Two years of COVID-19: Challenges, opportunities and the way forward

Abstract

Coronavirus has caused many outbreaks in the past. Two major outbreaks reported are SARS-CoV in China in the year 2003 and MERS-CoV in 2012 in the Middle East. The present outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 originated from a seafood market in Wuhan city of China in December 2019 with most common manifestation of atypical pneumonia. WHO declared it as a pandemic on 11th March 2020. Many newer strains of the virus have been identified so far and multiple diagnostic and therapeutic interventions have been tried to contain the spread. This virus is mutating very fast and causing huge loss of human lives and economy. Keeping in view the limited knowledge of the disease, it becomes necessary to take all protective measures to overcome the current pandemic and to prepare strategies to mitigate the future challenges.