An updated estimation of the risk of transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov)

Tang, Biao; Bragazzi, Nicola Luigi; Li, Qian; Tang, Sanyi; Xiao, Yanni; Wu, Jianhong

Currently, there exist no vaccines or anti-viral treatments officially approved for the prevention or management of the disease. Anti-retroviral drugs belonging to the class of protease inhibitors, including Lopinavir and Ritonavir, usually utilized for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, seem to exert anti-viral effects against coronaviruses. GS-734 (Remdesivir), a nucleotide analogue pro-drug, originally developed against the Ebola and the Marburg viruses, has been recently suggested to be effective also against coronaviruses. Other potential pharmaceuticals include nucleoside analogues, neuraminidase inhibitors, and RNA synthesis inhibitors. Also, Umifenovir (Abidol), used for treating severe influenza cases, anti-inflammatory drugs and EK1 peptide have been proposed as possible drugs against coronaviruses (Lu, 2020) .