Abstract

There have been over seven million cases and almost 413 372 deaths globally due to the novel coronavirus (2019‐nCoV) associated disease COVID‐19, as of 11 June 2020. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that there is a common source for these infections. The overall sequence similarities between the spike protein of 2019‐nCoV and that of SARS‐CoV are known to be around 76% to 78% and 73% to 76% for the whole protein and receptor‐binding domain (RBD), respectively. Thus, they have the potential to serve as the drug and/or vaccine candidate. However, the individual response against 2019‐nCoV differs due to genetic variations in the human population. Understanding the variations in angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) that may affect the severity of 2019‐nCoV infection could help in identifying individuals at a higher risk from the COVID‐19. A number of potential drugs/vaccines as well as antibody/cytokine‐based therapeutics are in various developmental stages of preclinical/clinical trials against SARS‐CoV, MERS‐CoV, and 2019‐nCoV with substantial cross‐reactivity, and may be used against COVID‐19. For diagnosis, the reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction is the gold standard test for initial diagnosis of COVID‐19. A kit based on serological tests are also recommended for investigating the spread of COVID‐19 but this is challenging due to the antibodies cross‐reactivity. This review comprehensively summarizes the recent reports available regarding the host‐pathogen interaction, morphological and genomic structure of the virus, and the diagnostic techniques as well as the available potential therapeutics against COVID‐19.