Importance of prevention to beat back COVID
This is the short, middle and long-term strategy, while vaccination and ramping up facilities also vital
The short-term strategy is prevention because the public health safety measures have been proven to work. We need the unstinting cooperation of the people, otherwise it will be very difficult,
Prevention, prevention and prevention. These are the surest short, middle and long- term measures to beat back and control COVID-19. This is the specific answer from the State Minister of Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID- 19 Prevention, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle who knows what she is talking about as she is a Community Physician.
“The short-term strategy is prevention because the public health safety measures have been proven to work. We need the unstinting cooperation of the people, otherwise it will be very difficult,” said Dr. Fernandopulle in an interview sandwiched between many official meetings on Thursday afternoon. Prevention comes with: Hand-hygiene Face-mask wearing Keeping to physical distancing whenever in a public place and avoiding the Three Cs
The Three Cs to be avoided are: Crowded places with many people close-by Close-contact settings, especially where people have close-range conversations
Confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation Pointing out that many are asking whether Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and High Dependency Unit ( HDU) capacities are being increased, the State Minister stressed that while that needs to be done, there is an upper limit any country can go to. There is also the issue of trained healthcare staff to handle the skilled
work in such facilities.
Dr. Fernandopulle, reiterating that “public health safety measures are the key strategy”, said that the answer to controlling COVID- 19, bringing down the infections and minimizing deaths, is to get people to stay at home and avoid social gatherings. The law (Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance) also has to be enforced properly. This is because in some cases, people only listen to the law and are only scared of the law.
Immunization is the medium-term answer, as it takes at least 10 to 12 weeks from the day of vaccination to give protection from COVID- 19. Vaccines are hard to come by, she conceded, assuring that the government is doing everything possible to secure vaccine doses for the people, but “until we get them, we are not sure”.
“Just because you are vaccinated, you cannot forget the health measures. Vaccination prevents severity of disease and mortality, but you can still get infected and you can transmit it. As variants are produced by the virus, people may have to get boosters every year and in the long term, the system needs to be prepared for this,” she said.
Acknowledging that there is a problem in securing the AstraZeneca vaccine, Dr. Fernandopulle stressed “we are trying very hard to get 600,000 doses to give the second jab to those who have already got the first one. We are looking to buy 10 million doses and Cabinet has approved the purchase of COVISHIELD at any amount. We are in discussion with Norway, Sweden, Dubai and the United States of America (USA). Everyone in the government is trying”.
The State Minister added that the long- term strategy is also basically prevention, while improving and upgrading the facilities we have.