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CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster: Current status of COVID-19 in CMAAO countries

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Dr KK Aggarwal    14 October 2020

With input from Dr Monica Vasudev

1107 Minutes of Virtual Meeting of CMAAO NMAs on “Current status of COVID-19 in CMAAO countries: NMA Presentation”

10th October, 2020, Saturday, 9.30am-10.30am

Participants: Member NMAs

Dr KK Aggarwal, President CMAAO; Dr Yeh Woei Chong, Singapore, Chair CMAAO; Dr Alvin Yee-Shing Chan, Hong Kong, Treasurer, CMAAO; Dr Marie Uzawa Urabe, Japan; Dr Ravi Naidu, Malaysia’; Dr Md Jamaluddin Chowdhury, Bangladesh; Dr SM Qaisar Sajjad, Secretary General, Pakistan Medical Association

Invitees: Dr S Sharma, Editor IJCP Group

Key points from the discussion

Discussion point #1: Analyzing President Trump’s illness

  • President Trump’s illness has raised issues about diagnosis, treatment and public health aspects.
  • A 14-day quarantine period is required for close contacts and 10 days isolation for confirmed cases. But isolation and quarantine rules were not followed.
  • During the debate, Vice President Mike Pence was seen with left eye redness. Did he have COVID conjunctivitis? He has not been tested so far.
  • President Trump was out of hospital prematurely, within 3 days. The President should have had two consecutive negative specimens 24 hours apart and only then return to office. He removed his mask and put it in his pocket (his doctor-in-charge also did the same in his press conference); he entered a room and had a meeting with people who were not wearing a mask.
  • Around 12 people in the White House have developed COVID-19; this shows lack of protocol regarding screening and testing.
  • President Trump received a cocktail of vitamin D, zinc, remdesivir (this means that he had hypoxia), steroids (he had high CRP or high IL-6), famotidine, statin and monoclonal antibodies. He did not receive HCQ, which he had earlier been advocating.

Discussion point #2: Current status of COVID-19 in CMAAO countries

  • Bangladesh Update: The number of new cases daily is around 1400; the number of deaths is decreasing to less than 20. The government is advocating use of mask, but less than 50% of people use masks. This has been continuing for a month. The government should intervene and impose a law regarding wearing of mask. People do not want to get themselves tested.
  • Hong Kong Update:  Hong Kong is now on the verge of a fourth wave. Since one week, everyday some cases are positive (but in single digits) with unknown origin. This is detrimental to the plans to recover the economy. One cluster has been detected in bars, which opened one week ago. The HK Medical Association is drafting a letter to the government urging them for more stringent regulation of bars. And to not allow exemption for testing of people who cross borders. There is a need to have much more proactive vigilance in detecting the source of infection.
  • Malaysia Update: Government has enforced law on face masks and social distancing. One is required to register name and phone number upon entering any mall, shop, dining place, etc., for contact tracing.Many new cases were detected following bye-election in the state of Sabah. There were 375 new cases yesterday (9th Oct); there have been 11 deaths in the last 2 days. 20 patients are on ventilators and 60 are in ICUs. Probably this is the third wave. Many new clusters are being formed. The government has imposed restricted lockdown in areas where clusters are detected and not the whole country.          
  • Pakistan Update: The numbers have again started increasing from the end of September. Today, according to government figures, there have been 692 new cases. Numbers are higher in Sindh province compared to other parts of the country. Six deaths have been recorded in 24 hours. Majority of people are not following precautions. This is alarming as cases may increase and the load on hospitals and HCWs may also increase.
  • Japan Update: The first and second waves have been compared in a registry study. There is a reduction in mortality and/or hospitalization in every generation. There were no deaths in patients under the age of 69 years.
  • Singapore Update: The dormitory outbreak is under control. Yesterday, there were 10 new cases - one in a dormitory and 9 imported cases; no new cases in the community. Migrant workers have been allowed to resume work but all of them are being swabbed every 2 weeks. The total number of cases is around 58,000; of these 56,000 are in migrant workers and 2000 are community cases. Singapore is trying to open travel (cruise ships, air travel bubble).

 

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA

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