Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Envisaging capacity building in the field of research to accomplish effective control

Abstract

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a sense of fear and raised major concerns over the preparedness of the national public health authorities to respond to infectious disease outbreaks. Even though, a lot of dimensions pertaining to the disease prevention, control and treatment need to be strengthened to mount an effective response plan against the novel infection, it is extremely essential to invest and make rapid progress in the research and development field to enhance our understanding about the disease. In-fact, multiple number of such projects have been funded in China to gain significant insights about the genomics of the causative virus, antiviral drugs, utility of traditional Chinese therapy, clinical trials, potential vaccines, better diagnostic tools and various animal models. In conclusion, in the global battle against the novel COVID 19 outbreak, the domain of research and development for coming out with better diagnostic tools, potential therapeutic agents, and vaccines need to be strengthened immensely. It is worth realizing that any advancements made in this regard will shape the way the infection will be tackled in the coming days.