Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Representatives of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in the United States held a video conference with the head of the Mississippi National Guard Medical Department Jim Craig in order to exchange experiences on combating the Covid-19 coronavirus, Dunyo news agency reported.

Having familiarized himself with the measures taken in Uzbekistan to combat the spread of coronavirus, the American doctor said that currently in the state of Mississippi about 1,400 cases of Covid-19 infection have been registered, of which 29 are fatal. According to the expert, the largest number of deaths is recorded among people over the age of 70 years.

According to Dr. Craig, the leadership of Uzbekistan takes effective and timely decisions, as evidenced by the relatively low level of virus spread in the country.

“The leadership and government of the country were able to mobilize in time and significantly reduce the possible negative consequences of the outbreak,” said a representative of the US state.

According to him, the most effective measures in the fight against Covid-19 are the isolation of sick people in medical institutions and at home with their subsequent treatment. According to the US side, due to the lack of a vaccine and drugs against coronavirus, the state’s medical staff treat only the symptoms of this disease in patients - dry cough, fever and headache.

In addition, according to Jim Craig, to prevent the further spread of infectious disease among the population, the state government introduced restrictive measures for Mississippians, including self-isolation of citizens at home and the organization of telecommuting.

Jim Craig noted that state hospitals lack test systems for determining Covid-19, as well as medical devices (masks and gloves). In this regard, local state authorities engage the Mississippi private sector to produce essential primary medical supplies. According to the doctor, by the end of April, medical facilities in 82 districts of the state will be provided with individual medical facilities.

According to the US doctor, in order to timely respond to the difficult situation with Covid-19, the Mississippi government is promptly taking measures to re-equip state educational institutions (universities, institutes, dormitories) with hospitals and hospitals, as well as increasing the number of intensive care and resuscitation rooms.

According to him, at present about 35 thousand medical workers are involved, of which about 8 thousand are qualified doctors and doctors. At the same time, D. Craig emphasized that these forces are not enough, in connection with which the local authorities are calling for help from pensioners and former health workers to combat the epidemic.

In addition, the State Department of Health provides additional training for students and retraining doctors of other specialties as infectious disease doctors, who are most in demand in this situation.

The American specialist also states that this is only the “first wave” of the crisis, which may drag on for 2-3 months. At the same time, as the interlocutor noted, it is possible that the confrontation with Covid-19 will drag on until the end of this year.

Craig said that many doctors have already switched to remote consultation of their patients, thereby reducing the risk of transmission of the infection between the doctor and the patient, reducing the time needed to provide the necessary medical care, eliminating the need for patients with other diseases to visit the hospital and putting themselves at risk of contracting coronavirus.