Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. While most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience a mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment, older people are more likely to develop serious illnesses.
If you are over 65 years of age, especially if you have underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer, you can experience more severe symptoms and are more likely to need intensive hospital care if you get the infection
What measure should older people follow to protect themselves?
Follow the instructions of MOPH staying home, avoiding crowds, parks and refraining from touching one another or surfaces.
Personal hygiene is extremely important at this time of the virus outbreak. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, clean your hands with an alcohol-based solution (60%) or a sanitizer.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth (or ensure you wash your hands before and after).
Refrain from having visitors – this means not having family and friends visiting, including young children as even though the children might not be sick, they could be carriers of the virus.
Avoid sharing living areas with family members - Try to stay in a separate room from the rest of the family and use a separate bathroom.
Avoid physical contact with others - refrain from kissing, shaking hands or hugging as a greeting
Maintain a clean environment – regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces
Ensure household staff follow good practices - if you employ household and/or private nursing staff, ensure they adhere to the strict hygiene protocols of hand washing.
