This was told today to journalists by Igor Karpov, the head of the department of infectious diseases of the Belarusian State Medical University, chief freelance specialist in infectious diseases of the Ministry of Health, BelTA reports.

An illness which a child easily overcomes can cause a serious problem for an elderly person

-This is the time when it is necessary to show the most professional and warm attitude to our elderly generation, said Igor Karpov. The fact is that the main contingent of risk is elderly people with serious concomitant diseases. We need to pay maximum attention to this contingent of people.

The physician called for adequate domestic assistance to the older generation, so that they would not have to appear in crowded places and, if possible, fence off contacts with potential carriers of the virus. "You need to remember well: An illness which a child easily overcomes can cause a serious problem for an elderly person."

The chief infectious disease specialist of the Ministry of Health emphasized that now a lot of things depend on society. “We need to look around us, understand the problems of single people and take measures to protect them from infection,” he added.

It is very important to observe the procedure for self-isolation

Irina Glinskaya, the deputy head physician of the Republican Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health, called the situation with the coronavirus in Belarus controlled. She noted that the preventive measures for this disease are the same as for acute respiratory infections.

- We are working in several directions. First of all, this is a warning of the import of coronavirus infection. Recently, the geography of deliveries has expanded. If we saw mainly deliveries from Italy at the first stage, now it’s (albeit one on one occasion, but nonetheless) Poland, France, Germany, Austria, Great Britain The work carried out by the State Border Committee and the Ministry of Health at the border will continue, but there are accents: it is very important for those who return from epidemiologically disadvantaged countries be the order of isolation, "said Irina Glinskaya. Such measures, she said, allow you to pay attention to their own health, as well as protect others from the transmission of the virus.

When identifying a patient with coronavirus, doctors are actively working to determine his circle of contacts, people who could be at risk. Basically, such measures are treated with understanding, but some people consider them redundant, the deputy head physician noted. "Most of them are healthy, someone else has some other seasonal viruses detected periodically. After the observation period, they continue their normal life, she added

Preventive measures will also be taken with social workers, postmen and other people who often come in contact with the elderly. The supervision of their state of health is being strengthened. In their work, these people will use masks, gloves - not in order to protect themselves, but in order not to bring infection to older people, explained Irina Glinskaya.

Several response scenarios developed

Alexander Petkevich, the head of the organizational and methodological department of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, is used to working with dangerous viruses. According to him, one of the elements of effective infection control is the formation of a positive attitude of the population towards this problem. A person should think about his health himself: strengthen immunity, eat right, wash his hands, know when to wear masks, and when they are useless. "A person should worry about his health and think about how to do it," the epidemiologist noted.

Belarusian doctors have developed several scenarios for responding to the spread of coronavirus. They are ready to work with single, group and mass diseases. According to the head of the department of anesthesiology, resuscitation and intensive care at the Minsk Scientific and Practical Center for Surgery, Transplantology and Hematology Alexander Dzyadzko, the main thing is to prevent a surge in infection and the massive influx of patients into intensive care, like in Italy: no system can stand it.

BelTA