[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

This is potentially an extinction level event for us as a species if some are to be believed. Not something to be taken lightly.

phamilyman gets it right. Coronavirus is tracked NOT because it is incurable. It's all over the news because Coronavirus/H1N1/SARS has the potential to kill 400 or 500 million people in one year. If nothing is done about it (no quarantine, no lockdown, no awareness), it is almost guaranteed to kill minimum 3% of earth's population.

It has happened before.

In 1920s, H1N1 killed 50 to 100 million people or 3% to 6% of earth's population at that time. 27% of world's population was infected.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

[am1m]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

A cure that is available at a hospital you cannot afford to enter is the same as no cure at all.

Since there is no thanks button for this section, had to post - Thank you for reminding us of this! So true in our country. It's tragic that that thousands die and suffer continuously from easily treatable aliments. But those certainly don't make the news in this way because it doesn't affect those who read the news! (Of course, not dismissing the Covid-19 outbreak seriousness in any way either.)

[nasa_hubble]

Interesting discussion! I just want to emphasize that this is a Pandemic which should have ZERO cases. You cannot equate this to other health conditions (acute or chronic) prevailing in the world.

A disease that should have zero cases is affecting thousands/lakhs/millions (we do not know). This is what has really got the world worried.

As for the government hospitals not being able to treat poor, etc. is a discussion for another time.

[gupta_chd]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The fatality rate is 2% which incidentally is the same as the infant mortality rate in some parts of India only for babies born with a congenital heart defect.

Somebody may have already corrected, buy to stress once again, mortality rate of coronavirus is very high. It is just the Chinese way of calculation and fooling world which makes it 2-4%. They are calculating as no. of deaths by no. of people affected which is grossly incorrect. It should ideally be no. of deaths to no. of people recovered which is far depressing figure.

[anb]

Originally Posted by gupta_chd

Somebody may have already corrected, buy to stress once again, mortality rate of coronavirus is very high.

Corona is not deadly as Nipah virus. Out of 3 Corona patients in Kerala, two are already showing negative test results now.

[ruzbehxyz]

20 cured coronavirus patients donate plasma to critically ill in China.

As many as 20 people who recovered from novel coronavirus in China have donated their plasma to the critically ill patients in the city of Wuhan as several patients showed improved clinical symptoms after receiving plasma treatment, province's COVID-19 scientific research team has said.

Xinhua news agency reported that the donors are doctors and nurses who have now recovered from the disease for 10 days at the Jiangxia District's No. 1 people's hospital and traditional Chinese medicine hospital.

An expert with Jiangxia District's No. 1 people's hospital has said that twelve patients who were in severe condition began to show improved clinical symptoms about 12 to 24 hours after receiving plasma treatment.

"We are observing the therapeutic results and improving our treatment plans," the expert said

The new strain of coronavirus first originated in Wuhan in December, last year, and has since then killed 1600 people in that country alone, while cases have been registered in several countries across the world, including India.

Earlier, Zhang Dingyu, head of Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, had called upon cured coronavirus patients to donate plasma after initial results "indicated the effectiveness of convalescent plasma-derived therapeutic products in curing infected patients in severe and critical conditions," the news agency said in its report.

Some recovered patients regard the donation as a way to pay back to society after they received timely and effective treatment.

"Before being discharged from the hospital, I learned from the nurses that I can donate plasma, which I think is very helpful," said a recovered patient who is willing to become a donor.

Source: https://m.economictimes.com/news/int...campaign=cppst

[JS Kwt]

More than 79,000 cases worldwide!

Viral infection has now spread to nine Middle Eastern countries!


Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Iraq and Oman on Monday reported their first infections from the new coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,600 globally, the vast majority in China.

Kuwait reported three cases, Oman two and Bahrain and Iraq each confirmed one, bringing the number of countries in the Middle East with the virus - officially known as COVID-19 - to nine.

Kuwait suspends flights to and from Iraq:

Iraq extends ban on Iran arrivals amid Corona virus fears
South Korea raises alert level to highest over virus
Italy suspends Serie A football games to combat infection spread

Meanwhile, Turkey, Pakistan and Armenia have closed their borders with Iran, where authorities reported 61 Corona virus infections and 12 deaths.

China had 150 new confirmed deaths from the Corona virus on Sunday, the National Health Commission announced.

South Korea's cases continued to balloon, reaching 833 with seven confirmed deaths.

And in Italy, seven deaths have been reported in the country's north and the number of confirmed cases has risen to 229, prompting emergency measures in a number of European countries.


Iran becomes epicenter for Corona virus outbreak in Middle East


Iran has seen the largest number of Corona virus infections in the Middle East, and the virus is spreading quickly to neighboring countries.

The Iranian government reported a surge in Corona virus cases last week. At least 60 people in Iran have been infected so far with at least 12 deaths, the highest death toll outside China.

At least 34 cases have been reported in Qom, a holy city just 90 miles south of Tehran. The city houses several holy places and pilgrimage sites.

Iran denies virus cover-up after claim of 50 deaths.

Iran's government vowed to be transparent after being accused of covering up the deadliest Corona virus outbreak outside China, dismissing a lawmaker's claim the toll could be as high as 50.

The government announced Iran's Corona virus death toll had jumped by four to 12 - by far the highest outside China.

But Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a lawmaker from the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, alleged the government was "lying".

"As of last night, about 50 people have died" from the Corona virus in Qom alone, ILNA news agency, which is close to reformists, quoted him as saying after a closed session of parliament on the crisis.

The government rejected the claim.

Source
Source 2

Grim situation worldwide!
All these Middle East countries are closely connected to India!
A lot of our loved ones in grave danger!

[vb-saan]

Malaria and Tuberculosis may account for a million+ deaths worldwide, and COVID-19 maybe creating more buzz in the western media and developed world, but this is indeed fast spreading. Here in Singapore the good amount of checks and controls are in place to contain the situation and that has helped in a big way, but a pandemic situation can be grim in some other places where the infrastructure and controls are not so solid!

https://youtu.be/NRlDiXEAk38

[speedmiester]

What is more worrying the we have not seen any reports from Africa except for Egypt.
Ethiopia alone receives more than 1500+ Chinese nationals every day who work on multiple projects in the country.
There are other mineral rich countries in Africa who are dependent on China for many of their infra works. These have not stopped.
The first Covid-19 detection kits reached Africa only on Feb 7th. With high incubation time and longer asymptomatic time for this virus, we are in for a long fight against this virus.

Also the theory that hotter climate will spare the people from the virus has been proven wrong.
APAC is facing a severe crunch due to travel and other restrictions.

Only Singapore and South Korea are doing a splendid job in providing much needed information and in containing the virus. I cannot believe much of the info shared by other countries.

US has made a blunder by bringing back 14 infected patients from the stricken cruise ship in Japan to US with little or no protection to other passengers on the flights. Only 3 states in US have the facility to test for the virus.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Also the theory that hotter climate will spare the people from the virus has been proven wrong.

Is that theory wrong? Wuhan, Seoul, Tehran, Italy all have sub-10 degrees Celsius temperature right?

[jayguar]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Is that theory wrong? Wuhan, Seoul, Tehran, Italy all have sub-10 degrees Celsius temperature right?

That theory seems to be a myth according to WHO Philippines.

World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines cleared the myth that the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) cannot survive long in the country because of our weather. On a Twitter post, the organization clarified that the "2019-nCoV has spread to countries with both hot and humid climates, as well as cold and dry."

Source


Average temperature in Singapore and most cities in Thailand are over 30 degrees.

[AnandB]

Iran Deputy Health Minister tests positive for coronavirus a day after clearly unwell in public press conference.

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/statu...0668769529856?

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Is that theory wrong? Wuhan, Seoul, Tehran, Italy all have sub-10 degrees Celsius temperature right?

We are seeing cases in ME with high temperature.
More over temperature theory would have held water if the virus was only transmitted through fomites, but virus is also spreading through aerosol.
In this case temperature has littl effect on transmission of the virus.

[ninjatalli]

The level of mis-information on this thread is so high I'm appalled how bad (of understanding) the situation might be across the country.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I have a very different take on this media frenzy over coronavirus. For the poor with no financial access to modern medicine (and its costs) malaria is as much a real life coronavirus.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The fatality rate is 2% which incidentally is the same as the infant mortality rate in some parts of India only for babies born with a congenital heart defect.

Sorry, but let me state what others have replied in previous posts - this is a grossly incorrect comparisons and very restrictive view of the situation that is unfolding. It is still in the nascent stage (wrt the global scene) to be ruled out or given less priority.

Originally Posted by vivek95

I am a Doctor ( Emergency physician ), so let me clear your concerns and wrong notions on this one, with all due respects to you Sir. This whole Coronavirus thing has absolutely nothing to do with the first world or third world countries, rich and poor etc. No, not even one bit.

...

I can go into more details but presently I could reply only this much due to time constraints.

Thank you for this - I hope @mods make this post the first post on this thread to push the right information to folks reading/posting on this thread!


WHO director has warned (albeit very late IMO) that the world with it's borders and nationalistic interests, is definitely not ready for this crisis that is unfolding.

- Medical practitioners are still evaluating all the possible means of spreading and are not ruling out any option
- Countries are still not prepared; US pulled in their citizens from the locked-down boat at Japan back to US soil but the CDC states only 5 states have working kits that can detect the virus; and very less preparations across the country
- EU and ME countries are scrambling for handling the new cases emerging in their cities with no proper established setup; check the situation in Iran and Italy as an example
- I hope we are ready; the 3 cases in Kerala seem to have been closed; there is no guarantee/visibility that the country is having the necessary preparations.

I guess only time will tell how this pans out.

[navpreet318]

The biggest gainer from this is the manufacturers of the 2 ply and 3 ply masks.

Something which is made for just 50p and was supplied for anywhere between Rs.1 to Rs.1.5 ex-factory is now being sold for 18,19,22 rupees. There are flat orders of 10 Crore pieces, 15 crore pieces at a time and are being fulfilled within a couple of days by these manufacturers.
100% government orders, domestic and foreign. Major money is moving here and there. Non the less can't blame them. They are businessmen and making money is the primary objective.

I have been observing that even the 3M N95 masks which retailed for Rs.150 is now retailing for Rs.400 in the local market.