Narrow Results

This paper highlights on the coronavirus outbreak caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). At the time of writing this paper, there has been over 6 million confirmed cases worldwide. It is a person–person transmittable infection but there have been cases of asymptomatic carriers. Hence, development of an effective biosensing diagnostic tool can curb its rapid transmission rate. The first part of the paper highlights on the SARS-CoV-2 structure and its resemblance to SARS-CoV. The second part of the paper analyzes on the potential application of gold and silver nanoparticles to generate a red shift that had enhanced the calorimetric property of the MERS-CoV analysis due to transition in its optical property. Other electrochemical techniques that utilized the application of gold nanoparticles are also reviewed. Gold and silver nanoparticles (AuNP and Ag NP) can accelerate the sensitivity upon electrodeposition on the diagnostic tool.

The potent antiviral action of metal silver (Ag) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) against viral infections has been demonstrated. The anti-viral activities of AgNP on Respiratory syncytial virus, Influenza virus, Norovirus, Hepatitis B virus, Human immunodeficiency virus and recently SARS-CoV-2 have been studied. Here, in this mini review, we summarize the anti-viral activity of AgNPs and further highlight their potential against SARS-CoV-2, which is expected to contribute to the control of COVID-19 epidemic.