The Faculty of Science and Technology of the Medan Area University once again held an International Webinar with the theme "COVID-19 Mitigation: Opportunities and Challenges" which took place on Thursday, June 25, 2020 through the zoom and live application on the Medan Area University youtube channel.
The guest speaker invited by the Faculty of Science UMA was Mr. Assoc. Professor Dr. Bimo A. Tejo from Putra Putra Malaysia and Dr. Yalun Arifin, M.Sc from Prasetiya Mulya University. While the moderator was Dr. Faisal Amri Tanjung, S.ST, MT as dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Medan Area University and the opening of the event by Prof. Dr. Dadan Ramdan, M.Eng, M.Sc as Rector of the University of Medan Area.
On the occasion the Chancellor of Umm said "As we know Covid-19 has become a serious and significant global problem of cases all over the world, because the impact is huge in various fields of economy, education, culture, etc., so we have to do any activities from home. In line with the topic of our webinar this time, this is the 24th webinar held by UMA we will discuss and share about opportunities and challenges during the covid 19 pandemic by presenting experts in their fields "
Meanwhile in the material Prof. Bimo said: Why is the speed of mutation of RNA viruses (corona viruses including RNA) so high? The speed of mutation of the RNA virus is determined by an enzyme used by the virus to replicate RNA, the name of the enzyme is RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). This RdRp often makes mistakes when replicating RNA in its Indonesian language is rather harsh, so every 1 round of replication there must be 1 mutation, that is what happens to the RNA virus. therefore the mutation speed in the RNA virus is so damn high.
For the corona virus itself, apparently not as high as imagined, the good news is that it will be easier to make a vaccine because the virus is more stable, for the flu virus making the vaccine very difficult because the virus continues to mutate, so that every year continues to make a vaccine for the flu and its effectiveness. only about 45% but for corona virus because the mutation speed is slower, so there is a possibility that it will be easier to find an effective vaccine while the bad news is that the possibility of the virus to weaken is rather small.
Added by Dr. Yalun currently does not have a vaccine and drug that can overcome Covid-19, and therefore there must be mitigation efforts, among others, with the aim of reducing the spread of covid-19, protecting individuals especially those who are vulnerable and at high risk, then maintaining health systems and facilities still able to serve patients. Mitigation must also be done with an optimal strategy by minimizing side effects to other sectors.
At the end of the program Dr. Faisal as the moderator invited webinar participants to give direct questions to the speakers to be answered one by one.
