ABSTRACT
The deadly global outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has forged an unrivaled threat to human civilization. Contemplating its profuse impact, initial risk management and therapies are needed, as well as rapid detection strategies alongside treatments with existing drugs or traditional treatments to provide better clinical support for critical patients. Conventional detection techniques have been considered but do not sufficiently meet the current challenges of effective COVID-19 diagnosis. Therefore, several modern techniques including point-of-care diagnosis with a biosensor, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated proteins that function as nuclease (Cas) technology, next-generation sequencing, serological, digital, and imaging approaches have delivered improved and noteworthy success compared to that using traditional strategies. Conventional drug treatment, plasma therapy, and vaccine development are also ongoing. However, alternative medicines including Ayurveda, herbal drugs, homeopathy, and Unani have also been enlisted as prominent treatment strategies for developing herd immunity and physical defenses against COVID-19. All considered, this review can help develop rapid and simplified diagnostic strategies, as well as advanced evidence-based modern therapeutic approaches that will aid in combating the global pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The current global outbreak of COVID-19 due to SARS-CoV-2 is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Considering the gravity of its impact there is an immediate need to develop a detection technique that is sensitive, specific, fast, and affordable for the clinical diagnosis of the disease. Real time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)-based detection platforms are contemplated to be the gold standard to detect viral RNA. However, that may be susceptible to errors, and there is a risk of obtaining false results, which ultimately compromises the strategy of efficient disease management. Several modern techniques exhibiting assured results with enhanced sensitivity and specificity against the SARS-CoV-2 associated viral components or immune response against it have been developed and may be implemented. The review deals with the conventional RT-PCR detection techniques and compares them to other detection platforms viz., biosensor based detection of antigens, fluorescent or colorimetric detection systems including CRISPR-Cas 13 based SHERLOCK kit, CRISPR Cas-9 based FELUDA test kit, CRISPR DETECTR kit, Next Generation Sequencing or microarray-based kits. These modern techniques are great as a point of care detection methods but should be followed by RT PCR based detection for the confirmation of COVID-19 status.