Potential Therapeutics Pathways in Solving the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tafirenyika Mafugu

A chapter in Biotechnology to Combat COVID-19 from IntechOpen

Abstract: Millions of lives throughout the globe are under threat due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 causes severe respiratory tract infections. In most countries COVID-19 Infections and deaths continue to soar despite the various measures put in place by the World Health Organization. These measures include limited mobility through lock down and banning international travelers. Furthermore, social distancing, wearing masks, frequent hand washing with soap and sanitizing were undertaken to slow down the rate of the virus spread. Only few countries like South Korea have been able to contain the virus to date. Our only hope is in biotechnology which have been used to develop diagnostic kits and more recently approved vaccines: vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna; AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine; Sputnik V vaccine; Sinopharm and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products vaccine. However, the vaccines are yet to reach the majority of the world population. Hence, there is need for concerted effort among governments and non-governmental organizations in all nations to develop the necessary infrastructures to step up vaccine production, and procurement as well as vaccination programmes. There is need for continued effort in biotechnology, to develop COVID-19 therapeutic drugs.

Keywords: COVID-19; social distancing; pandemic; diagnostic kits; prevention; biotechnology; vaccines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ito:pchaps:231090

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.96283

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