Novel coronavirus (COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2), which suddenly emerged in December 2019 is still haunting the entire human race and has affected not only the healthcare system but also the global socioeconomic balances. COVID-19 was quickly designated as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization as there have been about 98.0 million confirmed cases and about 2.0 million confirmed deaths, as of January 2021. Although, our understanding of COVID-19 has significantly increased since its outbreak, and multiple treatment approaches and pharmacological interventions have been tested or are currently under development to mitigate its risk-factors. Recently, some vaccine candidates showed around 95% clinical efficacy, and now receiving emergency use approvals in different countries. US FDA recently approved BNT162 and mRNA-1273 vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Inc. for emergency use and vaccination in the USA. In this review, we present a succinct overview of the SARS-CoV-2 virus structure, molecular mechanisms of infection, COVID-19 epidemiology, diagnosis, and clinical manifestations. We also systematize different treatment strategies and clinical trials initiated after the pandemic outbreak, based on viral infection and replication mechanisms. Additionally, we reviewed the novel pharmacological intervention approaches and vaccine development strategies against COVID-19. We speculate that the current pandemic emergency will trigger detailed studies of coronaviruses, their mechanism of infection, development of systematic drug repurposing approaches, and novel drug discoveries for current and future pandemic outbreaks.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19：特征和治疗方法

2019年12月突然出现的新型冠状病毒（COVID-19或2019-nCoV或SARS-CoV-2）仍然困扰着整个人类，不仅影响了医疗保健系统，还影响了全球社会经济平衡。截至 2021 年 1 月，COVID-19 已被世界卫生组织认定为全球大流行病，已有约 9800 万例确诊病例和约 200 万人确诊死亡。尽管如此，自 COVID-19 爆发以来，我们对它的了解已显着增加，多种治疗方法和药物干预措施已经过测试或目前正在开发中，以减轻其风险因素。最近，一些候选疫苗显示出约95%的临床疗效，现已在不同国家获得紧急使用批准。美国FDA最近批准辉瑞/BioNTech和Moderna Inc.开发的BNT162和mRNA-1273疫苗在美国紧急使用和接种。在这篇综述中，我们对 SARS-CoV-2 病毒结构、感染的分子机制、COVID-19 流行病学、诊断和临床表现进行了简要概述。我们还根据病毒感染和复制机制，将大流行爆发后启动的不同治疗策略和临床试验系统化。此外，我们还回顾了针对 COVID-19 的新型药物干预方法和疫苗开发策略。我们推测，当前的大流行紧急情况将引发对冠状病毒及其感染机制的详细研究，开发系统性药物再利用方法，以及针对当前和未来大流行爆发的新药物发现。