Clinical Characteristics, Diagnosis, and Therapeutics of COVID-19: A Review

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that suddenly emerged at the end of December 2019 and caused coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to afflict humanity, not only seriously affecting healthcare systems but also leading to global social and economic imbalances. As of August 2022, there were approximately 580 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and approximately 6.4 million confirmed deaths due to this disease. The data are sufficient to highlight the seriousness of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Although most patients with COVID-19 present primarily with respiratory symptoms, an increasing number of extrapulmonary systemic symptoms and manifestations have been associated with COVID-19. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, much has been learned about the disease and its causative agent. Therefore, great effort has been aimed at developing treatments and drug interventions to treat and reduce the incidence of COVID-19. In this narrative review, we provide a brief overview of the epidemiology, mechanisms, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and therapeutics of COVID-19.