The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 of COVID-19

Authors

Michael Oluyemi Babalola Ph.D, Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Molecular Virology and Special Pathogens Research, Department of Microbiology, Adekunle Ajasin University, PMB 001, Akungba Akoko, Ondo state, Nigeria.Follow

Funder

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Abstract

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 is the etiologic agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a highly contagious, emergent, acute, viral pneumonia that emanated sporadically in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. COVID-19 became a pandemic in February 2020, leading to 4,942,687 confirmed cases and over 321,987 deaths and grounding several economies around the world as of May 2020. Although global researchers, epidemiologists, virologists, and medical professionals rose steadily to contain the disease, in-depth knowledge of the virus and concerted efforts to combat it are still evolving. This research sought to elucidate the biological Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to SARS-CoV-2, with a view to understanding and devising holistic strategies to combat, mitigate, and overcome the scourge of COVID-19.

Methods: This narrative review utilized PubMed, Google, the Directory of Open Access Journals, ProMed, and other databases to search for and finally select 98 publications on coronaviruses, 2019-nCoV, and COVID-19 disease, using text word searches to generate the specific search terms. Relevant publications were reviewed and compared; findings were synthesized using a narrative method and presented qualitatively.

Results: Some identified Strengths of SARS-CoV-2 include: the virus has the ability to effectively cross the species barrier and establish productive infection in humans; SARS-CoV-2 is a new strain of coronavirus; three virulence factors (Nsp1, Nsp3c and ORF7a) interfere with the host’s innate immunity and immune escape; ORF8 and ORF10 proteins are uniquely associated with SARS-CoV-2; the genetic fitness of the spike protein facilitates attachment and fusion; a polybasic cleavage site exists in the genome; SARS-CoV-2 has a short serial interval of 4.0 days; the virus has the ability to resurge and enter into regular circulation after the initial pandemic wave. The Weaknesses include: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the sole receptor for SARS-CoV-2; host protease processing during viral entry is a significant barrier for several lineage -coronaviruses; SARS-CoV-2 critically requires porphyrin to inhibit human heme metabolism. The Opportunities harnessed by SARS-CoV-2 include: host cellular receptors for SARS-CoV-2 infection are expressed by several important organs in the human body; ease of travel, globalization, and aviation are potential avenues for global spread; underlying illnesses, older age, male gender, smoking, and immunosuppression increase vulnerability; knowledge is still evolving on the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2; there is potential for silent transmission via blood and blood products; there is no approved COVID-19 vaccine; the virus is associated with a confounding pattern of signs and symptoms, as well a disproportionate “cytokine storm” or damaging evolution of effective defenses. The Threats to SARS-CoV-2 include: prohibition of mass gatherings; prompt hospitalization, isolation, and quarantining of infected individuals; repurposing proven antimalarial/antiviral/anti-inflammatory drugs; deployment of rapid laboratory equipment and procedures for prompt detection; potential antiviral activities of coagulation factors Xa and IIa (thrombin) and convalescent plasma; elucidation of the genome sequences; and global COVID-19 research funding.

Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 capitalizes on its biological strengths, conserves its weaknesses, and exploits the host opportunities to decimate human populations. For interventions to overcome the virus and end the COVID-19 pandemic, research scientists, academia, funders, industry, healthcare professionals, and the citizenry should scale up all promising research by strategically focusing on decreasing the Strengths and Opportunities, while capitalizing on the Weaknesses of and Threats to the virus.

DOI

10.18297/jri/vol4/iss1/45

Erratum

This erratum corrects the following: Bablola MO. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 of COVID-19. Univ Louisville J Respir Infect 2021; 4(1):Article 45. doi: 10.18297/jri/vol4/iss1/45. The following changes were made to this article on January 24, 2022: - Appropriate attribution added to Figure 1 "Morphology of SARS-CoV-2" in accordance with the Creative Commons license 4.0. - Original figure 2 "Genomic organization of SARS-CoV-2" removed as the appropriate permissions had not been obtained. - Appropriate attribution added to original figure 4 "Transmission cycle of SARS-CoV-2" in accordance with the Creative Commons license 4.0. - Original figure 5 "Conjuctiva infection by SARS-CoV-2" removed. This image does not depict SARS-CoV-2-induced conjuctiva infeciton as stated. - Original figure 6 "3D atomic scale map or molecular structure of the SARS-CoV-2 'spike' protein" removed as the appropriate permissions had not been obtained. - All references to systematic review and compliance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) have been removed since this article does not meet the criteria for a systematic review. We apologize for these errors.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Babalola, Michael Oluyemi Ph.D (2020) "The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 of COVID-19," The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 45.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18297/jri/vol4/iss1/45
Available at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jri/vol4/iss1/45