DUSHANBE, 14.04.2020. (NIAT Khovar) – The head of the Russian Federal Biomedical Agency, former Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova believes that the vaccine for tuberculosis (BCG) can play a role in the fight against the coronavirus. Some scientists also support this idea.

Professor Saidbek Sattorov, the head of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Virology of the Avicenna Tajik State Medical University disagrees, since according to him, from a scientific point of view such a hypothesis has no real basis.

“According to statistical studies, people who have been re-vaccinated against tuberculosis are less sick than those who have not received it. However, the antibodies that appear in the body against tuberculosis pathogens are not able to counteract the coronavirus, because these two diseases belong to different families: one to the bacterial family, the other to the viral family, there is nothing in common between them. Therefore, I cannot agree with this opinion,” says Sattorov.

Regarding the view that it is the lack of BCG vaccination that has led to the increased number of coronavirus cases in Italy and the Netherlands, he notes that there are various other reasons that can explain this difference. One of them is the late adoption of preventive measures.

“The government of Tajikistan and health professionals have taken the necessary measures to prevent the spread of this virus, firstly by stopping air traffic with the states with confirmed cases. Individuals arriving in Tajikistan from foreign countries are held under quarantined for 14 days. However, the countries with a relatively high number of contracted cases did not pay due attention to this issue. For this reason, the number of people infected in these countries has risen sharply,” explains Sattorov.

“COVID-19 cannot exist long enough in the environment at 25-30 degrees Celsius, since the outer shell of the virus consists of proteins and oils, and it quickly degenerates outside of the body. In this regard, COVID-19 can disappear within two to three hours. However, at low temperatures, it can continue to exist in the environment for up to three days,” adds Sattorov.

Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are the only two Central Asian states with no confirmed cases. A commission to prevent the spread of the virus into Tajikistan and to strengthen anti-epidemic measures has recently been created per President Emomali Rahmon’s instructions.

From February 1 through April 11, 7,432 citizens who had entered Tajikistan from foreign countries have been quarantined at the country’s healthcare institutions and sanatoriums. Of those, 5,530 have been discharged. Over 1,900 individuals are still under quarantine.

Those who have questions and wish to receive recommendations relating to COVID-2019 can call 511, which operates around the clock

The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.