[Thad E Ginathom]

Decided to give up concerts... Then concerts for cancelled anyway.

Decided to mostly stay at home and see few people... And today I am in a crowded public office getting some bureaucracy done. Hey go...

[doxinboy]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

Despite not being explicitly told, I am putting myself in self-quarantine for the next 5 days.

Dude, hope it's a seasonal flu. Nevertheless what you are doing is right. I'm sure you are in touch with your colleagues and friends who were in physical contact with you. How are they doing?

Please keep us posted about your health on a regular basis. It will help a lot of members and visitors of this thread to know how to respond in case we get into similar situation.

Again, I sincerely believe it is just a flu and it will go away and you will be back stronger and wiser and share your knowledge with us all. Until then praying to God for a speedy recovery.

[ckranjan]

The Curious case of three princesses.

[ninjatalli]

So new travel advisory/directives have been posted and constantly being updated with travel from following countries either temporarily banned and/or with quarantine requirements

Links:
- 11th Mar advisory - consolidated advisory till date
- 16th Mar advisory - travel from UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait (quarantine) and EU, UK, Turkey (ban)
- 17th Mar advisory - travel from Afghanistan, Malaysia, Philippines (ban)


Source: MOHFW Website

@Mods,
The MOHFW website link is useful with a lot of stats. Suggest this be added to the first post of this thread if not already done.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

@Mods,
The MOHFW website link is useful with a lot of stats. Suggest this be added to the first post of this thread if not already done.

Thank you! The URL was already added in the opening post a couple of days back.

[AltoLXI]

The virus could possibly survive in the air, a new study suggests

The coronavirus can live for three days on some surfaces, like plastic and steel — though the amount of viable virus decreases sharply over this time — suggests a new study, published on Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Experts say the risk of consumers getting infected from touching those materials is still low, though they offered additional warnings about how long the virus could survive in the air, which may have important implications for medical workers.

When the virus becomes suspended in droplets smaller than five micrometers — known as aerosols — it can stay suspended for about 30 minutes, before drifting down and settling on surfaces where it can linger for hours, the researchers said. The finding is inconsistent with the World Health Organization’s position that the virus is not transported by air.

The new study also suggests that the virus can survive up to 24 hours on cardboard packages, though it disintegrates over the course of a day — meaning cardboard packages that arrive in the mail would have only low levels of the virus unless the delivery person has coughed or sneezed on it or has handled it with contaminated hands.

Another study, the largest to date of children and the virus, has found that while most develop mild or moderate symptoms, a small percentage — especially babies and preschoolers — can become seriously ill. Children account for the smallest percentage of the tens of thousands of infections identified globally.

And though the health minister of France has urged people ill with the coronavirus to stay away from ibuprofen and aspirin, there was no research to back up the contention.

Source

SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard, and viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application to these surfaces (Figure 1A), although the virus titer was greatly reduced (from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter of medium after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel). The stability kinetics of SARS-CoV-1 were similar (from 103.4 to 100.7 TCID50 per milliliter after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.6 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel). On copper, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 4 hours and no viable SARS-CoV-1 was measured after 8 hours. On cardboard, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 24 hours and no viable SARS-CoV-1 was measured after 8 hours (Figure 1A).

Link to NEJM study

[DCEite]

Guys,

What does compulsory quarantine mean , as posted by Government of India.

Does that mean a person arriving from the affected country (lets say UAE) to India will be taken to some hospital straight from the airport by the authorities and be in isolation for 14 days ?

Or does it mean that it is a guideline that the patient self quarantine at home for 14 days ?

[volkman10]

It means this, as you have stated:

Originally Posted by DCEite

Guys,

What does compulsory quarantine mean , as posted by Government of India.

--

Or does it mean that it is a guideline that the patient self quarantine at home for 14 days ?

[purohitanuj]

Originally Posted by whencut86

Indian govt and healthcare professionals are trying to do it as per the first scenario which western world failed to do during recent weeks leading to increase in cases.

How does this help when the asymptomatic stage is around 10-20 days? One may be infected, passing on infection being asymptomatic; would be impossible to mark such cases as positive on arrival.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Guys,

What does compulsory quarantine mean , as posted by Government of India?

This link should answer your question (also attached in this post). From reports/updates on twitter, this seems to already be in action.

Originally Posted by volkman10

It means this, as you have stated:

[AMG Power]

Dutch researchers find Coronavirus antibodies!

https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/14/dutch-...ibodies-report

This antibody has the potential to block the infection.

[RedStallion]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

Dutch researchers find Coronavirus antibodies!

This antibody has the potential to block the infection.

Some relief, in these difficult times. Thanks for sharing!

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

The virus could possibly survive in the air, a new study suggests



Source




Link to NEJM study

I read these studies about a week back. And exactly the reason, why I feel, things are largely inconclusive yet. What is being dismissed outright can be countered by a new study tomorrow. The directives laid down by WHO, CDC are definitely in the best interest of the people so that the spread of the virus is contained as much as possible in the current scenario.

However, being a Doctor and having known about the established viruses, bacterias and their characteristics, I think the speculation that tropical climate of India can prevent the rapidity of the spread may come out to be true with further studies. We never know.

Look at this, we are into 4th week, but the positivity rate in the country averages 4-5 maximum, correct ?? Compare that with other countries where the count had shot up above 600 or so in the 3rd week itself. I know some will say this can be attributed to under testing in India and preventive measures like shut down of large scale gatherings in malls, functions, temples etc. but in an overcrowded city like Mumbai, where 100 samples are being tested everyday, only 1 or at the max 3 are newly tested positive per day. The pattern in India has to be studied closely.

While this is a good news, we don't have to be complacent. Keeping fingers crossed till April 15th.

[xcentrk]

Originally Posted by vivek95

.....The pattern in India has to be studied closely.

While this is a good news, we don't have to be complacent. Keeping fingers crossed till April 15th.

Wow, this is something new for me! With the overwhelming data from everywhere, the actual nature of virus and it's spreading pattern is very confusing indeed. Hope they will at least find the pattern in which the virus spreads.

I have a couple of questions.

1. How can a virus survive in air? Doesn't it need the host body to mutate? If so, how can air be it's host?

2. We planned for a trip to Rameshwaram for a pooja in light of my grandmothers death last month. Do you think it is still a wise decision to go? We are a family of 30 members and we decided to go together.

[CarJunki]

Any under testing will become evident in form of random sample tests done by ICMR for detecting community transmission. Apparently on a weekly basis ICMR takes samples from people who are reporting in with pneumonia or similar conditions. So if there are some really unreported spread, this random sampling and testing will catch.

So yes, the measures have been shielding and slowing the spread of virus.