PAHO/WHO to brief nation on deadly coronavirus

─USA Ports of entries being monitored as cases confirmed there

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, January 23, 2020

The Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation country office in Guyana will host a press conference on Friday, January 24, to brief the Guyanese public on the deadly coronavirus. Cases were recently confirmed in the United States of America.

Key personnel from the country office are communicating with counterparts in Washington DC in the USA, to garner updated information to reliably inform the public of how they can safeguard themselves against this virus.

According to reports, the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, in 2019, and to date, 17 persons in that city have succumbed to the virus. It is now considered contagious as many others have been infected and the city is on lock-down.  Unconfirmed reports state that the virus may stem from snakes

The United States confirmed its first case of the coronavirus last week and has scaled up monitoring and screening efforts at five of its airports mainly in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta. Others are expected to come on board soon. Since the outbreak health officials in the US have recommended that meat and eggs must be cooked thoroughly.

Common signs and symptoms include fever, cough and trouble breathing. However, the incubation period of the virus is as long as one week so cases can be missed, therefore, persons are asked to be alert.

The WHO is advising that it is wise to avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness, such as coughing and sneezing or any of the other symptoms. Severe cases can lead to pneumonia, kidney failure and even death.