An update on COVID-19 pandemic: the epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention and treatment strategies

ABSTRACT

Introduction

To date, the transmission of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is still uncontrollable with the fact that the numbers of confirmed and death cases are still increasing. Up to 1st October 2020, 33,842,281 confirmed cases and 1,010,634 confirmed deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization from 216 different countries, areas and territories. Despite the urgent demand for effective treatment strategies, there is still no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19 and the treatment guidelines for COVID-19 vary between countries.

Area covered

In this article, we summarized the current knowledge on COVID-19 and the pandemic worldwide. Moreover, the epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention and different treatment options will be discussed so that we shall prepare ourselves better to fight with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Expert opinion

The situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is still unpredictable. There is no effective vaccine or specific anti-viral drug to treat serve COVID-19 patients. Combination therapies have shown promising clinical improvement. Repurposing FDA-approved drugs might be one of possible treatment options. Without specific treatment and vaccines for COVID-19, the most effective way to prevent from being infected is to generate an ecosystem with effective protection, precautions and preventive measures.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2
• coronavirus Disease-2019
• severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• novel coronavirus
• COVID-19 management
• COVID-19 treatment

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Liu Shao Haei for providing an updated information on the pathogenesis and prevention of the COVID-19.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Author contributions

Tsang HF and Wong SC wrote the first draft of the paper and were responsible for the continuous revision of it; Chan LW, Cho WC, Yu AC, Yim AK, Li MJ, Chan AK, Ng LP, Wong YK and Pei XM gave invaluable comments and revised the paper; Chan LW, Cho WC, and Wong SC conceived and designed the contents of the paper.

Article highlights

• Genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 showed 80% identical to SARS-CoV and 50% to MERS-CoV.

• Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) 2 has been identified as the receptor molecule for the cellular entry of SARS-CoV-2. ACE2-positive cells are the target cells and are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients initiates inflammatory-induced lung injury with deadly complications. Deaths mainly result from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute respiratory failure, coagulopathy, septic shock, metabolic acidosis, and cardiovascular complications.

• Despite the urgent need of effective treatment strategies, still, there is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19 currently and the treatment guidelines for COVID-19 vary among countries.

• Combination treatment has been encouraged as part of the management of critical COVID-19 patients in this pandemic. Repurposing FDA-approved drugs might be one of the possible treatment options.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.