this review, the causative agent, pathogenesis and immune responses, diagnosis, control and preventions strategies are all reviewed.

Keywords: COVID-19 - epidemic - Sars-cov-2, MERS-CoV, PCR.