**1. Introduction**

The emergence of the novel coronavirus, which started in the last quarter of 2019 in Wuhan (China), and its rapid spread around the world, have caused a pandemic of global concern and impact [1]. The virus was first termed 2019-nCOV, and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses subsequently named it "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2" (SARS-CoV-2).

The novel coronavirus has a presumptive zoonotic origin [2]. According to the Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO), the 2019-nCOV was declared a public health

emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 [3]. The WHO named the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 "COVID-19". As yet, effective treatment against SARS-CoV-2 is absent.
