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The greatest danger of the new type of coronavirus is that it can be spread even by a person without any symptoms of infection.
Milan Tuček, head of the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, says this in an interview.
According to him, the spread of the infection cannot be stopped, but an explosive epidemic can be prevented. Such an epidemic could threaten the functioning of the healthcare system. In the Czech Republic, a state of emergency is in effect because of the new coronavirus; it was declared by the government.
What is the likelihood that the coronavirus can be stopped by human intervention?
I think it cannot be stopped. It is possible to prevent an explosive epidemic, which the state is trying to do. If we reach a situation where cases continue to increase, the public health service may not be able to trace transmission contacts.
If community transmission occurs, that is free spread, there will be little left to do.
At a debate at Ostrava University it was said that the first vaccine, because of the time-consuming testing and large financial costs, could be ready in two years, although various other solutions are already being applied now.
Far greater danger than the virus itself may be how the effort to deal with it paralyses the medical infrastructure, leaving insufficient capacity to handle other, much more common cases.
“Ebola killed about 11,000 people directly, but ten times more people indirectly, because it paralyzed the local health system,” he noted.
For example, in the USA the drug remdesivir is beginning to be tested, with the involvement of a Czech scientist.
