There will be a “new normal” until a Covid-19 vaccine is found, says Dr. Nazla Rafeeq.
The senior medical officer at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) made the statement in relation to a question imposed by a journalist at Monday night’s Covid-19 press conference, adding that a National Emergency Operations’ Center (NEOC) team is preparing to conduct public awareness campaigns across the country.
Noting that the public health department is conducting various work to ensure “behavioural changes”, Dr. Nazla said that this an awareness campaign which they are currently preparing for.
She further stressed the importance of practicing physical distancing.
“There are three steps that can be take to ensure there is no community spread. One is to reduce the number of cases. Second, to locate the infected. Third is what we call distancing. We cannot truly control this without working on all three. These will remain until a vaccine is found. Does not mean we will be provided the vaccine straight away. Until all the arrangements are made, we have to follow these procedures”Dr. Nazla Rafeeq
Also at the press conference, government’s Covid-19 taskforce spokesperson Mohamed Mabrook Aziz said that the government began work to curb a spread in the Maldives early on and emphasized the importance of continuing physical distancing.
Noting that they are constantly questioned on whether Maldives has the capacity to treat patients if there is a community spread, he said that this depends on whether physical distancing is practiced.
Mabrook further stated that a number of countries are having difficulties controlling the situation after a community outbreak, adding that this is either because the country does not have the health resources or high number of cases per day.
Maldives has seen a total of 20 positive coronavirus cases since the discovery of the first case on March 7. While 14 have recovered, there are four being treated in the Maldives.
