COVID-19 Researches: Where India Stands So Far?

By the end of the year 2019, in the month of November first pneumonia-like case of COVID-19 was detected in an individual aged 55 years in the Hubei Province of Central China. However the 'patient zero' or the first patient contracted with the disease is still unknown, but it is speculated that first contraction with virus occurred in Wuhan province of China. The rate by which the number of cases of the disease surged in China was remarkable and by the mid of January 2020 cases begin to appear in different parts of the world. WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the end of January 2020. Researchers from different parts of the world continue to study the pathogenesis and spread pattern of this disease. This chapter emphasizes upon some of the prominent studies in the field of COVID-19 researches from India. It also focuses upon the ACE2 gene polymorphism which has decreased the susceptibility against the virus amongst human population, and explains how at the molecular level ACE2 receptor concentration may affect the entry of the virus into the host cell. It also highlights the impact of the viral RNA on mitochondrial machinery of the host cell and how it instigates a pro-inflammatory response by declining the efficiency of immune system in whole. We also aim to highlight two potential drug candidates of COVID-19 and how these are performing against the virus according to several studies.