Coronavirus Disease 2019 Assosiated Pneumonia in China: Current Status and Future Prospects

Abstract

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) linked with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a serious threat to public health worldwide. Firstly, the SARS-CoV-2 was reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. Initially, the major proportion of virus-infected cases (i.e. about 99%) was reported in China and now it is being reported in other counties as well. Humans begin to be infected within their communities and transmittance of the viral epidemic increased rapidly due to lack of understanding of its transmission routes and precautionary measures. The existence of SARS-CoV-2 in China threatened the population greatly due to the high incidence of fatal respiratory infections. Current investigations speculated that this virus transferred into a human from viral-infected bats. However, the process of interspecies viral transmission is an important scientific question to be addressed. Due to the continuous increase in the patients infected with COVID-19 associated pneumonia, the World Health Organization (WHO) has included this viral epidemic to the priority list of diseases. Therefore, accelerated research developments are required to control the spread of this outbreak, as it is declared as a public health emergency by WHO especially in the absence of efficacious drugs and vaccines. Our review encompasses the recent status of disease severity in China, a particular replication mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 and potential risks and precautionary measures required to avoid contact with this fatal viral infection.