The global battle against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19
Chu-Xia Deng
Abstract
This special issue contains 11 articles which share the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 from different angles, such as the key events occurred during the early outbreak, basic characteristics of the pathogen, signs and symptoms of the infected patients, possible transmission pathways of the virus, understanding on the origin and evolution of the virus, as well as the chemotherapeutic options under development, the zoonotic origins and interspecies transmission, the evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding in clinical specimens, presentation of clinical evidence showing the beneficial effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of the patients, the usage of therapeutic neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) to control the spread and re-emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the implication of the endocytic pathway and autophagy in viral infection, the increasing infection rate among health workers in China, concluding with a comprehensive review on what has been learned so far about the epidemiology, etiology, virology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention of the disease in comparison with SARS and MERS