World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the ongoing coronvirus outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 24 March 2020, more than 378,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in more than 190 countries and territories, which has resulted in more then 16,400 confirmed deaths.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The outbreak was first recognized in Wuhan, China in December 2019 when the Health authorities of Wuhan reported a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin. The earliest person with symptoms was traced back to 1 December 2019, however, on 14 March 2020 South China Morning Post said the a 55-year-old could have been the first to have contracted with the disease, on 17 November.
The SARS-CoV-2 shares great in similarities in genetic material with the SARS-CoV. Both the viruses have same structure containing ribonucleic acid (RNA) in a spherical protein shell with spikes. These spikes bind with cells and reproduce themselves and further combine with more cells.
When to expect a coronavirus vaccine?
Research to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 is going on at an unprecedented pace. There are more than 30 companies and institutions working round-the-clock to develop a vaccine.
There are more than 20 vaccines in development. One of them have even started human trials after unusually skipping animal research to test safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Other scientists are at the animal research stage and hope to start human trials later in the year.
Vaccines take time to develop. Even if the somehow miraculously scientist develop a vaccine by the end of the year, there will be a huge task of mass production and distribution of the vaccine.
So, realistically speaking, the vaccine will be available no earlier than mid-2021 or around 18 months from now.
Even though it sounds a long time, it will likely be a world record time. Vaccines usually take around 5 to 15 years to develop. There are a lot of factors that need to be consider. We cannot give a vaccine if it stops one pandemic and as a side effect starts another.
We must not forget that there are four common human coronaviruses which causes common cold and we don't have vaccine for any of them. During the SARS-CoV outbreak in 2003 and MERS-CoV in 2012 vaccine were in development phase and we contained the outbreak without the need of a vaccine.
Some promising drugs that are being tested :
Scientist are also testing some known anti-viral drugs to see if they have any effect on coronavirus. The drugs can be directly tested to the patients as they are known to be safe and can be given to people.
Dr. Bruce Alylward from WHO, said, "There is only one drug right now that we think may have real efficacy and that's remdesivir." Remdesivir was originally developed for Ebola and was found to kill many other viruses. The test results are yet to be declared.
Another promising option is the old anti-malarial drug called chloroquine. Laboratory test have confirmed that it can kill coronavirus. However, as of now the results of human test are not declared.
How long will this pandemic last?
Coronavirus is highly contagious and nobody can state how long it will last. Some scientists have stated that the virus can be around and circulate in humans for a year or more until a vaccine is available.
There are also some chances that the virus won't completely disappear and become a kind of a seasonal disease, making a comeback every year.
As the cases around the world are rising every moment, the only thing we can do is to take necessary precautions and break the chain of transmission of the virus.
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