The annual unified conference of the digestive system, liver and infectious diseases held in Cairo honored Professor Dr. Gamal Shiha, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Liver Patients Care Association in Dakahlia and the Egyptian Liver Hospital in Sherbin, on the occasion of receiving the State Appreciation Award in Science for the year 2019.

Professor Dr. Gamal Shiha thanked the conference for the honor, stressing the importance of the research efforts being made to confront the Corona pandemic, reflecting Egypt's leading medical role in the region and the world, explaining that there are experiments being conducted in several countries on these drugs based on scientific research and studies that have shown the similarity of some enzymes used by the virus in cloning and spreading with their counterparts in the hepatitis C virus.

In the same context, the Unified Conference on Liver, Digestive System and Infectious Diseases confirmed the similarity of the enzymes used by the novel coronavirus to the enzymes used by hepatitis C virus to replicate and spread in the body, and that some global efforts to combat Corona include the use of some drugs previously used to treat other diseases and exploring their effectiveness in treating the novel coronavirus, including drugs containing the active ingredient "sofosbuvir" and "velpatasvir", which are used to treat hepatitis C.

It is noteworthy that the Unified Conference on Liver, Digestive System and Infectious Diseases included a number of scientific and research seminars to discuss the latest developments and efforts in treating the novel coronavirus, with the attendance of a group of senior doctors and researchers from various medical specialties and Egyptian universities.

The conference was attended by Dr. Wahid Doss, Chairman of the National Committee for Combating Hepatitis Viruses, and Dr. Gamal Esmat, Vice Chairman of the Committee.