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?:abstract
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Coronaviruses are large positive-sense RNA viruses with spike-like peplomers on their surface The Coronaviridae family\'s strains infect different animals and are popularly associated with several outbreaks, namely SARS and MERS epidemic COVID-19 is one such recent outbreak caused by SARS-CoV-2 identified first in Wuhan, China COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO on 11th March 2020 Our review provides information covering various facets of the disease starting from its origin, transmission, mutations in the virus to pathophysiological changes in the host upon infection followed by diagnostics and possible therapeutics available to tackle the situation We have highlighted the zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV-2, known to share 96 2% nucleotide similarity with bat coronavirus Notably, several mutations in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, nucleocapsid protein, PLpro, and ORF3a are reported across the globe These mutations could alter the usual receptor binding function, fusion process with the host cell, virus replication, and the virus\'s assembly Therefore, studying these mutations could help understand the virus\'s virulence properties and design suitable therapeutics Moreover, the aggravated immune response to COVID-19 can be fatal Hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases are comorbidities substantially associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection The review article discusses these aspects, stating the importance of various comorbidities in disease outcomes Furthermore, medications\' unavailability compels the clinicians to opt for atypical drugs like remdesivir, chloroquine, etc The current diagnostics of COVID-19 include qRT-PCR, CT scan, serological tests, etc We have described these aspects to expose the information to the scientific community and to accelerate the research
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