General Overview of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19): A Summary of Evidence

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread throughout China and gained world-wide attention as a result of acute respiratory illness due to a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), traditionally known as COVID-19. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially announced the outbreak of COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern.A third introduction of a highly pathogenic and large-scale coronavirus disease in humans was the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as a result of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012. Medical signs of COVID-19 patients include fever, cough, exhaustion and a limited number of patients with signs of gastrointestinal infection. Elderly and people with underlying diseases are susceptible to infection and prone to adverse results that could be associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome. There are currently few specific antiviral approaches available but many effective antiviral and repurposed drug candidates are under urgent investigation. The aim of this review was to summarize the recent medical advancement of COVID-19's epidemiology, transmission, and clinical characteristics, and discussed current treatment and scientific developments to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak.