Display omitted •SARS-CoV-2 urged at end of 2019 as the causative of (COVID-19) causing a worldwide dissemination of the disease.•Its pathophysiology is complex with the involvement of a diversity of systems and can evolve to death.•Among the various systems involved in the disease, the renin-angiotensin (RAS) and kallikrein-kinin (KKS) systems stand out.•Here we described RAS and KKS in COVID-19 suggesting their importance in the evolution of the disease.•Some possibilities for drug repositioning in treating COVID-19 is also discussed. In November 2019 the first cases of a novel acute respiratory syndrome has been reported in Wuhan province, China. Soon after, in January 2020 the World Health Organization declared a pandemic state due to the dissemination of a virus named SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Being an unknown disease, it is essential to assess not only its main characteristic features and overall clinical symptomatology but also its patient infection mode and propagation to design appropriate clinical interventions and treatments. In this review the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection and how the virus enters the cells and activates the immune system are described. The role of three systems involved in the SARS- CoV-2 infection (renin-angiotensin, kinin and coagulation systems) is discussed with the objectives to identify and try to explain several of the events observed during the evolution of the disease and to suggest possible targets for therapeutic interventions.