Dakshin Kamrup College held international webinar on Covid-19

GUWAHATI: Dr Ritu Kumar Mishra, the international civil servant (monitoring and evaluation office) at the United Nations Organization in Malawi (Africa) asked people to be cautious during the unlock phases to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus as a vaccine is still in the making.


As India eagerly waits for a vaccine, Mishra said, “It may take at least one year before a vaccine (against Covid-19 ) is approved and available for widespread use.”

Speaking at an international webinar convened by Gauhati University-affiliated Dakshin Kamrup College , Kamrup on Friday, Mishra said the Oxford vaccine is currently at the fourth stage of clinical trial, while the Indian one is still at a preliminary stage. “Plasma therapy is being practised in many countries, but large scale randomized clinical trials have not been performed to show statistically significant results. Besides, it has also a serious risk of transmitting blood-borne infections,” he added.

The international webinar on “History of Pandemics and the Role of UNO in Creating Socio-economic Stability During the Covid-19 Era”, which was was inaugurated by DK College principal Dr Nabajyoti Das, was attended by HoD of the history department Madhuri Saikia, co-ordinator Dhrubajyoti Gogoi and assistant professors Elorananda Pathak and Dulumoni Nath of the history department.

As there are several large-scale trials underway for assessment of potential therapeutics, including the WHO Solidarity Trial, Mishra said WHO has confirmed that Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir & RitonavirHydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir/Ritonavir do not result in in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized Covid-19 patients. “As WHO says that we might have to live with Covid-19, we must learn to live with it,” he added.

As health officials in Assam have already found out that alcoholics, malnourished and chronic smokers are at risk as far as deterioration in health is concerned, Mishra said smoking impairs lung function making it harder for the body to fight the coronavirus and other respiratory diseases.

He added that Covid-19 is still highly infectious and it has been recently confirmed by WHO that the virus can survive in the air for up to 10 minutes. “Available research suggests that smokers are at higher risk of developing severe Covid-19 outcomes and death,” he added.