20
The Health | April, 2020
| Hot Topic |
The Corona-Beer
or Japanese car?
The world economy
looks set to be badly
affected
ON the pre festive
month of the lunar
new Year of the
Rat, the world was
shocked by the
outbreak of the Novel
Corona 2019 flu virus.
Now renamed
Covid-19, it originated
from Wuhan, China
and the spread of
the virus was swift.
Around 13,000 people
were infected in
China itself with
more than 300 deaths
by ADI SATRIA
within a short period.
As at March 6, 2020, the numbers had
surpassed 100,000 with over 3000 deaths
in China and 267 fatalities in other parts of
the world. Malaysia recorded 83 cases which
included a number of VIP’s.
The whole city of Wuhan has been in lock
down mode and movements from and to
China have been restricted or banned. Travel
bans were imposed and to date the world
economy looks set to be badly affected. With
airlines cancelling numerous flights, oil
prices have slumped and for the first time
in a long time, we are enjoying RON95 petrol
at RM1.89 per litre. When all this will end,
no one knows for sure and that goes for our
own political leadership crisis too.
All the necessary measures taken by the
Malaysian health authorities have been
praised by the World Health Organisation
(WHO) and we can be proud of our efficient
healthcare officials who are doing a
great job identifying and isolating those
suspected of the disease.
While all this is going on, Malaysians are
taking it relatively easy going about their
daily lives. While face masks are sold out
in pharmacies, I managed to get 15 pieces
for RM10 at a pasar malam in Ipoh. Yet, I
see very few people wearing them in public
places, LRT stations and buses.
Just like when the haze was at its worst,
most Malaysians moved around without
wearing any face masks. No one seems to
take this seriously except netizens, social
media activists and junkies.
From the start of the outbreak, my
former varsity room mate who is now an
Associate Professor of medicine in a medical
university, informed me that while the
infection rate is fast as in the SARS or H1N1
outbreak, the mortality rate is rather low
with less than 2%. The SARS outbreak in
2002 infected 8,000 people resulting in 774
deaths or a fatality rate of 9.6%. The H1N1
outbreak in 2009 saw 1.6 million cases with
284,000 deaths or a 17.4% fatality rate. It
started in the United States and affected 214
countries.
China has been quick and decisive in
controlling the spread. We hope that the
fatality rate remains low in relation to the
increase in cases and a drug is found soon to
stem it out completely, though how soon no
one really knows.
Different
Strokes
Meanwhile, statistics also show that deaths
due to the common flu worldwide continue to
be at a high level and this fact seems a common
thing for many people.
And in Malaysia, deaths due to dengue fever
continue to be at a high rate. People do not seem
to care about environmental hygiene such as
ensuring that the breeding areas of the aedes
mosquitoes are continuously monitored and
destroyed.
Personal hygiene such as washing our hands
and face regularly can prevent one from being
infected by the Corona virus and for that matter,
any other disease.
All these point to the fact that prevention is
better than cure. With social media, we should
be more informed to practice what is right but
sadly the negative virus of misinformation, fake
news and fear mongering is more endemic than
the Corona virus itself. — The Health
ADI SATRIA, a veteran of marketing communications
often wonders whether social media has actually
enlightened people to practice good hygiene, sound
environmental sustainability management for a better
and healthier society or have they simply become
cynical about the state of the world.
Covid-19
global panic
THE outbreak of Coronavirus disease
2019 (Covid-19) and its increasing
number of cases and death has sparked
mass hysteria and global panic. There
has been reports of toilet rolls, hand
sanitizers and surgical masks being
wiped off the shelves worldwide. The
demand is being “driven by panic
buying, stockpiling and speculation,”
World Health Organization (WHO)
spokeswoman Fadela Chaib was quoted
by AFP.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) website highlights that
people who are not sick do not require
face masks. The facemasks should only
be used by those who show symptoms
of Covid-19 to prevent the spread of
the disease to others. CDC also notes
that the spread is most likely to spread
through sneezing or coughs of the
infected, thus urging people to avoid
close contact with sick people, avoid
touching eyes, nose and mouth as well as
washing hands often.
Apart from global panic, another
disappointing side effect of this outbreak
is stigma and xenophobia. Groups of
people who may experience stigma
because of COVID-19 are people of Asian
descent, people who have travelled and
healthcare professionals. Racism has
been on the rise towards people of Asian
descent, especially those from China.
Xenophobic attacks documented range
from micro aggressions, verbal attacks
as well as physical attacks. Such attacks
has been reported mainly in European
countries such as Germany, England and
Italy.
In order to combat xenophobia and
stigma, health institutions are trying
to address and educate the public on
the issue. “It’s so painful to see the
level of stigma we’re observing,” said
the Director-General of WHO, Tedros
Adhanom during the WHO press
conference on March 2. WHO Covid-19
report writes that “stigmatisation
could contribute to more severe health
problems, ongoing transmission, and
difficulties controlling infectious diseases
during an epidemic.” It also highlights
that stigmas can drive people to hide
the illness to avoid discrimination,
prevent people from seeking health care
immediately and discourage people from
adopting healthy behaviour.
WHO also urges governments,
citizens, the media, key influencers
and communities to be intentional and
thoughtful when communicating on
Covid-19 to prevent global panic and
stigma. WHO states that 80% of those
infected will have mild disease and
recover. The fatality rate of Covid-19 is at
3.4% and for people under 50 years old
it is 0.2%.
In fact, people with conditions such
as heart disease, cancer or diabetes are
more susceptible to death compared to
those who are infected with Covid-19.
As of March 8, 2020, total people
infected with the Covid-19 is 110,293.
The mild cases are 83% while the critical
conditions are 17% worldwide. Eighty
four per cent of the total cases are
reported in China. — The Health