Young people are not invincible, the COVID-19 virus can hospitalize you for weeks or even kill you, said the World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Ghebreyesus at a media briefing on Friday. Though older people are most affected by the virus, younger people are also not unharmed. Many countries reported that there is remarkable number of young people under 50 getting affected by the virus.
Tedros said that even if younger people are not falling very sick, their choices about where they go can make a big difference in someone's life and death. He also discussed about his concerns for countries with lower healthy immunity. A big percent of population can get affected by the virus and become victims in these countries.
Big personalities supporting for the cause
The director general thanked Jack Ma, co-founder of multinational Chinese company Alibaba and Aliko Dangote, Nigerian businessman for donating essential supplies to countries that are in need. "To support our call to test every suspected case, we are also working hard to increase the global supply of diagnostic tests," he said. He also thanked Kuwait for donating $40 million supporting for the cause.
Tedros urged individuals to eat nutritious food for immune system to function properly. Limit alcohol and smoke consumption. Smoking can increase the chances of severe impact if infected with the virus.
Guidelines made available for health workers
WHO also provided technical guidelines online for health administrations of different countries. These guidelines will help them in treatment of affected patients without compromising safety of health workers. "These guidelines provide a wealth of practical information on screening and triage, referral, staff, supplies, standard of care, community engagement and more," said Tedros.
He announced that WHO launched new WHO Health Alert messaging service along with WhatsApp and Facebook. They will provide latest news and information on coronavirus along with symptoms details and how to protect yourself.
The Coronavirus has affected more than 150 countries with 275,434 cases confirmed and more than 11,000 patients died so far, the numbers are higher outside China where the outbreak started in the city of Wuhan.
