VIDEO: New normal: how likely will it be to live with Covid-19?

Dar es Salaam. It remains unclear when the novel coronavirus may finally stop spreading across the world. This comes at a time when top experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) point to a possibility of the world starting to live a ‘new normal’ with the pandemic code-named ‘Covid-19.’

During the 6th Edition of the Mwananchi Thought Leadership Forum (MTLF) conducted in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, key speakers - as well as a section of the audience - sought to chart the way forward in the fight against Covid-19, inspired by the theme: ‘Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond.’

Capitalising on recent remarks by a WHO Emergencies’ expert, Dr Mike Ryan - who had warned that Covid-19 could become endemic in the world, just like HIV - there was an apparent urge during the MTLF to pursue answers on what the situation would look like if Tanzania officially accepted the disease as ‘a new normal.’

The disease had by 15:30GMT killed 304,831 people globally, and left over 2.5 million still infected - 45,358 of them in serious or critical condition.

Tanzania had recorded 509 cases and 16 deaths.

“If we, as a country, would have to accept that the disease should exist with us so that we could fight it alongside other diseases in our communities, then the policymakers would have to ensure that new treatment guidelines are put in place to accommodate Covid-19 patients along with patients from other illnesses,’’ says the President of the Medical Association of Tanzania (MAT), Dr Elisha Osati.

Dr Osati, however, insists that deciding to live with the disease - along with other diseases - requires intensive research on how to deal with Covid-19 patients in normal clinical settings at healthcare facilities across the country.

“We have noted a trend whereby some Covid-19 patients are also sufferers from diabetes, hypertension and other non-communicable diseases. So: the question is how do we handle them in our usual settings. How are healthcare workers supposed to handle such patients? The disease is new, and there is much that we still need to learn to make informed decisions,’’ Dr Osati stated.

‘Because we are not yet sure for how long the disease will be with us, we need to have the necessary interventions in place. Life must go on, despite the existence of Covid-19,’’ Dr Osati stressed.

The Director of Preventive Services at the ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children, Dr Leonard Subi - who spoke during the MTL Forum - noted that the government’s current priority is to ensure that healthcare products and services are provided in a safe environment, and by focusing on prevention.

“Prevention is the only (effective) weapon against the virus... Washing hands on a regular basis, keeping social distance and using facemasks,” he said at the Forum . He also outlined a number of interventions that were put in place by the government when the first Covid-19 patient was reported in Tanzania in mid-March this year.

During the Forum, the director of the Institute of Traditional Medicine at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas), Dr Joseph Otieno, said it was high time that mass public education about Covid-19 was intensified, as the disease continues to spread across the country.

“It is obvious that Covid-19 could be with us for a long time to come. In rural communities where people generally lack hygienic education, there should be mechanisms designed to help them know how to live with the malady,’’ Dr Otieno suggested.

“I have noted that, since the emergence of Covid-19, there has been a growing interest in the use of traditional medicine. This should be encouraged, ensuring that it is done in the right way, even as research studies continue in the country to establish if there are any therapeutic advantages of medicinal herbs or not,’’ he said.

Discussions on whether to live - or not to live - with the viral Covid-19 have come hardly two weeks since Africa’s WHO Regional Director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, warned that Covid-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years. This is unless and until African governments become more proactive in tackling the pandemic.

Dr Moeti’s emphasis, however, was meant to caution policymakers against relaxing any interventions that are already in place to surmount the viral malady.

“We need to test, trace, isolate and treat,” she insisted, pointing out a WHO survey which predicted that up to 190, 000 people in Africa could die of Covid-19 - while 44 million could get infected in the first year of the pandemic if containment measures fail.

But, speaking on Thursday, Dr Moeti was also cautious about the ongoing easing of lockdowns in some countries, saying the easing should be a process rather than just an event.

“As countries begin to relax their lockdowns, essential healthcare services must be in place to meet the challenges posed by malnutrition,” she said.

“It is important to remember that easing a lockdown should not be thought of as an event, but as a dynamic, data-driven process. If the epidemiological evidence suggests that restrictions need to remain in place, governments should ensure that measures are taken to (for example) alleviate hunger that might arise as a result of these restrictions,” she counselled.

‘It is obvious that Covid-19 could be with us for a long time to come... It could become a fixture in our lives - unless and until governments become more proactive in tackling the pandemic.’

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