Around 90% of those infected with the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) do not display any symptoms and often recover very quickly with little medical care, and rarely have any impacts of the disease after being fully recovered, a senior official said.
Dr Al-Mubashir Abu Bakr Abdo, head of the programme to combat communicable diseases at the Ministry of Public Health, was talking to Qatar TV Friday about his personal experience of recovering from Covid-19.
"Some with chronic disease such as respiratory diseases like shortness of breath, alongside different types of smokers and elderly people need longer times to recover from Covid-19," he explained.
"There is a very small percentage of people with weak immunity or chronic lung disease who need to have some time at the intensive care to recover, and it takes longer time with a small percentage of them continuing to suffer from negative effects from the disease.
"The period of shedding of the virus outside the body after full recovery accordingly takes longer times with severe cases and those with weak immunity system," he pointed out.
Dr Abdo advised the people who test positive for Covid-19 or display any of the symptoms to immediately contact the medical team concerned while strictly abiding by the precautionary and preventive measures, most importantly self-quarantine until taken to the designated place for treatment.
The official also stressed that those newly diagnosed with Covid-19 should take care not to worry or panic because this would eventually impact their immune system negatively and may cause the treatment process to be longer.
He urged the families of Covid-19 patients, the media and the clergy to give all the due psychological support to them during this time to boost their morale and subsequently immunity.