ABSTRACT
In late December 2019, an outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, China, and spread throughout the world very quickly. COVID-19 is a viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 patients show flulike symptoms such as sore throat, fatigue, dry cough, high fever, and respiratory problems. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. About 760 million people have been infected and more than 6.5 million deaths have been reported globally, and the incidents are not under control in several underserved and underdeveloped regions despite the advances in vaccination modalities. Therefore, treatment options are urgently needed to combat this virus. As it may require a considerable length of time to develop a new drug for COVID-19, it is required to emphasize the repurposing of drugs. No specific vaccines are validated to have significant efficacy against COVID-19. So far, the treatment given is symptomatic and supportive. Broad-spectrum drugs currently under consideration for treatment of COVID-19 include antiviral drugs like remdesivir, favipiravir, interferon, lopinavir and ritonavir (HIV protease inhibitor), ribavirin, anti-malarial/inflammatory drugs chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, tocilizumab, and corticosteroids. Convalescent plasma of COVID-19 recovered patients was also used for therapeutic purposes as a last resort in worsening conditions. The aim of this section is to discuss the evidence for treatment options available and ongoing efforts towards novel therapies as well as to identify prospective treatment options that could revolutionize the therapeutic approach of COVID-19, especially in chronic conditions.
