Unveiling the Potential Role of Nanozymes in Combating the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is considered as one of the biggest public health challenges and medical emergencies of the century. A global health emergency demands an urgent development of rapid diagnostic tools and advanced therapeutics for the mitigation of COVID-19. To cope with the current crisis, nanotechnology offers a number of approaches based on abundance and versatile functioning. Despite major developments in early diagnostics and control of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), there is still a need to find effective nanomaterials with low cost, high stability and easy use. Nanozymes are nanomaterials with innate enzyme-like characteristics and exhibit great potential for various biomedical applications such as disease diagnosis and anti-viral agents. Overall the potential and contribution of nanozymes in the fight against SARS-CoV-2 infection i.e., rapid detection, inhibition of the virus at various stages, and effective vaccine development strategies, is not fully explored. This paper discusses the utility and potential of nanozymes from the perspective of COVID-19. Moreover, future research directions and potential applications of nanozymes are highlighted to overcome the challenges related to early diagnosis and therapeutics development for the SARS-CoV-2. We anticipate the current perspective will play an effective role in the existing response to the COVID-19 crisis.