Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic: How Far or How Close is the Solution?

Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a transmissible disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in December 2019 in the capital of China's Hubei province, Wuhan. It has spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. The 2019-nCoV pandemic has evolved into a global health calamity bothering almost every country and territory in the world. Various countries are in different stages of the 2019-nCoV contagion. The virus has a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome and a nucleocapsid of helical symmetry. The genome size (27 to 34 kb) of coronaviruses is the largest among all known RNA viruses. On January 22, 2020, 2019-nCoV has been proclaimed to be originated from wild bats and belonged to beta coronavirus that has Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Associated Coronavirus (SARS-CoV). This pandemic has taken a heavy toll in terms of loss in human life and the global economy. A few vaccines and medicines have been developed to combat the deadly pandemic to some extent. So far, medicines such as Remdesivir, Sofosbuvir, Lopinavir, and Ribavirin have been proposed as a possible remedy for novel coronavirus. Similarly, several combination drugs available in homeopathy, allopathy, and Ayurveda (herbal formulations) have been advocated either as immune booster or medicament against coronavirus. However, a permanent solution to this pandemic seems distant due to the re-occurrence of incidence and the ever-changing behavior of the virus and symptoms caused throughout the world.