The COVID-19 outburst was officially declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. Worldwide, COVID-19 has put many people's health at risk and has caused an enormous economic crisis.
While writing this diploma work, an efficient means of fighting the SARS-CoV-2 has not been developed yet, which is why replacement methods for controlling the spread of the disease had to be found. In order to prevent the virus from spreading, several precautionary measures had to be taken, such as quarantining, preventive hand washing, using disinfectants, and wearing protective face masks. In this diploma work, I focused only on researching the impact of zinc and vitamins A, C, and D on COVID-19. I found out that zinc ions, combined with ionophores, can stop the virus replication in the host cell by inhibiting the activity of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of the virus. The respiratory tract is sensitive to vitamin A deficiency, therefore it is important to maintain a sufficiently high concentration of zinc in our bodies, as it aids the absorption of vitamin A. Vitamins A, C, and D play a significant role in the workings of our immune system and reduce the possibility of viral infection or help make its medical treatment easier.
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