CORONAVIRUS TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN OVERVIEW

Coronaviruses wrapped with the layers of positive-sense RNA viruses specified by the club-like projections from their surface responsible for a variety of diseases in the animal kingdom. After the two historical episodes of coronaviruses i.e., severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2002 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012, this time world strike with its highly pathogenic form which is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a viral cascade event that starts from Wuhan in December 2019 and becomes a public health emergency of global interest as declared by the World Health Organization. Primarily, bats became an identifiable source of SARS-CoV-2 and their transmission to humans has occured through an unknown intermediate source. Present situation depicts that more than 200⁺ countries are suffering from the deadly attack of SARS-CoV-2. This virus is dangerous for every age group because of its asymptomatic carrier state that results in acute respiratory diseases. Escalation of this virus occurs very easily through human-to-human transmission via droplets or direct contact, with an estimated incubation period of 7-14 days. Fever is the ubiquitous symptom of SARS-CoV-2 followed by a dry cough. After completing more than a 1-year journey with SARS-CoV-2, now the countries are able to fight pharmacologically with this virus. Prevention strategies recommended by WHO and AYUSH include isolation of suspected and confirmed cases with personal hygiene and immunity enhancing measures. This review enlightened on the epidemiology, history of coronavirus, pathogenesis, comparative analysis, clinical features, recent possible pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches for COVID-19.