The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic:

Regina  Appiah-Opong

doi:10.46829/hsijournal.2020.6.1.1.3-4

Prof. Regina Appiah-Opong Department of Clinical Pathology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46829/hsijournal.2020.6.1.1.3-4

Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 is a disease that is caused by a pathogen known as coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Coronaviruses belong to a superfamily of viruses which infect both humans and animals. These viruses are positive-stranded RNA viruses that are enveloped and replicate in the cytoplasm. Their envelope fuses with the host cell membrane and then the nucleocapsid is delivered into the host. Spike glycoproteins mediate the virus entry into the host as a necessary stage for tropism as well as pathogenesis.