Prof. Dr Gamal Shiha, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Liver Patients Care (ALPC) of Dakahlia and the Egyptian Liver Hospital in Shirbin, was honored for winning the State Appreciation Award in Science 2019 at the Annual United Conference of Hepato-gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases held in Cairo.

Prof. Dr Gamal Shiha expressed his thanks to the Conference for being honored, stressing the importance of the research efforts that are taking place to confront the Coronavirus pandemic, reflecting Egypt's leading medical role in the region and worldwide. He explained that medical experiments were being conducted in several countries on medicines based on scientific research and studies that showed similarity between the coronavirus replicative enzymes and that of hepatitis C virus.

In the same context, it was confirmed at the United Conference of Hepato-gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases that there was a similarity between the novel coronavirus replicative enzymes and that of hepatitis C virus, and that some global effort to confront the coronavirus included the use of some medicines previously used to treat other diseases to test its effectiveness in treating the novel coronavirus, including medicines containing the active ingredient "Sofosbuvir" and "Velpatasvir", which are used in treating hepatitis C virus.

Reportedly, the agenda of the United Conference of Hepato-gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases included a number of scientific and research seminars to discuss the latest developments and efforts in treating the novel coronavirus, in the presence of a group of senior doctors and researchers from various medical specialties and Egyptian universities.

It should be noted that the conference was attended by Dr Wahid Doss, Chairman of the National Committee for Control of Viral Hepatitis, and Dr Gamal Esmat, Vice Chairman of the Committee.