The Coronavirus pandemic is arguably the biggest health emergency since the turn of the millennium. Within six months, the virus has infected over 7 million, claiming the lives of over 406,000 victims in at least 213 countries.
However, a recent tweet by a professor at the University of Edinburgh indicates that COVID-19 is much more dangerous than it appears. Devi Sridhar, Professor, and Chair of Global Public Health at the University, posted a snapshot on Twitter, claiming it to be a message sent by a person, apparently, a doctor who treated Coronavirus patients. The professor said that the COVID-19 is not flu and that it was a miscalculation to think that it could run through the population.
A friend who has treated COVID patients sent me this text about long-term health problems for those who recover. This is not the flu. Huge miscalculation to think it could run through population (esp if models only focused on # of deaths & ensuring NHS has enough beds.) pic.twitter.com/a6QL5VQgyk
— Prof. Devi Sridhar (@devisridhar) June 3, 2020
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Even after months of global lockdowns and 24×7 medical research going on to bring out vaccines and treatment for the pandemic, outcomes have been quite nominal. The death toll in the US alone has crossed 112,000, and there are no signs of the pandemic slowing down.
One of the arguments being put forward by those who are questioning the gravity of the situation is that more people have died due to the influenza virus during the period, which makes the hype around COVID-19 unnecessary. However, in the image shared by Prof Sridhar, the person who treated COVID19 patients claims,
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Up until now, researches and doctors are looking at the currently apparent symptoms and effects of the virus, but these new inputs raise several questions, as more than 3.4 million people are deemed to be cured successfully. If these claims have substance, that those who have been discharged as cured, need to be examined for a longer period of time, and that could just be the newest challenge to emerge put the pandemic.
