Annabaa forum for dialogue held an extensive discussion entitled "Coronavirus from Scientific and medical perspectives". Dr. Maitham Al-Mamori, a pulmonologist and head of a scientific cell of the crisis cell at Imam Hussain Medical City in Karbala governorate, delivered the lecture.
Members of the parliament participated in the discussion along with academics, media professionals, and intellectuals. The session was managed by the forum director, a researcher, Ali Al-Talikani on Saturday, Mar. 28th 2020 through online apps due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lecture's summary
Coronavirus "COVID-19" belongs to the corona family of Coronaviridae.
The virus outbroke first in the animals' market in Wuhan, China. It was believed the infection came through bats and snakes. This was not the first time for the virus; the virus spread in china back in 2004 by the name "SARS" and it had a quite large number of causalities. It resurfaced in Saudi as they believed it came from camels and bats.
The spread of the virus was like wildfire. Some countries lost control over it. The virus rapidly moves among people, not to mention that the clinical symptoms are not clear for a while.
The virus transmits through respiratory droplets, physical contact, human feces, and contaminated surfaces which may remain up to 9 days. The symptoms may appear in a week depending on the samples taken to the laboratory.
No vaccine nor a cure was invented due to the rapid change in the virus's genetic chain.
The virus proved the failure of the health institutions.
All medical researchers are racing to find a cure for this virus which I believe is far-reaching. Most of the researches depend on china's data, but there is a quick change regarding the virus's information.
Adaptive immunity cannot be obtained through virus infection. An infected individual can be infected again.
The virus can stay in the body for unknown time after the decease. No clear answer nor an experiment exists to prove that.
The virus incubation period may last 2 to 4 weeks. People who show mild symptoms with a range of 15% to 50% have a high chance to recover.
The recovery is up to 3 phases; quarantine for 5 days then self-isolate at home to assure full recovery. As the cases for mild infections, the cure is according to the protocol. The most dangerous cases are the ones that show up in a late phase and it could be lethal.
The Mortality rate in Iraq has increased due to the lack of early diagnosis. The earlier diagnosis is of the infection; the lower rate of causalities we will have.
Researches claim that the virus can be affected by the heat up to 27%. Virus exposure in modern devices may take 45 min to 4 hours depending on the device's accuracy.
Chloroquine, Tamiflu, and Caltrate proved their effectiveness depending on personal experience.
Recommendations:
Full self-protection, avoiding international travel to infected countries.
It is necessary to examine everyone who shows symptoms until it is proven the opposite.
Iraq's health system needs a long revision and to put the record straight.
Learn from the Chinese experiment to stop the outbreak.
Washing hands 20 times a day for 20 seconds each time for those who have the disease.
Regularly change face masks and hand gloves and keep on using sanitizers.
Maintain a sufficient distance between yourself and others, avoid group meetings, and leave grocery shopping to only a single individual from each family.
Demanding a modern virus detecting devices.
Elders must take great caution.
The health committee of parliament must take a full commitment to every governorate health sector.
We need to partner universities and to pay great attention to studying abroad to be prepared for any future threat.
Note: despite the time difference between the lecture's date and information and the present day, the vision was quite useful, and not much has changed.
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