COVID-19: Mutated Strain, Treatment Options and Vaccine Development

ABSTRACT

The spike proteins present on the virus's surface attach to the ACE 2 receptors found in the lungs, heart, kidneys, and gastrointestinal tract, thus facilitating viral entry into target cells (Rabi et al., 2020). In a case study, nine COVID-19 positive pregnant women were included that underwent cesarean sections to evaluate the clinical peculiarities of COVID-19 in pregnancy and intrauterine vertical transmission. The Newly Emerged Mutated Strains of SARSCoV-2 During the global transmission, the SARS-CoV-2 has been mutated several times, leading to the emergence of a new strain of the virus called "SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01". Since November 2020, a hike has been reported in the number of cases in London, accounting for around 60%. [...]this strain can rapidly evade the host immune response by increasing binding sites and altering the surface structures recognized by antibodies (Volz et al., 2020).