Prevention and control of coronavirus epidemic: role of clinical awareness and flow of accurate information

Abstract

Dear Editor, The outbreak of novel coronavirus was originated in Wuhan city of China during December 2019 and was declared as a public health emergency of international concern by World Health Organization (WHO) [1]. As of October 15, 2020, over 38 million laboratory confirmed cases including 1 million deaths reported across the globe [2]. Countries are devising every possible effort to control the rising toll, however, the preventive measures currently in place have not found as effective as desired. The awareness on mode of transmission and risks in local settings must be reinforced among general public especially among those engaged in health care systems [3]. Control and prevention of coronavirus outbreak require scientific evidence based multiple approaches. First of all, it is important to reduced person to person transmission, reducing the infection among the close contacts and frontline health care workers to minimize the spread of virus in the community and within hospitals. Without appropriate protection, the frontline health care workers get infected and become a source of nosocomial and community transmission. Front line health workers should be able to know the clinical signs and symptoms. Several reports indicate that the majority of infected patients with life-threatened symptoms are those with underlying diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disorder, chronic liver disease, asthma and obesity [4]. Along with the clinical awareness every country must response at initial stages to track contact, self-isolation, quarantine, public health measures such as handwashing, cough etiquette, social distancing, proper use of face mask and other personal protection equipment whenever needed [5]. The health care workers for the first time in their lives are going to use the PPE, if they don’t know how to used PPE properly such type of incidence will surely be happen. There is no any communication amongst the epidemiologist, virologist and front line health care physicians’ worldwide to get benefit from the experience of each other. Varieties of deficiencies have been reported in the preparedness program against coronavirus outbreak prevention, especially in South East Asian countries including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan [6]. Due to the miss behavior of health authorities with the patients, creating panic and fear on media, many confirmed patients escaped from various hospitals in India and Pakistan [7, 8]. Many coronavirus positive cases committed suicide after jumping off the hospitals in Pakistan [9], India, Saudi Arabia, France, Britain, Germany, and Italy due to panic, stress, confusion created by media, insufficient medical facility and misbehaves [10]. Such types of issues require urgent solution otherwise it will become worrisome in coming days. This is the time to win the trust of public with meaningful approach. Without awareness and financial help of the people it would become difficult if the virus gets hold in the rural areas of the region where more than 10 family members lived in single room. On the other hand flow of misinformation is another major problem in containing the coronavirus outbreak worldwide. Fear based messaging on social media can make a patient feel that he/she is responsible for coronavirus infection. The messaging must be positive every time and convey the message that more than 98% patients recovered from the infection [11]. Misinformation and conspiracy theories floating on the social media have generated panic and confusion among the general public and create hurdle in the outbreak response activities [12]. Fake information regarding the origin of virus to be a synthetic or mutated strain engineered in a laboratory further complicates the control efforts [13]. Through scientific evidence, it has been proven that the SARS-CoV-2 originated in nature and transmitted to humans through a zoonotic event in the recent past [14]. It is already confirmed that at present there is no any treatment in the form of antiviral or vaccine available for coronavirus. In such situation the used home remedies such as garlic, beetroots, lemon juice, Onion, sodium chloride with citric acid, alcohol and many other type of treatment options circulating on social media. However, many of these products are harmless but some are even proved to be very dangerous. Such type of misinformation results in the further public confusion and leading to greater transmission of deadly virus such as reports from Africa on home treatment of HIV infected patients resulted in exacerbated the transmission of HIV and costing more than 300,000 lives [15]. More than 728 individuals have died in Iran after ingesting alcohol, as fake remedies for the new coronavirus spread across social media in Iran [16]. Likewise in India, fake information circulating on social media claimed that drinking of cow urine and applying cow dung on the body can kill coronavirus [17]. In India more than eleven people hospitalized by using poisonous fruit of Datura plant as a treatment of coronavirus [18]. In Thailand, a fake Review