COVID-19 is Third Coronavirus Outbreak in Two Decades, May Stay for Long: US-based Doctor

Dehradun: The coronavirus that has swept across the globe and claimed thousands of lives could stay for a long period, believes Dr Rajendra Karnatak, an infectious disease expert dealing with critical COVID-19 patients in the United States.

Dr Karnatak, who is working in the critical care department of the University of Nebraska Medical Centre, says the virus could be dealt with the combination of effective response system and vaccine.

In a video chat with News18, Dr Karnatak spoke at length on various issues related to the pandemic.

Edited excerpts:

Cases of coronavirus patients are growing in India. Do you think India is adequately prepared to deal with it?

The announcement of early lockdown in India could help in checking community spread of the virus. Nevertheless, there is a need for the country to increase its capacity to carry out tests in large numbers. Strategists must also focus on strengthening critical care units and diagnostic laboratories for the outbreak that cannot be ruled out completely.

Is there any rationale behind higher temperature and downward trend of the virus?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has studied the pattern of COVID-19 cases and found less than 6% reported cases are from warmer countries. I would like to go with the data based on the solid research.

However, in the US, we have seen comparative hotter states like Arizona and Florida reporting cases of coronavirus. With the onslaught of summer, I don’t see India emerging as a hotspot (for the virus), but the country must be prepared for the autumn and winters when the temperature falls again.

How long will it take to eradicate COVID-19?

COVID-19 is the third coronavirus outbreak in the last two decades. The first one was the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that happened in 2002. Then came the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 2012. We had enough time to prepare for future pandemics like COVID-19, but unfortunately that didn’t happened. COVID-19 will stay with us for long. We really need to act fast and work on pathogens (that can cause the disease). This is the only way to curb future pandemics.

Whether a vaccine for COVID-19 will be ready anytime soon?

Scientists and researchers are working hard on the vaccine to treat the virus. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a premier institution in the US, has injected 45 volunteers with a vaccine which has been developed in record 63 days. Safety and efficacy of the vaccine is being checked and once approved, it would be a major breakthrough.

Oxford University is also working on a project and it claims by July it will come out with a vaccine. In fact, nowadays researches don’t the virus to develop a vaccine. Chinese researches released molecular sequence of the virus in early January and based on the sequence, researchers started working on it (the vaccine).

What should be the way out for the world to deal with COVID-19?

We should look out at previous outbreaks to understand the bigger picture. The H1N1 virus (Influenza virus associated with Spanish Flu) outbreak started in 2009 and since then, its periodic transmission has been continuous across the globe. Similar is the pattern of Swine Flu that claims several human lives every year. Same goes with the coronavirus as well which is not going to be wiped out easily and fast. But we can work towards the eradication of the virus in a phased manner once the vaccine is prepared.