Supriya Pundir The hazardous outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19) has now more than 2 lakh confirmed cases and engulfed more than 10000 lives of people around the world and the number of fatalities are still counting.
Novel Coronavirus or Covid -19 caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Virus, is posing serious public health risk. Coronaviruses is a large family of viruses that are common in human beings as well as mammals like camels, bats etc. The symptoms include fever, common cold, cough and difficulty in breathing which in severe cases can lead to death. There is no vaccine available but the process is ongoing to make it as soon as possible. Also, there is no evidence that it is affecting only particular age group. However, the adults or old people with serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes or lung disease are at higher risk.
Similar outbreaks from this coronavirus’s family were witnessed in the past. For example, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-Cov) and SARS-Cov (2003). But this time it is declared as pandemic. It has now affected more than 110 countries around the globe and the number of affected people with this virus is three-fold than previous outbreaks.
How it all started?
The epicenter of Covid-19 was Wuhan, Hubei Province in China. There is no evidence about the exact source of this novel coronavirus but researchers believe that it was present in snakes. Since Wuhan is known as a hub of large seafood and live animal market, it affected the region massively in such a short period of time. This has lead, to community spread. Community spread means some people have been infected but it is not known how and where they became exposed. And now Europe has become the epicenter. There the number of infected people and those who are dying is soaring day by day. Similarly, Italy has recently reported 364 cases of infected people in a day and more than 4000 people have lost there lives in both Italy and Iran. However, there is a ray of hope as no new cases are reported in China.
Seeing the emergency, India speeds up it’s effort against the declared pandemic Covid-19 to curb and eliminate its further spread. The number of infected people has increased to 280+ cases including both foreigners and Indians. Of these, 20 people have recovered, while 4 have lost their lives.
Indian govt have taken several precautions to grip on this Coronavirus issue. Some of them are:
- All airports and public places are being sanitize.
- Foreign as well as Indian passengers went to quarantine facilities for 14 days.
- The authorities have shut down all public places. It includes holy places, malls, cinema halls, schools, colleges and other educational institutions. However, groceries, hospitals and other daily need products are available as well as made accessible to people.
- Masks, sanitation products and gloves are provided to those in immediate need.
It is our responsibility as citizens to make sure we follow each and every safety instructions of our government as well as our health organizations. We should keep in mind, there are many doctors and unseen heroes that are taking care of our safety and treating the infected ones while risking their own life. Now it\’s high time, that we should stand as one and take all possible precautions.
Remember, Stay Home Stay Safe!😌
Gagan Bharti 
