SARS - CoV-2, Pandemic COVID 19: A Brief Review

Author(s):

Mir Nadeem, Tabinda Ayub Shah, Mir Waseem, Javed Iqbal Wani, Zia-ul-Sabah and Sheikh Javeed

As a novel coronavirus now known as SARS-COV-2 first reported in Wuhan china in late December 2019, the severe corona respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) is responsible for an acute human respiratory syndrome and is linked to Wuhan wholesale sea food market. The virus spread rapidly involving who country and with span of three months WHO had to declare it as pandemic. Although its origins are not entirely understood, these genomic analyses suggest that SARS-CoV-2 probably evolved from a strain found in bats. SARS-COV-2 is zoonotic but human-to-human transmission is also possible. Surveillance and phylogenetic researches indicate SARS-CoV-2 to be closely associated with bats’ corona viruses, suggesting bats as reservoirs, although unconfirmed. With no vaccine currently available for SARS-COV-2 nor approved prophylactics, its global spread to over 150 countries with high virulence highlights its role as ongoing public health threat. An articulated action plan ought to be taken, preferably from a One Health perspective, for appropriately advanced counter measures against COVID 19.