More than 90% patients recover from coronavirus illness: DAK

Srinagar Apr 04 (GNS): Sounding a note of reassurance, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Saturday said most people who catch the novel (new) coronavirus recover completely.

“More than 90 percent patients who are diagnosed with the viral infection return to a normal state of health,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.

Based on the data from China which has passed the peak of its suffering from the pandemic, Dr Nisar said of the 81, 639 confirmed cases of the novel virus, 76, 755 (94%) patients have completely recovered from the illness.

“The milder cases which comprised of 81 percent of total cases recovered on their own and they just needed nothing more than a paracetamol for fever.” he said.

“Just under 14 percent of cases were severe and most of them got well,” he added

 Dr Nisar said approximately 5 percent of patients were critically ill and vast majority of them required mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure.

“While the overall fatality rate was 2.3 percent, it was 49 percent in those with critical disease. Deaths were most common among people who were older than 80 years of age,” he said.

 Dr Nisar said most COVID-19 patients who end up on ventilation go on to die.

“A study from Wuhan China found only 3 of 22 ventilated patients survived,” he said.

“Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which is an advanced type of mechanical life support improves the chances of survival in critically ill patients,” Dr Nisar said adding “WHO recommends ECMO to those patients who are refractory to conventional ventilation.”

“Kashmir valley has so far reported 71 lab confirmed cases, and most of them are doing well and some have completely recovered,” he said.

“Those who have mild symptoms typically recover from the illness in about 10 days to two weeks’ time, while those who experience more severe illness can take an average of 24 days to recover,” said Dr Nisar. (GNS)