SHRI RAMSWAROOP MEMORIAL

UNIVERSITY

REPORT

TOPIC –“ A Review on the COVID-19,its

History, Diagnostic Approach, Roles of
Herbs and Current World Scenario”

SUBMITTED TO- SUBMITTED BY-

Dr. Devendra Singh Name- Sakshi Singh
Assistant professor Roll no. -202210902150023
Faculty of Biotechnology B.Sc Biotechnology
Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University
 INDEX

Sr No. Content Page No.

1. Abstract 8
2. Introduction 8
3. Review of literature 9-10
3.1 COVID-19 overview 9
3.2 History 9-10
4 Material and methods 11-12
4.1 Symptoms of COVID-19 11
4.2 Diagnostic methods 11-12
5 Results 12-13
5.1 COVID-19 management 12-13
6 Discussion 13
6.1 Herbal plants 13-14
6.2 Chinese herbal drug 14-15
6.3 Current world scenario 15
6.4 Preventive measures 15-16
7. Conclusion 16
8. Future prospective 17
9. References 18
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Content Page

No. No.
1. Coronavirus transmission mode from host 10
to humans
2. Schematic representation of the COVID-19 11
symptoms
3. Illustrative representation of the nCOVID- 16
19 safety measures
 LIST OF TABLE

Table Content Page

No. No.
1. Some promising plant-derived natural 14
compounds with anti-coronavirus activity
2 Data showing the current scenario of some 15
COVID-19 hotspot countries
 ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations Meaning

SARS-CoV Severe acute respiratory syndrome caused

by coronavirus
WHO World Health Organization

COVID-19 Coronavirus Virus Disease 2019

RNA Ribonucleic Acid

HCoV-229E Human Coronavirus 229E

ACE-2 Angiotensin-converting enzyme-2

ELISA Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

FDA Food and Drug Administration

ICMR Indian Council of Medical Research

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to almighty, who gave
me the strength to carry out this project. It is my privilege to express my
profound regards and deep sense of gratitude to Director Dr. Neelam Mishra
for giving me this golden opportunity.
I am very grateful to my guide, Dr. Devendra Singh for providing me the
privilege of working under his expert supervision. I am deeply indebted to him
for his advice and excellent scientific guidance during my research work.
I gratefully acknowledge the teachers of our university for their help and co-
operation. I would to thanks all my faculty members for supporting me and
encouraging me for the project.
Lastly, I would like to thank almighty and my parents for their constant support
and my friends with whom I shared my experiences and received lots of
suggestions that helped me improve my work.

Dr. Devendra Singh

Guide and Supervisor Sakshi Singh
Signature: 202210902150023
Date:
 DECLARATION

This is to certify that Sakshi Singh, B.Sc,biotechnology, Roll no.-

202210902150023, 1st year, Shri ramswaroop memorial university has
successfully completed a thesis on “A review on the COVID-19, its history,
diagnostic approach roles of herbs and current world scenario”. To the best of
my knowledge it is a record of student own work under my guidance. This work
is originally carried by the student and not copied from elsewhere. The work is
not submitted anywhere else for any degree or reward.

Devendra Singh
Assistant professor,
Faculty of biotechnology,
Shri ramswaroop memorial university
1. ABSTRACT

COVID-19, a viral disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory

syndrome caused by coronavirus-2). It was found infectious and declared as a
pandemic worldwide by WHO on 11th March 2020. SARS-COV-2 belongs to the
family of coronaviridae . It includes symptoms like fever, sore throat, sneezing,
shortness of breath, fatigue, cough, diarrhoea, chills and respiratory symptoms
which was entered into new dangerous phase with time . Till 7th November
2020
,the world have 48534508 confirmed COVID-19 cases with a death number of
1231017,affecting, directly and indirectly, more than 215 territories worldwide.
This concern leads to many approaches, but main attention was towards
medical value of herbal plants extract. Hence ,this report describes the
symptoms and the role of herbal plants in treating the COVID-19.
Key words: COVID-19; respiratory syndrome; Lianhua-Qingwen; SARS-COV-2;
herbal plants

2. INTRODUCTION

From December 2019, a disease comes into existence which was named COVID-
19. It was an unexpected pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. The coronavirus
causes illness (alveolar injury as well as progressive respiratory stoppage) ,which
may also leads to the death.
Developed and developing countries are giving their best to control the spread
of the virus and minimize the infection. Despite its similarity with the SAR-CoV
virus, it’s diagnostic approaches and transmission efficiency are different, which
is probably due to change in Nucleotide spike protein and its RBD (receptor
binding domain) structure. To solve this issue, a drug or a vaccine is urgently
required to prevent mortality and morbidity. Several drugs are undergone for
the trials . It was found that many herbal medicinal plants are effective against
this pandemic virus.
3.1 COVID-19 OVERVIEW

Coronavirus is a fast-spreading virus capable of causing multiple system

infection in animals, including BCoV (bovine respiratory coronavirus) in cows
,MHV (mouse hepatitis virus) in mouse ,IBV ( infectious bronchitis virus),also
called as the avian virus in birds and chicken and severe respiratory infections
such as MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (Severe acute
respiratory syndrome) in humans. In humans, it may cause chronic and acute
enteric ,central nervous, as well as respiratory system infections. The name
“coronavirus” was given due to the presence of crown-like spikes on its
surfaces; enveloped, positive-stranded RNA virus belongs to the genus of the
coronaviridae family and its genomic RNA size is 27-32 kb . It belongs to the ß
coronavirus which is found to have close phylogenetically with bat SARS
coronavirus exactly shares about 96.2% sequence similarity. Till now, the origin
of COVID-19 remains a mystery. The mutation of SARS-COV-2 genomes results in
its three different types (Type A ,type B and type C) . Type A and C are found
mostly in Americans and Europeans. While, type B is observed predominantly in
East Asia. The virus affects the upper respiratory tract with mild to severe
illness.

3.2 HISTORY

In 1931, first coronavirus based disease was diagnosed, while in 1965 from the
humans first HCoV-229E coronavirus was isolated. However, SARS-CoV-1 (a
member of sub -genes Sarbecovirus ) ,which was realized as the often fatal
respiratory infection, was firstly reported in 2002 in China with approximately
11% mortality. (fig.1). Its genome was found to be 29,727 nucleotides in length.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) is a surface molecule present on the
cells of the small intestinal epithelium and respiratory tract. This ACE-2 is a
receptor for SARS-CoV-1 and plays a vital role in protection from lung failure.
Some common clinical symptoms of SARS-CoV-1 are fever, headache, cough,
pneumonia, and dyspnea.
Later in 2012 ,in Saudi Arabia ,MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome
coronavirus) causes endemic with a 34% mortality rate. It causes a viral
respiratory infection. From infected camels ,this virus is transmitted to
humans(fig.1). Further from 2012 to 2018 ,MERS-CoV cases were found in about
27 different countries, including Egypt and Qatar. The genome of MERS-CoV-1
is approximately 30,119 nucleotides in length and DPP4( dipeptidyl peptidase 4)
is the receptor of MERS-CoV-1. DPP4 (multifunctional cell surface protein)
protein is found on the epithelial cells of the kidney, respiratory tract, small
intestine ,liver and plays a crucial role in T cell activation.
Some common symptoms of MERS-CoV-1 are sore throat, cough, abdominal
pain, chest pain, fever, and vomiting.
In late 2019, COVID-19 (coronavirus-19) infection case appears in China, which
was caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2),which particularly affects the
respiratory system of humans (fig.1). On 30 January, WHO declares COVID-19 as
an international pandemic. On 11 Feb 2020 ,the WHO named the disease
COVID- 19.
This newly discovered coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) encodes a glycosylated spike
protein, which is mainly responsible for binding with the receptor, ACE-2. The
genetic material (RNA) of SARS-CoV-2 is enclosed by a lipid-bilayer envelope.
Some common mode of transmission includes fecal-oral route ,contact with an
infected person and via respiratory droplets.
4.1 SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19

The three common symptoms of COVID-19 are dry cough, fever and difficulty in
breathing and other symptoms may include hypoxemia ,a lesion in the lungs
,tiredness, conjunctivitis, discoloration of toes or fingers and diarrhoea ( fig.2).
These symptoms were approximate, observed within 5-6 days of infection.

4.2 DIAGNOSTIC METHOD

According to the CDC (centres for diseases control and prevention) ,the two
types of the diagnostic test for COVID-19 was available.
 a)Antibody tests
It is also known as the serological test ,and are mainly used to determine
whether the person already had a COVID-19 infection. In this test ,a few
drops of blood are taken from the individuals and antibodies (IgM and IgG)
can be detected by using conventional ELISA tests . This antibody test is a
rapid test that gives results within 20 minutes. The drawback related to
this test was its poor specificity and lower sensitivity.

b)Swab tests

In this test, nasal (nasopharyngeal) swab and throat (oropharyngeal) swab

sample was collected from the patient and kept in viral medium . For
higher sensitivity, both the nasal as well as throat swabs were combined
together. Bronchoalveolar fluid, sputum and faecal samples were also
collected from the patients. The viral RNA is detected by using RT-PCR
(reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) .Many other antigen
detection- based devices came into the market but had poor sensitivity.

5. COVID-19 MANAGEMENT

To manage COVID-19, we need to know the symptoms and take correct

precautions against it. As COVID-19 is a viral infection it can spread through
contacts, air ,materials, etc., and therefore we need to avoid gathering, wear
mask, take care of personal hygiene. The time also required well balanced diet,
proper exercise, sunlight, ventilation. Many advice are already been done by the
trusted sources like WHO which need to be follow. The hospitalized COVID-19
patients were provided by some common FDA -approved drugs that includes
chloroquine , an antimalarial drug that inhibits the entry of coronavirus. A more
powerful and less toxic analogue of chloroquine is hydroxychloroquine, that can
replace chloroquine. In vitro condition, both the drug has effectively inhibited
the SARS-CoV-2 activity. Other drug includes Ivermectin (anti-parasitic drug),
Camostat Mesylate( an anti-viral drug), Remdesivir ( intravenous drug and found
effective against MERS coronavirus) ,favipiravir (influenza drug) ,interferon-
alpha (IFN-𝛼), arbidol and ribavirin.

6.1 HERBAL PLANT

The Herbal plants may play a crucial role in breaking the infection chain due to
their antibacterial property. Different in vitro and in vivo results have been
reported about the activity of active components of herbal plants against the
SARS-CoV-1 and influenza virus. Several clinical trials were performed to analyze
the effects of herbal plants extracts against the SARS-CoV-1 and influenza virus.
Mostly studies are based on herbal plants extract combinations or the TCM
(traditional Chinese formulas). Herbal plants have many active compounds that
are used for treating countless diseases and the source for many drug discovery
such as anti-fungal drug derived from Thymus vulgaris, artemisinin an
antimalarial drug derived from Artemisia annua, lovastatin ,etc.

A research study confirm that glycyrrhizin ,an active compound (derived from
licorice roots ) ,shows an anti-SARS-CoV effect by inhibiting the viral replication.
Another active compound, glycyrrhizin ,which is derived from the Glycyrrhiza
glabra plant, also poses the anti -viral activity when tested in vitro against SARS-
CoV, ten different clinical strains. The same results were also observed when
baicalin, a compound derived from the Baikal skullcap plant also displayed the
anti-viral activity against SARS-COV . It also inhibits the HIV-1 virus replication in
vitro testing. Other herbal plants that pose the anti-viral activity against SARS
coronavirus are the Eucalyptus tree ,Japanese honeysuckle, and Korean ginseng,
also known as Panax ginseng . The plant extracts of ginseng garlic, ginger,
Eucalyptus, tea tree , Tianmingjing , Machixian, fish maint, Chinese mahogany
cape jasmine, and their active compounds exhibit anti-viral activity against the
influenza virus. (Table.1)
SARS-CoV : Severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus
TGEV : Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus

6.2 CHINESE HERBAL DRUG

A Chinese herbal formulation known as Lianhua-Qingwen is found anti-

inflammatory and inhibitory against SARS-CoV-2. It consists of 11 medicinal
plants such as Armeniacae Semen Amarum, Forsythia Fructus, Ephedrae Herba,
Dryopteris Crassirhizomatis Rhizoma , Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, Isatidis Radix,
Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Houttuyniae Herba, Pogostemonis Herba,
Rhodiolae Crenulatae Radix et Rhizoma and Rhei Radix & Rhizoma along with a
mineral medicine Gypsum Fibrosum and menthol) anti-inflammatory and
inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2. This Chinese herbal formulation is mainly
used to treat infections like influenza, fever, cough, bronchitis, sneezing, muscle
ache ,and fatigue. In the USA, Lianhua-Qingwen drug undergoes for clinical
testing. Chinese government was also recommended Lianhua-Qingwen drug for
the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The experimental results show that
this herbal composition in a dose-dependent manner effectively inhibits the
SARS-CoV-2 replication and also suppresses the pro-inflammatory cytokines
release like Il-6 and TNF-𝛼. This result become more important, as in case of
COVID-19 infection, an increase in cytokine was observed.

6.3 CURRENT WORLD SCENARIO

The adverse effect of COVID-19 on the health of the humans was worldwide.
The data was noted by WHO on 7th November 2020 which depict the current
world scenario (Table.2).

Table.2: Data showing the current scenario of some COVID-19 hotspot countries.

6.4 PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Till then, there was no clinical proven treatment drug which are available in the
market for COVID suffering patients, so participants in the gathering were
restricted. According to WHO and ICMR guidelines, social distancing, avoiding
the gathering, home isolation and home quarantine if any symptoms were
visualized was recommended. (Fig.3)
7. CONCLUSION

The outbreak of COVID-19 was a global threat to humanity. In this report, the
information regarding the COVID-19, history, its symptoms, diagnostic method,
management of COVID-19, and current world scenario has been summarized.
This review provides information and obvious evidence regarding the use of
anti- viral herbal plant and their compounds as a preventive agent against
SARS-CoV-
2. It also describes about the preventing measures and suggest us to work on
the formula of “prevention is better than cure”. The Herbal plants in single and
combination can serve as an alternative preventive therapy against SARS-CoV-2.
But, before recommending these alternatives to COVID-19 patients there is a
need of proper experiments, clinical trials and proven results.
8. FUTURE PROSPECTIVE

In these few years, COVID-19 pandemic has destroyed many peoples life. People
suffering from COVID-19, may able to overcome from the disease but with
weakened body or they may also die. The world had survived a lot in these few
years. The solution for this problem is only a better health care facilities with
some carefulness. The research has given many drugs and vaccines which is now
used for saving many lives. The Herbal remedies also shows great results against
coronavirus. Some medicinal plants like Withania somnifera (Asvagandha)
Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi), etc are also recommended by WHO at the time
of COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese herbal formulation, Lianhua-Qingwen also
found inhibitory against SARS-CoV-2. Not only these organizations recommend
and research based plants are found beneficial but also the traditionally used
species and herbs like Ocimum tenuiflorum (tulsi), Piper nigrum (kalimirch),
Cinnamomum verum (dalchinni), etc. are found helpful in recovering from
COVID-
19. These all results provide enough evidence that the research on herbal plants
will be make us future ready, for not only COVID-19 but many other diseases
too.
 REFERENCES

Websites
1. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/DevendraSingh-69
2. https://www.fda.gov
3. https://www.nhp.gov.in