Emerging novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)—current scenario, evolutionary perspective based on genome analysis and recent developments

Malik, Yashpal Singh; Sircar, Shubhankar; Bhat, Sudipta; Sharun, Khan; Dhama, Kuldeep; Dadar, Maryam; Tiwari, Ruchi; Chaicumpa, Wanpen

The nCoV is the most recently emerging virus after the past episodes and panics haunted by Ebola, Zika and Nipah viruses, as well as earlier emergencies posed by Bird flu and Swine flu viruses. The emerging novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has become a global concern within a short span of time. Since its origin from Wuhan, Hubei province of China in the first week of December 2019, it has claimed 425 lives in China and infected 20630 in 24 countries including China. Additionally, new cases are emerging in different countries and three confirmed cases from India also emerged till compilation of this paper, February 4th, 2020. As of now deaths were reported only from China but now causality in Philippines reported for the first time outside China. The nCoV crisis has been declared as 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern' by WHO. The zoonotic route (animal-to-human) is suspected as the route of disease origin. Bats are considered as the natural reservoir hosts and play a crucial role in transmitting various viruses, including Ebola, Nipah, Coronavirus and others (Cui et al. 2019) . A high diversity among zoonotic Alphacoronaviruses and SARS-CoV-related Betacoronaviruses has been found in the circulating bats of Western Europe (Gouilh et al. 2018) . The genetic analyses predict bats as the most probable origin of 2019-nCoV. The diversity of CoVs in the bat population needs further investigation in details, as well as the surveillance and monitoring of bats becomes critical to prevent future outbreaks in animals and the public. The recent nCoV outbreak highlights the hidden wild animal reservoir of the deadly viruses and possible threat of spillover zoonoses. Successful virus isolation attempts have made doors open for developing better diagnostics and effective vaccines. A report emerged from China where the scientists claimed successful isolation of the 2019-nCoV virus in Vero and Huh7 cell lines from infected patients. Subsequently, in aiding the further research for designing rapid diagnostics and vaccine development for nCoV, scientists at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at Melbourne, Australia, were also successful in growing the Wuhan coronavirus in cell culture. Further research is warranted on establishing animal models for the current 2019-nCoV unrevealing viral events of replication, transmission, and pathogenesis in humans. This could provide clues for discovering effective therapeutic regimens and vaccine testing purposes