Bharat Rakshak

I am getting terrible reports from New York state.

global cases reached 2 million today. it took only 13 days for last 1 million. I would have quoted 2009 swine flu figures. but decided against it. the whole world is under lock down during the last 13 days. still the numbers didn't decline. we are looking at something new. new things need new tools and new metrics.

Santosh wrote:

Lisa wrote: I know of locals who have had the infection. All are well now. One of the recovered ones is almost 90 years old. None went to hospital and like you said, done in a week.

So why is the story vastly different in US than in UK? Based on what Suresh ji said the picture in US hospitals is very very grim.

It’s the unhealthy lifestyle which is catching up there in US.

Eating habits and fitness level between US and Europe/Canada is very different. Huge food portions, always on 4 wheels even when things are at spitting distance. First place where I saw cloths size XXXXL, and is usually carried in all big stores. NYC got unlucky because of the packed commutation they have, e.g LIRR, Subway and NJ Transit. Because of the delay in declaring lockdown lot of people got ****** early on.

Plus overall US took this thing very lightly. Just a week or two ago folks were having packed beaches and pubs fueled by Trump’s propaganda.

Aditya_V wrote:

putnanja wrote:Given what Primus and Suresh is saying, the death count in China should be at least in hundreds of thousands, if not in millions. Given that Wuhan mayor said millions left the city before lockdown was imposed, all of them travelling all over China should have resulted in millions of infected folks and lot more death than China reported. It's hard to believe US & Europe have more deaths than China

Unless a person believes in miracles, this is the truth and probably the same for Pakistan where they would not know whether 1 person has corna virus or 200 million have it.

Yup. Hubei Province has a population of 59 million. Best guess scenario assuming, 1% of the population was infected, you get .59 million.
If 1% of those died the number is 5900. Even then the number of dead is bigger than what Chipanda reported that too for the entire country. Clearly Shanghai statistics.

I know folks in NYC who are still commuting to work in Subways and LIRR everyday for work as they are part of city Gov.

Picture they shared showed that there is still foot traffic on public transportation, and street.

Lockdown is not a curfew, folks are still going out and getting infected.

Consolidated Guidelines of MHA on Lockdown measures on containment of COVID-19 (422.28 KB) pdf

Consolidated Guidelines on the measures to be taken by Ministries/ Departments of Government of India, State/Union Territory Governments and State/ Union Territory Authorities for containment of COVID-19 Epidemic in the Country, as notified by Ministry of Home Affairs Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 24.03.2020 and further modified on 25.03.2020, 27.03.2020, 02.04.2020, 03.04.2020 and 10.04.2020.

MP is well and truly screwed.

With health dept in quarantine, MP struggles to tackle coronavirus pandemic

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government in Madhya Pradesh is finding itself in a tight spot in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. There is no Cabinet in place, and thus no health minister. Besides, the state health department, which was supposed to lead the fight against coronavirus, is almost defunct, with several top officials, including Pallavi Jain Govil, principal secretary (health), and J Vijay Kumar, managing director of MP Health Corporation and chief executive officer of the state’s Ayushman Bharat programme, testing positive.

After Kumar and Govil were tested positive, the government’s first response was to downplay the news. This resulted in the spreading of the virus among other health department officials. Until Sunday afternoon, Bhopal reported 134 confirmed Covid cases, including 80 health department officers and their family members. Even the coronavirus control room reported infections — Veena Sinha (additional director, health communication) and another official Pallav Dubey — were tested positive.

Yet, top officials were unwilling to go to hospitals for isolation. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhopal Director Dr Sarman Singh wrote to Govil: “This is about the telephonic call received from your good self and Shri Faiz Ahmad Kidwai, health commissioner, regarding the unwillingness of some of your officials who are asymptomatic to get hospitalised at AIIMS, Bhopal.” Singh recommended such asymptomatic Covid-19 patients be isolated at home.

Just a day earlier, Chouhan had clearly stated every Covid-19 positive must be hospitalised.

“If senior government officials would defy basic norms of the Covid-19 protocol, what can we expect from common people,” asked a senior doctor of AIIMS Bhopal.

Is the treatment with HCQ Combination working? Such dire situation in ER & Hospitals seems to raise doubt about effectiveness of HCQ. In normal course only 2%-4% patients seem to be seriously affected by COVID. So is it possible that HCQ is giving false sense of cure because it seems to treat patients who would have recovered in any case?

New York is the worst case scenario with high poverty, higher risk behavior and existing health conditions. Quoting from this article that tries to understand how Sweden with a larger population can have fewer cases than New York, while New York is shut down and Sweden stays open for business.

Sweden is a viral punching bag

More than 40% of residents rely on Medicaid

Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg might even say they further abuse the privilege by not looking after their health. (His bans of smoking, trans fats and Big Gulps were framed at the time partly as solicitude for the taxpayer.)

Some 800 languages are spoken in Queens alone; many residents live in high-risk multigenerational households.

Gyan wrote:Is the treatment with HCQ Combination working? Such dire situation in ER & Hospitals seems to raise doubt about effectiveness of HCQ. In normal course only 2%-4% patients seem to be seriously affected by COVID. So is it possible that HCQ is giving false sense of cure because it seems to treat patients who would have recovered in any case?

This is exactly the question ongoing trials in various countries are trying to answer using double blind tests where a randomised control group is given a placebo and another randomised group is given HCQ.

We will have to wait a few more weeks to get the results.

https://twitter.com/writetake/status/12 ... 5011861504

Anantha Krishnan M @writetake

An MoD release says #OFB has started supply of coveralls conforming to ISO Class 3 exposure standards. Manufacture of initial order of 1.10 lakh from HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL) is in full swing. This order will be completed in 40 days.

#IndiaFightsCorona

Too little and the reason why a substantial number of PPEs are being imported form China.

hanumadu wrote:How are Indians in NY, CA, NJ, UK and Canada doing in comparision to other ethnicities? There are significant number of Indians in those places.

Especially Indians who have been vaccinated with BCG in India, are they faring better than whites, blacks and hispanic people?

pankajs wrote:https://twitter.com/writetake/status/12 ... 5011861504

Anantha Krishnan M @writetake

An MoD release says #OFB has started supply of coveralls conforming to ISO Class 3 exposure standards. Manufacture of initial order of 1.10 lakh from HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL) is in full swing. This order will be completed in 40 days.

#IndiaFightsCorona

Too little and the reason why a substantial number of PPEs are being imported form China.

OFB is a late entrant to the game, many other suppliers in the pvt sector have been tapped, some with TOT from DRDO. I wonder if the OFB order is separate from HLL or being re-assembled at HLL.

http://texmin.nic.in/sites/default/file ... pr2020.pdf

This is a real positive move. We are squarely taking aim at the one thing we were still dependent on PRC from.
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePa ... ID=1611605

^^
Agree

https://twitter.com/sidhant/status/1250012815567380481

Sidhant Sibal @sidhant

India has ordered 33 Lakh kits for RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction) & 37 Lakh rapid kits coming soon: ICMR
#COVID

Yesterdin's

How much of RT-PCR are Indian?
Rapid kits are Chinese it seems.

https://twitter.com/writetake/status/12 ... 0377029637

Anantha Krishnan M @writetake

COVSACK (COVid SAmple Collection Kiosk) is a kiosk that can help health care workers take samples from suspicious patients, without the need of PPE kits. The Kiosk can be disinfected automatically without any help of human personnel by its inherent features.
@DRDO_India release

sudarshan wrote:

vinod wrote:An Update from UK.
90% of the NHS workers who I'm friends with or have acquainted with, have all been infected with this virus. They have all recovered in about 1 weeks's time. Fever and body ache was the most common symptom.
They all are relatively healthy people and aged less than 50 and most of them below 40.

How big a sample is this? The big danger with this disease seems to be the second week crash. Are they all past that time frame as well? And did they test positive, or are they going by symptoms to diagnose? TIA for the response.

Its not big sample or scientific study, just my friends and their friends or colleagues. Around 25 is what I know of. If there were severe cases, they would have mentioned it when we spoke. I'm only referring to Indian origin here. They have all gone past the 2 week now and they all had it 2-3 weeks back. Only 2 have been really tested and confirmed as been positive.
There was one NHS worker who was serious, but has now been discharged.
Another who I know of is still critical is a businessman with Type 2 diabetes and just above 50. He is on ventilator, now into 3rd week.

There could be multiple strains at play here. The businessman probably caught it during his travels just before the lockdown.

Video embedded. Is this the standard PPE or just a jumpsuit with extras?

https://twitter.com/senthilbe23/status/ ... 4810796032

சங்கி @senthilbe23

Covid -19 suit .made in Tiruppur .price INR198.

Exposed zip vs a sealed seam. Not really a proper PPE IMHO. The fabric also needs to be checked for resistance to fluids.

Textile ministry put out a circular asking folks to only buy from authorized PPE manufacturers - the list in my post above.

DRDO's contact list of individuals for counter CoVid-19 technologies plus the industry partner and contact number.

Dr Ratnadip and other doctors, if you are running short of anything, contact these guys directly. They are authorized to put you in touch with the right people or even get you the gear.

https://drdo.gov.in/counter-covid-19-technologies

Above includes PPE, seam sealant, masks, face shield, ventilators, sanitizer, sanitization equipment - trolley and portable.

MHA order dt 15.04.2020, with Revised Consolidated Guidelines (1.07 MB)

MHA release with details on partial opening of lockdown from 20th april.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/1 ... ing-186786
Trump halts funding to World Health Organization
By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN, 04/14/2020
The president has been critical of the international organization for its handling of the coronavirus. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he is halting funding to the World Health Organization while his administration reviews the group’s handling of the coronavirus, accusing it of bungling the response and failing to communicate the disease’s threat. The move follows weeks of Trump’s escalating attacks on the U.N. health organization as he has sought to deflect scrutiny of his own administration's slow response to the outbreak.
The U.S. contributes more than any other country to WHO, at more than $400 million per year. Cutting off funds to the group, which has a $4.8 billion annual budget, will be a major blow to the organization as it conducts vaccine trials, distributes test kits and advises governments around the world.
"With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible," Trump said during his nightly press briefing. The move drew swift blowback from the medical community, which said it would undercut global efforts to combat a disease that’s sickened nearly 2 million people worldwide and still has no proven cure or vaccine. “Fighting a global pandemic requires international cooperation and reliance on science and data,” said Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association, who urged the administration to reconsider.
.....
Gautam

chetak wrote:

Amit Malviya@amitmalviya
This Facebook post by a leading Nephrologist at the Bellevue Clinic in Kolkata has set the cat among the pegions. He has accused the Mamata Banerjee government of suppressing tests and data, forcing doctors to not write proper diagnosis and worse... Read.
https://facebook.com/606742860/posts/10 ... 17861/?d=n

Not surprised at all. I have said on 2 prior occasions on BRF that I find the West Bengal numbers to be dubious. They should be reporting a minimum of 1000 cases by now. At this rate, we will end up with internal barriers within the country between states which have things under control, and those that don't or have dubious statistics even after the lockdown is lifted.

Patni wrote:MHA order dt 15.04.2020, with Revised Consolidated Guidelines (1.07 MB)

MHA release with details on partial opening of lockdown from 20th april.

Great circular - covers almost everything that one could think of and all the key points - mandatory screening of workers, face masks in public and liberal availability of sanitizers plus continuous production industries.

http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/documen ... update.pdf


This is an interesting predictive model or analytical experiment. This might show that though Chinese virus is more prevalent but death rate is much lower. Lots of people who are exposed never develop any disease at all.

Karan M wrote:Great circular - covers almost everything that one could think of and all the key points - mandatory screening of workers, face masks in public and liberal availability of sanitizers plus continuous production industries.

Still no haircuts. IMHO that will be the watershed moment when they permit barbers to operate . Hair tends to grow, lockdown or otherwise.

ramana wrote:Docs where are you all located? Just the region.

Based in one of the top three counties in the US in terms of number infected. Live and work here.

Seems like China is locking down again ...

https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/statu ... 3536568320

Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 @jenniferatntd

Urgent #Lockdown Notice
1. All communities immediately resume the previous disease prevention and control measures
2. Set up inspection points at all major roads of all villages and towns. Take the temperature of and register any person coming from outside
3. Adopt strict...

...disease prevention and control measures including disinfection, taking temperatures of and registering people at densely populated sites such as supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, parks.
The above measure must be adopted by 12:00 today.

Neiqiu County (of Hebei Province) Coronavirus Pneumonia Control Office
Apr. 13, 2020

hanumadu wrote:

hanumadu wrote:How are Indians in NY, CA, NJ, UK and Canada doing in comparision to other ethnicities? There are significant number of Indians in those places.

Especially Indians who have been vaccinated with BCG in India, are they faring better than whites, blacks and hispanic people?

No definite data yet. Anecdotally, not doing so well, at least in NY metro area. BCG is irrelevant so far, although the numbers are small. The two people - both desi docs - who got hospitalized are immigrants, so must have had BCG in India.

According to my desi PA (who had fever and such for about two weeks and has recovered at home), several friends and extended family members have died - sadly they could not even attend the funerals. Two relatives of my ex-employees have died, all desis.

It is rare for so many people you know to either be so sick or die within such a short time period. No other disease in my lifetime has had this kind of impact.

Karan M wrote:DRDO's contact list of individuals for counter CoVid-19 technologies plus the industry partner and contact number.

Dr Ratnadip and other doctors, if you are running short of anything, contact these guys directly. They are authorized to put you in touch with the right people or even get you the gear.

https://drdo.gov.in/counter-covid-19-technologies

Thank you sir..

Primus wrote:

hanumadu wrote:
Especially Indians who have been vaccinated with BCG in India, are they faring better than whites, blacks and hispanic people?

No definite data yet. Anecdotally, not doing so well, at least in NY metro area. BCG is irrelevant so far, although the numbers are small. The two people - both desi docs - who got hospitalized are immigrants, so must have had BCG in India.

According to my desi PA (who had fever and such for about two weeks and has recovered at home), several friends and extended family members have died - sadly they could not even attend the funerals. Two relatives of my ex-employees have died, all desis.

It is rare for so many people you know to either be so sick or die within such a short time period. No other disease in my lifetime has had this kind of impact.

That is really terrible Primus ji, hoping that you and your family are safe.

Suresh ji thanks for the update and your work. We all pray that the Healthcare workers and security officials stay safe.

Hanumadu ji, in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), in my friends circle there is no anecdotal knowledge that I can share with you. There is a significant number of Indians from Desh, Caribbean and some from UK & RSA working in the Healthcare field. The Indian population here has a high incidence of Type II Diabetes, Hypertension & elevated Cholesterol levels. Will update if I hear anything.

Gurus, will the full impact of the Bandra fiasco be felt two weeks down the line, when the lockdown is about to end? Can the cops hold everyone down in detention and force them to gulp copious amounts of HCQ to avoid any untoward happenings? Should they be rounded up and sent to isolation camps?

Gyan wrote:Is the treatment with HCQ Combination working? Such dire situation in ER & Hospitals seems to raise doubt about effectiveness of HCQ. In normal course only 2%-4% patients seem to be seriously affected by COVID. So is it possible that HCQ is giving false sense of cure because it seems to treat patients who would have recovered in any case?

It is very difficult to say what is working.. Mainstay of management is proper supportive care.. Strict fluid management, timely intubation, prevention of hospital aquired infections , Dialysis whenever required.. These things will help in saving lives..
Virus is not only factor killing patients.. Its host's immune response going out of control and causing fluid accumulation in lungs, Clotting of blood in multiple vessels, multiple organ failure..In some pts opposite is happening .. Immune response is suppressed and they are dying of secondary infections..
Even if we are able to kill every covid virus in body in such patients pt may not be saved..

HCQ is working especialy in prophylactic use.. Almost all doctors directly involved in COVID care have taken it and number of serious cases amongst them are negligible.. In fact I would like it to be given to every patient showing fever , sore throat etc even before test.. Its clear that it becomes less and less useful as disease progress..

Thanks Ratnadip garu, hope the doctors in US have the option of taking this.

Docs in US wondering is it only bad in NY or the situation is same in California and everything is suppressed in this desire to open.

BTW, read reports yesterday saying that one particular strain detected in India was less virulent and had lower binding to ACE2 receptors, not sure what to make of it, are there any reports of sequencing being done on the strains in India ?
https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/newly-fou ... tudy-says/

madhu wrote:https://youtu.be/ADWOuowsM8U

The moron anchor did not let Dr Jayaprakash speak. He kept on interrupting the doctor.

Primus wrote:

hanumadu wrote:
Especially Indians who have been vaccinated with BCG in India, are they faring better than whites, blacks and hispanic people?

No definite data yet. Anecdotally, not doing so well, at least in NY metro area. BCG is irrelevant so far, although the numbers are small. The two people - both desi docs - who got hospitalized are immigrants, so must have had BCG in India.

According to my desi PA (who had fever and such for about two weeks and has recovered at home), several friends and extended family members have died - sadly they could not even attend the funerals. Two relatives of my ex-employees have died, all desis.

It is rare for so many people you know to either be so sick or die within such a short time period. No other disease in my lifetime has had this kind of impact.

Sir , How HCQ is being used ?? Are doctors taking it prophylactically?

pankajs wrote:Seems like China is locking down again ...
https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd/statu ... 3536568320

And this is how the game will be played in the future everywhere, not just in China. Sporadic cases will be detected from time to time, then the machinery swung into place doing contact tracing, localized lockdowns, isolation, quarantine and treatment. The more fine grained, adaptive and quick this is, the more successful it will be, not requiring national level lockdowns.

Karan M wrote:

Patni wrote:MHA order dt 15.04.2020, with Revised Consolidated Guidelines (1.07 MB)

MHA release with details on partial opening of lockdown from 20th april.

Great circular - covers almost everything that one could think of and all the key points - mandatory screening of workers, face masks in public and liberal availability of sanitizers plus continuous production industries.

Some of the best information comes from the official circulars now. It's worth always going to the ministry site first and not posting media content unless it offers actual useful material.

DrRatnadip wrote:

Primus wrote:
No definite data yet. Anecdotally, not doing so well, at least in NY metro area. BCG is irrelevant so far, although the numbers are small. The two people - both desi docs - who got hospitalized are immigrants, so must have had BCG in India.

According to my desi PA (who had fever and such for about two weeks and has recovered at home), several friends and extended family members have died - sadly they could not even attend the funerals. Two relatives of my ex-employees have died, all desis.

It is rare for so many people you know to either be so sick or die within such a short time period. No other disease in my lifetime has had this kind of impact.

Sir , How HCQ is being used ?? Are doctors taking it prophylactically?

Doctors in rural Uttar Pradesh are taking one HCQ dose every 21 days.

sankum wrote:

DrRatnadip wrote:
Sir , How HCQ is being used ?? Are doctors taking it prophylactically?

Doctors in rural Uttar Pradesh are taking one HCQ dose every 21 days.

I have taken it 400bd for two days and then weekly since 2 wks..