COVID-19: TOWARDS CONFRONTING AN UNPRECEDENTED PANDEMIC

Latest 73rd report of COVID-19 from national authorities to WHO by April 2, 2020, there are 896450 confirmed cases with 45526 deaths globally. 0 to 14 days is the average range of incubation period. Recent study from China Center for disease control (CDC) showed that most of the patients were asymptomatic in its early days of infection that leads to widespread of virus. Nosocomial transmission is another serious problem the world is facing with this public health crisis. Coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory and enteric disease in human and animals. These are round or oval and pleomorphic in shape. Limited information is present till now about COVID-19. It suggests that its infection ranges from previous coronavirus encounters. Here in this review we summarize all information present till date and also a brief comparison to SARS and MERS. This is to identify the gaps in knowledge to share resources to recover from COVID-19. It also includes pharmaceutical drugs that showed a negative impact on SARS-CoV- 2 in in-vitro studies that can be used for its treatment till a suitable vaccine candidate is available. The most important task at this hour is to find a vaccine for the infection. Moreover, the research needs to be conducted for finding measures to face this kind of challenges in future.