Yoga As a Potential Intervention for Preventing Cardiac Complications in COVID-19: Augmenting Immuno-Modulation and Bolstering Mental Health

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a highly contagious viral disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in 2019 [1, 2], it quickly attained pandemic status, affected more than 30 million people and caused more than 950,000 deaths worldwide as of late September 2020 [3]. Given the novelty of the disease and the lack of immediate treatments or vaccines, early protective measures to prevent extensive spread of infection have been limited to quickly accessible ploys, such as social distancing, hand washing, wearing of facial coverings, and the “lockdown” of businesses considered to be nonessential to ongoing daily living. Months into the pandemic, these lockdowns have been relaxed in varying degrees across the globe because of their deleterious economic effects, but many experts argue that easing social restrictions has contributed to spikes in the number of cases.