Covid-19 in the country, victory from fear
Covid-19 is caused by the Kov-19 virus, which has spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan to 124 countries around the world. With the advent of this virus in Bangladesh, there has been a kind of confusion among the people about whether to panic or not. Because many people, including government officials, are saying that the severity of Covid-19 disease is not as severe as that of the seasonal flu, while others are comparing the disease to SARS or Mars, indicating that its severity is very destructive.
Statistically, the death rate in SARS was 10 percent, in Mars 34 percent, in the seasonal flu 0.1 to 0.2 percent, and in Ebola the death rate in Africa was 40 to 50 percent. As of February 11, the mortality rate among Kovid-19 patients in China was 2.3 percent.
This means that just as the Covid-19 infection should not be considered as frightening as the SARS or Mars, there is no time to view it lightly in conjunction with the seasonal flu. As an infectious disease specialist, I don't seem to have a chance to look at Kovid-19 lightly. But the hope is that the key to controlling the severity of the disease is in the hands of the people, and this key is also in the fear of the disease.
Understanding the link between death and covid-19 disease is the key to reducing its severity. As of 4:00 pm GMT (March 11 AM) on March 12, the number of people infected with Kovid-19 in China was 80,797, of which 5 percent were critically ill. Their treatment has required many more types of life support from the intensive care unit, including artificial respiration. And not being able to pay it on time has led to unexpected events like death, increased horror and panic.
None of the symptoms, signs or complications associated with Covid-19 disease are new to medicine. Physicians are also adept at dealing with the symptoms or complications of the disease. The only shortcoming is the ability to provide intensive care center support to many patients at the same time. As a result, a large proportion of critically ill patients, about 4 percent of all infected patients, have died.
At present, the country with the highest rate of infection is Italy. According to statistics, 6 percent of those infected with Covid-19 in Italy are seriously ill and 7.3 percent are dead. This means that if many critically ill patients come to the hospital at the same time, it is not possible to provide the necessary support to all at once and then a large number of them die. That is the reality. This is the main reason why so many patients are dying in all countries. It is not possible for any country to provide such an expensive and difficult emergency medical treatment to an unknown number of patients. All that is possible is to prevent the spread of the virus. It is possible to reduce the death rate only if the rate of infection can be reduced.
Being able to transform human panic into awareness is the key to preventing the spread of disease. And this is possible by presenting the actual facts of the epidemic in front of the people and their actions. In this context, the steps of the Japanese government can be mentioned.
Outbreaks of coronavirus have been reported in several Asian countries, but never in Japan. In an interview with the New York Times on February 29, one of my colleagues in Japan, Professor Yasuki Kato, mentioned that Japan has no experience in preventing coronavirus infection. The Covid-19 was spotted in Japan on January 17. The Japanese government has taken steps to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus in China and to review China's actions.
From December 10, 2019, in Wuhan, and from December 31, in other provinces outside of Wuhan, the rate of virus transmission has been increasing rapidly. Uhan was locked down on January 23 this year. In the provinces outside Uhan, the rate of infection has been declining since the fifth day, January 26.
With this information in mind, the Japanese government presented a graph to the people of its country shortly after the Covid-19 patient was identified. There they show what would happen if the disease spread to neighboring Japan in the same proportion as it did. How many risky patients can there be and how many patients have the capacity to support. The government announced the closure of all schools and colleges across the country for two weeks at a time when the picture was almost public. At the same time, it calls for those who can do official work online from home, to do the work from home. In other words, the government took measures to prevent the spread of the disease and called on the people to get involved. The Japanese government has made its public awareness of coronavirus infection positive through its publicity and the steps it has taken. The government's initiative is expected to help curb the Kovid-19 epidemic. I hope that the government will be able to give the right direction to the people by taking into account the situation and measures of other affected countries to limit the transmission of this disease in Bangladesh.
In the last 100 years, a number of infections have taken the form of epidemics in the world and it is normal to come in the future. The everlasting lofty goal of the present civilization could lead to even greater epidemics. It is thought that infection will be the leading cause of death in the near future. So researchers have tried to set some benchmarks for determining a country's preparedness management to deal with future infections. This indicator measures how well a country is prepared or capable of dealing with infectious diseases. Japan's IDVI index is zero point 928 (index scale 0 to 1).
The current epidemic will end one day, but the fear of another epidemic in the future will not end. Therefore, I hope that Bangladesh will also increase its capacity to fight infectious diseases competitively with other developed countries
