Coronavirus outbreak: Is there any treatment available?

The new strain of coronavirus originated in China's Wuhan city and continues to spread in different parts of the world with no signs of slowing down. The fatal disease with pneumonia-like symptoms has till now claimed 425 live in mainland China and more than 20, 000 cases of infections have been reported in different countries, including India, US, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and United Kingdom.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global emergency as the outbreak continues to spread outside the Chinese border.There is a lot of panic and misinformation related to this deadly disease among the masses, but the major confusion is that is there any way to treat this disease and prevent the outbreak of the virus?
Is there any treatment available?
Till now there is no vaccine available to prevent 2019-nCoV infection. But a few biotech companies have claimed that the symptoms of the disease can be treated with existing antiviral medications.
A biopharmaceutical firm, Gilead Sciences has recently said that they are working with Chinese health authorities to see if their drug called Remdesivir can combat the symptoms of the new strains of coronavirus. The company claims that the drug helped to treat MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome), the two viruses similar to 2019-nCoV. Moreover, it was used for emergency treatment of patients infected with Ebola.
Another biotech company AbbVie (ABBV) has also released a statement in which they have promised to treat the symptoms of deadly Wuhan's Coronavirus with a mixture of two of its HIV medications and Tamiflu. Other Big Pharma companies like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are also working on coronavirus vaccines.
On the other hand, a group of Thai doctors has also claimed to found a cure for the fatal novel coronavirus by administrating HIV drugs. Officials in Thailand on Monday confirmed that they have used a combination of HIV and flu drug on a second patient with the symptoms of coronovirus. They combined the anti-flu drug oseltamivir with lopinavir and ritonavir.
The doctors first treated a 71-year-old woman with a cocktail of anti-virals drugs. The officials confirmed that the patient showed drastic improvement in just 48 hours. According to inputs from AFP, the woman showed symptoms like exhaustion, tiredness and flu. But after the treatment, she was able to rest and sit up properly. However, they are still waiting for the success of the treatment for the second patient.
What you can do?
As there is no effective vaccine or medication available to prevent infection of the disease, it is recommended to avoid being exposed to the virus. Here are a few things you can do to keep yourself safe:
-Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
-You can also use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 per cent alcohol to clean your hands.
-Do not touch your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
-Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Cover your mouth with a tissue while coughing or sneezing.
-If you witness any symptoms of the virus immediately seek medical help.