On 3/9 in the afternoon, the University Telemedicine Network (RUTE) gathered three specialists in infectiology in a webinar to present to the community “how we are fighting Covid-19”. Prof. Dr. Nancy Bellei, from Unifesp, dealt with the the progress of the infection in the world, focused on virologic and clinical aspects; Prof. Dr. Eduardo Medeiros, also from Unifesp, approached the national initiatives to stop the disease from spreading in the country; and Prof. Dr. Ho Yeh Li, from USP, told the details of the isolation experience in Anápolis, where the repatriated Brazilian coming from Wuhan, epicenter of the new coronavirus in China, stayed. The presentation was moderated by Dr. Nelson Akamine, IT director of the Unifesp Hospital Universitário São Paulo.

Dr. Nancy Bellei started the meeting presenting data about the spreading of the infection, since its appearance in December, in China, highlighting that the lethality rate in the Asiatic country has been reducing since January thanks to the measures adopted by the local government. She highlighted that the most relevant scenario for Brazil to follow up closely is the Italian, because in the first confirmed case in the country, the virus presented sequencing remarkably similar to that in Italy. She also said that there is still no record of confirmed case in children and that the risk of death increases progressively according to the age of the infected people, achieving 15% in patients over 80 years old.

“Early recognition of patients is essential to control this local transmission containment phase effectively. The clinical characteristics do not enable distinguishing the disease from other viral respiratory infections. The clinical evolution with late worsening and the absence of initial biomarkers of worst prognostic shall determine more attention to patients considered at risk for viral respiratory diseases”, the professor warned.

After that, Dr. Eduardo Medeiros gave an outlook of how Brazil is dealing with the new coronavirus. He stressed the great concern related to the university hospitals, due to the turnover at that places, he mentioned the importance of communication and follow-up of the bulletins issued by the Ministry of Health, and presented measures adopted by Unifesp Hospital Universitário São Paulo. According to the infectologist, the country is prepared to face Covid-19 and responded quickly, by issuance of daily epidemiologic bulletins, creation of vigilance material, disclosure of the disease procedures instructions and strengthening of the laboratory network.

“Until now, the epidemic is under control in the country, because it is possible to identify the transmission. From the moment we can no longer identify the epidemiologic link, we will have big problems”, professor Eduardo affirmed.

Repatriation of the Brazilians in Wuhan

Dr. Ho Yeh Li ended the webinar telling how the repatriation action of the Brazilian, who were in Wuhan, the epicenter of the disease in China, was planned and executed in February. A lot of adaptions had to be done in the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane for the doctors to monitor the passengers´ clinical state during the trip with four stops, which lasted more than 40 hours. At the Anápolis air base, in Goiás, where the repatriated stayed for 14 days, everything occurred in the best way and the action was considered successful, without any case of coronavirus recorded.

“We have got to praise the preparation that was made in the air base in Anápolis. Living areas and open spaces were created for physical exercises, which reduced stress and made the entire process lighter”, Dr. Ho Yeh Li said.

Watch the complete webinar recording!