THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC- A COMPREHENSIVE INSIGHT ON THE RECENT UPDATES.

Currently world is facing a pandemic caused by novel corona virus (SARS –CoV2) which causes a highly contagious infection affecting most commonly lungs and results in an array of clinical symptoms ranging from asymptomatic state to acute respiratory distress syndrome and may even lead to multi organ dysfunction. Although pulmonary manifestations are common in patient but there are various extra pulmonary manifestations too which cannot be overlooked. The infection spread via respiratory droplets or from the surfaces where theses droplets may get deposited and fomites of the infected person. The incubation period of virus is around 2- 14 days. The diagnostic modalities include Reverse transcriptase real time PCR (rtqPCR) which is gold standard method for diagnosis of the infection using oro-pharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swabs from the patients. Serological testing for antigen and antibody detection is also available now. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has validated and approved serological kits for the same, rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for antigen detection is widely used now; however antibody detection IgM/IgG by ELISA is strictly confined for epidemiological purpose andtesting in the containment zone. Clinical symptoms along with imaging technique, increased biomarkers and other lab parameters all aid in the diagnosis of the infection. Till date no specific treatment or vaccine is available for the infection so management of patient is supportive and symptomatic. Major pharmaceutical companies world-wide are exploring options for new vaccine development. Many older drugs with known safety profile are repurposed and seen for their efficacy in COVID-19 patients. A wide range of technology platforms are being evaluated for vaccine development at an unprecedented scale and speed. This review highlights comprehensively on all the recent updates about COVID-19. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus-2), PCR (Polymerase chain reaction),  rtqPCR (Reverse transcriptase real time PCR), ICMR (The Indian Council of Medical Research), COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease), ELISA (Enzyme linked immuno- sorbent assay), RDT (Rapid diagnostic test).