Covid-19 should start to be seen as a common flu in Portugal, as is already happening in Spain, some experts suggest.

The ways in which the virus is contracted and its behavior in the human body are already known all over the world, and this is possible to predict after two years in the middle of the pandemic.

The proposals of this new strategy of dealing with covid-19 consider the need to stop counting cases on a daily basis and for each individual to do himself, that is, on his own, the evaluation of the symptoms and risks of the disease.

"Instead of us testing, registering, and isolating all cases we should use a much more clinical criterion, for example, advise that the person presenting symptoms should stay at home and keep their distance," suggested the infectious disease specialist from the São João Hospital Center in Portugal.

While this is the ideal thing to do, the timing seems less appropriate due to overburdened health care systems, much less should it be adopted drastically, but it should enter the debate as soon as possible.

And the Director of the Emergency Department of the same center said that in the absence of another new variant the winter is the best time to implement the idea.

"We must be calm and evaluate this symptomatology in articulation with the medical teams, so that the admission in the emergency room is done and the trip to the hospitals is in necessary cases", corroborated with the proposal the immunologist of the I3S, Nuno Alves.

However, the constant evaluation of cases must continue, argue the experts.

Source: rtp