Until recently, businesses and governments the world over believed that it was when America coughs, that the world catches a cold. The mayhem wrecked by the Coronavirus globally, has clearly changed to, literally, ‘the world catches a cold, fever when China sneezes’. Fortunately, it has also shown the path to a cure.
On Friday, a day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared novel COVID-19 disease a ‘global pandemic’, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, according to his Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, postponed taking a decision to declare a calibrated lockdown by a day, ostensibly because he was “busy campaigning” for candidates of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ongoing polls for the two Zilla Panchayats which at best are charged with the responsibility of merely building gutters, nullahs and retaining walls.
And on Saturday, when the Sawant Administration actually bit the bullet and declared a shutdown of all educational institutions, cinema halls, casinos, nightclubs, pubs, gyms and swimming pools until March 31, the decision to let local organising committees decide on cancelling or going ahead with the Shigmo parades in various cities and towns of the State beat all logic.
Clearly, the intent is bared: Ignore the reality, if it’s understood in the first place, carry on with business as usual and skip taking the hard decisions which will directly affect the pockets, even if it means taking risks which threaten people’s lives.
A week ago, the first ‘business as usual’ comments came from the Ports Minister Michael Lobo, even as reports kept pouring in of the disease threatening to engulf the world and country after the country began reporting their populations being tested positive.
The virus and its potency which scientist and researchers the world over were struggling to understand, Lobo already had answers to: “It (Coronavirus) cannot spread in Goa and India. It does not survive in hot climate,” he declared and sought to project a rosy picture for the tourism sector, claiming footfalls had increased because other competing destinations were affected.
None-the-less, it’s not to say that Goa’s health sector did nothing in response to the COVID threat. It did. The health ministry headed by Rane Jr, guided by the Central government’s advice which again were dictated by the WHO, did move to set up an isolation ward at the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim, besides two more at Sanquelim and at the TB Hospital on the Monte in Margao.
But action on the ground left much to be desired and reeked of the usual inefficiency associated with government-run facilities. The help desk-cum-screening counters at the Dabolim airport, for instance, went instantly non-functional no sooner the Government of India suspended most international visas, even as reports of the situation turning alarming in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune from where large number of people fly into Goa regularly.
The move to shut schools and colleges, casinos and the pubs and clubs, perhaps influenced by Maharashtra’s the previous day, is a decision described by many in the medical fraternity as a decision taken better late than never.
The WHO points out how countries who took the threat seriously early - China itself and Singapore - have managed to contain the threat while others like Italy, South Korea and Spain among others are struggling because they ignored the early warnings.
Admirable China
Several commentators, renowned media organisations and governments across the globe are squarely blaming the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic on China which has literally made the world catch a cold and fever when it sneezed.
But even as the debate over the cause and culpability of China for this global pandemic is expected to prolong and lead to international diplomatic clashes for many more months, the country’s winning response to contain the epidemic at home is nothing short of admirable.
In flat 10 days, its government set up two brand new 1,000-bedded hospitals in Wuhan, the city which is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.
And in less than two months, it has officially declared that the peak of the epidemic in their country is over with new cases reported from Hubei, where it all originated and accounts for two-thirds of the total cases in the world, is steadily falling for the last one week.
Cumulative figures: Goa
Goa has so far been fortunate not to have recorded even a single confirmed case of COVID-19. The total number of suspected cases admitted to the isolation ward at GMC so far stands at 18, of whom 16 have tested negative and have been discharged. In addition to these 17, two more samples were tested who were in close contact with suspected patients. They too have tested negative.
Apart from these persons, the Health Department has till date placed 116 persons under home quarantine. Of these 36 are currently under observation. While these people were asymptomatic, they were isolated following risky international travel to 15 specified countries. They were home quarantined for 14 days and thereafter, if symptoms were to develop, they were to be shifted to GMC for isolation and testing.
In addition to this, a total of 14,531 people have been screened at the Goa
International Airport, Dabolim.
Panic buying, hoarding and misuse create scarcity of hand sanitizers in Goan drugstores
Personal protective equipment is flying off the shelves in Goa owing to exponential rise in demand, panic buying, hoarding and acute misuse of the purchased goods.
Chemists and Druggists Association of Goa says that retailers and wholesalers in Goa were not prepared for the sudden rise in demand for hand sanitizers and face masks.
Albert D’Sa, president of the Chemists and Druggists Association of Goa (CDAG) has urged Goans to stop panic buying. He said that although stocks arrive regularly, the pharmacists are struggling to meet the growing demand. It was pointed out that hand washing can be an equivalently strong alternative in prevention of the disease.
A rudimentary survey of pharmacies in Panaji and Margao showed that pharmacies are now accepting pre-orders and payments for these two commodities. Sterillium has also seen a sudden spurt in demand. Interestingly, hand sanitizers and surgical masks were in short supply even on online portals such as Amazon and NetMeds.
Mythbusting
Some individuals have gone into overdrive over the past few weeks concocting gems of misinformation which continue to be circulated over social media and by word of mouth. Following is a list of the most prominent myths surrounding COVID-19:
Coronavirus doesn’t spread in hot and humid climate
Bathing in hot water prevents you from catching COVID-19
Mosquitoes transmit COVID-19.
Consuming curry leaves, turmeric, garlic or even cow’s urine prevent you from catching the virus.
The young are immune to this virus.
COVID-19 is the same as cold and flu and home remedies can cure it.
Drinking turmeric milk and eating tulsi leaves will prevent you from getting infected
Timeline
31 Dec 2019: A pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan, China. Some patients were operating dealers or vendors in the Huanan Seafood market
1 Jan, 2020: Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan shut down, number of infected rises to 40
Jan 7: New virus identified and named “2019-nCoV”. It belongs to the SARS and common cold virus genetically
Jan 11: China records first death due to COVID-19, a 61-year-old man who had purchased groceries from the Wuhan Seafood market
Jan 13: WHO reports first case in Thailand, first outside China
Jan 21: USA and Taiwan each report their first laboratory confirmed case
Jan 23: Entire city of Wuhan placed under quarantine
Jan 29: Goa quarantines its first suspect, a Serbian national who had travelled from China
30 Jan: India reports its first confirmed case in Kerala, a student who had returned from Wuhan University
Feb 2: India reports its second case, a frequent traveller from Kerala to China.
March 3: Wife of an Italian tourist tested positive in Jaipur.
March 4: 15 persons (14 Italians and one Indian) travelling with the Italian couple diagnosed with the virus.
March 9: A three year-old child who had returned from Italy with parents infected with the virus in Kerala
March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic with over 118,000 cases of the coronavirus illness and over 2,500 deaths in 110 countries
March 12: India records first death due to COVID-19, a 76-year-old man from Kalburgi, Karnataka who had travelled to Saudi Arabia died on March 10 and was later confirmed as being infected by the virus
March 13: Second COVID-19 death in India, a 69-year-old woman from Delhi who had tested positive the previous day
Symptoms
The World Health Organization website informs that it takes between two to 10 days for an infected person to develop prominent symptoms including fever and respiratory distress. While the incubation period for COVID-19 varies with each patient it tends to range from one to 14 days. The isolation period usually corresponds with this.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhoea. While the symptoms start out mild and develop gradually, there have been cases of infected persons not developing any symptoms at all. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease with supportive treatment.
According to global statistics, one out of every six people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops breathing difficulty and severe pneumonia. Regular smokers and older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness which can be fatal. While the incidence isn’t as common among younger persons, it isn’t negligible. India has recorded a case of a three year-old child in Kerala who has been infected with the virus.
While the fatality rate of COVID-19 isn’t as high as that of SARS. It is averaging around 2.8 per cent, significantly higher than the seasonal flu. However, it is far more contagious with every confirmed case affecting at least two to three more persons.
No treatment has proven effective and there is no vaccine for this disease yet. All that is being relied on are various combinations of experimental therapies such as hydroxichloroquine and Tamiflu and supportive care.
