Question

The COVID-19 viral disease that has swept into at least 114 countries and killed more than 4,000 people is now officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced.

"This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva.

It's the first time the WHO has called an outbreak a pandemic since the H1N1 "swine flu" in 2009.

1. What is coronavirus?

2. in your consideration: What is the Best Public Health Strategy to control the outbreak of Coronavirus?

3. What can you do to protect yourself?

4. Are health workers at risk from a coronavirus? Why? And how to prevent infection.

5. Describe what are the uses of clinical software on this epidemic situation?

Answer 1

1. What is corona Virus?

Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. Coronaviruses are named for the crown-like spikes on their surface. Human coronaviruses were first discovered in the late 1960s.The earliest ones discovered were an infectious bronchitis virus in chickens and two in human patients with the common cold (later named human coronavirus 229E and human coronavirus OC43). In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that can be mild, such as some cases of the common cold (among other possible causes, predominantly rhinoviruses), and others that can be lethal, such as SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. There are four main sub-groupings of coronaviruses, known as alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. The seven coronaviruses that can infect people are

1. 229E (alpha coronavirus)

2. NL63 (alpha coronavirus)

3. OC43 (beta coronavirus)

4. HKU1 (beta coronavirus)

5. MERS-CoV (the beta coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS)

6. SARS-CoV (the beta coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS)

7. SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19)

2- What is the best Public Health Strategy to control the outbreak of Corona Virus?

The Public health Strategy to this serious epidemic has been laid out simply and clearly by the World Health Organization (WHO). They are

Test intensively,

Trace contacts,

Quarantine

Maintain social distancing.

Testing –Like any other pandemic the first measure to be taken in order control its spread is extensive testing. The most commonly used test is a nasopharyngeal swab, where a special Q-tip is put up your nose to take a sample. This swab is then sent out to a laboratory that can extract the virus’s RNA. The virus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, is an RNA virus, which means it uses ribonucleic acid as its genetic material. It requires a process called reverse transcription, or RT, to transcribe its RNA into DNA.

Team of health workers and volunteers need to created and deployed in every corners of the affected places to collect samples extensively and find out who is infected. Rapid identification of laboratory-confirmed cases and their isolation and management either in a medical facility or at home is the key to prevent community spread of the disease

Trace Contacts- Contact tracing is a process used to understand how an infectious disease is spreading in a community. Contact tracing has two purposes: to figure out who a sick person caught an illness from, and to find out who they’ve been in contact with while infectious. The first phase of the tracing is to back track and find out who all are being contacted by the person in past one week. The second stage of contact tracing involves getting in touch with people who may have been in contact with and infected by the person confirmed to have the disease.

Quarantine- The quarantine of persons is the restriction of activities of or the separation of persons who are not ill but who may been exposed to an infectious agent or disease, with the objective of monitoring their symptoms and ensuring the early detection of cases. Introducing quarantine measures early in an outbreak may delay the introduction of the disease to a country or area or may delay the peak of an epidemic in an area where local transmission is ongoing, or both.

Maintain social distancing- Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease

3 What can You do to protect yourself

These are the precautionary measures need to done in order to prevent getting infected with corona virus.

· Wash your hands frequently-Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.

· Maintain social distancing Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.

· Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth- Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.

· Practice respiratory hygiene Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately .Droplets spread virus. By following good respiratory hygiene you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19

· If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early- Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority.

4- Are health workers at risk from a coronavirus? Why? And how to prevent infection.

Healthcare workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak are the most susceptible group to get infected. They are the one who has to make direct physical contact with them from sample collection, administering drugs to doing intubation and so on

The only way to prevent getting infected is to wear proper personal protection gear while in hospital, maintain highest quality of personal hygiene. It is the duty of the healthcare provider to make sure that the hospital and related public and staff places to be properly sanitised.

5-Describe what are the uses of clinical software on this epidemic situation?

Timely and accurate information to assess disease burdens, track emerging outbreaks, and support disease prevention and control measures is essential in epidemic response. In the last decade, innovations in digital technologies have enabled rapid progress in the collection, analysis, presentation, and use of data to improve health outcomes.