Dear Editor,
The concept of One Health has been with us for many years.Citation1 In the past and even in recent times, communicable and non-communicable diseases have killed millions of people worldwide. In resource-limited countries, the burden of disease mortality and morbidity has been very high.Citation2 In December 2019, a novel 2019-new Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak was reported in Wuhan, a major city of Hubei province in China.Citation3 Later on, the World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In a very short time, the disease spread very quickly and reached almost every part of China. Due to mass migration at that time for the Chinese New Year festival, the virus jumped outside of China and cases and deaths have been reported in other countries.Citation4 As of 27 February, 2020, Nanjing Time 06:39 PM, the total number of confirmed cases reached to 82,171 worldwide, of which 95.53% (78,497/82,171) cases were reported in Mainland China. Globally, the total number of deaths was reported 2,804, of which 94.19% (2,641/2,804) was reported in Hubei province, China. The overall fatality rate is 3.41% (2,804/82,171). Outside China, a total of 49 countries/regions reported cases of COVID-19. The countries reported more than 50 COVID-19 cases are South Korea (1,595), Japan (894) including cases on “Diamond Princes” cruise ship (705), Italy (453), Iran (141), Singapore (93), Hong Kong (92), and United States (60). The countries reported highest numbers of deaths outside China are Iran (22), South Korea (13), and Italy (12).Citation5
The Chinese government took some serious decisions, banning Wuhan city and other areas for public transportation, markets, and movement of peoples, and built two hospitals within ten days. However, despite all of these steps, the disease went out of control, and government and health authorities are facing some serious challenges. The One Health approach should be of great interest and should prove effective to control and stop further spread of the deadly COVID-19. The One Health model is presented in . The One Health approach should minimize the economic burden of disease and improve understanding of disease mechanism, health problems, disease emergence and reemergence in order to respond in a proportionate and timely manner, thereby detecting, preventing, and combating future pandemics based on experience from COVID-19 outbreak. Maintain good health, and practicing proper hygiene is very helpful to prevent infection and avoid being exposed to the COVID-19. The One Health approach should minimize the economic burden of disease and improve understanding of disease mechanism, health problems, disease emergence, and reemergence in order to respond in a proportionate and timely manner, thereby detecting, preventing, and combating future pandemics based on experience from 2019-nCoV. Maintaining good health and practicing proper hygiene are very helpful to prevent infection and avoid being exposed to the 2019-nCoV.
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References
- Häsler B, Cornelsen L, Bennani H, Rushton J. A review of the metrics for One Health benefits. Rev Sci Tech Off Int Epiz 2014;33(2):453–64. doi:10.20506/rst.33.2.2294.
- World Health Organization. Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2010. World Health Organization; 2011. ISBN: 9789241564229. [accessed 2020 Feb 09].
- World Health Organization. Novel Coronavirus. [accessed 2020 Feb 09]. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.
- Ahmad T, Khan M, Khan FM, Hui J. Are we ready for the new fatal Coronavirus: scenario of Pakistan? Hum Vacc Immunother. 2020:1–3. doi:10.1080/21645515.2020.1724000.
- Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE. [accessed 2020 Feb27]. https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6.