Statistics of diseases outbreak are much higher than Covid-19: Dr Abid Azhar

KARACHI: Director-General Dr. A. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi, Professor Dr Abid Azhar has said statistics of other diseases outbreak in the history are much higher than the current situation of the novel Coronavirus.

He said so far, more than 3, 800 people have died due to the Covid-19 whereas more than 62, 397 affected persons have been reportedly recovered from the disease.

To date, approximately 10,00,000 people have died from influenza, Cholera has claimed around 800,000 lives, Plague has killed more or less 50,00,000 persons while 40,00,000 lost their lives due to HIV/AIDS. As many as 1.2 million to 1.3 million people lost their lives in traffic-related accidents in a year.

Meanwhile, every year 88,00,000 deaths are reported from cardiac disorders around the world, 62,00,000 from strokes, 30,00,000 to 32,00,000 from lower respiratory infection and pulmonary diseases, 17,00,000 from lung cancer, 15,00,000 to 16,00,000 from diabetes and Alzheimer’s whereas 14,00,000 to 15,00,000 from diarrhea and tuberculosis.

He mentioned that only seven cases have been reported from the emerging outbreak of novel Coronavirus in Pakistan and they have confirmed travel history from Iran. He added that none of the suspects has been infected from the disease in Pakistan and they are already in a recovery phase.

Another famous Dr Saima Saleem informed that this virus can be spread through mouth, nose and hand and eyes so protection of these is necessary, the half-life of the virus is 20 minutes to one hour, after that, it is deactivated outside the body.

She shared that easy precaution is maintaining a cleaning habit and hand hygiene. She urged that people should wash hands properly according to the recommended steps of the World Health Organization for hand washing.

She said that maintaining social distancing of 1.5 to two meters would be effective against the Covid-19. She said that the incubation time of the virus is 14 days so the effected personal must put in isolation for 14-20 days so that the disease could not affect others.

The speakers advised to prepare like a family and do not create and spread panic in society. They said that people could use meat in their diets like other routine items.

The health experts expressed these views in the awareness training seminar on Coronavirus for the students, faculty members, technical and supporting staff of the Institute at the Jinnah Auditorium KIBGE KU

The awareness training seminar organized KIBGE in collaboration with Pakistan Biological Safety Association (PBSA).