It has been 6 months since the emergence of the "Covid-19" pandemic, which started in China and later in other countries around the world with the start of the global invasion of the virus ... in a new experiment for humanity that found itself in the face of a rapidly spreading virus that exceeded the number of infections in it 6 million and 952 thousand So far, more than 401,000 people have died so far, numbers that will inevitably continue to rise for years to come, according to experts.
The shape of the world changed during 6 months, internal closures were imposed, roads were cut between countries after the borders were closed, and national economies were put under severe global pressure.
Halfway towards the first anniversary of the pandemic, experts answer the extent of responding to the challenges posed by the virus, in light of one of the worst crises that have befallen humanity in the modern era.
Are we ready to face the crises?
Global readiness appears weak in facing epidemics, and that is in light of a stronger and stronger virus than those that passed in the past, where the global death rate due to the virus reached approximately 5.76% of the infection rate, which is a new emerging disease.
David Nabarro, Professor of Global Health at Imperial College London and WHO envoy at Covid-19, said: “We first thought that when the virus first appeared this way it was just a respiratory disease affecting the upper chest, now it is clear that it can cause diseases Sinus, it can affect the lining of the blood vessels and can lead to the development of blood clots. The disease has also been linked to severe fatigue, kidney damage and heart attacks, and with these conditions occurring in a proportion of young adults, the virus is not insignificant.
On the other hand, Mark Woolhouse, a professor of epidemiology and infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, added that it is unlikely that the virus will disappear in the near future. After 6 months of its appearance we have to accept that we will have to live with it for a longer period.
Confrontation procedures
Today, experts are discussing new procedures that we must follow in such circumstances. A complete or partial closure is no longer a necessary measure, or something we can continue to do. In the coming months, ways must be found to keep the disease away without resorting to the imposition of closure restrictions that have caused major economic damage.
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Detection tests
The process of infection detection has become easier and faster thanks to the virus testing technology that has improved in terms of accuracy and speed, which provides a deeper understanding about "Covid-19".
Mathematical models can be drawn upon to try to understand how the virus behaves and spreads across societies, providing a database on the virus.
Traceability is an important step in controlling an infection that is often spread by untold symptoms of the virus.
immunity
The issue of immunity that the body forms after infection with the virus is a critical issue, a process related to the type of immunity that the previous patient gets, as studies indicate that the antibodies rise in the blood of patients after infection and can provide protection against a future "Covid-19" infection ..
Estimates indicate that protection lasts between 6 months and two years, yet we still need to know exactly how long this protection will last, because its impact is important on how the disease progresses and spreads among people.
The longer the availability of antibodies, the slower the disease will spread, so scientists take blood samples from the first infected to test their antibody levels, to examine whether they have changed or stayed at steady levels and how low they are after several months of recovery.
Room for optimism
In the long run, the vaccine may appear as a savior of humanity. However, most scientists believe that this is a relatively remote possibility, a possibility that will not reach us until a year or two at the best, and says Professor of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Edinburgh Mark Woolhouse on this point that the vaccine is hope and not a strategy.
Experts stressed the importance of freedom from hope, which is that finding a vaccine is the solution to save us.
Even when we get an effective safe vaccine, there is still a problem how to deal with and secure the 7.8 billion people on our planet. Global eradication is a very difficult task.
Experts consider that although the process of finding a vaccine is somewhat remote, anti-viral treatments appear to be more optimistic in limiting or eliminating its spread, which is a significant area for optimism.
Experiments are underway for a number of antivirals that have been developed to deal with other diseases but are now being re-employed in the hope that they will be used to treat the "Covid-19" pandemic. The results are expected within a few months, as its success will reduce the mortality rates caused by the virus, This is what the next 6 months will reveal.