[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by vibbs

My wife and daughter are slated to travel back on Friday. Singapore has already introduced restriction for ASEAN countries. I am worried this could be extended to India as well soon. Fingers crossed.

It maybe worth checking if you can move the travel to an earlier date, say tomorrow.

Originally Posted by rascalangel

So I want to know the following:
1) Is it safe to travel?
2) What precautions I need to take while traveling?
3) What should be my behavior post reaching home? (Considering I don't show obvious symptoms)

Safe to travel, probably not. But you have to take a decision based on what you feel as the best option. And if you decide to travel, it maybe good for you to go on a self-quarantine at home for a couple of weeks – just to assure that there is no threat to your dear and near, and the people around.

[himarg]

Originally Posted by Raj_RD

Are domestic airlines offering free cancellations/rescheduling? Have booked flights to and fro Srinagar (Vistara and AirAsia). All the gardens have also been closed.

I too am looking for answers to this query. It would be great to know if there have been any instances of free cancellation.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by GTO

Man flies in from Iran, goes home with no checking . Be safe, guys. Completely isolate yourself as much as you can from the world.

Wise words.

I believe the gravity of the situation was less understood when you made the following post. Point # 1, 7 & 8 is stupid in these times.

Originally Posted by GTO

As someone who goes out thrice a week & throws a party at least once a week / fortnight, this self-imposed isolation is getting a bit boring.

What are safe options for recreation? What do you do for fun? Here are a couple I thought of. BHPians, please add to the list with more ideas.

1. Long drives. For BHPians, this would be the most obvious . Earlier today, I took my car out for a leisurely drive to Khopoli & back.

2. Working out at home. Fun & healthy, both.

3. Watching movies.

4. Chilling with your family at home or in your balcony / terrace / garden.

5. Reading that book that you didn't get the time for earlier this year.

6. Polish / wax the car yourself

7. Picnic. Drive to a secluded & scenic spot and eat your home-cooked meals with the family.

8. Go to your holiday home and spend some days there. But you won't be able to step out much, while medical facilities (if things go bad) won't be as strong as in your home city.

Spotted someone else enjoying the road in one of the most fun-to-drive cars ever made!
Attachment 1980234

Empty roads. Reached Khopoli pretty damn fast:
Attachment 1980233

When one is out on a drive things can go wrong even if it is not of our doing. In these circumstances try to avoid getting into situations where one can end up in the midst of a crowd, hospital, police station etc. Empty roads obviously means faster drive(r)s.

On a related news; in Kerala one person who was under observation and home isolation went out in traffic and killed himself and his friend in a road accident. It is not confirmed whether he was positive or not.

Another person who was also under observation and home isolation caused an accident and he and his family had to be treated in medical college casualty. People who attended to him (from the ambulance driver to the doctors) are now under observation as per news reports. Again it is not confirmed whether he is Covid positive or not, if he turns out to be -ve people who handled and attended to him can go back into active duty.

So in short, this is not a time for leisure drives and end up in worse situations. If one does not NEED to travel DO NOT.

Hope we don't turn out to be another Italy or Spain.

[MasterChief]

Health ministry also issued a fresh set of guidelines on wearing the masks: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...ffUx9C2eN.html

Major points:
Only wear a mask if:

* You have symptoms (cough, fever or difficulty in breathing)

* You are caring for a Covid-19 suspect/confirmed patient

* You are a health worker attending to patients with respiratory symptoms

The ministry has also given the process on how to handle the masks.

While wearing a mask, make sure you:

* Unfold pleats of the mask; make sure that they are facing down

* Change the mask after six hours or as soon as it becomes wet

* Place the mask over your nose, mouth and chin and ensure there are no gaps on either side of the mask. Adjust to fit.

* Never reuse disposable masks and dispose the used masks into closed bins after disinfecting them

* Avoid touching the mask while using it

* Do not touch the potentially contaminated outer surface of the mask while removing it

* Do not leave the mask hanging from the neck

* After removal of the mask, clean your hands with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand rub disinfectant

[Su-47]

For those of us who love to pop a pill to "fix the fever", here is an advisory from the french health minister (who is a neurologist himself):

The country’s health minister, Olivier Véran, who is a qualified doctor and neurologist, tweeted on Saturday: “The taking of anti-inflammatories [ibuprofen, cortisone … ] could be a factor in aggravating the infection. In case of fever, take paracetamol. If you are already taking anti-inflammatory drugs, ask your doctor’s advice.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...irus-infection

[DigitalOne]

A lot of my younger colleagues are going to their home towns to wait this off. I advise them not to do it since older people (parents) are the most vulnerable age group. These youngsters may also be carrying the virus, without their knowledge (asymptomatic).

Am I right or wrong? Should the govt/companies give out an advisory against such travels?

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Am I right or wrong? Should the govt/companies give out an advisory against such travels?

You are 100% right. It is better to say put and avoid any un-intentional consequences. You may contract the same while traveling or carry the disease to the home town from a larger metro with known cases to a place where the cases might not have been recorded as yet and so on. There are too many un-knowns again.

Regarding advisory by govt/companies - I will leave it to them.


-Sunil

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

A lot of my younger colleagues are going to their home towns to wait this off. I advise them not to do it since older people (parents) are the most vulnerable age group. These youngsters may also be carrying the virus, without their knowledge (asymptomatic).

Am I right or wrong? Should the govt/companies give out an advisory against such travels?

You are absolutely correct but it is a catch-22 situation for them. With water issues cropping up and cooks taking leaves (and they being oblivious to cooking) they will have to venture out for food, which puts them at risk. However, traveling has its own risks and is better avoided.

My company has told the employees to WFH but not travel to home cities. Risking travel is simply not advised.

[splitsecond]

Sorry if my query is offtopic,
World is going through a very tough situation, italy and spain are in deep trouble but why no country is helping them? China has given some aid, but i feel rest of the world is sleeping in this crisis situation, or its just that i dont follow world news properly? What you guys think? And also i feel all countries especially Usa and Europe as a whole have a lazy approach to this crisis, why its so? I have lost all respects to these european countries, i thought they were better than us in dealing with crisis situation. What you guys think?

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

My company has told the employees to WFH but not travel to home cities.

Neither has mine. But the thinking in common people, goes that they are safer in smaller cities and hence are travelling. Also happening with domestic helps and other such workers.

[raksrules]

My company (from Airoli as well) is now rolling out "Desktop to Home" as well. It is a monumental task but still they are trying to execute it.

[srishiva]

I believe they need to increase the test kits. South Korea has screened 1 in 200 of their population. They have 633 testing sites and they can test 20,000 per day !
Australia is getting 100,000 kits today in ready to go condition, no assembling required from Roche.

Why is India not doing enough? With numbers being low, they have been able to test. Why couldn't they be aggressive in screening and tests like others ?

I dont know but the money being earned with low fuel prices could cover more than this. I believe people in power are not doing enough.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by splitsecond

Sorry if my query is offtopic,
World is going through a very tough situation, italy and spain are in deep trouble but why no country is helping them? China has given some aid, but i feel rest of the world is sleeping in this crisis situation, or its just that i dont follow world news properly? What you guys think? And also i feel all countries especially Usa and Europe as a whole have a lazy approach to this crisis, why its so? I have lost all respects to these european countries, i thought they were better than us in dealing with crisis situation. What you guys think?

Well everybody is dealing with their own issues. It is not that others are quite well off.

I spoke with a few Danish colleagues of mine. Denmark is under lock down. Many companies specially in transportation business have suffered greatly. SAS has reportedly laid off a lot of employees temporarily. However the Government is also stepping in to ensure that these companies are supported. They are even footing the salaries of these laid off people till the time situation improves.

From what I know they are now working to ensure the single person businesses like Salons etc are also compensated in some way and the people running these get paid in some way or the other.

After all before venturing outside, it is important to take care of your own people. Remember, all of Europe is suffering not just spain and Italy.

[jkrishnakj]

For all those who may have booked air tickets and hotels from Make My Trip -

MMT has put the policy related to cancellations, re-scheduling and refund process on their home page. I had booked Blr - Singapore (Go Air) - Bali ( Air Asia ) - KL - Bangalore (Air Asia Indonesia )starting 14th April and i just raised a cancellation request citing Covid-19. I am promised a revert in 24 hours basis airlines policy. Let me see what they come back with.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by splitsecond

Sorry if my query is offtopic,
World is going through a very tough situation, italy and spain are in deep trouble but why no country is helping them? China has given some aid, but i feel rest of the world is sleeping in this crisis situation, or its just that i dont follow world news properly? What you guys think? And also i feel all countries especially Usa and Europe as a whole have a lazy approach to this crisis, why its so? I have lost all respects to these european countries, i thought they were better than us in dealing with crisis situation. What you guys think?

I have been perplexed about this as well.
European Union is supposed to be like one country with shared defence, currency, monetary policies, pensions, passports and so on. Then why other nations like Germany, Sweden and the UK are not dispatching medical teams to Italy? Why can’t some patients be transported to UK or elsewhere for treatment using trains or planes? I realise every country is worried about their situation getting worse but a coordinated EU wide response is required. Since UK, Germany and France along with other nations like Portugal are behind Italy in the disease cycle, they should have lent assistance and then when they became worse, Italy might have been able to help out if they had improved their situation. In addition, I would have expected more assistance from China, US and even India for Italy and other affected countries. Why can’t each major nation send say 100 doctors each? I realise there would be language issues but it could be handled with interpreters or with each foreign doctor working with teams of English speaking Italian doctors. Such things happen when countries dispatch medical teams to deal with callamities.