The new Corona virus : Taking a closer look at how we as Africans can all play our roles responsibly to kick it out – by Dr Hannah-Lisa

&NewLine;<p>My Story Magazine interviews Dr Hannah -Lisa Tetteh &comma; a medical practitioner&comma; a health advocate and health executive at Health Avail Medical Services on Covid 19 &comma; the global pandemic caused by the corona virus&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Can you please share your thoughts with us concerning the Corona Virus pandemic What is Corona Virus&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>When we talk about Corona viruses&comma; we are referring to a large family of viruses known to cause a wide range of illness&comma; from a common cold to more severe forms&period; The newest discovery is what was discovered in Wuhan China&comma; 2019 and causes the Covid 19 disease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><br &sol;><strong>Does everyone die from the disease&comma; Covid 19&quest; Who is more at risk&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The new Corona virus has most people suffering from mild to moderate forms of the disease&comma; with a few suffering the severe forms&period; Those mostly at risk are those above 60 years&comma; those with hypertension&comma; diabetes&comma; heart conditions&comma; lung conditions and those with underlying medical conditions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Does it have regional boundaries&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The virus has been known to transcend regional boundaries as it has been recorded across different regions and continents&comma; according to the WHO&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What are the signs that shows that one has this virus and how does one get into contact with this &period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The common signs and symptoms are fever&comma; dry cough and shortness of breath&period; Others also experience a sore throat&comma; nasal congestion&comma; diarrhea and anosmia&lpar;loss of sense of smell&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>How does it spread&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Are there measures to curb this virus<&sol;strong>&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Currently there is no vaccine or specific drug for treatment so we encourage all to stick to the preventive measures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What are some of the preventive measures especially to the ordinary African&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands with soap and water as often as you can and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub<br &sol;>as this kills viruses that may be on your hands&period; Do this using the right technique&comma; shown below&comma; not forgetting to wash in between your fingers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;41f962aa-b393-4154-ab4e-99503ba0aca3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-9278"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Practice good respiratory hygiene by covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or a bent elbow and dispose of the tissue immediately&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Maintain social distancing&period; Try and keep at least 2 metres &lpar;6 feet&rpar; distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing&comma; sneezing or showing respiratory symptoms&period; If you are too close&comma; to someone&comma; when they cough or sneeze they may release droplets from their nose or mouth&comma; which may contain the COVID19 virus&comma; which u can breathe in if the person coughing has the disease&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Avoid touching eyes&comma; nose and mouth with your hands because your hands can pick up viruses through touching of these surfaces and may transfer the virus to your eyes&comma; nose or mouth and thus into your body&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Seek medical care early&comma; if you have fever&comma; cough and difficulty in breathing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Call a Healthcare facility in advance if you are at risk of exposure or have been exposed&lpar; most countries have contacts dedicated to Covid19&rpar; to prevent the spread of virus and also for the accurate information about the right steps to take&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Stay informed and follow advice given by your healthcare provider&period; Read from approved sources like the world health organization and health avail to keep you accurately informed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;a1e75954-5e89-4ecc-8ac6-69f5dff13cb8-1024x1024&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-9279"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>What&&num;8217&semi;s the effect of this virus to the growth of the economy&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The virus has had many negative effects on the economy&period; Starting from the health care system which needs more personnel&comma; supplies and equipment in the case of a pandemic like this&period; Health care workers may need more equipment and supplies to work with and may be overworked as numbers increase&period; Some frontliners may get infected and taking care of their medical coverage as well as the requirement of new personnel poses financial issues for the Healthcare system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Also&comma; workers in other sectors are being asked to go on paid leave&comma; to work from home or not to work at all&comma; as some are bring laid off as social distancing measures are being employed&period; Employers are also not making enough money but still have to pay workers and this is leading to pay-cuts and other serious financial problems&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Some businesses have been created as they produce things needed in these covid19 times&comma; like hand sanitizers&comma; face masks etc&comma; however most businesses&comma; eg&comma; restaurants are having to stop their operations because they lack customers to sustain them&comma; thus are running at a loss&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Some prices of goods needed to fight this pandemic&comma; eg&comma; sanitizer&comma; have been inflated and thus are difficult for people to purchase&period; This has made it expensive for some to practice these precautionary measures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Generally the pandemic is negatively affecting the economy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Since there is so much uncertainty&comma; businesses are holding off on investments as well as imports and exports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><br &sol;><strong>What have been your personal contributions to this fight&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><br &sol;>This is a collective fight by all&period; I believe we can all help&period; In my all small way&comma; I have been doing media educations about the virus and I am grateful to multimedia&comma; media general and to all the platforms that have given me the opportunity to educate people on Covid19&period; Healthavail&comma; also had a health talk on Covid 19 as well as a demonstration of the proper handwashing&sol; hand rub technique for the workers and children at the Osu Children&&num;8217&semi;s home after which a donation of Veronica buckets&comma; soaps&comma; tissues&comma; toilet rolls etc was done to aid in the fight of Covid19&period; These have been my contributions in addition to my medical practice so far and I believe we can all help in anyway we can&period; This is something that affects us all&comma; therefore&comma; we can all do something to keep ourselves and our communities safe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;3ba1a190-7a51-4aef-bbaa-e6a54ed8483c-1024x683&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-9281"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;df40d7d8-5551-4608-ab4f-ea19f17f9e22-1024x683&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-9282"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;b0ae26b3-aaf5-4732-9952-5efdd556a51e-1024x683&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-9280"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Finally&comma; practice the precautions&comma; keep hope alive&comma; be kind to each other and spread love&comma; not fear and panic&period; By the grace of God&comma; there would be better times ahead and we will pull through this<br &sol;>All will be well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;9fb17519-b798-494e-b190-cc3902500fca-740x1024&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-9283"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;04&sol;7679a9a8-6c19-4191-8fb9-3110d789345f-1024x808&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-9284"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>By MY STORY MAGAZINE <&sol;p>&NewLine;

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