RESPONSE STRATEGIES TO COVID-19 CASES OR OUTBREAK AND MANAGEMENT (original) (raw)

As of 3rd June 2022, World Health Organization (WHO) reports 528,816,317 confirmed cases and 6,294,969 deaths since the onset of the pandemic.1 Although these numbers are declining due to the introduction of various vaccines and prevention strategies, the health care system of every economy is still bearing the brunt of this global health crisis. The worldwide pandemic followed and originated in Wuhan, China, in 2019(4). (4) WHO later renamed SARS CoV-2 to Covid 19 virus in February 2022 when the numerous strains emerged as communicable and highly pathogenic in humans. (2) Although a member of the Coronavirus family caused a global pandemic in 2020, the discovery of this group of viruses dates back to the 1960s. (1) The start of the 21st century came with the emergence of the two notable coronaviruses; Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS- CoV).(2) Coronavirus was formerly believed to be a benign infection that was thought to cause mild disease in immunocompetent humans.(3) This was until 2002 and 2003 in Guangdong province, China, when there was an outbreak of SARS-CoV.(3) Ten years after the SARS-CoV outbreak, there was a widespread infection of MERS-CoV ravaging especially middle eastern countries. Although human pathogenic corona virus strains have an established zoonotic origin (6), no research has proven a specific animal as its first source. (2) However, many studies show considerable evidence that the origins of the Coronavirus have a strong link to bats. Even though the aforementioned syndromes affect the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems predominantly, their pathophysiology follows different courses. The receptors they bind to are one of the many notable differences in their pathophysiology. (7) The virus's acute and rapidly fatal progression made it of great concern worldwide. (8) The progressively rising rate of infection made its relative risk quite significant. (6) Its ability to spread between species and cause different disease manifestations also made it particularly challenging to control under a limited time. (9) This is alongside the active mutations resulting in various highly pathogenic strains (10) one of which is the novel omicron variant. By far of all these factors, the rapid human to human transmission warranted a global state of emergency to have the pandemic contained. The disease burden put a huge strain on the health care system globally. While most high-income countries immediately invested in establishing prevention and management strategies, the resources were sorely lacking in low -income countries. is highlighted the deficiency of the health care system in third world countries as there was a large dependence on international donations. This review focuses on the response strategies available for a coronavirus outbreak. We also explore the preventive and management options currently available.