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$2b coronavirus plan - Up to 35,000 may seek treatment weekly if outbreak hits home

Published:Monday | March 9, 2020 | 12:27 AM
Nurses make a heart sign in a dedicated ward for people infected with the novel coronavirus at a hospital in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. With the approaching Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, officials kept up pressure on people not to travel and to stay home. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour, who gave Iran’s new casualty figures yesterday, reiterated that people should not even attend funerals.
AP
Nurses make a heart sign in a dedicated ward for people infected with the novel coronavirus at a hospital in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. With the approaching Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, officials kept up pressure on people not to travel and to stay home. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour, who gave Iran’s new casualty figures yesterday, reiterated that people should not even attend funerals.

Jamaica has activated a $2-billion response plan to counter the emergence of the novel coronavirus locally as health authorities brace for the prospect of as much as a third of the population becoming ill according to modelling projections.

The plan will be used to guide the direction, coordination, and management of the emergency response agencies.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said that the Government would use its experience gained from its handling of the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 to deal with the potential arrival of COVID-19 in the coming months.

If the virus does turn up on local shores, the ministry said it was projecting that 2.6 million acute respiratory cases could be recorded, up from the one million seen each year.

“These are persons who will become ill although most will have mild symptoms,” Tufton said.

Of the 2.6 million, some 800,000 will seek medical care in public and private facilities.

“At the height of the outbreak, we could see as much as 35,000 or so people seeking care within a given week. Close to 50 per cent of the more than 800,000 we expect to access care in our public-health facilities.

“At the height of the outbreak, we could see approximately 16,000 in a week,” the minister added.

Further, the ministry anticipates that just about 2,000 of the people visiting the public-health facilities will experience severe acute respiratory infection requiring hospital care. Of this, 360 will require critical care, Tufton said.

He stated that the ministry had planned for these eventualities, with its main activities including coordination and collaboration across Government and with other key stakeholders. Case management, the monitoring of supplies, laboratory response, the sensitisation of healthcare workers, and public education are also being undertaken.

“I wish to emphasise that the success of our efforts is contingent on the support of all Jamaicans, including the deliberate effort to access and share accurate information on the virus, thus helping to minimise the anxiety that has been associated with the spread of COVID-19,” Tufton said.

Jamaicans have been advised to maintain a distance of at least two metres from persons who are coughing or sneezing and to frequently wash hands thoroughly with soap and water. Hand sanitisers have also been recommended.