MODERN BIOLOGY

BatStateU – CEAFA
2020

MODERN BIOLOGY

Novel CORONA VIRUS Disease - 19

ABSTRACT

The COVID- 19 virus already infected 188 countries and territories, more than 6.98 million cases have
been reported. The virus is considered contagious that is a global pandemic we are facing today. Corona
Virus disease is an infectious disease brought about by serious intense respiratory condition coronavirus
2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are no vaccines and specific antiviral treatments that are produced, however,
management includes the treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation and experimental
measures to contain the health crisis. C OVID-19 spreads essentially when individuals are in close
contact and one individual breathes in little beads delivered by a tainted individual (suggestive or not)
hacking, sniffling, talking, or singing. United Nations defines the virus more than a health crisis as a
result of stress of the countries it touches, it has the potential to create devastating social, economic
and political crises that will leave deep scars. There is no certain time when the ‘old normal’ will
return. The research provides fundamental knowledge about the virus and its state on global response.

Nature and History of Covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, otherwise called the coronavirus pandemic, is a progressing pandemic of
coronavirus infection 2019 (COVID‑19), brought about by serious intense respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2). The episode was first recognized in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The
World Health Organization pronounced the flare-up a Public Health Emergency of International Concern
on 30 January, and a pandemic on 11 March. As of 9 June 2020, more than 7.08 million instances of
COVID-19 have been accounted for in excess of 188 nations and domains, bringing about in excess of
405,000 deaths and more than 3.18 million individuals have recovered.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause illnesses such as the common cold, severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). In 2019, a new
coronavirus was identified as the cause of a disease outbreak that originated in China.The virus is now
known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease it causes is
called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO)
declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.

The pandemic has caused worldwide social and monetary disruption, including the biggest
worldwide downturn since the Great Depression. It has prompted the deferment or dropping of many
wearing, strict, political, and social events, boundless flexibly deficiencies exacerbated by panic buying,
and diminished discharges of contaminations and Greenhouse gases. Schools, colleges, and universities
have been shut either on an across the nation or nearby premise in 172 nations, influencing roughly 98.5
percent of the world's understudy population.
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2020

Transmission

The infection is essentially spread between people during close contact, regularly by means of
little droplets delivered by coughing, sniffling, and talking. The droplets generally tumble to the ground
or onto surfaces as opposed to going through air over long distances. Less ordinarily, individuals may get
infected by contacting a contaminated surface afterward contacting their face. It is generally infectious
during the initial three days after the beginning of symptoms, even though spread is conceivable before
side effects show up, and from individuals who don't show symptoms. The standard technique for
finding is by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal
swab.

Suggested preventive include hand washing, covering one's mouth when coughing, maintaining
distance from other people, wearing a face mask in public settings, and monitoring and self-isolation for
suspected people of infection. Authorities worldwide have reacted by implementing travel restrictions,
lockdowns, workplace hazard controls, and facility closures. Numerous spots have likewise attempted to
expand testing limit and trace contacts of contaminated people.

Serious intense respiratory condition coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel extreme intense

respiratory syndrome coronavirus, first disconnected from three individuals with pneumonia associated
with the bunch of intense respiratory disease cases in Wuhan. All highlights of the novel SARS-CoV-2
infection happen in related coronaviruses in nature. Outside the human body, the infection is eradicated
by household soap, which bursts its protective bubble.

Signs and Symptoms

The standard incubation period ranges from

one to 14 days, and is most ordinarily five days. Some
infected individuals have no indications, known as
asymptomatic or pre symptomatic carriers;
transmission from such a bearer is considered
possible. As at 6 April, assessments of the
asymptomatic proportion run broadly from 5% to
80%.

Side effects of COVID-19 can be generally

vague; the two most normal manifestations are fever
(88 percent) and dry hack (68 percent). Less basic side
effects incorporate weakness, respiratory sputum
creation (mucus), loss of the sense of smell, loss of
taste, brevity of breath, muscle and joint torment,
sore throat, cerebral pain, chills, spewing, hacking out
blood, loose bowels, and rash.
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BatStateU – CEAFA
2020

Prognosis

The seriousness of COVID‑19 depends. The infection may take a mild course with not many or no
side effects, taking after other regular upper respiratory diseases, for example, common cold. Mild cases
normally recuperate inside about fourteen days, while those with extreme or basic infections may take
three to about a month and a half to recover. Among the individuals who have died, the time from
symptom beginning to death has extended from two to eight weeks.

Children make up a small extent of revealed cases, with about 1% of cases being under 10 years and
4% matured 10–19 years. They are probably going to have milder symptoms and a lower possibility of
serious disease than adults. In those younger than 50 years the danger of death is under 0.5%, while in
those more older than 70 it is more than 8%. Pregnant women might be at higher risk of extreme
COVID‑19 disease dependent on information from other comparable infections, as severe intense
respiratory condition (SARS) and Middle East respiratory disorder (MERS), however information for
COVID‑19 is lacking.

The vast majority of the individuals who bite the dust of COVID‑19 have prior (hidden) conditions,
including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease. The Institute Superiore di Sanità
announced that out of 8.8% of death where clinical diagrams were accessible, 97% of individuals had in
any event one comorbidity with the normal individual having 2.7 diseases. According to a similar report,
the median time between the beginning of indications and demise was ten days, with five being spent
hospitalized. Be that as it may, individuals moved to an ICU had a median time of seven days among
hospitalization and death. In an investigation of early cases, the middle time from displaying starting
symptoms to death was 14 days, with a full scope of six to 41 days. In an examination by the National
Health Commission
(NHC) of China, men had
a death pace of 2.8%
while women had a
demise pace of 1.7%.In
11.8% of the death
revealed by the National
Health Commission of
China, heart harm was
noted by raised degrees
of troponin or
cardiovascular arrest.
According to March
information from the
United States, 89% of
those hospitalized had
previous conditions.
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BatStateU – CEAFA
2020

Virology

Coronaviruses are enveloped positive sense single-stranded RNA viruses sized 80–220 nm in diameter.
The envelop bears crown-like, 20-nm in length spikes that resemble corona of the sun under electron
microscopy, hence given its name coronavirus. The virus can cause disease both in animal and human. It
carries the largest genome among the currently known RNA viruses. Early cases of Covid-19 linked the
virus was transmitted from animals t human. SARS-CoV was first detected in the Guangdong province
of China in November 2002 and subsequently spread to 30 countries. It is more severe than other
corona virus infection. Whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 reveals that it is a novel beta
coronavirus distinct from SARS-Cov. The nucleotide sequence of SARS-CoV-2 showed 79.0% and 51.8%
identity with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, respectively and it is closely related to bat-origin SARS-like
coronavirus with 87.6%–89% identity. The virus was initially called 2019-novel coronavirus (2019-
nCoV) upon its emergence, until the Coronaviridae Study Group of International Committee on
Taxonomy of Viruses named the virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)
based on the phylogenetic analysis, on February 11, 2020. On the same day, the WHO named the
disease caused by the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), in alignment with WHO best
practices for naming of new human infectious disease. Based on the virus genome sequencing data,
bats are assumed to be the reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, but the intermediate hosts are yet to be known.
Data indicate SARS-CoV evolved from bat coronavirus in horseshoe bats through civet cats or other
intermediated animal hosts. MERS-CoV also likely evolved from bat coronavirus, with dromedary camels
as intermediate hosts the use of SARS for viruses in this species mainly refers to their taxonomic
relationship to the founding virus of this species, SARS-CoV. Thus SARS should not be considered
eliminated since an animal reservoir is still existing that can emerge conceivably. To facilitate good
practice and scientific exchange, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has established
standardised formats for classifying viruses. Under these rules, a newly emerged virus is normally
assigned to a species based on phylogeny and taxonomy.
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BatStateU – CEAFA
2020

Pathology

Few data are available about microscopic lesions and the pathophysiology of COVID‑19. The main
pathological findings at autopsy are:

Macroscopy: pleurisy, pericarditis, lung consolidation and pulmonary edema

Four types of severity of viral pneumonia can be observed:

 Minor pneumonia: minor serous exudation, minor fibrin exudation

 Mild pneumonia: pulmonary edema, pneumocystis hyperplasia, large atypical pneumocystis,
interstitial inflammation with lymphocytic infiltration and multinucleated giant cell formation
 Severe pneumonia: diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) with diffuse alveolar exudates. DAD is the
cause of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and severe hypoxemia.
 Healing pneumonia: organization of exudates in alveolar cavities and pulmonary interstitial
fibrosis
 Blood: disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) leucoerythroblastic reaction
 Liver: micro vesicular steatosis

A few measures are normally used to evaluate mortality. These numbers fluctuate by area and
after some time and are affected by the volume of treatment options, time since the initial outbreak,
treatment choices, time since the underlying episode, and populace attributes, for example, age, sex,
and in general health. The death to-case proportion mirrors the number of death isolated by the
number of analyzed cases inside a given time span. In view of Johns Hopkins University measurements,
the worldwide passing to-case proportion is 5.7% starting at 9 June 2020. The number differs by region.
Different measures incorporate the case fatality rate (CFR), which mirrors the percent of infected people
who die from the disease, and the infection fatality rate (IFR), which mirrors the percent of infected
people (analyzed and undiscovered) who died. These insights are not time-bound and follow a particular
populace from infection through case resolution. Numerous academics have endeavored to ascertain
these numbers for specific populations.

Outbreaks also affected detainment facilities because of the crowd and a powerlessness to uphold
satisfactory social distancing. In the United States, the detainee populace is aging and a significant
number of them are at high risk for poor results from COVID‑19 because of high rates of heart and lung
illness, and poor access to excellent healthcare.

Our World in Data states that, as of 25 March 2020, the infection fatality rate (IFR) cannot be
accurately calculated. In February, the World Health Organization reported estimates of IFR between
0.33% and 1%.The University of Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) estimated a global
CFR of 0.8 to 9.6 percent (last revised 30 April) and IFR of 0.10 to 0.41 percent (last revised 2 May).
According to CEBM, random antibody testing in Germany suggested an IFR of 0.37%. Firm lower limits of
infection fatality rates have been established in a number of locations such as New York City and
Bergamo in Italy since the IFR cannot be less than the population fatality rate. As of 7 May, in New York
City, with a population of 8.4 million, 14,162 have died with COVID-19 in Bergamo province, 0.57% of
the population has died. The CDC estimates for planning purposes that the fatality rate among those
who are symptomatic is 0.4% and that 35% of infected individuals are asymptomatic, for an overall
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BatStateU – CEAFA
2020
infection fatality rate of 0.26%. To get a better view on the number of people infected, initial antibody
testing has been carried out, but there are no valid scientific reports based on any of them as of yet. On
1 May antibody testing in New York suggested an IFR of 0.

The effect of the pandemic and its death rate are diverse for men and women. Mortality is higher
in men in examines led in China and Italy. The higher risk for men shows up in their 50s, and starts to
tighten just at 90. In China, the demise rate was 2.8 percent for men and 1.7 percent for women .The
specific purposes behind this sex-contrast are not known, yet hereditary and behavioral factors s could
be a reason. Sex-based immunological contrasts, a lower commonness of smoking in ladies, and men
creating co-dreary conditions, for example, hypertension at a more young age than ladies could have
added to the higher mortality in men. In Europe, of those infected with COVID‑19, 57% were men; of
those infected with COVID‑19 who likewise died, 72% were men, As of April 2020, the U.S. government
isn't following sex-related information of COVID‑19 infections.[ Research has demonstrated that viral
illness like Ebola, HIV, flu, and SARS influence people differently. Higher levels of health laborers,
especially nurse, are ladies, and they have a higher possibility of being presented to the virus. School
lockdowns, and decreased access to health care following the COVID-19 pandemic may differentially
influence the gender and conceivably misrepresent existing gender disparity.

Detecting COVID-19

As the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease spreads across the world, the IAEA, in
partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is offering its
support and expertise to help countries use real time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction
(real time RT–PCR), one of the most accurate laboratory methods for detecting, tracking and studying
the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Real time RT–PCR?

Real time RT–PCR is a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic
material in any pathogen, including a virus. Originally, the method used radioactive isotope markers to
detect targeted genetic materials, but subsequent refining has led to the replacement of isotopic
labelling with special markers, most frequently fluorescent dyes. This technique allows scientists to see
the results almost immediately while the process is still ongoing, whereas conventional RT–PCR only
provides results at the end of the process.

Real time RT–PCR is one of the most widely used laboratory methods for detecting the COVID-
19 virus. While many countries have used real time RT–PCR for diagnosing other diseases, such as Ebola
virus and Zika virus, many need support in adapting this method for the COVID-19 virus, as well as in
increasing their national testing capacities. Some viruses such as the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which
causes COVID-19, only contain RNA, which means that they rely on infiltrating healthy cells to multiply
and survive. Once inside the cell, the virus uses its own genetic code — RNA in the case of the COVID-19
virus — to take control of and ‘reprogramme’ the cells, turning them into virus-making factories.

In order for a virus like the COVID-19 virus to be detected early in the body using real time RT–
PCR, scientists need to convert the RNA to DNA. This is a process called ‘reverse transcription’. They do
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BatStateU – CEAFA
2020
this because only DNA can be copied — or amplified — which is a key part of the real time RT–PCR
process for detecting viruses. Scientists amplify a specific part of the transcribed viral DNA hundreds of
thousands of times. Amplification is important so that, instead of trying to spot a minuscule amount of
the virus among millions of strands of genetic information, scientists have a large enough quantity of the
target sections of viral DNA to accurately confirm that the virus is present.

How does real time RT–PCR work with the COVID-19 virus?
A sample is collected from the parts of
the body where the COVID-19 virus gathers,
such as a person’s nose or throat. The sample
is treated with several chemical solutions that
remove substances such as proteins and fats
and that extract only the RNA present in the
sample. This extracted RNA is a mix of the
person’s own genetic material and, if present,
the virus’s RNA.The RNA is reverse transcribed
to DNA using a specific enzyme. Scientists
then add additional short fragments of DNA
that are complementary to specific parts of
the transcribed viral DNA. If the virus is
present in a sample, these fragments attach
themselves to target sections of the viral DNA.
Some of the added genetic fragments are
used for building DNA strands during
amplification, while the others are used for
building the DNA and adding marker labels to
the strands, which are then used to detect the
virus.

The mixture is then placed in an RT–PCR machine. The machine cycles through temperatures
that heat and cools the mixture to trigger specific chemical reactions that create new, identical copies of
the target sections of viral DNA. The cycle is repeated over and over to continue copying the target
sections of viral DNA. Each cycle doubles the previous number: two copies become four, four copies
become eight, and so on. A standard real time RT–PCR set-up usually goes through 35 cycles, which
means that, by the end of the process, around 35 billion new copies of the sections of viral DNA are
created from each strand of the virus present in the sample.

As new copies of the viral DNA sections are built, the marker labels attach to the DNA strands
and then release a fluorescent dye, which is measured by the machine’s computer and presented in real
time on the screen. The computer tracks the amount of fluorescence in the sample after each cycle.
When a certain level of fluorescence is surpassed, this confirms that the virus is present. Scientists also
monitor how many cycles it takes to reach this level in order to estimate the severity of the infection:
the fewer the cycles, the more severe the viral infection is.
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2020
Vaccine

Antiviral prescriptions are under investigation for COVID-19, just as medications focusing on the
invulnerable response. None has yet been demonstrated to be obviously effective on mortality in
distributed randomized controlled trials. However, remdesivir may affect the time it takes to recuperate
from the virus. Emergency use authorization for remdesivir was allowed in the U.S. on 1 May, for
individuals hospitalized with extreme COVID-19. The interim authorization was conceded thinking about
the absence of other explicit medicines, and that its potential capacity benefits seem to exceed the
potential risks. Taking over-the-counter cold medications, drinking liquids, and resting may help lighten
symptoms Depending on the seriousness, oxygen treatment, intravenous liquids, and breathing support
might be required.

The ECDC and the European local office of the WHO have given rules for medical clinics and
essential human services administrations for shifting of resources at various levels, including centering
research facility administrations towards COVID-19 testing, dropping elective strategies at whatever
point conceivable, isolating and separating COVID-19 positive patients, and expanding escalated care
abilities via preparing faculty and expanding the quantity of accessible ventilators and beds. Likewise,
trying to keep physical distancing, and to ensure the two patients and clinicians, in certain regions non-
crisis healthcare services are being given virtually. Because of limit impediments in the standard
gracefully chains, a few producers are 3D printing human services material, for example, nasal swabs
and ventilator parts.

There is no accessible vaccine, yet different offices are effectively creating immunization
applicants. Past work on SARS-CoV is being utilized in light of the fact that both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-
2 utilize the ACE2 receptor to enter human cells. Three immunization systems are being examined.
Initially, analysts mean to construct an entire infection antibody. The utilization of such an infection, be
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BatStateU – CEAFA
2020
it idle or dead, expects to inspire a brief insusceptible reaction of the human body to another disease
with COVID‑19. A subsequent methodology, subunit antibodies, expects to make an immunization that
sharpens the insusceptible framework to specific subunits of the infection. On account of SARS-CoV-2,
such research centers on the S-spike protein that enables the infection to barge in the ACE2 catalyst
receptor. A third procedure is that of the nucleic corrosive antibodies (DNA or RNA immunizations, a
novel method for making a vaccination). Trial immunizations from any of these procedures would need
to be tried for safety and efficacy.

On 16 March 2020, the primary clinical preliminary of an antibody began with four volunteers in
Seattle, Washington, United States. The immunization contains an innocuous genetic code replicated
from the infection that causes the disease.

As per the United Nations, It will require all of society to limit the spread of COVID-19 and to
cushion the potentially devastating impact it may have on vulnerable people and economies. Trust
and cooperation, within and among nations, and between people and their governments is
fundamental

International Response

Because of the pandemic, numerous nations and locales forced isolates, passage bans, or different
limitations, either for residents, recent travelers to influenced areas, or for all travelers. Together with a
diminished ability to travel, this had a negative financial and social effect on the travel sector. Concerns
have been raised over the adequacy of travel restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19. An
examination in Science found that movement limitations had just humble impacts postponing the
underlying spread of COVID-19, except if joined with disease avoidance and control measures to
impressively diminish transmissions. Researchers reasoned that "travel restrictions are generally helpful
in the early and late period of a pandemic" and "restrictions from Wuhan sadly came too late

On 20 January, the WHO said it was "now very clear" human-to-human transmission of the
coronavirus had happened, given that social insurance laborers had been infected. On 27 January, the
WHO surveyed the danger of the flare-up to be "high at the worldwide level".

On 30 January, the WHO proclaimed the flare-up a Public Health Emergency of International
Concern (PHEIC), cautioning that "all nations ought to be set up for control, including active surveillance,
early discovery, separation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of ahead spread" of
the virus, following an expansion in cases outside China. This was the 6th ever PHEIC since the measure
was first summoned during the 2009 pig influenza pandemic. WHO Director-General Tudors Adhanom
said the PHEIC was because of "the risk of global spread, especially to low- and middle-income countries
without robust health systems" but that the WHO did not "recommend limiting trade and movement".

On 11 February, the WHO set up COVID-19 as the name of the disease, and UN Secretary-General
António Guterres consented to give "power of the entire UN system in the response". A UN Crisis
Management Team was activated, allowing coordination of the entire United Nations, which the WHO
stated will allow them to "focus on the health response while the other agencies can bring their
expertise to bear on the wider social, economic and developmental implications of the outbreak". On 25
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2020
February, the WHO declared "the world should do more to prepare for a possible coronavirus
pandemic," expressing that while it was too soon to consider it a pandemic, nations ought to be "in a
period of preparedness". On 28 February, WHO authorities said the coronavirus danger evaluation at
the worldwide level would be raised from "high" to "very high", it’s most elevated level of caution and
hazard assessment. On 11 March, the WHO announced the coronavirus flare-up a pandemic. The
Director-General said the WHO was "profoundly concerned both by the disturbing degrees of spread
and seriousness, and by the disturbing degrees of inaction "Critics have said the WHO handled the
pandemic inadequately and that the public health emergency declaration and pandemic classification
came too late.

Some portion of dealing with an infectious disease outbreak is attempting to postpone and diminish
the epidemic peak, known as leveling the pandemic curve. This decrease the danger of health
administrations being overpowered and gives more opportunity to antibodies and medicines to be
developed. Non-pharmaceutical mediations that may deal with the outbreak incorporate individual
preventive measures, for example, hand cleanliness, wearing face mask, and self-isolate; network
measures focused on physical distancing, for example, shutting schools and dropping mass social
occasions; community engagement to encourage acceptance and participation in such interventions; as
well as environmental measures such surface cleaning.

Progressively uncommon activities planned for containing the outbreak were taken in China once
the seriousness of the outbreak got clear, for example, isolating whole urban communities and forcing
severe travel bans .Other nations likewise received an assortment of measures planned for restricting
the spread of the infection. South Korea presented the mass screening and confined isolates and gave
alerts on the developments of infected people. Singapore offered money related help for those infected
isolated themselves and forced enormous fines for the individuals who neglected to do as such. Taiwan
expanded face mask production and punished hoarding of clinical supplies

Enrichment Activity
Make your own reflection about the pandemic our world is facing today. As a global learner how can you
help and promote awareness about COVID-19?