A Review on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic Threat for Global Health in 2020

Abstract

The viral diseases are a malign condition in the world from 2001 to 2020. The human novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was an initial identification in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The major objective is to critically review the present situation of coronavirus in the world. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2001, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012 and the COVID-19 in 2019 had serious effects in human life in China, Saudi Arabia, and China, respectively. The COVID-19 is a highly mutated virus for the human population in 2020. This review study reveals the host of the virus, history, characteristics, preventive measure, treatment, effects and the epidemic situation in the world.

Full text

American Journal of Microbiological Research, 2020, Vol. 8, No. 2, 57-62
Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajmr/8/2/3
Published by Science and Education Publishing
DOI:10.12691/ajmr-8-2-3
A Review on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic
Threat for Global Health in 2020
Ahasan Ullah Khan1, Arnika Afrin Proma2, Margia Akter3, Md. Matiur Rahaman4, Shobhan Das5,*
1Faculty of Agriculture, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
2Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
3Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
4Department of Analysis and Design of Social Protection System, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany
5Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh
*Corresponding author: shobhan98@yahoo.com
Received April 15, 2020; Revised May 03, 2020; Accepted May 11, 2020
Abstract The viral diseases are a malign condition in the world from 2001 to 2020. The human novel coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) was an initial identification in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The major objective is to
critically review the present situation of coronavirus in the world. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus
(SARS-CoV) in 2001, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012 and the COVID-19 in
2019 had serious effects in human life in China, Saudi Arabia, and China, respectively. The COVID-19 is a highly
mutated virus for the human population in 2020. This review study reveals the host of the virus, history,
characteristics, preventive measure, treatment, effects and the epidemic situation in the world.
Keywords: COVID-19, history, epidemic, control, treatment
Cite This Article: Ahasan Ullah Khan, Arnika Afrin Proma, Margia Akter, Md. Matiur Rahaman, and
Shobhan Das, “A Review on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic Threat for Global Health in 2020.”
American Journal of Microbiological Research, vol. 8, no. 2 (2020): 57-62. doi: 10.12691/ajmr-8-2-3.
1. Introduction
Viral diseases are very common in any condition. In a
cold situation, microorganisms spread many diseases.
Coronaviruses are one of them. It is belonging to
subgenus Sarbecovirus of the genus Betacoronavirus of
the family coronaviridae and the order Nidovirales [1,2].
The virus is a gram-positive RNA genome ranging
from 26 to 32 kb in length, crown-shape peplomers with
80-160 nM in size [1] and next-generation sequencing
and phylogenetic examination of the genome exposed
2019-nCoV. This virus was very much identical (88%) to
two bat-derived SARS-like coronaviruses and more
distant from SARS-CoV (79%) and MERS-CoV (50%)
[3,4] suggested that the 2019-nCoV might be able to bind
to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors in
humans similar to SARS CoV. This virus is very closed
that originated from the Rhinolophus bat which is > 96%
homologous with the current SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is
only 79% homologous with the original SARS CoV [5].
Coronaviruses are globally distributed and are found in
humans, other mammals and birds. Last December 2019
cluster phenomena cases appeared in Wuhan, Hubei
Province, China from China health authority [2]. Its shape
was like a crown and crown mean corona which is a
public health problem, has emerged in the Huanan
Seafood Market, where livestock animals are also traded,
in Wuhan State of Hubei Province in China and have been
the focus of global attention due to a pneumonia epidemic
of unknown cause [6]. It is consisting of genetic material
surrounded by enveloping protein spike. This virus
damages the respiratory system. The symptoms are fever,
dry cough, pneumonia, fatigue, nasal congestion, sore
throat, diarrhea and shortness of breathing and throat sore.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (2003)
was looked at in China and Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome (MERS) (2012) in Saudi Arabia while
Cov-2019 now appeared in China. Up to one-third of
mild upper respiratory tract infections in adults are
produced by human coronaviruses. The zoonotic SARS,
beta-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) caused the SARS epidemic
in 2003 when over 900 people died [7]. This virus is also
spreading man to man and country to country. The
Coronavirus effect is very severing which has globally
affected 210 countries of the world and the total case
number is about 2052148 while the died about 131356 and
the death number is increasing day by day in developed
countries (Table 4). Human coronaviruses are spread
through direct contact with oozes and via aerosol droplets.
Infected patients defecate viruses in faces and urine and
under certain conditions, airborne transmission can occur
from aerosolized respiratory secretions and fecal material
[7]. On December 31, 2019, officially announced that the
viral caused epidemic pneumonia in several attacks in
humans [8,9]. The objective of this review article is to
have an introductory estimation about the disease, the
ways of prevention and treatment in this early stage of this
outbreak.

American Journal of Microbiological Research 58
2. Review Period
The review conducted when the SARS-CoV outbreak
had been pandemic in the world in 2020. To be more
specific this review study was carried out from 1st January
to 15th April 2020.
3. Novel Coronavirus
The novel coronavirus is called SARS-CoV-2 which is
a new strain that has not been identified in humans
previously. The diseases caused by SARS-CoV-2 is known
as COVID-19. Coronavirus belongs to a large family of
viruses that circulate among animals and humans (Table 1).
In humans, the virus can cause breathing diseases and
pneumonia. The novel coronavirus first induced
pneumonia (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China was identified
in December 2019 and it has spread globally [10].
Table 1. List of discovered Novel Coronaviruses from 2001 to 2020
Initial Name Official Name Origin of discovery
2002-nCoV SARS-CoV Foshan, China
2005-nCoV HCoV-HKU1 Hong Kong, China
2012-nCoV MERS-CoV Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2019-nCoV SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, China
4. Host and Reservoir of Coronavirus
CoVs are naturally hiding in reservoir hosts like
mammals, birds, camels, cattle, cats, bats, and other
animals. Alpha and betacoronaviruses circulate in
mammals, including bats. Gammacoronaviruses typically
infect avian species and a few mammalian species,
whereas deltacoronaviruses infect birds and mammals [11].
Animal CoVs are known to cause important diseases in
animals and could be responsible for economic losses in
domestic animals or birds [12,13]. This CoVs comprises
avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), transmissible
gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), porcine epidemic diarrhea
virus (PEDV), and more recently, swine acute diarrhea
syndrome‐CoV (SADS‐CoV). Although rare, animal
CoVs can infect humans and could further feast through
human‐to‐human transmission [14,15] (Table 2).
Table 2. Host and Reservoir of Coronaviruses
Virus Reservoir Final Host
SARS-CoV Cattle, Birds, Bats, Rodents Human
HCoV-HKU1 Mice Human
MERS-CoV Bats, Civets, Camels Human
SARS-CoV-2 Wild animal, Bats Human
5. History of the Novel Corona Virus
Disease
Novel coronavirus was not a new disease of human but
it has been reported science 2002. That time, the virus
name was SARS-CoV. SARS coronavirus was identified
in 2003. SARS-CoV seems to be an animal zoonotic virus
first infected humans in the Guangdong province of China
in 2002. Symptoms are influenza-like and include fever,
myalgia, headache, malaise, diarrhoea, and shivering. The
most frequently reported syndrome of SARS-CoV was
fever. Sometimes coughing with shallow breathing. On
the other hand, HCoV-HKU1 was first identified in
January 2005, from a hospitalized old man with the severe
respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong, China. Whereas
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-
CoV) [16]. The majority of patients were affected with
fever, fever with cough, and shortness of breath, (98%,
83%, 72) %, respectively. Radiographic manifestations
range from unilateral infiltrate, to increased Broncho
vascular markings, and diffuse reticulonodular pattern (43,
17 and 4) %, respectively [17]. This MERS-Cov virus was
initially identified in September 2012 from samples
obtained from a Saudi Arabian patient who developed a
severe acute respiratory infection and later had acute renal
failure and he died [18]. The virus was subsequently
reported as a cause of pneumonia in additional cases from
Saudi Arabia, [18,22] Qatar, [23] Jordan, [24,25] United
Kingdom, [26,27] Germany, [28]iFrance, [29] Tunisia,
[30] United Arab Emirates, [31] and Italy, [4,30,32]
observed that the novel coronaviruses, like influenza
viruses, affected in various animal species in nature ways.
The virus was alpha and beta can be affected in mammals
and gamma and delta tend to infect birds, but some of
them can also be transmitted to mammals [33] observed
that COVID 19 is an ongoing public health emergency of
international significance. The COVID 19 was mainly
affected in poor prognostic factors include infiltration on
chest imaging, lymphopenia, bacterial coinfection, smoking
history, Chronic medical conditions like Hypertension and
age >60 years. The late February 2020, in China, ten of
thousands of cases and several thousand deaths have
been stated and thousands of cases found in other
countries [34].
6. Classification of Human Coronavirus
The coronavirus has four genera, Alpha, Beta, Gamma,
and Delta under the subfamily Coronavirinae of the
family Coronaviridae. All the coronaviruses are
enveloped shaped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA
viruses that include both human and zoonotic species.
Alphacoronaviruses are simply called Alpha-CoV. Under
the subfamily, viruses have spherical virions with club-
shaped surface projections and a core-shell. The word
corona derived from Latin word which means a crown,
which describes the appearance of the projections seen
under electron microscopy that resemble a solar corona.
On the other hand, Betacoronaviruses are simply called β-
CoVs or Beta-CoVs which is under the subfamily
Orthocoronavirinae in the family Coronaviridae and the
order is Nidovirales. Whereas, Gammacoronavirus is
known as Gamma-CoV which is under the subfamily of
Orthocoronavirinae of the family Coronaviridae. The last
one Deltacoronaviruses are simply known as Delta-CoV.
Under the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae of the family
Coronaviridae. All of the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta
virus have zoonotic importance (Table 3).

59 American Journal of Microbiological Research
Table 3. Important human coronaviruses
Genera Strain Discovery Reservoir
Alpha-coronavirus HCoV-229E 1966 Bats
HCoV-NL63 2004 Palm Civets, Bats
Beta-coronavirus
HCoV-OC43 1967 Cattle
HCoV-HKU1 2005 Mice
SARS-CoV 2003 Palm Civets, Bats
MERS-CoV 2012 Bats, Camels
SARS-CoV-2 2019 Wild animal, Bats
Gamma-coronavirus BW-CoV SW1 2008 Beluga whale
Delta-coronavirus BuCoV HKU11 2008 Chinise bulbul
7. Syndromes of COVID-19
COVID-19 characteristically causes flu-like symptoms
with a fever and cough. The main symptoms of
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are fever, tiredness, and
dry cough. Some patients mainly the aged and others with
other chronic symptoms can develop into pneumonia, with
chest tightness, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
Remarkably, the COVID-19 infection rarely seems to
cause aches, runny nose, sore throat. Some people have
experienced the loss of smell or taste. On the other hand,
some people may have no symptoms at all. Aged people
or who have existing chronic medical conditions, like
heart disease, lung disease or diabetes may be at higher
risk of serious infection.
8. Statistics of SARS-Cov-19
COVID-19 patients update on April 15, 2020 of some
developed countries have been shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Patients update of twenty counties.
Country Total
Cases Total
Death Total
Recovered Total Test
China 82341 3342 77816 N/A
USA 614606 26081 38820 3100387
Japan 8315 146 853 89551
Germany 132210 3495 72600 1317887
Russia 27878 226 1986 1517992
Indonesia 5433 479 446 36000
UK 93873 12107 N/A 382650
France 143303 15729 28805 333807
Australia 6494 65 3686 371377
Canada 27063 903 8235 450717
Italy 162488 21067 37130 1073689
Netherland 28887 3323 250 134972
Norway 6749 145 32 130216
S. Korea 10616 228 7616 534552
Spain 181206 18903 70853 600000
Iran 77901 4871 49933 299204
Denmark 6851 319 2515 77712
Turkey 65111 1403 4799 443626
Swiss 26736 1268 14700 199000
Singapore 3252 10 611 72680
9. Prevention and Control Strategies of
Coronavirus
Prevention and control strategies approach needs at
three stages: national level, patient level, and general
population level. Numerous public health procedures may
prevent the transmission of the COVID-19. These contain
case isolation, identification, regular follow-up, use of
disinfection, and use of personal protective equipment
(PPE), maintain the social distances. The best prevention
is to avoid being exposed to the virus as well as avoiding
crowding place. Effective preventive and control measures
that may reduce the risk of exposure is the use of sterile
masks; covering coughs and sneezes with tissues with
safely disposed of regular handwashing with soap,
disinfection, and alcohol-containing hand sanitizer,
maintaining social distance, quarantine, and abstaining
from touching eyes, nose, and mouth with hands. At this
moment there is no vaccine to prevent coronavirus illness
2019 (COVID-19). The best way to avoid illness is to
prevent being bare to this virus. Follow CDC's references
for using a facemask in CDC does not mention that people
who are well wearing a treatment to defend themselves
from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, Facemasks
should be used by people who show symptoms of
COVID-19 to help avoid the spread of the disease to
others. Guidelines from WHO that use of N95 or FFP2
facemask. The use of facemasks is also vital for health
workers and people are taking care of someone in close
settings (at home or in a health care facility) and wash
your hands often with soap powder/soap and water for at
least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom,
before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or
sneezing (Figure 1). If soap powder/soap and water are not
readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with
at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap/soap
powder and water if hands are visibly dirty [9].
Figure 1. Preventive measure

American Journal of Microbiological Research 60
10. Epidemic of the Novel Coronavirus
This virus epidemic started on 31 December 2019 in
Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China and about 1,00,000
people have been infected worldwide [9] on March 8,
2020. A total of 210 countries has been affected. This
virus outbreak was related to a huge seafood and animal
market, and inquiries were ongoing to control the origins
of the infection [35,36] observed that the (3.4, 35, and 62) %
were died, recovered and still now infected. The top five
places of death outside China were Italy (21067), Iran
(4871), UK (12107), USA (26081) and France (15729)
(Table 4). In 22nd January report describes the metrics of
the epidemic and shows how the stock-flow perspective
taken in environmental studies is useful to understand the
epidemic evolution. From 12 and 22 January, 2020
reported found 425 confirmed cases of infection, whereas
73% of cases with illness onset between no exposure to
either a wet market or another person with symptoms of a
respiratory illness [37]. On 25 January 2020 reported that
more than 75,000 infections may have occurred in Wuhan
and increasing numbers of infections continue to be
detected in other cities in mainland China and around the
world [38]. Data come from the WHO reports, the [39]
and the interactive web-dashboard as published in The
Lancet infectious disease journal [40]. Initially, the
research suggests that 2019-nCoV could not easily spread
between humans [41] it is now very clear that infections
have been spreading from person to person [37].
Infections with 2019-nCoV can spread from person to
person, and in the earliest phase of the outbreak, the basic
reproductive number was estimated to be around 2.2,
assuming a mean serial interval of 7.5 days [37]. Average
delays between infection and illness onset have been
estimated at around 5-6 days, with an upper limit of
around 11-14 days [38,41,42] and delays from illness
onset to laboratory confirmation added a further 10 days
on average [37]. The first large identifiable super
spreading event during the present 2019-nCoV outbreak
has taken place on the Diamond Princess cruise liner
quarantined off the coast of Yokohama, Japan, with at
least 130 passengers tested positive for 2019-nCoV
as at 10 February 2020 [43]. Identifying which modes
are important for 2019-nCoV transmission would inform
the importance of personal protective measures such as
face masks (and specifically which types) and hand
hygiene.
11. Treatment of Human Corona Virus
Still, now no approved treatment or vaccine has been
invented against COVID-19 contagion. Only supportive
care and oxygen supplementation therapy are effective for
the patient. Oxygen supplementation therapy can be done
through non-invasive ventilation or via mechanical
ventilation process. Some patients may also require
vasopressor and antibiotics support to reduce secondary
bacterial infections. On the other hand, some seriously ill
patients need treatments against SARS-CoV-2, including
ribavirin, interferon β-1a, the antiviral combination
lopinavir or ritonavir, the antimalarial chloroquine or
hydroxychloroquine, the antiviral nucleotide analog
redeliver and the antiviral favipiravir. Whereas,
hydroxychloroquine has been shown in vitro to alter the
uptake of the virus in cells. There is no specific direct
action recommended for COVID-19. People with COVID-
19 should obtain supportive care to help sack symptoms.
For severe cases, treatment should include support to care
for major organ functions. People who think they may
have been exposed to COVID-19 should contact their
healthcare center where immediate provider treatment for
COVID-19. (Source: WHO, 2020). From Table 5, the
Proposed dose for COVID-19 in 500 mg (Chloroquine
phosphate) BID 5 days and 150 mg (Oseltamivir) BID for
5 days was effective to control of this virus. (Source:
Prepared by CDC MICC Team, Version 1 (28-02-2020).
Combined nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab: If
positive repeal every 3 days till negative, if negative
repeat the second test after 24 hours, if 2 consecutive
negative isolation can be discontinued in the lower
respiratory specimen is preferred when applicable and
airborne and contact isolation is recommended for further
information contact your infection control practitioner.
Source: Prepared by CDC MICC Team, Version 1 (28-02-
2020) (Table 5).
Table 5. Protocol for treatment of confirmed COVID-19 infection
Items
Route of
administration
Proposed dose for COVID-19
Treatment 1
Chloroquine
phosphate PO 500 mg BID 5 days
Oseltamivir PO 150 mg BID for 5 days
Treatment 2
Chloroquine
phosphate PO 500 mg BID 10 days plus
Darunavir or
Cobicistar
PO
Darunavir 800 mg/Cobicistat
150 mg OD for 14 days
Atazanavir
(Reyataz) PO
Or 400 mg once daily with
food for 14 days plus
Oseltamivir PO 150 mg BID
Corticosteroids IV
Methylprednisolone 40 mg 12
h for 5 days
Source: Prepared by CDC MICC Team, Version 1 (28-02-2020).
12. Conclusion
The spread of the pandemic will eventually stop, and
the global system will find a balance, but most of the
impairment will be permanent, particularly for the
developing countries. The current disaster seriously hitting
the economies on a local, regional and global scale. The
COVID-19 epidemic is a striking image of the modern era.
The present destabilize break the equilibrium of our
planet’s ecosystems. Nevertheless, epidemic has a chance
to remedy this and build new foundations.
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