Question

What are the main lessons learnt from diagnostic testing during the COVID-19 pandemic that could assist with future communicable diseases?

Answer 1

Main lessons learnt from diagnostic testing during the COVID-19 pandemic that could assist with future communicable diseases

Covid 19 pandemic reminds our society that health and medical research remain as vital as ever

Diseases do not, indeed, know borders. This is now more vital to understand and recognize than ever. Millions of people are searching for answers, treatments, improvements and care in their daily lives. Covid 19 pandemic has been treated as a societal emergency, as it should be and as it should continue to be before it can be contained and, hopefully, treated and cured. Infectious diseases, especially those like COVID-19, are societal reminders that health and medical research remain as vital as ever. They serve as a reminder that we as a society are not

invincible and have a long way to go in understanding not only the human body but how it reacts to and manifests different diseases. Many health care professionals have sacrifice their life to save life of other people.

General precautions, preventive measures for any communicable disease

Covid 19 pandemics teach us to take precautions of any communicable disease such as social distancing, wearing masks, avoiding public gatherings and adherence to guidelines, along with personal hygiene, are the key measures that must be taken in order to live with COVID-19 and any communicable disease. Precautions for the elderly and pregnant women advised by medical authorities are to be strictly adhered to. These will help in reducing COVID-19 cases and in turn will reduce the pressure on hospitals to serve those in need. India has learned lessons from the past and the present pandemic and will move towards growth through its self-reliance.

Opportunity to learn from our mistakes and others

Although the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in November from China and it was not until January that it started spreading to other parts of the world. India reported its first case in February. We have the late bloomers advantage of learning from other countries. We have the choice of either getting into South Korea’s footstep that managed to bring the new cases down drastically. We can make policies, programmes to take up in advanced to fight such pandemics

The world needs to unit to fight for any kind of pandemics to save mankind

The leaders of world also needs to unit, work together, invest in disease surveillance, case database should be accessible to other countries and rules that require countries to share their information in time of pandemics.

Researchers and healthcare providers need to embrace an open, multidisciplinary and collaborative environment. We need to invest in better disease and behavioral surveillance systems that are coordinated at community, national and global level. Information and skill sharing among surveillance networks might improve our ability to contain such viral threats in future.

In order to react more efficiently and effectively not only in this crisis but for future challenges, we not only need to make larger systemic changes at all levels but we also need to “think globally and act locally”. We need to watch each other’s back and react in a manner which is beneficial for all. At an individual level, we can take small steps that go a long way in preventing the spread of Covid-19, from maintaining good personal hygiene (washing hands frequently, avoiding touching the face) to social-distancing and quarantine.

To stay prepared for any kind of pandemics in future

An estimated 75% of human pathogens are zoonotic. Efforts using genomics and artificial intelligence (AI) for disease prediction and forecasting can be implemented to anticipate the emergence of new zoonoses. Better understanding of the psychosocial behavior of individuals and communities in face of public health threats might help educators, communicators and influencers to positively influence human behaviour during crises.

Learning and adapting isn't an easy task especially in crisis. Therefore, it is imperative to expose, train and learn from either our own mistakes or others. More research should be done to prevent future outbreaks.

These outbreaks remind us that we live in a habitat where it is necessary to respect the relationship between animal, social life, and the environment to survive and thrive.

Rapid urbanization and our incursion into forest lands, has created a new interface between humans and wildlife; and exposed humans to unfamiliar organisms often involving the consumption of exotic wildlife.

With COVID-19, nature is sending us a message that we need to recognize the interrelationship between animals, including pets, livestock and wildlife. The transdisciplinary One Health approach involving professionals from many disciplines such as medicine, veterinary, environmental health, and social sciences has been advocated to limit new infectious outbreaks. The global experience is teaching that containment measures and aggressive contract tracing are mandatory to keep the infection under control until an approved treatment or a vaccine is available to the global community.

They should also minimize the economic burden of disease, and improve understanding of disease mechanisms, health problems, disease emergence, and reemergence to respond in a proportionate and timely manner. This will help in detecting, preventing, and combating future pandemics based on our experience from COVID-19 outbreaks.