Comprehensive epidemiological study on COVID-19: Characteristics, diagnosis, and therapeutic approaches

COVID-19 is an infection initiated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Pneumonia caused by COVID-19 is highly contagious; the World Health Organization (WHO) declared this disease a global public health emergency due to the current outbreak. Even though the virus of COVID-19 has a resemblance to MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, the infection is somewhat different. The first signs and symptoms of COVID-19 are not specific. It has a broad spectrum of clinical signs that remain to be determined. Various testing protocols have been published by the WHO for testing COVID-19. Person-to-person transmission is considered the primary route for the spreading of disease. Several efforts have been started all around the world to develop vaccines against the COVID-19 virus. Currently, various drugs and different diagnostic kits are being used to test for the COVID-19 infection. Based on earlier pieces of evidence, we systematically discuss the epidemiological study of SARS-CoV-2 with characteristics, symptoms, diagnosis and vaccine development, and preventive measures of the COVID-19 epidemic.