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A new strain of coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was first detected in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China in late December 2019. To date, more than 1 million deaths and nearly 57 million confirmed cases have been recorded across 220 countries due to COVID-19, which is the greatest threat to global public health in our time. Although SARS-CoV-2 is genetically similar to other coronaviruses, i.e., SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), no confirmed therapeutics are yet available against COVID-19, and governments, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies worldwide are working together in search for effective drugs and vaccines. Repurposing of relevant therapies, developing vaccines, and using bioinformatics to identify potential drug targets are strongly in focus to combat COVID-19. This review deals with the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and its clinical symptoms in humans including the most recent updates on candidate drugs and vaccines. Potential drugs (remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, dexamethasone) and vaccines [mRNA-1273; measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG)] in human clinical trials are discussed with their composition, dosage, mode of action, and possible release dates according to the trial register of US National Library of Medicines (clinicaltrials.gov), European Union (clinicaltrialsregister.eu), and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (chictr.org.cn) website. Moreover, recent reports on in silico approaches like molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, network-based identification, and homology modeling are included, toward repurposing strategies for the use of already approved drugs against newly emerged pathogens. Limitations of effectiveness, side effects, and safety issues of each approach are also highlighted. This review should be useful for the researchers working to find out an effective strategy for defeating SARS-CoV-2.

The present study was carried out in the northeastern part of Bangladesh to investigate organochlorine pesticide (OCP) residues in and microbiological quality of dried barb (Puntius sophore). Samples were collected from both producers and retailers from December 2016 to April 2017. A control sample was also prepared in the laboratory with the same raw fish used by the producers to compare the results. Gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD) was used to detect and quantify OCP residues. Six samples out of 27 (about 22%) were found to be contaminated with OCP residues. Among these six adulterated samples, four were from retailers and two from producers. Only aldrin was detected in four samples, and in the other two samples both aldrin + dieldrin and aldrin + endrin were detected. Aldrin was found in quantities between 0.332 and 0.967 ppm, dieldrin 0.762 ppm, and endrin 0.828 ppm. All these values were much higher than the maximum residual limit (MRL) of 0.1 ppm. Total plate count (TPC) of producer samples ranged from 5.3 &plusmn, 0.02 log cfu g&minus, 1 to 5.4 &plusmn, 0.03 log cfu g&minus, 1 and 6.2 &plusmn, 1 to 6.4 &plusmn, 1 for retailer samples and 5.0 &plusmn, 1 to 5.2 &plusmn, 0.04 log cfu g&minus, 1 for control samples. Fungal count ranged from 3.2 &plusmn, 1 to 3.5 &plusmn, 1, 3.4 &plusmn, 1 to 3.6 &plusmn, 1, and 2.2 &plusmn, 0.05 log cfu g&minus, 1 to 2.5 &plusmn, 1 for producer, retailer, and control samples, respectively. All the producer and retailer samples and one-third of the control samples were found to be contaminated with Escherichia coli, whereas Salmonella spp. were detected in amounts of 13.3% in producer samples and 20% in retailer samples and none in the control. In case of Vibrio spp., maximum count was found in retailer samples (13.3%), whereas producer and control samples showed none. The findings of the present study show that the presence of pesticides and poor microbiological quality of dried barb are alarming for consumers in Bangladesh and might cause prolonged disease and impending longstanding risk to human health.