SARS-COV-2/COVID-19: scenario, epidemiology, adaptive mutations, and environmental factors

Asghar, Asma; Imran, Hafiz Muhammad; Bano, Naheed; Maalik, Sadia; Mushtaq, Sajida; Hussain, Asim; Varjani, Sunita; Aleya, Lotfi; Iqbal, Hafiz M. N.; Vēlāyutan̲, T. A.

SARS-COV-2/COVID-19: scenario, epidemiology, adaptive mutations, and environmental factors

2022

The coronavirus pandemic of 2019 has already exerted an enormous impact. For over a year, the worldwide pandemic has ravaged the whole globe, with approximately 250 million verified human infection cases and a mortality rate surpassing 4 million. While the genetic makeup of the related pathogen (SARS-CoV-2) was identified, many unknown facets remain a mystery, comprising the virus’s origin and evolutionary trend. There were many rumors that SARS-CoV-2 was human-borne and its evolution was predicted many years ago, but scientific investigation proved them wrong and concluded that bats might be the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and pangolins act as intermediary species to transmit the virus from bats to humans. Airborne droplets were found to be the leading cause of human-to-human transmission of this virus, but later studies showed that contaminated surfaces and other environmental factors are also involved in its transmission. The evolution of different SARS-CoV-2 variants worsens the condition and has become a challenge to overcome this pandemic. The emergence of COVID-19 is still a mystery, and scientists are unable to explain the exact origin of SARS-CoV-2. This review sheds light on the possible origin of SARS-CoV-2, its transmission, and the key factors that worsen the situation.

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