A Narrative Literature Review of Global Pandemic Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Epidemiology, Virology, Potential Drug Treatments Available

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are the largest group of viruses belonging to the Nidovirales order, which includes Coronaviridae, Arteriviridae, Mesoniviridae and Roniviridae families. Coronavirus virion are circular with a diameter of nearly 125 nm. Its most conspicuous characteristic of coronaviruses is the club-shaped spiked projections originating from the surface of the virion. Such spikes are a definite characteristic of the virion and give them a solar corona appearance leading the term coronaviruses [1]. Coronaviridae covers a broad range of host & carriers, infecting many mammalian & avian species/subspecies, this may affect the upper respiratory, gastrointestinal, hepatic and central nervous system via a number of diseases [2]. SARS-CoV, group 2b-β coronavirus, was detected as the potential cause of the 2002-2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the Guangdong Province of China. In a cluster of highly pathogenic respiratory tract infections in Saudi Arabia and other Countries in the middle east throughout 2012, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (MERS-CoV), was found to be the potential cause is an example of another novel human CoV [3]. On 31 December 2019, the Wuhan Health Commission in the Republic of China's Hubei Province notified the National Health Commission, China CDC and the WHO of a series of 27 cases of unexplained etiological pneumonia. Leaks have been predominantly tracked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, that trades fish and a myriad of livestock species comprising chickens, bats, marmots and snakes [4]. By January 7th, 2020 Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention officials had isolated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV- 2). On 11 February, WHO officially named the disease as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) [5]. The World Health Organization (WHO) also announced a global emergency on January 31st due to increasing concern about its rapid expansion and the disease became listed as a pandemic by March 11th.