The COVID-19 is now a pandemic, which has affected over 200 countries all over the world. People are suffering wide-scale quarantine and are being advised to self-isolate. The World Health Organization recommends that everyone who has symptoms be tested immediately for the virus. How, for many countries, that is not possible or feasible; especially for third-world countries such as Pakistan, due to the short supply of Testing Kits.
“In Pakistan and elsewhere in the developing world, authorities discourage the PCR test for the novel coronavirus until the patient has critical symptoms.” says an article in The Express Tribune.
Those who suspect that they have COVID-19 and only show mild symptoms are advised to stay at home and rest in self-quarantine for 14 days and monitor their health because the current statistics show that the majority (80%) do not require hospitalization and get well easily at home.
In the current season, flu is common; however it is easily mistaken for COVID-19 due to the similar symptoms. So, people are being tested who do not need it. This is an issue due to the scarcity of medical resources available here in Pakistan.
The Fourthman Concepts, a Nigeria-based information communications technology (ICT) corporation, has prepared a simple online symptoms checker for COVID-19. They say
Due to limited resources to combat the Covid-19 Pandemic in world, we have created this App (Tool) for everyone to be able to Test themselves before contacting medical consultants, to avoid overwhelming our collective efforts.
FourthMan Concepts
This symptoms checker cannot replace medical diagnosis by a certified health practitioner, however it may help people to measure their risk of getting the virus.
If, after taking the quiz your risk of contracting the virus is “high” or “severe” and you have symptoms you can consult your physician or contact the coronavirus helpline in your respective country for proper diagnosis.
If you want to check your symptoms, you take the quiz here.
(Disclaimer: Such symptom checkers are intended for informational purposes only. They are not a substitute for professional medical diagnosis.)
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