Focused Role of Nanoparticles Against COVID-19: Diagnosis and Treatment

Dheyab, Mohammed Ali; Khaniabadi, Pegah Moradi; Aziz, Azlan Abdul; Jameel, Mahmood S; Mehrdel, Baharak; Oglat, Ammar A.; Khaleel, Hawraa Ali

The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)) has witnessed a rapid and global proliferation since its early identification in patients with severe pneumonia in Wuhan, China. As of 27th May 2020, 2019-nCoV cases have risen to >5 million, with confirmed deaths of 350,000. However, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) diagnostic and treatment measures are yet to be fully unraveled, given the novelty of this particular coronavirus. Hence, no drug or vaccine has been adapted for treatment, and the accuracy of the current diagnostic tests is debatable. Therefore, existing antiviral agents used for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) were repurposed for COVID-19, taking their biological features into consideration. This study provides a concise review of the current and emerging detection and supervision technologies for SARS-CoV-2, which is the viral etiology of COVID19, and their performance characteristics, with emphasis on the novel Nano-based diagnostic tests (protein corona sensor array and magnetic levitation) and treatment measures (treatment protocols based on nano-silver colloids) for COVID-19.