Phytochemicals Effective against COVID-19 and Future Perspective

Novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is the deadliest form of coronavirus, which has caused pandemics across the world. According to a recent survey of the World Health Organization (WHO), by August 8, 2020, shows around 19187943 cases and 716075 deaths from this virus globally. In addition to the shortage of effective drugs and vaccines, the outbreak of COVID-19 triggered by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) prompted the medical community to scramble for new antiviral formulations. Mankind utilizes the plants' origin medicines from ancient to treat and cure various diseases. They are the best possible tools to tackle the disease as they have the lowest possible side effects compared to other forms of drugs available and in use to treat the diseases. Several phytochemicals extracted from plants could provide a baseline for research into plant extracts in treating and preventing coronavirus. The present chapter aims to summarize phytochemicals' effectiveness against COVID-19.

Keywords: Antiviral, COVID-19, Inhibition mechanism, Phytochemicals, Phytoextracts activity.