The World Health Organization confirmed that the Middle East and North Africa region can still "seize the opportunity" currently available and act to avoid the widespread spread of the emerging corona virus.
"We have an opportunity to move in the region, because the increase in cases has not been so fast," Dr. Evan Hutton said in an interview with France Press. right Now.
According to the United Nations, more than 111,000 new cases of coronavirus and more than 5,500 deaths have been recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes 22 countries and extends from Morocco to Pakistan, with the exception of Algeria, while the number of infections in the world exceeded 2 million and 140,000 deaths.
According to Dr. Hutton, it is difficult at present to explain the slow increase in the number of injuries in the countries of the region, with the exception of Iran, which has recorded more than 76 thousand cases and nearly 5,000 deaths.
"There may be a factor associated with the age structure of these young societies," he says.
In countries in conflict such as Yemen, Libya and Syria, there are almost no HIV infections.
However, Dr. Hutton warns that "avoiding the difficult situation the first time does not mean that we will avoid this situation the second time."
In Egypt, where Dr. Hutton undertook a mission to assess the situation in March, "there are more cases now than there were a few weeks ago, but things have not yet reached an accelerated infection."
To avoid a situation similar to what happened in Europe or the United States, where tens of thousands died, according to the WHO official, it is necessary to provide "pillars of confrontation" for the virus, which are community commitment, health systems mobilization, and hospital preparation to receive serious cases.
What needs to be done, he says, "is not necessarily complicated," pointing to the need to isolate patients without severe symptoms in "hotels, schools, or military facilities".
With regard to serious cases, "a lot can be done by converting ordinary hospital beds into intensive care beds."
Another measure can be taken to avoid an explosion in cases of injury in the region, which is to increase the ability to do tests for this disease, which can be done, according to Dr. Hutton "by small devices that give quick results."
Although there will still be undetected cases, as this is "unavoidable", it is that "the more tests are conducted for those who suffer from coughing and high temperatures, the more cases we discover", according to Dr. Hutton.
The expert says, "We know that 1% of the injured die, so when the death rate in some countries reaches 5%, this leads to the belief that part of the injured was not discovered."
In the region, the mortality rate ranged around 5%, which "means that there is a need to increase the capacity to take tests."
Given the "potential danger and the ability of this virus to bring down health systems," the MENA region must prepare for "the possibility of things going badly," according to Dr. Hutton.
With the approaching month of Ramadan, the World Health Organization this week published a set of recommendations for Islamic countries, including "seriously reconsidering" any group religious celebrations.
5%
The death rate in the region, which means that there is a need to increase the capacity to take tests.
The World Health Organization has published a set of recommendations for Islamic countries, including "serious reconsideration" of any mass religious celebrations.