Challenges
It is the first time for the COVID-19 to infect humans and can be transmitted from person to person [6]. The incubation period can be 2 weeks [7] and even longer. Besides, the virus can spread during the incubation period or recessive infection, which makes it difficult to identify those suspected cases without clinical symptoms for prompt control. By far, the numbers of new infections and deaths have already exceeded the equivalent numbers of cases with SARS. If the situation cannot be fully controlled in Wuhan and Hubei province, the situation may deteriorate in other places of China and the world. The government of all levels have been taking strong leadership to combat the outbreak and in recent days there is a decline trend of new cases. However, some challenges still remain and need to be addressed: The large number of confirmed and suspected cases in Wuhan make people staying with them in high risk of getting infected because of the contagiousness of the new virus [8]. This is specially the case for medical professionals. By February 11, 2020, 1716 medical personnel have been infected and six of them died from all over China. Moreover, it is very difficult to identify those people without obvious symptoms, making their families in high risk of getting infected.
Hospitals have drastically constrained other services to meet the hospitalization needs of the outbreak in Wuhan. At the early stage, with more people getting infected and less of them recovered, medical facilities, personnel and protective supplies were increasingly insufficient. In many cases, patients cannot be quarantined and treated in time, and many medical staff cannot get fully protected. More efficient logistic services are expected to deliver donated materials from both China and the international society to medical professionals and communities. However, these are all operating problems and the situation has much alleviated with the strong leadership of government of all levels.
Effective drugs have yet to be developed to treat the COVID-19. Temporarily, Lopinavir/Ritonavir, Nucleoside analogues (e.g. ribavirin), Neuraminidase inhibitors (e.g. oseltamivir), Remdesivir, abidol hydrochloride, RNA synthesis inhibitors (such as Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, TDF), anti-inflammatory drugs (such as hormones and other molecules), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such Shu Feng Jie Du Capsules and Lian Hua Qing Wen Capsule, are being used as treatment options for COVID-19, but their efficacy and safety of these drugs are yet to be clinically observed in treatments [9]. Besides, chloroquine phosphate has recently been recommended by the clinical diagnostics solution (6th edition) released by the National Health Commission of China.