COVID-19: Impact on health of people & wealth of nations.

The prophetic warning by the Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg[[1]] that "the microbe that felled one child in a distant continent can reach yours today and seed a global pandemic tomorrow" has once again proved its relevance with the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as the latest pandemic that is affecting human health and economy across the world. The past three decades have seen emergence of almost 40 new pathogens, most of which are viruses including HIV, hepatitis C virus and coronaviruses that have caused pandemics, novel-influenza viruses, etc[[11]]. Both World Trade Organization (WTO) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have indicated COVID-19 pandemic as the biggest threat to global economy since the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges. [Extracted from the article]