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Old 26th March 2020, 11:51   #1291
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by vivek95 View Post
We don't consider this significant at all.
Related questions:

1. How do one clean the fruits and vegetables brought from outside? I can think of Potassium permanganate for greens but same cannot be used for fruits like Banana etc.

2. How effective are Vinegar drops / salt to clean other vegetables?

An article from ncbi

Quote:
The suitability for field use of heating up to 80 degrees C and adding six different virucidal chemicals for decontamination of drinking and surface water was investigated using the viruses of Polio (vaccine strain), ECBO, Reo, bovine Parvo, HCC, Pseudorabies, ND and Vaccinia. The Parvovirus (concentration 10(5) TCID50/ml) heated to 80 degrees C could not be inactivated completely in drinking water within one hour; the Reovirus could after one hour only at 60 degrees C. The other viruses used lost their infectivity at 56 degrees C within 60 minutes or at 60 degrees C within 20 minutes respectively. Heating therefore seems to be too circumstantial a method for viral decontamination of water and unreliable under field conditions. As to the chemical water additives tested, chloramine-T, hydrogen peroxide and sodium peroxide proved to be unsuitable in spite of virucidal activity. The amount of their concentration necessary for reliable virus inactivation makes the water unfit for drinking. Iodine, a calcium hypochlorite sample and potassium permanganate were useful. Because of its constant reaction in drinking water together with additional advantages, iodination of water would seem to be the best method at present for viral water decontamination usable under field conditions.
Link

Last edited by AltoLXI : 26th March 2020 at 11:54.
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Old 26th March 2020, 12:31   #1292
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

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Originally Posted by hserus View Post
OK. How many people even in TBHP aren't working for IT / ITES / Financial companies that can do work from home?
Even if 100% of employees can work from home, at least the IT support team must be in the office to ensure those 100% can work remotely, by ensuring the servers, the network infrastructure is up & running. Along with these, the entire broadband infrastructure must be working throughout the entire country.
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Old 26th March 2020, 12:41   #1293
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

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Originally Posted by msdivy View Post
Even if 100% of employees can work from home, at least the IT support team must be in the office to ensure those 100% can work remotely, by ensuring the servers, the network infrastructure is up & running. Along with these, the entire broadband infrastructure must be working throughout the entire country.
The internet infrastructure is a challenge. Agreed.

But assuming internet infrastructure is/will work good, with the advent of cloud and more reliable computing systems you really do not need folks to be at office - even for IT Support.

And if some IT/IT enabled mid size to large company claims that their systems can work only from designated office space then its either a design problem or that they are in the high security investment banking/security domain which mandates secure work space area with restricted entry and exit.

I think most firms avoid WFH as an option due to the indiscipline and slacking off by some staff. WFH needs to be treated as quality time - as if you are at work. Not all are sinners but a few create problems for the majority.
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Old 26th March 2020, 14:58   #1294
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ovid-19-a.html (Combating the coronavirus pandemic: Bosch develops rapid test for Covid-19)

Combating the coronavirus pandemic: Bosch develops rapid test for COVID-19
Developed in just six weeks, the rapid test can detect a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection in patients in under two and a half hours
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Old 26th March 2020, 15:35   #1295
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

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Originally Posted by vivek95 View Post
Community spread is not fully established yet in our country. However, we are on our toes !!

-Dr. Vivek
Hi doc.,

It is indeed very important that we stop community spread in our country. Came across this news today about the community kitchens being set up by Delhi government.

https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/...wn-509321.html

While the intent is commendable, I cannot help but shudder at the thought of what meaning social distancing has for these people. With thousands crowding to collect food, what protection we have against an outbreak among them? If it does, how do we manage?

I was hopeful that we were not in that position yet, but then this below report jolted me.

https://www.mumbailive.com/en/civic/...-covid19-47281

Four people from different slums and chawls in Mumbai test positive. :(

Last edited by BlackPearl : 26th March 2020 at 21:23. Reason: Minor typo. Thanks.
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Old 26th March 2020, 16:59   #1296
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by AltoLXI View Post
Related questions:

1. How do one clean the fruits and vegetables brought from outside? I can think of Potassium permanganate for greens but same cannot be used for fruits like Banana etc.
Is it necessary? Any vegetable that is going to be peeled/cooked is not going to carry virus after the cooking. Probably we should wash our hands, though, after handling anything from outside.

I find people everywhere (errm... online. I'm not going out, of course) seeking chemical answers, and being unwilling to accept that simple soap and washing is the best thing we can all do. Soap is our saviour!

NB: I have no medical qualification. This is only my opinion and contribution to the conversation. Happy to be corrected by those who are qualified.
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Old 26th March 2020, 17:47   #1297
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

I think no one here will argue against taking precautions or staying indoors to avoid getting infected. Taking into consideration India's current healthcare system, availability of testing kits, ventilators, specialized hospitals and medical personnel, a simple but effective solution to stop the virus from spreading is of course as it has been baptized - Social Distancing. And taking into account the current information regarding the period wherein the virus takes to infect the patient and the patient shows symptoms, 21 days seems plausible.

Now that the intent has been clear but the implementation has been without any preparation. The message that our Hon.PM sent that day at 08.00PM was woefully lacking in any reassuring information such as availability of essential stuff and how and when can the common man step out to buy those things or were those essential things going to be home delivered. The only purpose it served was to cause panic and prompt people to crowd available open stores.

Even the next day when there were twitter messages saying enough rations and medicines are available, not one authority was willing to explain how and when can anyone access these essentials. No time table or any other means by which people can stay assured that they will be allowed to purchase those items. Thus people are getting out of their houses at will and going to stores thus causing crowding.

Add to that the rampant hitting of people by the police. This is not some riot or uprising that needs to be quelled. These are (mostly) panic stricken people who were already scared about restrictions and who end up going out only to buy necessities. Add to that sudden shutting down of Bigbasket, Grofers and Amazon pantry here in Pune at least because the Police were not letting the delivery trucks and delivery boys out. This added to more chaos because now the people who were sitting at home thinking that let me not crowd the store, I will order stuff online - these people also had to get out of their houses and visit the nearby stores.

Thus the intent was clear but the implementation has reduced the advantage we might have had if most people had remained indoors full time even for 15 days. And as someone pointed out here, we have no idea when we might go back to square one due to the R naught factor.
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Old 26th March 2020, 19:16   #1298
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Here's some precautionary measures from nytimes and Cleveland clinic related to shopping and handling in the context of coronavirus (or otherwise) -

Quote:
Wipe the shopping cart. Even during the best of times, the handle on your shopping cart has more bacteria than most public restrooms.

If you can, wipe down the cart handle and child seat before you shop. And when you leave, do a good deed and wipe your cart handle for the next shopper.

Should I wipe jars and plastic containers when I get home? The majority of transmission of coronavirus is likely from close contact with an infected person. Viral particles do not survive well on paper or cardboard surfaces. And while the virus lasts longer on hard surfaces, contamination from jars and plastic containers is not a big risk. If it makes you feel better, Dr. Amler said, give them a quick wipe as you unpack.

...risk of contamination from jars, cans or other containers “is infinitesimally small” and that you have to balance risk with anxiety.

What about produce? Dr. Eckstrom advised washing your hands after unpacking groceries. And if you’re going to eat raw produce, she recommends washing it with an organic soap for washing vegetables or any natural dish soap.

“I am not wiping everything down, but I am carefully washing my hands after touching these grocery items,” said Dr. Eckstrom. “Cooking does kill the virus, but any fresh produce that is eaten raw should be carefully washed.”
And few excerpts from Cleveland Clinic

Quote:
Is my food safe?
A: The 2019 novel coronavirus causes respiratory illness, not foodborne illness — meaning it affects the lungs, not the digestive system. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there’s currently no reason to believe that the virus has been spread via food or food packaging.

...call for washing your hands before eating or preparing food, using clean utensils, and properly preparing and storing food. Restaurants and delivery services should also be following safe food preparation and handling practices.

Can the virus live on my clothes?
A: Specific research hasn’t been done on how long this virus can survive on clothes, towels or other fabrics. But it’s still a good idea to change and wash your clothes regularly — especially if you’ve just come back home from the grocery store or are still reporting to work every day.

Is it on my skin?
A: Germs can live on different parts of your body, but the main concern here is your hands. Your hands are what’s most likely to come in contact with germy surfaces and then touch your face, which is a potential path of transmission for the virus. So, while no one is suggesting that anyone take a hiatus from showers, you don’t need to scrub down your whole body multiple times a day like you should your hands.
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Old 26th March 2020, 19:23   #1299
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

So far about 25,000 tests have been done, out of which 650 cases have been confirmed. That is a little more than 2% infection rate among the tested population.
Exhaustive testing has not taken place in India yet due to various reasons. Worst fear of doctors is that even if the infection rate happens to be 0.05% of population , that number alone is a staggering 650000!!
No country can ever have medical infrastructure for such scale of infection.
Even if we assume 3% is mortality rate, of the estimated infected patients, about 20k would die.
That's the number game our Government and doctors are worried about.
Which is why Government announced lockdown, no matter how unplanned and hasty that decision is .
Lot of us are having doubts whether lockdown is effective, what is going to happen after lockdown, will we get essential supplies etc.,. but just think of scale of infection that could have happened without lockdown.
We better be uncomfortable inside our house/hostel/room rather than suffer on a hospital bed!

Last edited by deetee : 26th March 2020 at 19:50.
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Old 26th March 2020, 19:23   #1300
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Germany has ramped up its COVID-19 testing capacity to a mind-boggling 5 lakh per week That's a whopping 71000 odd tests per day for a population of just 8.4 crores. Testing rate is way way higher than US, UK or any other country put together.

Read more here - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.the...000-a-week/amp
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Old 26th March 2020, 19:30   #1301
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

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Originally Posted by deetee View Post
Worst fear of doctors is that even if the infection rate happens to be 0.05% of population , that number alone is a staggering 5 crores!!
Your calculations are incorrect. Indian population is approx 130 crores. 5 crores would be around 3.5%. 0.05% would be 650,000 people.
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Old 26th March 2020, 19:52   #1302
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Yep, corrected it now, thanks for pointing it out. But still that estimate is very conservative. Without lockdown, infection rate could be as high as 3%-5% of total population.
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Old 26th March 2020, 20:17   #1303
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Hats off to Tata group: Taj group of hotels is sending free food to doctors in government hospitals in Mumbai !

They supported the community during 26/11, and again now.
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Old 26th March 2020, 20:19   #1304
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Bajaj Group Commits ₹ 100 Crore To Fight COVID-19.

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Being a Pune-based company, the Bajaj Group will be supporting upgradation of key healthcare infrastructure which will be needed to tackle the spread of Coronavirus. The company had identified private sector hospitals and government hospitals where it will help upgrade ICUs and even procure much needed equipment like ventilators for patients and personal protection equipment for healthcare workers, doctors, nurses and other medical staff. The company will also help setup isolation units and enhance testing facilities for COVID-19 in the areas of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and the rural areas of Pune.
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Old 26th March 2020, 20:40   #1305
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re: The Coronavirus Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by vivek95 View Post
Germany has ramped up its COVID-19 testing capacity to a mind-boggling 5 lakh per week That's a whopping 71000 odd tests per day for a population of just 8.4 crores. Testing rate is way way higher than US, UK or any other country put together.

Read more here - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.the...000-a-week/amp
One other effect of testing and reporting more mild cases is the drop in mortality rate as a percentage!
Germany has started receiving patients from other countries since they have the capacity currently in their hospitals.
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