COVID 19 – The silent medical apocalypse that you never saw coming

Orko Mukharjee, INN/Kolkata, @Infodeaofficial

Suddenly a killer virus has invaded our world and taken many innocent lives. Know body know who’s turn was next. Slowly it turned into an epidemic which still has no solution. Starting out in China , then Italy and Spain, this disease has caught our modern world by storm without any prior notice.

The Coronavirus has spread all over the world, affecting more than 118 countries and 1,25,000 people. The virus has caused the death of 4,291 people worldwide. The number of cases reported outside China has increased almost 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has almost tripled.

Deeply concerned by the severity of the outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially declared the spread of the Coronavirus as a pandemic. A pandemic is a disease that has spread over a wide geographical area, affecting a large proportion of the population.

Calling a pandemic as a word that cannot be used lightly or carelessly, the WHO says that the disease has been characterised as a pandemic due to its alarming levels of spread and severity. It also mentions that the word pandemic, if misused, could cause unreasonable fear and panic.

The Coronavirus-caused pandemic is the first of its kind in the world. However, it is also the first pandemic that can be controlled. Over 90 percent of the cases happen to be in just 4 countries, China, Republic Of Korea, Italy and Iran, which shows that if countries focus on containment, the course of this pandemic can be changed.

Being an economically backward country, where we are short of all possible medical infrastructure  like dedicated doctors and hospitals. However this has not come in the way of successfully isolating the corona virus in India much better than other countries in the world.

This has all been possible due to combined effort of the Centre and Sate government in India, which have joined hands under the the ministership of PM Modi. The concept of “Total lockdown” along with social distancing has proved to reduce the possibility of the corona virus from from spreading like an epidemic.

Kolkata and all other cities in India remain closed with Maharashtra having the highest number of the coronavirus (COVID-19) cases as of March 30, 2020, at 215 cases, with 25 recoveries and seven deceased. Kerala reported 202 confirmed cases that day. This resulted in a total of 1,192 confirmed infections across India. The country went into lockdown earlier that week, the largest in the world, restricting 1.3 billion people.

The first victim of corona virus in the state of west bengal was an Indian student who returned from London on 17th march. Post this another female medical student from Scotland was diagnosed with the same followed by an Indian businessman’s son. Luckily all the first three victims have been successfully quarantined by the Beleghata hospital in kolkata.

While most of us must be chanting corona at even the slightest onset of a sneeze or cough, and taking it very lightly, it is a cause of serious concern. And looking at the severity and the rate of infection, the Indian government swiftly setup 52 corona testing centres across India which has helped isolating such covid 19 cases at the vey onset of this virus.The test is free and involves sampling of various bodily fluids.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from any of the symptoms of the disease (fever, cough, running nose, breathlessness and chills) and has travel history to any of the COVID-infected countries (China, Iran, Italy, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany) or contact history, where you have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19, you can be suspected of getting infected by this virus and need to be tested immediately for the same.

The common and easy prey to this virus are the children and the aged, as their immunity system is the weakest and total isolation and “home stay” is the best possible solution to avoid spreading of the same.Our Prime minister Modi has chalked out multiple corona testing centres across the country in each district that is equipped masks, gloves and hand sanitisers which promote personal hygiene at the highest level.

We find the Indian government putting it’s best foot forward in identifying and isolating any such corona virus patients cases, which instead acts as a ray of hope, during dark times such as these.Another demonic problem faced by the common Indian citizens is of the Interstate labourers, who are now suddenly stuck in a foreign state and cannot get back to their home state due to this covid 19 lockdown.

Modi’s Nationwide lockdown the Janata curfew has outlined no public transport services, including operation of taxis, autorickshaws, to be operational. The exception will include transports of all kinds to and from hospitals, airports and goods carrier carrying food and essential commodities.

Hence all shops, commercial establishments, offices, factories and workshops shall also shut their operations.People are required to stay at home and come out only for basic services while strictly following the social distancing guidelines issued earlier.

Hence let’s do our own bit in staying safe and helping the Indian government in successfully tackling and isolating covid-19, until and unless the medical researchers across the globe strive to get an antidote to this deadly corona virus.