Staff Reporter A grand round on novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was held at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) here on Wednesday discussing all aspect of the much-debated virus but pointed out that the epidemiological curve indicates that epidemic is slowing down in China. The discussion was organized by the department of the infectious decease of SIUT. Opening the discussion Dr Asma Nasim associate professor of the department explained that coronavirus has been with humans for centuries but now new viruses have emerged. She said these viruses are known to adapt from animals to the human population. Dr Asma disclosed that the new Coronavirus has emerged from a live animal market and then spread from person to person. Since this is a new virus, therefore, the world fell into the grip of panic and for which there is no vaccine she commented. Declaring highly infectious the SIUT physician said the virus is not as deadly like other viruses. Dr Sunil Dodani associate professor of Infectious diseases discussed the definition of the clinical case which says that if the person gets fever, dry cough and difficulty in breathing or had a history of travelling to China can be termed as a suspect. Dr Sunil said till February 18th there were 71,429 confirmed cases with 1775 deaths of which 98 per cent were in China. Dr Sunil showed an epidemiological curve which indicates that the epidemic is slowing down. He also disclosed that in Pakistan no case so far been diagnosed. Professor Shehla Baqi in her presentation discussed the prevention aspects in detail. She underlined the importance of prevention and termed the cornerstone of hand hygiene. The discussion was followed by a QA session by participating doctors.
