Novel Corona Virus Infection In India What To Do Next?
I am presuming we all are reading news related to Novel Corona Virus (nCoV) and have seen its rapid spread as a Pandemic. Two main factors that are scary when it comes to this particular disease are that, Firstly ‘Super spreader’ cases (human carriers), these patients spread infection to a relative larger number of people. It is suspected that the first wave of cases in China was due to these super spreader cases. If super spreader cases emerge in India as well, it is going to be impossible to contain this disease due to our population density, poor Healthcare infrastructure and pathetic hygiene condition. (to explain this further: On 2 March, the Union Health Ministry reported two more confirmed cases: one of whom was a 24-year-old engineer in Hyderabad who had travel history with the United Arab Emirates. 88 people who were in contact with the Hyderabad individual, including fellow bus passengers from Bangalore, were tracked down by the government and placed under watch. Officials of the Government of Telangana stated that 36 people who had been in contact with the Hyderabad engineer had developed coronavirus symptoms. Source – Wikipedia) Secondly, the reported Incubation period of nCoV ranges from 2 – 14 days (there are several outliers as well, going up to 27 days). Keeping in mind this long incubation period, the possibility of ‘silent transmission’ of nCoV cannot be ruled out i.e. spread of this disease is going on in undetectable ways and may lead to a disaster at some point. We should also keep in mind that the data released by the Government to the press is fudged up, its most probably to prevent creating any panic. So, I guess apart from taking all the precautions like hand wash, wearing mask etc., all we can do now is to wait and watch the trend of the disease, for next few days and not panic. It is presumed that nCoV won’t survive the hot climate, which is expected to start in March last week. Hope that will work. Fingers crossed!