Bhubaneswar: The words of Turkish author and playwright Mehmet Murat Ildan that "A Virus can change the fate of the world" turned prophetically true, when WHO declared COVID -19 a global emergency last month.
The lethal virus has taken a massive 60 countries into its vice like grip. As per WHO latest update, in last 48 hours, COVID 19 has penetrated into seven new countries namely Mexico, San Merino, Belarus, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Nigeria. The apex health body has raised the risk level (spread and impact) to very high at the global level.
How it will change world's fate?
COVID 19 has infected stock markets across the world. The flu makes the markets look red. When investors across globe in last six-days lost a whopping $ 6 trillion, Indian investors in a single day-trading lost an eye-popping $5trillion. Economists fear this rush for sell-off of stocks could become a long-term phenomenon, which could then push the global economy to a recession. The caveat is if no positive news regarding containment of this rampaging virus emerges, then the inevitable can happen. If global economy slips into recession, it will then be a worst nightmare for all countries, including India.
INDIA Scenario
Twenty-six days over, no new case reported from anywhere in country. The assuring fact is all three COVID 19 cases were imported cases. The history of COVID 19 cases show the lethal viral strain has not penetrated to community level in India.
Does the Risk Persists: It's very much there. The danger of import of COVID-19 still looms large. In the context of emerging global scenario, Union Health Ministry has held a specific review of J&K and Ladakh with respect to returnees from Iran.
A sort of travel ban has been issued by Centre. Advisories issued to avoid all non-essential travel to Singapore, Republic of Korea, Iran and Italy. Also, people coming from Republic of Korea, Iran and Italy or having such travel history since 10th February 2020 are quarantined for 14 days on arrival to India.
COVID-19 Check-list: As many as 4.829 lakh passengers screened from 4,787 flights as on date. Screening continues at 21 Airports, 12 major seaports and 65 minor seaports and land crossings particularly bordering Nepal. A total of 23,531passengers are presently under community surveillance through IDSP.
A total of 2,836 samples sent for testing, 2,830 are found negative, 3 samples were earlier found positive in Kerala (these have recovered and have been discharged) and 3 are under testing. All 645 evacuees at the earlier camps at Manesar and Chhawla discharged on Feb 18th.
ODISHA Scenario
As many as seven suspected COVID-19 cases in the State found negative. Still, as per State Health Department, a high of 83 people returned from affected countries were placed under home quarantine as a preventive measure.
How big the risk: The vulnerability is not off the hook. Though the intensive screening at airports stands as a guard against the virus penetrating to the State, a high-level watch-out need to be maintained with regard to community transmission from states like Kerala, J&K etc.
Self-Quarantine Mode: *Avoid close contact with sick people. *Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. *Stay home when you are sick. *Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. *Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
Global Scenario
Latest WHO update shows COVID-19 is traced in 60 countries. US has recorded its first COVID-19 death. As per Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the patient has no travel history to affected country. CDC feels the virus is spreading in community.
SCIENTISTS SCALE UP EFFORTS: US-based CDC has named the virus as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). It says, " SARS-CoV-2 virus is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. All three viruses have their origins in bats.
*COVID-19 has been grown in cell culture by CDC in its lab to study its epidemiology and develop an anti-viral therapy.
*CDC has developed a new laboratory test kit for use in testing patient specimens for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The test kit is called the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase (RT)-PCR Diagnostic Panel.