Need and Possibilities of Phytocompounds against SARS-CoV-2: Recent Advances in COVID-19 Therapy

Efforts have been made during the past two years to find out novel and effective drugs against SARS-CoV-2. Plants have become a source for the development of novel and improved medications against viruses due to the advancement of biomedical technologies and pharmacological evaluations. Phytocompounds including flavonoids, phenolics, alkaloids, lignans, terpenoids and tannins have been demonstrated to have antiviral properties, particularly against SARS CoV-2. The present review discusses information on the potential antiviral traditional medicines, medicinally important plants, their extracts and the specific bioactive compounds present in such plants along with their mode of action. It also gives an insight regarding the limitations in exploring medicinal plants for phytocompound antimicrobial drug discovery, and suggests novel and prospective strategies considering the fact that they are naturally occurring and relatively less harmful with a view to combating the present pandemic and the ones that may happen in the future.