[anoopGTkrish]

Originally Posted by Starfire

It's really sad to state that due to one irresponsible statement by Donald Trump on COVID 19, everyone around the world, including people in India have started hoarding drugs like Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine.



People have to understand that self medicating can be fatal, and a man has just died in Arizona due to foolishly self-medicating with Chloroquine to "protect" himself from COVID-19.

He didn't take the pharmaceutical drug version of Chloroquine. The couple took an aquarium cleaning product containing chloroquine phosphate

[m8002?]

I was looking at the recovered cases count at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.
India seems to be doing better than many first world countries in western Europe. They have positive cases in thousands but recovered in single digits. Even the initial Italian tourists have mostly recovered here.
Docs on the forum, any idea why this is so?

[KMT]

An eye opening piece by WION news, its verdict is pretty harsh.
Worth watching.

https://youtu.be/kN08StvCWgU

[BoneCollector]

The Ministry of Health website has not updated any data since 8:45am today morning. Even the covidout19 site is down. Anywhere else we can get real time numbers for India?

[Starfire]

Originally Posted by anoopGTkrish

He didn't take the pharmaceutical drug version of Chloroquine. The couple took an aquarium cleaning product containing chloroquine phosphate

Simply an example stated. Still does not justify self medicating, else I can state 100 other instances where people have died due to self-medication of "pharmaceutical" versions of drugs. The problem is not just of the drug in question but the general principle that drugs that are not OTC should not be sold without prescription. Not only do they cause undesirable side effects due to wrong dosing but also breed antibiotic resistance along with creating commercial shortage to those patients who actually require them.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by m8002?

I was looking at the recovered cases count at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.
India seems to be doing better than many first world countries in western Europe. They have positive cases in thousands but recovered in single digits. Even the initial Italian tourists have mostly recovered here.
Docs on the forum, any idea why this is so?

Sorry and with due respect to you, it's very premature to conclude that we are doing better. The number of positive cases in our country are largely undetected yet. As of two days back, US of A had tested 1,03,500 odd individuals out of which 33000 were positive. At the same time, we had tested only 15000 odd of which 415 were positive. So it's not an apple to apple comparison.

Even before the Govt. advisory came out, I had been pushing my patients who had no travel or direct contact history to get tested for COVID-19. I had some other justification in mind to convince them to get tested after obtaining their full history. But may be they were turned away by the docs at the authorised testing centre. I would not blame them though, as they also had to utilise their resources judiciously.

Let us wait for two more weeks for the larger population in lakhs to undergo testing.

-Dr.Vivek

[AltoLXI]

Russia to deploy Soviet era TMS-65U to fight virus in Italy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrdaNLdEViQ

and this is in Bengaluru by BBMP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9X3Rr3AFA8

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by anoopGTkrish

He didn't take the pharmaceutical drug version of Chloroquine. The couple took an aquarium cleaning product containing chloroquine phosphate

That illustrates the whole point in a much more morbid way.

There are people out in the gen-pop who can't differentiate between types of a drug/chemical, and will take the word of an(y) authority figure (qualified or not) seriously and potentially act on it, esp. in a time of crisis.

All the more reason to be responsible with what one says, esp. so if it's a head of state.

[aghate]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Can anyone living in the first world countries comment how is the lockdown enforced there ?? Mumbai seems to be very strict here.

Hi vivek95,

I currently live in UK and a lockdown has been announced last evening, 23rd March by the PM.

- People are only allowed to go out for essentials like Groceries and Pharmacy or any other emergency.
- Group gatherings are banned with the exception of Funerals. No weddings, baptisms, etc.
- Not more than two people can go together.
- One can only venture out for any one form of exercise like walking, running or cycling. That too with a precaution of staying at least two metres apart from others.
- Not allowed to meet any friends or acquaintances either.
- The police are authorized to levy penalties if one is caught venturing out without a genuine reason.
- All retails outlets like jewelry stores, clothing will be closed.

I just wish this was done earlier here. We see the effects now as the confirmed cases crossed 6.5k yesterday with fatalities going beyond 300. All within one month of first confirmed case.

P.S. - McDonalds has closed all their outlets in UK and Ireland since last evening.


Stay safe!


Regards,

aghate

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by Sheel

I am yet to go out from home, but will have to go today for some grocery. Will ask the grocery shop [over phone] that at what time is the shop a bit free and get essentials.

I finally went out and for the first time, could hear the turbo of my SUV spooling inside a town.

Out of 20% people on the road [in normal circumstances], I can [safely] assume 5-10% were jaywalkers / out for a stroll, I didn't spot many cops anywhere but save for grocery / fruit shops, other establishments were closed. They were force closed yesterday after people didn't / couldn't figure out what a lockdown is.

The good part was the grocery store took down my list, wrote my phone number and said, he would call when my ordered items would be ready, but expect a call by ~21:00 hrs. That is why I couldn't spot a crowd / queue. Some sense has prevailed.

I think, I am taking a breather and not stepping out till next 2+ weeks unless it is an emergency.

Stay home everyone & stay safe.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Sorry and with due respect to you, it's very premature to conclude that we are doing better. The number of positive cases in our country are largely undetected yet. As of two days back, US of A had tested 1,03,500 odd individuals out of which 33000 were positive. At the same time, we had tested only 15000 odd of which 415 were positive. So it's not an apple to apple comparison.

Even before the Govt. advisory came out, I had been pushing my patients who had no travel or direct contact history to get tested for COVID-19. I had some other justification in mind to convince them to get tested after obtaining their full history. But may be they were turned away by the docs at the authorised testing centre. I would not blame them though, as they also had to utilise their resources judiciously.

Let us wait for two more weeks for the larger population in lakhs to undergo testing.

-Dr.Vivek

Guess they are at least testing all flu/pneumonia cases for covid. If there are a lot of people with infection in communities, hopefully we are coping better since we are not going to hospitals with severe cases (just hope, but they could still be infecting the wrong people).

But then in India only 75% of deaths get registered. We are very poor in recording and maintaining statistics.

[TSIboy]

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashb...23467b48e9ecf6

As of now there are 383,944 confirmed cases of Covid-19 all around the world. With China, Italy & USA having the highest numbers of cases. The situation is still under control for now in our country with 464 active cases.


I am based in Spain now and there's 29,550 active cases in the country. Curfew was in place since last week but the number of new infections doesn't seem to decrease. As of now, the authorities are handling the situation really well. There is still plenty of food and other items in supermarkets, rationing have been imposed by the shops themselves and things are not looking so bad.


Just wanted to know how all of us in India and around the world are handling the current situation and what's your plan for the worst case scenario. Stay safe and take care.
Cheers!

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Guess they are at least testing all flu/pneumonia cases for covid. .

It doesnt seem so. We have tested only around 15000 people so far.

Please see this link I shared in an earlier post.
https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-k...le31146300.ece

Kerala leads in the number of tests with more than 4000 tests (12.xx per thousand population) done so far followed by Maharashtra at 1900 (1.6x per thousand) odd. Many states have tested only in 100s.

Certainly not all flu cases.

I believe for a long time protocol was to test only those guys with symptoms plus overseas travel or positive contact. Now they are also testing acute cases. But quite certain that with more tests, the numbers are bound to go up.


Meanwhile I read news that China has eased travel curbs on Wuhan. Dont know if this is a good or bad news!

[srinivasnvns]

Best practices to follow during lock-down

I wanted to share some of the best practices during the lockdown due to the current nCOVID19 situation. These are compiled from my own experience and from some of my ex-colleagues and family members.

1. Designate only one person to do outside chores. That’s me here in my family. We have setup a protocol for sanitizing after I return home. Following it strictly right now.
2. Kids and elders are not to be allowed outside the home. Practice distancing at home with kids and elders.
3. Reduce fuel/cooking gas usage. We also have synced up our lunch and tea/coffee timings so as to avoid unnecessary heating of food/drinks. By the way eat only cooked food and have only hot drinks to avoid secondary problems.
4. Try including vitamin supplements. We will be deprived of sun light and fresh air (to an extent) for a few weeks and this will create problems with our overall health.
5. Reduce streaming quality of content at home to SD. Reduces stress on networks and makes bandwidth available for important use. Amazon and Netflix have already reduced quality to SD in Europe and US.
6. Reduce length of voice calls on cellular. Again, makes network available for emergency use.
7. Reduce electricity consumption. We are using ACs at home owing to high temperature. We are keeping them ON for 1-2 hours before going to sleep and using fans for the rest of the night. Geysers are also being turned ON once.
8. Educate people who do not understand about this and the steps to take to keep them safe. This is especially needed for maids, watchmen, helpers, and building supervisors.
9. Help maids and others with paid leave.
10. When we go out, we should not argue with security personnel. I have seen people getting into arguments on the streets with police and emergency teams which is to no avail.
11. Finally, take steps to keep yourself sane and upbeat. This is quite new to us and we need to get over it. Check on your friends and extended family once in a while; helps improve morale.

Please add more if you can think of further points. Stay safe and healthy.


Note to mod: I thought this is the best thread for this post. Please feel free to relocate to another thread or create a new thread.

[m8002?]

The ICMR website shows around 19K tests done.