Coronavirus (COVID-19) Symptoms, Treatment, and Recent Medical Challenges to the World: A Review

Abstract

Coronavirus infections have emerged as epidemic and pandemic threats throughout the world. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across 203 countries and territories in all 5 major continents. World Health Organization (WHO) declared this as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020. Subsequently, on February 11, 2020, a new name was given to this disease i.e. COVID-19 by an expert group from WHO. As of 3:37 pm CEST, 14 August 2020, there have been 20,730,456 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 751,154 deaths, reported to WHO. It possibly originated from a small animal market in Wuhan, China. A cluster of patients was admitted with unusual pneumonia not responding to treatment in various hospitals. Epidemiological, genomic analysis and correlation with other coronaviruses led to the isolation of new coronavirus, closely resembling the bat coronaviruses, from such patients in Wuhan. They were identified as the SARS-CoV-2. This virus infection presents an influenza-like illness in the affected people. Fever, cough, respiratory distress with fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting are common symptoms seen in adults. The transmissibility of SARS-CoV-1 was less as compared to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and it was well controlled with good public health efforts. The present COVID-19 epidemic is still in the acceleration phase of 3 and 4 in various countries. Without any effective antiviral agents available at present, the need of the hour is early case detection, isolation of cases, use of good preventive care measures by the household contacts and in the hospital setup. Here, we have placed the symptoms and treatment schemes for the COVID-19 from the practice of different research organizations of the World including WHO.