[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by msdivy

I was trying to convey that there is no relation between corona & BCG.
Response from WHO : https://www.who.int/news-room/commen...n-and-covid-19

Our own Serum Institute of India is carrying out human trials anyway, using improved BCG vaccine.

India to test 100-yr-old vaccine on humans as war against Covid-19 heats up
https://www.business-standard.com/ar...2201068_1.html

[m8002?]

Things are getting murkier when tracing the history/genesis of the virus.

https://www.rediff.com/news/column/c...s/20200422.htm

"The virus that was discovered at Wuhan’s seafood market was of the H1 variety," he continued. "Only the H3 haplotype was discovered in Wuhan earlier, but it had nothing to do with the seafood market."

The previous gene sequences, H13 and H38, were never discovered in Wuhan.

"This suggests that the H1 specimen was brought to the seafood market by some infected person, which sparked the epidemic. The gene sequence cannot lie," Zhang Hanhui asserted.

[rohitoasis]

Vox has made a clear and concise video again regarding the importance of masks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P27HRClMf2U&t=13s

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

Vox has made a clear and concise video again regarding the importance of masks...

You go out and you'd think these people are wearing masks so the spread is at least contained by a factor 'x' that the mask protects. But that is where you are wrong because you can never predict human behavior

This is from my personal observation, I have seen it happen twice.

In both cases the person was wearing a mask in a grocery store, suddenly he feels an urge to sneeze and guess what he does?
Slides down the mask from the nose and mouth. Looks down at the ground in an angle towards to side , sneezes, then slides back the mask on like nothing happened and continued his shopping.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by m8002?

Things are getting murkier when tracing the history/genesis of the virus.

So asserts the China's envoy to Moscow Zhang Hanhui! While there may be some uncertainty as to the true origin of this coronavirus, most of the world and many Chinese nationals themselves will always hold the Chinese regime guilty.

The things that compound the problems for them -

1) Death of Dr. Li Wenliang whose early warnings were denounced as unfounded and illegal rumor. Many will question the medical conditions that lead to his death.

2) They prevented every international proposal for scientists to go into China and help out with the disease.

3) The government malfeasance highlighted in censoring of news, research, and silencing of whistle-blowers.

Any one that has done even elementary bioinformatics of genome mapping and alignment etc would know there is enough fuzziness to cast doubts on almost every result associated with establishing origins.

I don't think they are getting away by just pointing a finger in another direction. Mistrust of the Chinese regime only grows from here.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

......And be in West Bengal if you don't want to know anything about Covid-19.

After the initial resistance looks like state government had to allow center team to monitor the situation. Post that WB seems to have upped the testing rate or atleast reporting rate a bit now. Last few days have seen a spike in reported cases. Once lying way below KA, KL and all now it has overtaken both these states to reach the 10th spot. Still way less testings compared to neighboring states like Chattisgarh or Bihar.





Kerala has suddenly seen a small spike in last couple of days. Once hailed for flattening the curve, this is a worrying trend.



KA with ~ 30k tests and 427 cases is the only populous state I feel which have done decently(somewhat) in controlling the spread with a quarter of those cases in Bangalore itself. And that's the only major metro with only ~100 cases. Commendable specially considering it has the 3rd highest International traffic in the country after Delhi and Mumbai.



Lately since last week or so the numbers have been going up at an average of 1000-1200 per day with 19th & 21st April showing 1500+ cases a day. If we consider 10-15 days incubation period , these infections mostly were spread during lockdown-1.0. I guess its probably because the rate of testing has increased now more than anything else. For cases like dadar I believe we are yet to see the repercussions since its been just 8-9 days. Wonder how long can the lockdown be extended? Eventually we will be on our own at the mercy of our immunity and social distancing habits.



Total tests done till now is nearing 5 lakhs.




Source

[aadya]

Thinking out loud. Assuming the test kit costs Rs.500 to manufacture. For 100crore kits it would cost about 50000 crores. And with the entire manufacturing industry at halt whole industry of the country is available for producing the raw material and the kit itself. Then why is the delay in producing sufficient kits. Its surprising.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by Miyata

So asserts the China's envoy to Moscow Zhang Hanhui! While there may be some uncertainty as to the true origin of this coronavirus, most of the world and many Chinese nationals themselves will always hold the Chinese regime guilty.

The things that compound the problems for them -

1) Death of Dr. Li Wenliang whose early warnings were denounced as unfounded and illegal rumor. Many will question the medical conditions that lead to his death.

2) They prevented every international proposal for scientists to go into China and help out with the disease.

3) The government malfeasance highlighted in censoring of news, research, and silencing of whistle-blowers.

Any one that has done even elementary bioinformatics of genome mapping and alignment etc would know there is enough fuzziness to cast doubts on almost every result associated with establishing origins.

I don't think they are getting away by just pointing a finger in another direction. Mistrust of the Chinese regime only grows from here.

Holding them guilty and proving them guilty are two very different things.

Also, when some ( rather any ) country messes up the standard protocols/processes, they would be very reluctant to let in foreign observers.

And nowhere in that article its is claimed that China is absolved of all the mess. We can all agree that they screwed up big time once the virus surfaced in the general population. This talks of tracing the virus before that. It also mentions how US suddenly toned down its stance against China after that article was published.

The article was from an ex Indian diplomat and these guys are trained to read between the lines and interpret the slight nuances in the communication coming out from govt. and the leaders. That was the reason I posted it in the thread.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by aadya

Thinking out loud. Assuming the test kit costs Rs.500 to manufacture. For 100crore kits it would cost about 50000 crores. And with the entire manufacturing industry at halt whole industry of the country is available for producing the raw material and the kit itself. Then why is the delay in producing sufficient kits. Its surprising.

If you assume you test 100 crore people once and then what ? Does it guarantee they wont get it again ?

In early stages, if you test maximum number of people and quarantine them it helps. We have crossed that stage. Theoretically if majority of 100 crore test positive, what do you do ?

[aadya]

Originally Posted by srishiva

If you assume you test 100 crore people once and then what ? Does it guarantee they wont get it again ?

Test them again. Please avoid questions with hostility or sarcasm without adding value. What would guarantee anything? When no body is coming from other countries and more than 2/3rd of the country either ruled out or diagnosed with the disease and quarantined what else you need for guarantee? We probably do more pregnancy test in this country.

My question was aimed at what difficulties the GOI might be having in scaling up the testing infrastructure, when money or resources are not major concern.

Originally Posted by srishiva

In early stages, if you test maximum number of people and quarantine them it helps. We have crossed that stage. Theoretically if majority of 100 crore test positive, what do you do ?

India is still in early stages of this disease. Do you disagree?

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by m8002?

also mentions how US suddenly toned down its stance against China after that article was published.

The article was from an ex Indian diplomat and these guys are trained to read between the lines and interpret the slight nuances in the communication coming out from govt. and the leaders. That was the reason I posted it in the thread.

Hope you did not take my disagreement on the article personal. Many of us would be glad you shared it - that's how we get a chance to read multiple datasets as well as view points. Everything adds to better understanding for everyone, eventually.

On the US stance tone down - This was bound to happen one way or another with or without the specific article. The globalization web is so complex impacting every economy in the world that no country and chose to openly antagonize/bully China (in particular). The stance would also have been much more measured with Obama at helm - who has the habit of speaking with prior thought. Trump, on the other hand, as they say, prefers to shoot first and...

On the article coming from an ex Indian diplomat - How many of us can really claim that we trust this source and know it stands straight - that is, it's not leaning either to the left or to the right and has no other agenda of its own? Good objective analysis that seeks to only get to the bottom of the crisis and come up with solutions that aims to help everyone while minimizing potential damages may not be as forthcoming as one would imagine.

The folks making decision or writing articles are largely immune to the consequences of those decisions/articles - no skin in the game, so to say. If there was penalty associated with any public article or decisions made, we can be certain the quality of articles will suddenly go up; nature of the analysis will improve; number of articles will come down dramatically; the democratic nature of decision making will suddenly come to the fore. Meanwhile, though, we've got to watch out for our own backs and do further self-analysis to minimize our own downsides.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by rdst_1

I so wish this was true. I guess it might be in cities where people are educated and aware.

Just visit my area, full of educated bigwigs and international jet setters - no mask, they probably consider it beneath them to don one, while all their maids and watchmen are wearing them. Is it any wonder that the SARS-COV2 spread all over India? I don't see any hope for India.

[scorpio2107]

"Put women and girls at the centre of efforts to recover from COVID-19"

Has anyone read this article from the UN?

https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus...cover-covid-19

Eventhough the mortality rate for men has been higher, here we have the UN asking the world to put women and girls at the centre of efforts to recover. I'm all for women's rights but isn't this taking a bit too far?
Isn't the UN literally saying if you have one hospital bed, and you have to choose between a man and a woman, choose the woman?

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by scorpio2107

Isn't the UN literally saying if you have one hospital bed, and you have to choose between a man and a woman, choose the woman?

Don't think so.

On reading the article, the recommendations seems to be limited to the following:

That starts with women as leaders, with equal representation and decision-making power.

Measures to protect and stimulate the economy, from cash transfers to credits and loans, must be targeted at women.

Social safety nets must be expanded.

Unpaid care work must be recognized and valued as a vital contribution to the economy.

The pandemic has also led to a horrifying increase in violence against women.

Nearly one in five women worldwide has experienced violence in the past year. Many of these women are now trapped at home with their abusers, struggling to access services that are suffering from cuts and restrictions.

[scorpio2107]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Don't think so.

On reading the article, the recommendations seems to be limited to the following:

I did not mean it literally in the sense of a "bed".

We all have suffered greatly in the past few weeks. The article is encouraging governments to focus more or less only on women. It kind of puts a blanket on everything else. A lot of men have also lost their jobs and lots of families depend on them for their livelihood. By saying focus on women I feel that men are going to be left out (based on the article).

PS: these are my personal thoughts and I do not mean to offend anyone.