THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
THERE is a feeling of confusion among people as to why Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is a bigger deal than any other seasonal flu.
What is COVID-19?
Coronavirus are a large family of virus that cause common cold and upper-respiratory tract infection in humans.
However, there have been times in the past when coronavirus outbreaks have been linked to animal reservoirs such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) that emerged in late 2002 and disappeared by 2004.
COVID-19 is a type of coronavirus that has come from animals, most likely from bats.
The most common symptoms are fever, tiredness and a dry cough. Some patients may also have a running nose, sore throat, nasal congestion and body aches/ pain or diarrhea.
About 80 per cent of people who get COVID-19 have mild symptoms and recover fully without needing any special medical attention.
According to the World Health Organization, one in six people become seriously ill.
The elderly and people with underlying chronic medical problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and chronic respiratory conditions are at greater risk of serious illness from COVID-19.
The virus could affect hundreds of people in Fiji soon if we do not take proper precautionary measures.
Therefore, we should be vigilant in following the advice of the Ministry of Health and other health practitioners.
How is COVID-19 spread?
People can catch COVID-19 from other infected individuals.
The most common way the virus is transmitted is through droplets.
When an infected person coughs, sneezes or exhales the virus particles in the air, people adjacent to them can easily breathe in droplets and contract the disease. These droplets also land on objects and surfaces around the person.
Other people then catch the virus by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching your eyes, nose or mouth with contaminated hands.
This is why it very important to firstly, stay a metre away from a person who is coughing and second, to wash hands frequently, especially after touching other objects or surfaces.
Furthermore, we should always avoid toughing our nose or mouth with our hands. It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses.
Studies suggest that coronaviruses may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. This may vary under different conditions (e.g. type of surface, temperature or humidity of the environment).
Importance of hand washing
Frequent hand washing with soap and water is one of the most important way to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
We all have soap at home, and it is cheap. Therefore, there is no excuse. If we cannot afford a hand sanitizer, it is not a worry.
Using a regular soap and frequent hand washing is the main stay of prevention. If you think a surface may be infected, clean it with simple disinfectant or soap to kill the virus and protect yourself and others.
The virus is very fragile; the only thing that protects it is a thin outer layer of fat.
That is why any soap or detergent is the best remedy, because the foam cuts the fat (that is why you must rub your hands for 20 seconds or more, to make a lot of foam).
By dissolving the fat layer, the protein molecule will disperse and disintegrate on its own. You have to wash your hands before and after touching mucosa, food, locks, knobs, switches, remote control, cell phone, watches, computers, desks, TV, etc, and when using the bathroom.
The “incubation period” means the time between catching the virus and beginning to have symptoms of the disease.
Most estimates of the incubation period for COVID-19 range from one-14 days, most commonly around five days.
The risk of catching COVID-19 from someone who does not have any symptoms at all is very low.
According to WHO, many people with COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms, particularly true at an early stage of the disease.
Therefore, it is possible to catch COVID-19 from someone who has a mild cough and does not feel sick.
How to tell COVID-19 is in the community?
It is very important to thoroughly understand the ramification of individuals having the disease in our community.
We must all understand that virus spread very fast and COVID-19 is no exception. This is why the Ministry of Health has isolated those who have been infected and carried out vigorous contact tracing.
Contact tracing means trying to contact or get hold of all individuals who are suspected to have been in contact with the infected person.
It is very important to keep oneself isolated if you have come in contact with an infected person.
The biggest challenge here is that there are likely to be other infected individuals in the community who are not aware they have COVID-19.
The reason why I say this is because the number of individuals who have traveled from overseas and have been socialising with family and friends. Therefore, the second line of preventative measure which is physical isolation is equally important.
Physical isolation means keeping a one-metre distance from individuals wherever possible, avoid crowded place and stay home as much as possible.
I think people should take this message very seriously and I would suggest that social gathering be put to a full stop during this period such as grog sessions, parties and unnecessary travelling.
Importance of Healthy Immune System? Another important aspect of prevention that people often fail to talk about is having a healthy immune system.
Our immune system fights all the impending infections in our body. We are exposed to virus and bacteria every minute.
Whether we are infected or not depends on how vigorously our immune system fights these virus or bacteria which is dependent on the health of our immune system.
The health of our immune system depends on a number of factors such as: good diet, adequate sleep, adequate hydration, avoidance of stress, adequate sunshine exposure and adequate micro-nutrients (minerals and vitamins). in actual fact, it is our immune system ultimately responsible for fighting COVID-19 should we be exposed to the virus.
Therefore, I strongly advise that we eat seasonal fruits and vegetables everyday which has an abundance of anti oxidants and micro nutrients.
For example, one pawpaw gives us 200 times the daily requirement of vitamin C. We should eat pawpaws, bananas, pineapples and oranges everyday.
Hydrating ourselves with coconut water is very beneficial. Average amount of water intake should be two litres per day for an adult.
Ginger and turmeric are readily available in our markets and these herbs greatly enhance our immune system.
I suggest taking few pieces of raw ginger or turmeric daily. Please make sure that you are getting at least 6-8 hours sleep daily.
We are not stopping you from daily exercising which is a great way to improve blood circulation and it is also a great way to beat stress.
Is there a treatment
There is no treatment for COVID-19
just like for many other virus. Antibiotics do not work against viruses.
If there are complications such as pneumonia, then patients need to be hospitalised and treated accordingly.
Antibiotics should not be used as a means of prevention or treatment of COVID-19. They should only be used as directed by a physician to treat a bacterial infection.
To conclude, I would like to say that we must all take responsibility to control the spread of this virus. Firstly, we must not panic, and at the same time we must not lose hope. Let us control the spread of the disease before it does a lot of harm.
Prevention is the most important activity that we should be thinking about.
We can all join hand in hand to stop this virus from spreading further by confining ourselves to our homes and avoiding crowded public places while maintaining a good diet and having adequate sleep.
Let’s remain very positive and let us all pray together and we will definitely come out victorious.
Furthermore, I would also like to suggest that this is the time to dedicate ourselves to our children and family in building the bond that we usually ignore while being busy with other commitments.
This is a great time to do backyard gardening with your family and encouraging our farmers to consider large scale farming with the view to making Fiji self-sufficient.
We all have soap at home, and it is cheap. Therefore, there is no excuse. If we cannot afford a hand sanitizer, it is not a worry. Using a regular soap and frequent hand washing is the main stay of prevention. ~ Dr MAHARAJ