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The novel pathogenic virus was discovered in Wuhan, China (December 2019), and quickly spread throughout the world. Further analysis revealed that the pathogenic strain of virus was corona but it was distinct from other coronavirus strains, and thus it was renamed 2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2. This coronavirus shares many characteristics with other coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The clinical manifestations raised in the form of a cytokine storm trigger a complicated spectrum of pathophysiological changes that include cardiovascular, kidney, and liver problems. The lack of an effective treatment strategy has imposed a health and socio-economic burden. Even though the mortality rate of patients with this disease is lower, since it is judged to be the most contagious, it is considered more lethal. Globally, the researchers are continuously engaged to develop and identify possible preventive and therapeutic regimens for the management of disease. Notably, to combat SARS-CoV-2, various vaccine types have been developed and are currently being tested in clinical trials; these have also been used as a health emergency during a pandemic. Despite this, many old antiviral and other drugs (such as chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine, corticosteroids, and so on) are still used in various countries as emergency medicine. Plant-based products have been reported to be safe as alternative options for several infectious and non-infectious diseases, as many of them showed chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects in the case of tuberculosis, cancer, malaria, diabetes, cardiac problems, and others. Therefore, plant-derived products may play crucial roles in improving health for a variety of ailments by providing a variety of effective cures. Due to current therapeutic repurposing efforts against this newly discovered virus, we attempted to outline many plant-based compounds in this review to aid in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.

The purpose of this study was to assess the Saudi population’s perceptions about the use of herbal products to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 infection in Saudi Arabia. Here, 803 subjects participated in the online survey, which was cross-sectional in nature and self-administrated. The study included all Saudi Arabian adults, whereas pregnant women were excluded. Participants who decided to participate in the study filled out the questionnaire completed by 803 people. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, most participants were aware of alternative and complementary medicines, whereas 60.1 % obtained their knowledge from social media sites. Prior to online shops/pharmacies and homemade remedies, the traditional apothecary was the most common source for alternative and complementary medicines. About 56 % of participants (p<0.05) did not believe that the complementary and alternative therapies could prevent or treat coronavirus disease 2019 infection, whereas 53.9 % of them considered safe. Only 22 % of those who took part in the survey agreed that alternative and complementary therapies could successfully combat coronavirus disease 2019 and could be used as a substitute for vaccines. Finally, our study found that during coronavirus disease 2019, medicinal plants and other complementary and alternative therapies were used and considered to be more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]