Medicinal Plants with Potential Inhibitory Bioactive Compounds against Coronaviruses

Medicinal plant is a major source of drug discovery for disease management. Over 85% of thepopulation in Asia and in the Middle East use herbal medicine for disease management such assevere acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused by coronavirus. Infection from coronavirus isinitiated by entry of the virus into a susceptible host cell. The two human coronaviruses of publichealth importance two decades ago were SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndromecoronavirus (MERS-CoV) and now SARS-CoV-2. These three viruses belong to the same classof beta coronavirus and are somewhat similar in genome sequencing, life cycle, mode of entryinto a host, mode of transmission and clinical manifestations. This review identified twentymedicinal plants with potential inhibitory bioactive compounds from natural sources that areactive against coronaviruses that could be developed into various drug delivery systems. Italso highlighted several evidences to show that medicinal plant used in the treatment of SARSCoVmay offer some sort of relief from the burden of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)pandemic. Since there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 yet, the search for medicinalplants with inhibitory bioactive compounds against coronavirus could be the long awaitedbreakthrough scientists have been searching to change the narratives of COVID-19 pandemic.