The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) yesterday stated that more than 80 percent of COVID-19 positive patients reported so far in the country have totally recovered and been discharged from hospitals. GMOA Editor Dr. Haritha Aluthge said that most countries failed to achieve a recovery rate of 80 percent.
“This is a great success achieved by the country’s health system,” he said. He said the recovery rate of the country reflects the success of all the measures the country has taken so far to prevent the spread of the virus as well as the dedication and the efficiency of the healthcare workers, military personnel and other authorities involved in managing COVID positive patients. He further stated that the country has also been able to maintain a low COVID related fatality rate of 0.4 percent and the COVID-19 fatality rate of most of the countries currently remains 2-3 percent. In some countries it has exceeded five percent.
Dr. Aluthge stressed the importance of boosting immunity of people and strictly following health guidelines to fight against the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Commenting on the new contagious variant of COVID-19 first identified in the UK, the GMOA Editor said that it is normal for viruses to mutate.
“When a virus makes copies of itself, it sometimes changes a little bit. These changes are called mutations. The virus with the new mutation is called a variant of the original virus. So there is a possibility to have a variant of COVID 19 within the country. So what we have to do is follow the health guidelines issued by the health authorities to prevent such viruses,” Dr. Aluthge added.
Dr. Aluthge stressed the importance of having a balanced diet, regular exercise and getting sufficient sleep to combat the novel coronavirus.