Coronavirus disease - COVID-19: new perceptives towards epidemic to pandemic.

The sudden outbreak and uncontrolled spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has shocked the world to a degree never seen before. Due to the wide spread transmission of the virus, the number of infected cases worldwide has surpassed 16,421,958 and global death toll has spiked up to 6,52,308 from December 2019 to 27 July 2020. The virus has been labelled as a pandemic by the WHO. Virologists have found that this virus outbreak is similar to past outbreaks of viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome that caused severe respiratory syndrome and transmitted rapidly in humans. These single stranded RNA viruses come under the genera of β-coronaviruses which ultimately infect lungs and respiratory tract. Even though the origin, source and intermediate hosts of this virus is unknown, transmittance from human-to-human through various paths has been identified globally. As of today, there are no approved drugs and vaccines. Several clinical trials are being conducted today to evaluate vaccines against the virus. The aim of our present review is to furnish brief details about the statistics, diagnosis, epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of COVID-19 to assist researchers and the society at large to come to grip with the deadly disease.HighlightsCumbersome outbreak of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a pandemicAt June 19, 2020, as per WHO report 8,618,787 infected cases and 457,275 dead were recorded globallyMajor spread was found to be human to human transmissionsPeople with positive COVID-19 were infected with severe respiratory syndromeMore animal and clinical studies have to be done to overcome this pandemic.