Wuhan Coronavirus Resource Thread

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 06 Sep 2020 21:13

darshan wrote:I'm not sure why people even think of pakistani numbers. Out of desperation? All of middle east have had strictest rules for pakis throughout the saga. Who else would know more about them than their masters?

I am seeing a lot of anti-Modi guys taunting on WhatsApp how Pakis controlled and we didn't

sudarshan · Post by **sudarshan** » 07 Sep 2020 00:27

^ Tell them that yes, the Pakis also won 1965, 1971, and Kargil, and we didn't.

amar_p wrote:Sudarshan,

sudarshan wrote:"If somebody has a temperature of 99F (but no other symptoms) and goes asking for a COVID test, is that person going to get it? Can that person also get family members tested on that basis? "

Yes, it is possible in Hyd now to get an on demand test. Rs 3000 for a test. If they collect swab from your home, they are charging Rs 500 extra. My nephew (kid) had a throat infection and was tested as precaution. He came out -ve (no Covid). If this is the case in Hyd, I'm guessing it should be possible to get an on demand test in most big cities and towns.

While most people billionaires or not, will not be as knowledgeable as Kiran M to ask for specific tests and track the disease evolution so carefully, I'm actually glad that she did and shared her experience. Will definitely help others if they are obliged to deal with it.

Wow good to know. The price might put it out of reach of lower sections, but it's a great development.

Yes having hard numbers on disease progression is good, at least there was one test case.

sum · Post by **sum** » 07 Sep 2020 10:49

As predicted when it was in the news 2 months back, the "biggest COVID center" already winding up within 1-2 months of actual functioning
The only aim of the game is to make money ( set up a center at a far off, infra-less place with no transport or basic facilities and when no one opts for it due to the fear of getting stuck there, close it after having made money in tendering for all these items at inflated prices), actual public service be damned even as private hospitals continue fleecing folks in the name of COVID care:

India's biggest Covid-19 care centre at BIEC in Bengaluru to shut on September 15

Meanwhile, there seems to be no relenting on the numbers and we are now closer and closer to toppling US in near future ( with no real dip of numbers being seen anytime soon):

India sees record single-day high of 90,802 Covid-19 cases, tally rises to 42,04,613. Death toll rises by 1,016, taking the total to 71,640. With 69,564 patients discharged, recoveries top 32-lakh mark. The recovery rate rises to 77.31% from 77.23% yesterday. Stay tuned for more updates.

sum · Post by **sum** » 07 Sep 2020 11:19

Cancer patients make surprising full recovery from Covid-19

More than 98% of the 40-odd Cancer patients who contracted Covid at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology here made a full recovery barring two deaths. The situation is similar at Victoria, Aster CMI, and Majumdar Shaw Medical Centre at Narayana Health that treats Cancer patients

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 07 Sep 2020 15:43

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/russia-sh ... 19-vaccine
Russia Shares With India Comprehensive Data On The Sputnik-V COVID-19 Vaccine

Days after international medical journal Lancet had published the results of Phase-1 and Phase-2 clinical trials data of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine called Sputnik-V, the authorities in Moscow have now submitted "comprehensive data" on vaccine's safety and efficacy to the Indian counterparts reports Indian Express.

It should be noted that the study published in the Lancet journal states that the Sputnik-V vaccine is highly immunogenic and induces strong humoral and cellular immune responses in 100 per cent of healthy adult volunteers.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 08 Sep 2020 00:04

MH reports highest single day death count at 423. Nearly 200 deaths today in just Pune and Nagpur, don't even know what the heck is going on in that state.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 08 Sep 2020 00:32

https://twitter.com/WIONews/status/1303034800110891008

#Gravitas | Russia is considering a 'tech transfer' of its #SputnikV vaccine to India. Reportedly, this will be a partnership to develop, manufacture and supply the vaccine.
@palkisu
tells you why India holds the key for global access to the Wuhan virus vaccine

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 08 Sep 2020 07:08

No one will buy anything from Russia given the current geo-political situation. It’s best that India take the vaccine technology, test it and if it works then export it as Shri Rajeev Gandhi Virus Vaccine. Make some serious moolah.

chola · Post by **chola** » 08 Sep 2020 12:51

Ambar wrote:MH reports highest single day death count at 423. Nearly 200 deaths today in just Pune and Nagpur, don't even know what the heck is going on in that state.

We have to expect spikes in infections and deaths after each unlocking. There is no getting around that. Avenues of spread is opening up as we speak with metros and bars coming online. The trendlines need to be calibrated again after Unlock 4.0 is complete. Only when the economy is fully opened for a while and a new normal established can we expect lowering of infection rate and deaths.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 08 Sep 2020 19:50

Its not just the spikes which is concerning but the fact that MH has continuously contributed around 40% of India's total covid related deaths and nearly 25% of all covid positive cases. Here's an example of MH administration's ineptness in dealing with this crisis -

Maharashtra
Tests:80,334
New COVID19 cases: 17,439
TPR%:21.71%

Bihar
Tests:1,50,694
New COVID19 cases:1667
TPR%:1.10%

Uttar Pradesh
Tests:1,43,184
New COVID19 cases:6743
TPR%:4.71%

The cases in India will continue to rise unless MH gets the pandemic under control.

Srikanth P · Post by **Srikanth P** » 08 Sep 2020 23:47

An open-label parallel-arm phase II multicentre randomized controlled trial (PLACID Trial) testing Convalescent plasma in the management of moderate COVID-19 in India has been completed.

39 hospitals, more than 450 patients. Result : Convalascent plasma did not improve mortality or progression to severe disease.

Full text will be published by ICMR shortly.

As of now HCQ, Azithromycin, Tocilizumab, and Plasma have been studied and are apparently not useful.

chola · Post by **chola** » 09 Sep 2020 00:04

Ambar wrote:Its not just the spikes which is concerning but the fact that MH has continuously contributed around 40% of India's total covid related deaths and nearly 25% of all covid positive cases. Here's an example of MH administration's ineptness in dealing with this crisis -

Maharashtra
Tests:80,334
New COVID19 cases: 17,439
TPR%:21.71%

Bihar
Tests:1,50,694
New COVID19 cases:1667
TPR%:1.10%

Uttar Pradesh
Tests:1,43,184
New COVID19 cases:6743
TPR%:4.71%

The cases in India will continue to rise unless MH gets the pandemic under control.

MH is the wealthiest state in the nation, Mumbai attracts the most migrants in the country. So they will likely get hit the most during the unlocking periods? The cosmospolitan cities will inevitably have more churn among the migrant population and chances for infections from elsewhere.

Not making excuses for them but MH is a magnet for Indians in large numbers and from every corner of the country so the high percentage seem inevitable.

SRoy · Post by **SRoy** » 09 Sep 2020 03:01

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiPtbJ5zgJQ

This is interesting. I hope some Indian media covers this.

chola · Post by **chola** » 11 Sep 2020 01:21

^^^ Very worrisome even with the low death rate.

The daily infection count in India is very high right now. 96K today and 95K yesterday. The lingering symptoms bode ill. The US had righted the ship quite a bit since July when it was getting 70K new cases per day, I never thought at the time that it would be India reaching Fauci's ominous 1 lakh per day warning.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 11 Sep 2020 02:32

chola wrote:^^^ Very worrisome even with the low death rate.

The daily infection count in India is very high right now. 96K today and 95K yesterday. The lingering symptoms bode ill. The US had righted the ship quite a bit since July when it was getting 70K new cases per day, I never thought at the time that it would be India reaching Fauci's ominous 1 lakh per day warning.

100,000 new cases per day for a population of 332M vs. population 1,383M is a different thing. India missed the initial rise that was seen in the west due to its lockdown, and now cases are rising after lockdown. The difference now is that therapies are better known and survival chances are much better with a CFR of 1.7% and the US has a CFR of 2.9%. By early next year, vaccines will become available, and although there will be deaths, the CFR should drop to 0.1% which is similar to influenza.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 11 Sep 2020 02:44

The main thing for India is to continue to hammer the point about masks and GoI going all out against medical industry fraud. Can death penalty or terror charges be inflicted on people peddling fake medicines?

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 11 Sep 2020 03:53

darshan wrote:The main thing for India is to continue to hammer the point about masks and GoI going all out against medical industry fraud. Can death penalty or terror charges be inflicted on people peddling fake medicines?

That's a whole different ball of wax, more than fake medicines its the private hospitals and their 1 lakh/day bills which is killing people. There are structural and serious regulatory problems with our healthcare system which seems to have worsened over the last 20+ years. In many towns and cities, naturopaths are practicing allopathic medicine with no fear of regulatory or ethics oversight . Check the degree on the board or on the wall the next time you visit a GP and you'll be surprised to see how many of them have BAMS or homeopathy degrees but they prescribe allopathic medicine without understanding the consequences.

Remember the near doubling of heart attack deaths at home that many US states reported between Mar-June ? Something similar is happening in India but for many other illnesses and medical conditions. People are scared to visit hospitals as none of them will accept cases without a covid report, and if the report is positive then it starts a whole different ordeal. And in related news, the wonderful MH govt who's full time job these days is to arrest or quite literally bulldoze anyone who speaks against the regime seems to given up even the pretenses of controlling the pandemic. The last couple of days internet was full of messages and screenshots of hospitals in MH struggling to find oxygen cylinders even at twice or thrice the usual price, maybe this explains near 500 deaths today from MH alone. While it is true that hospitals everywhere are going through their o2 supply in 3 to 4 days what would usually last them more than a month, the negligence displayed by MH govt makes Kejriwal look like Lee Kuan Yew.

Raja · Post by **Raja** » 11 Sep 2020 11:16

Mort Walker wrote: 100,000 new cases per day for a population of 332M vs. population 1,383M is a different thing. India missed the initial rise that was seen in the west due to its lockdown, and now cases are rising after lockdown. The difference now is that therapies are better known and survival chances are much better with a CFR of 1.7% and the US has a CFR of 2.9%. By early next year, vaccines will become available, and although there will be deaths, the CFR should drop to 0.1% which is similar to influenza.

Mortality rates cannot be so easily compared between countries. There are a lot of factors and differences in counting that can significantly skew things. This has been a consistent issue I have had and it is disingenuous to throw around such comparisons without any effort on controlling for such differences. We can only easily compare mortality rate as a trend within Indian context. IMHO.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 11 Sep 2020 16:15

Incidents like this indicate that protocols in regards to masks and maintaining distance aren't being followed through in strict manner. Many political leaders like CR are hitting the road to get things done. However, they still should have been following guidelines in strict manner and setting up examples. Dead leaders aren't of any use.

Covid-19: Gujarat BJP HQ Kamalam closed for visitors
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2020/09/09/ ... -visitors/
Gandhinagar: Gujarat BJP headquarters ‘Kamalam’ here has been declared closed for visitors at least till next Monday. Only office staff members are being allowed entry inside Kamalam office compound. Police men are deployed at the main gate. The decision has been taken after number of Covid-19 cases emerged linked to Kamalam. The office has also been sanitized. The party has cancelled its two-day “chintan baithak” or brainstorming meet which was to be held on 11 and 12 September.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 11 Sep 2020 18:25

Ambar wrote:
darshan wrote: And in related news, the wonderful MH govt who's full time job these days is to arrest or quite literally bulldoze anyone who speaks against the regime seems to given up even the pretenses of controlling the pandemic. The last couple of days internet was full of messages and screenshots of hospitals in MH struggling to find oxygen cylinders even at twice or thrice the usual price, maybe this explains near 500 deaths today from MH alone. While it is true that hospitals everywhere are going through their o2 supply in 3 to 4 days what would usually last them more than a month, the negligence displayed by MH govt makes Kejriwal look like Lee Kuan Yew.

I had posted yesterday about whatsapp messages on severe O2 shortage in hospitals across Maharashtra , here's ToI confirming the news.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit ... 050106.cms

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 11 Sep 2020 22:46

Oxygen units must supply 50 per cent production for medical needs: Gujarat govt
https://www.deshgujarat.com/2020/09/11/ ... arat-govt/
...
Commissioner of Food and Drug Control Administration Gujarat, Dr. SG Koshia said the present utilization of medical oxygen in Gujarat is around 250 tonne. There are total 52 licensed producers of medical oxygen. In addition to this there are 50 producers of medical oxygen. The demand of medical oxygen is increasing. The producers are asked that they need to produce oxygen at full capacity of their plants non-stop.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 11 Sep 2020 23:01

New cases have spiked in France post vacations and schools reopening. Nearly 10K new cases yesterday. Highest since the pandemic began in March. And looks like it will stay that way for some days.

PCR test is free in any authorised govt or private lab. But labs are struggling to cope with the demand. The lab near me ran out of swabs for a couple of days, they have restocked today. Lab workers are complaining of continuous 16 hr work days.

Fr govt has reduced quarantine period for "contact cases" to 7 days. What this means is if someone has come into significant contact (spent considerable time in close proximity) with a confirmed infected person, its is recommended to immediately go into isolation, get a PCR test 7 days after the contact date. If test is positive or Covid symptoms manifest, then the person should contact his family doctor/GP/Covid Helpline first. After a preliminary assessment by a doctor, next steps will be advised as the case needs.

For now, schools, restaurants, bars are open, albeit with social distancing guidelines, masks to be worn in al public spaces inside or outside. Next 1-2 weeks will tell if we are back into a crisis mode or if the case rate and severity of infected cases stabilises at a manageable level and we can continue with the present protocols as the new normal.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 11 Sep 2020 23:12

Looking at the Rafael ceremony, it was interesting to note that the French lady was wearing what appeared to be a surgical mask and not something close to N95. Has France relaxed mask requirements to formalities?

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 11 Sep 2020 23:22

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/arti ... nmade.html
Chinese virologist who fled to the US after claiming Beijing covered up Covid-19 vows to publish evidence PROVING the virus is manmade - and claims even non-scientists will be able to verify the data

Respected Chinese virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan claims coronavirus was manmade
Appeared on Loose Women today from secret location after fleeing Hong Kong
Former researcher at the University of Hong Kong claimed her data was deleted
Chinese national health commission have denied claims outbreak started in lab

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 11 Sep 2020 23:53

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-inje ... 9?mod=e2tw

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 12 Sep 2020 02:50

https://www.ft.com/content/5cc92d45-fbd ... 501693a371
The controversial epidemiologist believes lockdown is ‘using a hammer to kill a fly’. Could he be proved right

nam · Post by **nam** » 12 Sep 2020 03:08

darshan wrote:Looking at the Rafael ceremony, it was interesting to note that the French lady was wearing what appeared to be a surgical mask and not something close to N95. Has France relaxed mask requirements to formalities?

There is no requirement of N95 mask in Europe as far I know.It is mostly cloth mask or medical. The masks are worn to reduce the distance of a person's breadth, thereby protecting others, not to protect the person itself.

saip · Post by **saip** » 12 Sep 2020 04:11

N95 mask to be effective must be tested EVERYTIME one puts it on for tightness of the seal. I think only healthcare workers need to weat them at their work place.

sum · Post by **sum** » 12 Sep 2020 05:08

How is it that we are rolling along at 1L/cases per day without any change consistently( and our daily avg is magnitudes higher than next highest) whereas every other country in the world has clear crest and troughs depending on their lock/unlock/ school opening etc events?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Sep 2020 07:39

Raja wrote:
Mort Walker wrote: 100,000 new cases per day for a population of 332M vs. population 1,383M is a different thing. India missed the initial rise that was seen in the west due to its lockdown, and now cases are rising after lockdown. The difference now is that therapies are better known and survival chances are much better with a CFR of 1.7% and the US has a CFR of 2.9%. By early next year, vaccines will become available, and although there will be deaths, the CFR should drop to 0.1% which is similar to influenza.
Mortality rates cannot be so easily compared between countries. There are a lot of factors and differences in counting that can significantly skew things. This has been a consistent issue I have had and it is disingenuous to throw around such comparisons without any effort on controlling for such differences. We can only easily compare mortality rate as a trend within Indian context. IMHO.

Please explain what some of those factors are? What we have are raw numbers of deaths caused by COVID-19. If people who died from COVID-19 are not accounted for, or they died of complications of COVID, which wasn't listed as the cause of death, then that is understandable. Otherwise we have no comparison and accounting of the number who died. Are you implying the COVID-19 mortality rate is higher or lower in India?

asgkhan · Post by **asgkhan** » 12 Sep 2020 13:37

Bit off topic. Apologies in advance.

On 8th Tuesday, my father expired due to cardiac arrest. He was in an out of hospitals from Jan.

The situation is alarming. There is a steady stream of covid patients coming in. The hospitals dont have beds and 70% of admin and maintenance staff have disappeared. The doctors are over-stretched and the turnover rates are high.

OPD is closed, only video diagnoses are allowed. Facilities offering dialysis etc are limited and cancer patients undergoing therapy are the hardest hit.

The crematoriums (electric) are running overtime. There are ambulances in double digits waiting for the cremation. One crematorium had 40 ambulances waiting, with a mix of covid and non-covid bodies.

The staff at crematoriums wear PPEs for covid bodies. Unfortunately, the relatives cannot even view the face for the last time as the bodies are sealed up.

Its horrifying to see these things upclose.

asgkhan · Post by **asgkhan** » 12 Sep 2020 13:41

For immersing the ashes I went to Srirangapattana, paschima vahini. The situation there is even worse. I saw few people dumping sacks of ashes, numbering into dozens into the river. The villagers dont follow social distancing, and I hardly saw people wearing masks.

The tea shop was doing brisk business with all the customers sitting in groups without masks.

I took a known family priest from Bangalore, traveled for immersion. Taking a dip was the highest stressful time with so many families around me.

There is no point blaming the government for the rising case numbers. Janta is least concerned as nobody follows the mask + social distancing rules.

We are doomed, vaccine or no vaccine.

nam · Post by **nam** » 12 Sep 2020 13:57

Condolences to you and your family for the loss.

Unfortunately in India now it is people's choice, if they want to care about their and their loved one's life. People who care will take precautions. Those who go around without mask, take risk in their hand.

Given the lifestyle in our cities, we cannot expect low infection rate. There is nothing government can do.

1% of 1.3B is 13M! We are not even half way of 1% despite the huge numbers.

greatde · Post by **greatde** » 12 Sep 2020 13:57

Why do ppl try to find "comfort" by bringing in our sheer size and population? For GDP, ppl don't bring in the per population, rather talk about the total. Whereas, in this grim crisis, they conveniently bring in the population size. It's an abysmal state of affairs all-around, and our own people are being complacent, ignorant, or have surrendered.

The long term health impact is unknown, and these 4M+ cases means even those recovered could be seen as vulnerable lifelong.

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 12 Sep 2020 14:46

greatde wrote:Why do ppl try to find "comfort" by bringing in our sheer size and population? For GDP, ppl don't bring in the per population, rather talk about the total. Whereas, in this grim crisis, they conveniently bring in the population size. It's an abysmal state of affairs all-around, and our own people are being complacent, ignorant, or have surrendered.

The long term health impact is unknown, and these 4M+ cases means even those recovered could be seen as vulnerable lifelong.

What is your point? Other than whining I see nothing in the post.
Also please modify your handler to a human sounding name exempt of superlatives

chola · Post by **chola** » 12 Sep 2020 15:47

@asgkhan

Condolences. I hope you and family can pull through these trying times.

What you have decribed in your first post was not something that just happened in India. It happened in New York City in the US during April and May. When the full peak of the pandemic hits, even global powers and advanced nations are crushed.

But eventually societies will gain the upper hand. This will eventually happen in India too. The key is stabilizing after unlock is completed so we can get over to the other side of the peak.

Population will be part of it. We will see large numbers because of the size of ours. I do not point that out as an excuse just being realistic on what we'll see in the coming weeks as the final phases of national unlocking take place.

As for the general population's attitude, it has to change. Everyone is responsible for his/her family, his neighbors and his community. But we have to acknowledge that many have not the means to socially distance and fatigue has become an issue for even those that do have means.

chola · Post by **chola** » 12 Sep 2020 15:56

Most worrisome for me is the way we treat the doctors and nurses and the other frontline warriors in this fight. There are so many stories of wages not being paid or even cut. This is something I've seen only in India.

How can we do this to people putting their lives and their families' lives at risk to save other people? At the very least, we have to make sure that they can support their families without worry. It is the most shocking thing to me and I could understand why the lack of staff is such an issue.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 12 Sep 2020 18:47

The worst hit are private practitioners, not private nursing home or hospital owners but independent private practitioners . The government doctors and medical staff under contract by the government assigned to covid care get compensated upto Rs 50,00,000 in case of death from covid, but families of private practitioners like my father who continued to work despite the risks and later died after contracting the virus don't get anything either from the government nor IMA.

Unfortunately there's been another death in my family. Sharing some information hoping it may help others. A young and healthy 27 yr old doctor who was doing his post graduation masters in surgery died of Covid yesterday. Like in many hospitals in India, final year medical students or those doing their masters (and in some hospitals dental students) are assigned to covid wards. He likely contracted the virus while caring for the patients in the ward, and despite his young age and no comorbities he was admitted in the same hospital as a precautionary measure. On day 3 for apparently no reason the doctor treating him administered HCQ, and within hours the young man complained of chest pain and later died the same night. This is not hear-say , what i am stating are the facts as they are and from the bereaved family. This may well be an odd case where HCQ proved instantly fatal but there are reasons to believe why US FDA and all European countries were apprehensive to use HCQ. Unfortunately, the hospital where the young doctor died (he was also a student in the same institute) was damaged last night by protesting students after his death. Apparently many of these young doctors have been complaining for weeks about lack of PPE kits, masks, gloves etc. and despite requests and complaints, the hospital had asked the students to reuse PPE due to shortage (its a pvt institute, so its greed and not lack of budget).

Sadly in India its a highly combustible combination of many factors which is making things far worse - utterly callous state governments, high population density, poverty, greed of private hospitals, negligence of citizens and a very shaky healthcare system with no checks or oversights.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 12 Sep 2020 22:06

Om Shanti.

@Ambar,
was this young fellow ever on HCQ as prevention?

Many problems to track are,
1) society giving up on masks and protocols for various reasons. Pretty much all stupid.
2) many wearing very bad quality masks in India. People are not being provided enough knowledge about what works and not. Many wear single ply mask that can is very easy to breath through as it's see through. Duh. Not referring to poor people here. Charities and mandirs are lacking here and have been a failure to not increase the usage of effective masks and related education. Note that I haven't mentioned govt here as they are useless even in places like GJ where way too many BJP councillors have been living lives where virus is a myth. One can only imagine how bad it is in incompetent places like MH.
3) many are at odds within medical community. Old vs young, westernized vs indian thoughts, corporate culture vs own clinic, etc.
4) vultures within medical community running fake virus reports to peddling fake medicines. Supply chains are huge issues.
5) no multiple tests or fading trust in reliability of getting the test right
6) way too many corona get together parties happening due to lack of real coverage of the virus. Places like WB, MH, etc. don't even allow coverage. No fear in general population. Though I have heard from many that they just don't care at this point and people die all the time and they aren't afraid of death either. Obviously well to do people and not poor. Poor would be and should be as one person feeds the whole family.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 12 Sep 2020 22:24

nam wrote: There is no requirement of N95 mask in Europe as far I know.It is mostly cloth mask or medical. The masks are worn to reduce the distance of a person's breadth, thereby protecting others, not to protect the person itself.

Assuming that it was actually a surgical mask, my mind was wrapped around why a resourceful french resorted to a substandard mask. N95 masks from SWASA and ATIRA fabric based N99 masks would have been available at high profile ceremony like that. May be everyone present there was already tested to be negative and people were wearing masks to not send any wrong message to public.