The coronavirus outbreak has been trending on social media for a while now. With all the memes and news updates, it has become something of a global bogeyman, something that concerns health professionals. On February 19, the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University organized a seminar titled ‘Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)’ in an attempt to set the records straight. Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Director, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Govt. of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh and Dr A S M Alamgir, Leading Virologist, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Govt. of the Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh spoke at the event.
Being panicked is not the solution
The first thing that scares a layman is the prevalence of images and videos of the lockdown in Wuhan, China, in an attempt to control the spread of the disease which reportedly originated there. Dhaka’s own brush with contagious diseases such as dengue and chikunguniya has shown that an outbreak of the COVID-19 here would have terrible consequences. The experts agree on this front. “The probability of epidemic becomes high if a disease transfers through human to human. COVID-19 is contagious,” said A S M Alamgir.
However, both speakers stress that there is no reason to be frightened since no novel coronavirus cases have been detected yet in Bangladesh.
“People need to free themselves from fear and take essential measures,” said IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora.
The elderly and sick are a most at risk. The percentage of death is 14.8 among the people aged over 80 whereas in children it is near zero. While talking about the fatality rate the senior scientist, A S M Alamgir said, “When a patient has other diseases, these may lead them to a critical situation. Usually 80 percent cases of can be taken care of at home, 20 percent needs to be hospitalized and three percent require intensive care.” A 39-year-old Bangladeshi who was suffering from respiratory problems, kidney problems, and pneumonia before he got infected with coronavirus, has been in the intensive care unit for the last 13 days.
What to do as precaution?
Frequently washing hands with an alcohol based hand wash or soap and covering mouth and nose with tissue or handkerchief when sneezing or coughing are the two major measures which should be maintained by people. “People should be avoiding touching their mouth or eyes with dirty hands. If there is no tissue on hand while coughing or sneezing, cover the nasal area with the elbow,” advised Dr Flora Director of IEDCR.
Dr ASM Alamgir advised to not touch any kind railing at airport, to wear masks in any public gathering for instance shopping mall, and to sanitize hand frequently.
Use of Mask
Due to huge demand after the outbreak of Coronavirus prices of masks have increased, and supplies frequently run dry.
IEDCR Principal Scientific Officer Dr ASM Alamgir said that using respirator masks to avoid coronavirus is pointless in Bangladesh as the virus is yet to reach the country.
Dr Alamgir, also the chief of the coronavirus control room of IEDCR said, “There are certain rules for using masks, and surgical masks are more than enough. Also, masks such as n95 are not for general use but usually used by doctors, nurses, pathologist etc.”
Is our airport well equipped?
A team is working at airport checking every passenger passing through the arrivals by thermal scanner in airport. “If any irregularities are shown the team works to figure out the epidemiological linkage. Any infected person will be taken under surveillance right away” said Dr ASM Alamgir.
IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora mentioned that IEDCR is providing training all through the year to combat communicable diseases and have also already trained ICU doctors and nurses of different hospitals on coronavirus.
Stop believing in rumours
Both speakers urge the public to look for facts that come from authentic sources such as WHO, IEDCR.
“During such time plenty of information comes to people through different media. People get confused about what to believe,” said Dr ASM Alamgir while urging people not to accept as true any kind of rumour over the deadly virus
“Delivering the correct information is the challenge at this moment. We are trying to inform at least one person from a family who would be the opinion catalyst and who else is a better option than students?” said IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora.
To solve any type of confusion about the virus and make people aware, the monitory body of IEDCR is running four 24hr hotline numbers.
Professor Kaosar Afsana, BRAC JPGSPH and Professor Vincent Chang followed, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University were also present at the seminar.