Tonight
@ 8 pm, the Nation heard with awe – the speech of our Prime Minister Narendra
Modiji – extremely balanced, explaining the situation, measures, expectations
and plan of action. I support
#JANATACURFEW `~ social distancing and clapping those rendering services @ 5pm
on 22.3.2020.
A virus is a
protein box with genetic material inside which needs a living cell to
replicate. It enters the cell through binding with receptors and “reprogrammes
it” to make copies of itself, working as a template to replicate more viruses
inside the body.
As of today, 217,845
Covid-19 cases have been confirmed, resulting in 9,177 fatalities worldwide.
After its discovery last December, in Wuhan, China, the virus started to spread
around the world, causing panic. The Antarctic is, as yet, the only continent
where there are no confirmed cases. There are seven types of coronaviruses that
are contagious for humans. Four types (NL63, 229E, OC43 and HKU1) are
responsible for 15 to 30% of the world’s common cold cases every year and are
considered endemic. Two other types are considered epidemic: the Sars outbreak,
which affected 26 countries and first infected humans in the Guangdong province
of southern China in 2002, and Mers, which was first reported in 2012 and is
prevalent in the Middle East.
Source : South China Morning Post
At the moment, we know
that the virus is transmitted through contaminated droplets. Droplets of saliva
or mucus carrying the respiratory virus can travel one to three metres through
coughing or sneezing. The virus needs to fully enter the respiratory tract for
infection to happen, but that's why the risk of infection can be reduced by
avoiding close contact with sick people. Washing your hands thoroughly greatly
reduces the risk of infection.
With so many
affected and with many Countries struggling to contain the dreaded disease
spreading – there are problems aplenty. With
Europe’s internal borders closing, there are concerns deliveries of medical
supplies could be disrupted in Italy. With many of Europe’s internal borders
closed, transport times have lengthened for medical supplies to reach Italy,
currently the world’s epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would close its
border to non-resident visitors, except for U.S. travellers and a limited
number of international exemptions (such as diplomats and flight crew).
The whole
Nation was glued to TV as Narendra Modiji addressed the citizens. "You
have always given me what I've asked for, and today I am here to ask for your
time over the next few weeks. It is necessary for every citizen of India to be
aware and cautious about the COVID-19 infection, over the next few weeks,"
Narendra Modiji said.
"Resolution
and restraint is very important in combat against this global epidemic. As citizens, people need to strengthen their resolve to follow
the advisories issues by state and central governments to fight," he
said. Advocating social distancing to
curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Narendra Modi spoke passionately of
self-enforced restraint by the people, for the people – “Janata Curfes on 22.3.2020 from 7 am to 9 pm”
PM
requested the citizens to avoid travelling out of the house unless it is
essential travel. He said that the
present situation has affected more Nations and people than during the World
Wars. Giving the example of a 'blackout' during times of war, Modi appealed to
people to exercise caution regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic and said
that citizens over 60-65 years must not step out of their homes. He asked every Indian to be vigilant.
On
22.3.2020 besides observing curfes, @ 5
PM he requested all people to stand at balconies of homes, express gratitude to those working round the
clock to keep India healthy (such as doctors, nurses, paramedics, municipal
staff, armed forces, airport staff) by clapping. "For last 2 months, millions are working
day and night in hospitals and airports and those serving others by not taking
care of themselves. On 22 March, at 5pm, we should stand on our doorways,
balconies, in our windows and keep clapping hands and ringing the bells for 5
mins to salute and encourage them."
He advised
the Nation to avoid going to hospitals
for routine check-ups. If there are surgeries that can be postponed, let them
be postponed by a month least. He
announced formation of COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force under the
leadership of the Finance Minister to comprehensively look at ways to boost the
economy. He advised citizens to stay
away from rumours and not to indulge in panic buying. Powerful message indeed ! .. I salute our PM and pledge to follow all that he advised.
Wuhan police have
apologised to the family of a doctor whose death sparked national outrage after
it emerged he had been disciplined for trying to warn colleagues about the
Covid-19 outbreak. A statement by the city’s public security bureau said it
would withdraw the reprimand issued to Li Wenliang and would learn lessons from
the case after the authorities in Beijing blamed a local police station for
mishandling the case. An investigation team from the state supervision
authority said the Zhongnan Road station had “issued improper instructions” and
followed “irregular” law enforcement procedures, according to a report released
by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Thursday evening. Li was
one of several doctors detained for passing on information about the emergence
of the coronavirus in Wuhan in late December.
.. .. and that is Communist China
The first case of the
virus likely occurred in mid-November, 2019. While identifying a novel virus of
course takes time, Taiwan identified the outbreak and banned flights from Hubei
before the end of 2019. By comparison, before China finally acknowledged the
gravity of the situation in late January, some five million people left Hubei,
allowing the disease to spread throughout China and the world. Chinese authorities had this information and
data but refused to release it in a timely manner, instead preferring an
ever-changing narrative about the outbreak that made medical assessments on the
coronavirus and its impact very difficult. Crucial weeks were lost that could
have helped to contain the country-wide and later global spread of this virus.
Most recently, Chinese
government propagandists have promoted a bizarre story about the outbreak in
Wuhan being caused by the United States Army. This latest conspiracy, reported
by Eto Buziashvili of the Atlantic Council, is seemingly inspired by the KGB’s
Operation Infektion from the 1980s, which involved the KGB planting a story in
a pro-Kremlin newspaper in India where it was claimed that HIV/AIDS was
developed in a CIA laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland. The Russian
disinformation campaign eventually metastasized within the U.S. media
environment, eventually reaching mainstream U.S. national news in 1983.
The Guardian reports that
the rapid spread of coronavirus around
the world could have been substantially curtailed if the broad swath of measures
China brought in to control the outbreak were introduced just weeks earlier,
researchers say. Sophisticated modelling of the outbreak suggests that China
had 114,325 cases by the end of February 2020, a figure that would have been 67
times higher without interventions such as early detection, isolation of the
infected, and travel restrictions. But if the interventions could have been
brought in a week earlier, 66% fewer people would have been infected, the
analysis found. The same measures brought in three weeks earlier could have
reduced cases by 95%.
“From a purely scientific
standpoint, putting in place a combination of interventions as early as
possible is the best way to slow spread and reduce outbreak size,” said Prof
Andrew Tatem at the University of Southampton. The population mapping group
WorldPop at Southampton ran models on human movement and illness onset to
simulate different outbreak scenarios in cities in mainland China. The models
reveal how combinations of interventions and when they are introduced affects
the speed and transmission of the disease. The study suggests it was crucial to
move fast with the interventions China used to contain the outbreak. If
testing, isolation and travel bans were brought in one, two or three weeks
later than they were, the number of cases could have rocketed three, seven and
18-fold respectively.
It is
time, we stand by our Prime Minister and our Nation – ensure that we stay
healthy, and ensure the health of the Nation also by ensuring that the dreaded
disease does not spread any further.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
19th Mar 2020.
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