History, Statistics, Facts and Myths about corona virus

History on Onset of Disease and related Statistics

The first case is reported in China on Nov 17th, 2019 when a 55 year old women has contacted with this new viral disease. This was in the Hubei Province of China, the place where we are talking of the city of origin of Corona- the Wuhan. Doctors found some more cases creeping in with symptoms similar to SARS virus and researches started working on that. It was suspected that the virus must have spread from some fish market- a wet place, but patients included people who had no contact with such places. By December 15th the number of cases increased to 27 and 60 cases by December 20th, 2019.

Dr Zhang Jixian, the Head of respiratory department at Hubei Provincial Hospital of China, identified the causative organism as Corona virus. By December 27th the number of cases increased to 180. Scientist suspect that this corona virus originated from SARS in bat. The virus some how reached the most trafficked mammal- Scaly ant eater- Pangoline and then passed to human. This transition, mechanism and details are unknown. 

By January 12th, the Nation Health Commission of China submitted a report to WHO that a virus erupted from exposure to a sea food market.
By 7th January China identified this new virus and by 12th Jan, they had the genome sequence of this virus.
on 13th January a case in Thailand, 15th Jan- Japan and 20th Jan- Korea. The News of Novel Corona Virus- Covid 19 ( 2019- nCov) has spread to the entire world. 

By 20th January the number of cases in 3 countries was 282. By 30th January, the number of cases have increased to 11,900, by Feb 15th it was 59,197 cases, by March 1st it is 88,595 and by March 16th the number of cases world wide are 1,82,414. This logarithmic increase in the number of cases globally led down to announcement of lock down in several countries. But the spread of virus has not stopped. It has reached even the Palaces and even to Price Charles. Today , i.e., 31th March 2020, it is very sad to see the total number of cases escalating to 8,37,016. The virus has spread to over 200 countries, resulting in 41,298 deaths. 1,72,502 have recovered while there are many yet to recover.

The following is a graph showing increase in corona virus cases

The following graph reveals number of cases revealed.

Worst effected are the elderly, above 60 years of age and also those who are week, lacking immunity. Death toll kept increasing globally. Governments have announced lock down and are ready with ventilators, detecting kits and support systems to help identify the infected, treat them and educate people. Italy, Spain and US are the worst effected due to Corona virus. But as on today China has come out of the effect of corona- They are able to manage the disease and lock-down has been seized, while rest of world is staying at home. 

Points to be remembered by the people are:

• It is virus and spreads through droplets coming out of other people
• It is not carried in air
• Its route of entry is mouth, nose and even eyes.
• It survives in the wet and coolest part of body- which is the nose and upper respiratory tract.
• It has noting to do with outside environment
• One sneeze of a person can give out thousand of droplets having virus that can effect tens of people around that vicinity.
• Virus ones entered into body, does not stay outside, but enters the cells. Hence no superficial cleaning can help us
• Taking good food and citrus fruits does not mean the virus cannot effect us
• A minimum distance is imposed so that virus transfer from surface of one person to another can be avoided. The virus does not creep out of body, but comes out due to saliva or nasal droplets.
• Good hand washing and self hygiene can prevent virus entry into body, but this is to be done regularly.
• The worst part of this virus is, it effects upper respiratory tract and people are helped to survive with ventilators.
• Incubation time for the virus is 14th or so. Symptoms may appear late, hence you cannot rest assure that you are totally fine and great
• There is no need to panic that everyone is going to die, as 4.9% people are dying due to this viral infection.
• Self isolation of infected people is recommended as to avoid spread of incidences due to contact.
• YES, it is true that there is no vaccine and no medicine
• BUT, we are getting rid of cold ( Influenza) virus and our body will take time to gain immunity against this too, hence stay calm and eat good food if infected.
• ONE LAST POINT- STAY AT HOME AND STAY SAFE.

The above slogan is to be strictly practiced to stop this pandemic spread of virus. 

NOW LET US TALK ABOUT MYTHS

1. Myths about Chinese and their dietary intake. 
Many Whats app messages started coming up saying that Chinese eat raw meat and hence every new disease erupts in China. We really do not know the reason but people started portraying things in such a way that the messages started disrupting religious harmony.  People started expressing words that. their country people will never get due to some practices, which are quite annoying and disturbing. 
Then comes the dietary war fare- and myths about food intake. Not understanding the seriousness at which this virus can spread and that it is totally NOVEL. Recommendation came up with recipes and a change in life style for that too.
People of a country have their own different food habits which are decided by the climatic conditions and availability of natural resources and finally beliefs which one cannot comment. 

2. Myth that hot water bath can kill Corona virus
It is absolutely wrong. Virus on the surface of hands, face, near nose, eyes can enter us. So frequent hand wash is recommended. 

3. Hand dryers can kill virus: 
Before drying hands are to be washed with soap or cleaned with alcohol based sanitizers. Later one can dry the wet hand, but dryers alone do not kill virus.

4. Exposure to UV light can kill corona virus: 
UV radiations on skin can cause irritation and also skin cancer. Hence never use UV light. Virus resides in cells of upper respiratory tract.

5. Suspicion on working of thermal scanners to detect effected individuals: 
Corona virus infection lead to increase in body temperature. But in many people the incubation time for symptoms to appear vary from 7 to 14 days. Hence we cannot say that Corona viral detection can be done 100% effectively with the thermal scanners. 

6. Spraying alcohol or chlorine on body can kill corona virus: 
No. Not at all. Such sprays can damage mucous membranes of mouth, eyes and are very harmful to people. A family suspecting to have got infected with corona virus, gave alcohol even to a infant who died not because of virus, but due to methanol that they consumed. 

7. Can vaccines against Pneumonia protect people:
No. Vaccine against corona virus is under preparation and researchers are expected to come out with vaccine for the virus within 2 years. 

8. Can Choloroquine be used as a drug against Corona virus: 
No. It is used to treat malaria. FDA of US has strictly prohibited anyone from using it. Cases have come up with people consuming the drug suspecting themselves to got affected with Corona and got hospitalized due to the side effects of this  medication.

9. Can cleaning nose with saline prevent corona virus infection: 
No. Such acts can make the people prone to common cold. 

10. Can virus survive Hot and Humid climates / Cold and chilled climates:
What ever the outside temperature maybe, our body temperature remains same and is best place for virus to survive. Hence such myths must be ruled out. 

11. Can steam inhalation kill viruses: 
No. Steam inhalation does not raise your body temperature. So, virus is not effected. Steam inhalation with orange peels, mint leaves, garlic, ginger, eucalyptus and some anti viral herbs has been falsely told to effect Corona virus. Steam thins the mucous membrane and gives temporary relief during cold or flu. But cannot kill virus.

12. Can mosquitoes transmit viruses: 
It has not been proved till date that mosquitoes can do this task. 

13. Eating garlic and turmeric protect us from Corona virus:
No. Garlic and turmeric are antimicrobial taken orally. But corona effects nasal tract. It enters cells and does not stay outside waiting for consumption of ginger or garlic or turmeric. 

14. Can antibiotics protect us: 
No. Antibiotics are used against bacteria. No antibiotics are recommended for Corona virus.

15. Drinking warm water protects people against corona virus: 
No. This is a myth. There are no evidences saying that keeping throat moist or having warm water helps viral infection

16. A message saying holding breath for 10 seconds helps to identify Corona virus infection:
If the person is infected, and has crossed incubation time, then this test is valid. For people in early stages of infection, this test cannot be taken for granted. 

17.Older people are the only ones affected and it does not effect youth: 
This myth is mainly responsible for the drastic increase in corona virus infection cases in European countries. The youth had a fake opinion that they wall not be affected and this has resulted in the rapid escalation of cases and increased incidences of deaths in Italy and Spain. 

18. Corona positive pregnant mother can transfer virus to baby: 
No . Few pregnant mothers who are positive to infection delivered Corona negative babies.

19. Can Corona positive mothers breast feed their child: 
Yes. With utmost care mother's milk is to be given to babies. Milk has IgA and protects babies gut against infections.

20. Corona Virus infections lead to death: 
Absolutely wrong. People with good immunity and health have happily recovered and are back with their families. Only 4 to 5% of people are dying. Many of them are aged with many complications or the ones having very week immunity.

21. Using AC/Cooler at home spreads virus: No. You can have your comforts at home. Virus spreads through tiny droplets coming from individuals, and not through air. These tiny droplets fall of floor by gravity and are not carried by air from outside. Cooling of room or air coming from AC's or coolers has nothing to do with attracting virus and such myths.

Symptoms: 

It is important to know symptoms for self check. By this time we are all aware of the symptoms.

Common symptoms include: Fever, tiredness, dry cough.

Others- Shortness of breath, body aches and pains, sore throat, nausea, runny nose etc. 

People have to immediately rush to hospital for detection of virus at the on set of early symptoms.  many diagnostic kids are now available which can detect virus from 24 hours to the recent CCMB kit 1hour.

CLOSING NOTE:

Viruses are always smart. A non living, tiny, Ultra microscopic organism called Novel Corona virus has made the entire world to come to a halt. They are smart and effect the moving ones. People who are careless, negligent and do not care for mankind.

Let us all promise to ourselves.

MAINTAIN HYGIENE

FOLLOW GOVERNMENT RULES

TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES AND FAMILY

DO NOT PROPAGATE MYTHS OR RUMORS

TO STAY AT HOME AND TO STAY SAFE.