India is defeating COVID-19 by quarantining 1.35 billion people for last 15 days. There is no other alternative. The intention is to arrest spreading of disease. The most developed nations, with extraordinary wealth, knowledge, health infrastructure got collapsed. I really support this decision and its extension for at least 49 days more that’s what recent research by two professors at Cambridge University says to curb COVID-19 partially. Currently, India is reaching stage three in the corona cycle which is a critical stage. If this is not stopped here the consequences may be like Italy in stage 4. Having said this I do not want to scare anyone but would request everyone to sit at home in order to maintain social distancing.
The novel corona virus, COVID-19, originated in Wuhan and has spread rapidly across the globe. The World Health Organization has declared it to be a pandemic. In the absence of a vaccine, social distancing has emerged as the most widely adopted strategy for its mitigation and control. The suppression of social contact in workplaces, schools and other public spheres is the target of such measures. Because only social distancing/quarantine followed by medical advisory is the via-media to control Corona.
In India, the virus was brought by one of the school teacher Preeti Maheshwari working in Shenzhen, China and reportedly she becomes the first foreigner to have contracted this virus on Sunday January 2019 including 500 medical students of Wuhan medical college and university.
Serious lockdown means people will stay away from each other so that the less people are going to be infected. Secondly, the incubation period if the virus is 14 days. There is a chance that you have already been infected but you just don’t know yet. In 21 days we will know how many people have already been infected. Thirdly, once we know how many people have been infected, we will know how many people need to be quarantined. Fourthly, by locking down less people will get infection every day. There will be less pressure on the hospitals and doctors. Doctors will be able to give more attention to the already infected people. Lastly, even if the virus has an incubation period of more than 14 days, it will be fine. The infected people will still know that they are infected within 21 days. So than, help the government and let the government help you. This is serious and we are not on vacations.
I blame the US government, they knew what was happening and still chose to ignore. But India was quick. In China lockdowns started on 23 January. Daily deaths started falling less than a month later. Another month later it was down to less than 10 a day. In Italy, lockdowns started just over a month ago, and the number of deaths has recently fallen two days in a row. What seems to be clear is this without a lockdown, the virus spreads uncontrolled. Until an effective immunization has not been developed. The virus will remain a threat in future.
There’s still so much we don’t know about the virus- It appears that this corona virus is very adept at mutation, which is how it got to humans in the first place. So no matter what vaccination is brought out, corona virus will circumvent it with mutation, just like the flu does. However, and is the important point every day, it becomes more and more likely that the danger of virus is massively overestimated. The experts – Based on these results, said the 2019-nCoV likely originated in bats. However, no bats were sold at the Huanan seafood market, which suggests that another yet-to-be-identified animal acted as a steppingstone of sorts to transmit the virus to humans.”It seems likely that another animal host is acting as an intermediate host between bats and humans,” said study co-lead author Guizhen Wu, of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Corona virus will never, ever be over, just like influenza will never, ever be over. It is now thought that there are tens of thousands of unreported cases of corona virus around the world. Again, when we look at the deaths, we have to look at where the deaths have occurred. Wuhan was hit pretty hard. The WHO people are working on that one snake make up, to try and find a remedy or a way to stop it.
During lock down government shall establish zones like corona free Zones” and restricted zones? In a month or so when a sizable enough portion of a population in city/town/region test negative for the corona virus then gradually business and movements as per medical advisory may be restored. Restricted zone must not be taken easy, in this zone people should not be allowed to come without testing.
The end game depends on vaccine. Experts say we are potentially 18 months away from vaccine. COVID-19 is atomizer and emit born and not, like the Spanish ‘Flu’ or air borne. So warning a mask, washing hands with soap before and after touching surfaces outside home and avoiding touching one mouth, nose and eyes will go a long way towards checking its spread. Stop fright, take up advisory, yet it is difficult to see life returning to normal for many months, possibly for a year or two. By that time, COVID-19 has to be fought with the same precautions.
Fida Firdous can be reached at fidafirdous8@gmail.com
