Medicinal and aromatic plants: A potential source of novel bioactive compounds showing antiviral efficacy against coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)

COVID-19 outbreak is a common respiratory tract infection in humans primarily caused by a new type of virus SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) started in 2019 and spread quickly within the whole world. A total of 43 medicinal and aromatic plants had been observed to effective against SARS-CoV-2. These medicinal plants were found to contains some phytochemicals in their plant parts like leaves, roots, fruits and seeds. The major bioactive molecules with high medicinal values were alkaloids, phenolic compounds, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, lignans, coumarins could be the potential source of novel antiviral drugs to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 Ecological Society of India. All rights reserved.