Sir,
The medical fraternity around the globe is up in arms to mitigate the impact of Novel Corona virus. The WHO has declared it a Pandemic and issued guidelines for its prevention. Governments in each country are following those details. These include personal human behaviour, travel restrictions, early medical advice, avoid crowded places etc. On the personal level the people are being advised to care for the personal hygiene, wash hands more frequently, not to touch the objects unnecessarily, avoid touching the face, keep distance from the infected persons, cover the face while coughing or sneezing, wear the mask if running flu, throw the used tissues in a covered bin. People have been advised to avoid large gatherings. Schools, colleges even temples are being closed. There are severe restrictions on international travel. The people from abroad are being screened. Early medical advice is important for the purpose of detection and isolation of suspicious cases.
Till date we have failed to ascertain origin of this virus. There are several hypotheses being given but there is nothing concrete as yet. Some people have even gone to the extent of blaming it as a biological weapon which got loose! This will require a lot of epidemiological work and laboratory studies to find the exact cause. The primary aim at this moment is to prevent the spread of disease and save human lives.
Large number of our population lives in shanty areas sharing rooms with each other. If any of them catches infection, it is likely to spread faster. That is why community acquired corona infection has to be prevented on priority. Whereas the affluent sections using hi-tech facilities can afford to work from home, it is impossible for the manual workers to stay back. Moreover they do not have any backlog of supportive income. They have to venture out every day to meet their essential needs. They are much more vulnerable but relatively much less informed and conscious about the preventive measures.
We need to take effective measures to minimize the effect of infections. We have to ensure healthy nutrition to all our people; provide hygienic condition and clean housing along with safe drinking water and sewerage facilities to remain healthy. There is need to streamline the drug prices; develop the drugs and vaccines producing industry in public sector. This would need changes in priorities and increase in spending on public health.
Dr Arun Mitra
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