SARS-CoV-2 - an update in virology: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is the highly infectious new coronavirus, which has been associated with the pandemic COVID-19. The majority of those pathogenic coronaviruses are benign, namely HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-HKU1, and they have been linked to common cases of flu. Two of these viruses namely SARS coronavirus and MERS coronavirus are known to have caused more severe infections. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the Coronaviruses are divided into four groups, which are: Alpha-CoV, Beta -CoV, Gamma-CoV, and Delta -CoV. The Beta- CoV genus is further classified into four lineages, which are referred to as Groups A, B, C, and D. At the genomic level, SARS-CoV-2 has been identified to match with the lineage B of Beta coronavirus. This infection affects the respiratory tract, mainly the lungs' alveoli, and can cause a wide variety of symptoms ranging from discharge from the nose and a sore throat to respiratory distress, septic shock, and failure of multiple organs. To date, millions of people have been affected by the virus. The current mortality rate is around 6%. Early diagnosis is essential to prevent the spread of the infection. An extensive literature review was done using Pubmed, Medline, Pubmed Central, Embase, Goggle Scholar databases from January 20, 2020, till October 20, 2020.
 Conclusion: COVID-19 is the third outbreak of a pathogenic human coronavirus, after MERS and SARS. Its high rate of transmissibility has taken a toll on citizens' personal and professional lives globally. The peculiarities of SARS-CoV-2, regarding its genomic uniqueness and the role of Malayan pangolins as intermediate hosts, still demands more research to determine the degree to which they partake in the generation of the pathogenicity and infectiousness of the virus.

Level of Depression Anxiety and Stress Among Health Care Workers at a Tertiary Hospital During Second Wave of Covid in Nepal

“…Since the outbreak in Wuhan, and declaration as global health emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an overwhelming historical challenge to the world, the existing health care system and health care workers (HCWs). [1][2][3][4] Since 3rd Jan 2020 till Nov 2021, Nepal has witnessed 813,011 confirmed Covid-19 cases, suffered 11,416 deaths and has adopted strategy to vaccinate citizens as much early with widespread coverage possible, administering a total of 15,268,771 doses of vaccine till 24th Oct 2021. 5 The Pandemic leads to risk of immediate psychosocial trauma, with probability of mental health consequences in future also.…”

COVID-19 variants: The undetectable and invisible

“…The amplification tests include nucleic acid sequencing and real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR). 2,3 The French variant discovered in Brittany: A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been discovered in a cluster of eight cases in a hospital in Lannion in Brittany, France. The peculiarity however in these cases is that they were admitted with the symptoms of COVID-19, yet did not test positive whence their specimens were sent for the gold standard PCR testing.…”