[Aditya_Bhp]

Originally Posted by nakul0888

If I get symptoms today, am I able to call up a good private hospital, get myself tested quickly and get the required care? Or do I have to be admitted in a state run hospital? Can any docs here give clarification?

If you have travelled to any of the 13 high risk countries or have contact with a suspected case, you can approach Govt Medical College, Kalamassery, where they will do a throat swab and NIV Allapuzha will give the result in 3 days. Private hospitals do not have the test kits. If you have mild symptoms, remain at home, and avoid travelling. If you are really sick, approach any hospital, but inform the hospital first about your travel history. But the best thing to do is follow govt guidelines and call Disha.

[vibbs]

Guys, I have but a humble request.

In these times, please do not equate all critical voices as against GOI. Even if it is against GOI, please don't equate it as against the state of India.

In this thread, there have been some posts that expressed concern over the situation in India based on the respective individuals outlook of medical infrastructure and governance. It does not equate to India Bashing. It is just constructive criticism.

We need to hear critical voices if we are to improve. For if you don't express your need for better services, you very well don't deserve them.

Meanwhile count in India has crossed 100. Maximum from Maharashtra and Kerala. Two states with very good health infrastructure in India. It is not ironic or surprising.

We are yet to experience the surge and when we do, I hope better sense prevails.

[vivek95]

Sorry, I am a bit busy and hence unable to reply to individual posts. I shall definitely reply later though. Presently, local transmission of COVID-19 has not been officially established in India, even as positive cases surge to 32 in Maharashtra in a day from 19. All of these are either index cases or their contacts.

However, individuals here complaining of obvious flu like symptoms - fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose AND have a positive history of contact with people viz. friends, family members, colleagues who have travelled from abroad to India in the last 14 days be it US, Dubai, Saudi Arabia or whatever --- report yourself to the nearest state run hospital where COVID-19 testing is done. Yes, this category of people require testing !

Individuals with flu like symptoms but negative history of contact as mentioned above --- relax, a visit to a nearby MD physician ( Allopathy only ) would suffice. That could be a seasonal URTI, LRTI which does not require testing for COVID-19. However this is at the discretion of your treating physician who will decide based on his clinical assessment and eliciting detailed history at that point of time.

Remaining categories are pretty obvious who require testing or only quarantine and observation accordingly. If in doubt, call up the helpline numbers and ascertain what next step you would need to take.

Just before I wrote this, I referred a highly suspect young male patient to Kasturba hospital, Mumbai from my centre after examining him. The paranoia is high but understandable. That guy started crying when I counselled him to head to Kasturba straightway and get tested.

Dr. Vivek

EDIT - either way relax even if, Godforbid, you test positive !

EDIT 2 - for the first category of patients that I have mentioned above, kindly call up the state helpline first and check if the surveillance team can arrange an ambulance or some sort of private transport from their end. Using public transport yourself to reach the hospital is not recommended. I am sorry for missing this crucial point.

[nandrive]

I visited India in the penultimate week of February. What I found was Indian authorities were concerned more about covid19 than any other authorities throughout my path, while all other authorities were only asking me about travel to mainland China, Indian authorities asked me about travel to all of South East Asia region. I remember a thread on team-bhp a few years back about cars punching above its weight, I feel India is doing exactly the same, with all its limitations, it's actually punching much above its weight.

Any criticism without a solution is nothing but bashing. People are talking about giving free hand sanitizers to the public, I live in the first world, it has become difficult for me to buy a hand sanitizer through private suppliers.

[philipmathen]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Guys, I have but a humble request.

In these times, please do not equate all critical voices as against GOI. Even if it is against GOI, please don't equate it as against the state of India.

In this thread, there have been some posts that expressed concern over the situation in India based on the respective individuals outlook of medical infrastructure and governance. It does not equate to India Bashing. It is just constructive criticism.

We need to hear critical voices if we are to improve. For if you don't express your need for better services, you very well don't deserve them.

Meanwhile count in India has crossed 100. Maximum from Maharashtra and Kerala. Two states with very good health infrastructure in India. It is not ironic or surprising.

We are yet to experience the surge and when we do, I hope better sense prevails.

Absolutely. Unfortunately, most discourse in our daily lives has descended into a me versus you scenario irrespective of the topic. We simply cannot be fighting each other when staring down the barrel.

As you mentioned, I have this real fear we are at the tip of the precipice, really hope that we do not push each other off it.

Being in the transmission stage of the spread, braced for the extremely bad news. Also, a cursory check of the grocery apps seems to indicate heightened demand, but that could also be because it is a Sunday.

[jayguar]

Is it possible for a person who is tested negative after visiting the affected countries or came in contact with those affected be tested positive again without travelling or come in contact with another person who is affected?

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by jayguar

Is it possible for a person who is tested negative after visiting the affected countries or came in contact with those affected be tested positive again without travelling or come in contact with another person who is affected?

I believe there is no complete evidence yet to answer your question.
However even those who fully recovered are not the same as what they were before they got the virus. It has taken its toll on them.

https://www.businessinsider.in/scien...w/74611651.cms

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by GTO

I find it hard to believe that in a country as densely populated as ours, with such poor precautions being taken and general lack of civic sense, we have merely ~100 cases???

There are a few reasons:
1) Covid-19 did not originate in India.
To infect Indians, the virus has to travel from effected countries, into India. The airports & shipping ports are primary risk areas. All the train stations, buses, markets where the mass of Indians are seen are low risks spots.
In areas like Italy, there are a lot of Chinese nationals working in industries as workers and when they have traveled from Wuhan, they could have carried the infection. In India, there are hardly Chinese workers and hence less chance of infection.

2) Air travel privilege
In India, international air travel is a privilege. Only a small percentage of folks undertake this. In case these small set of folks get infected, they can infect others in large numbers when they attend mass gatherings like weddings, social parties. Such a case has happened, but they are negligible. Before they can infect many, they show symptoms and are quarantined.
As of now, there have been no cases reported from the states of Gujarat, MP, Bihar, WB and all north-eastern states.

3) Infection way & rate
To get infected a person has to be in physical proximity with an infected person. So only those are in physical contact with a privileged air traveler can get infected. Note all those who come in contact are not infected. Most of the cab drivers, who ferried individuals who later tested positive for corona, were not infected.

4) Indian climate & weather
The ideal temperature for COVID-19 replication is 8~9 degrees Celsius. The reproduction rate slows down as temperature increases. Most parts of India are above 30 degrees during day time now. On a surface, in cold climates, the virus can be alive for a few days. In high-temperature regions, this is just a few hours.

5) Communication & Govt
By now most Indians know there is no medicine and are taking care like washing hands, avoiding contact. The state governments have done a tremendous job in tracking & isolating infected or suspicious persons. Also, the Government has shutdown schools, colleges, malls and other potential mass infection spots.

So the airports, taxis, cabs are high-risk areas in India and these are frequented less by general Indians.

Common mass areas like markets, fairs, malls, trains, buses, metro are low-risk areas.

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Every one I spoke to are aware of the Virus and are also aware of how to keep themselves safe.
This includes both educated and uneducated people.

How is it not possible they are not aware? Anybody who uses mobile would have heard the corona message.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The usual India sucks, India bashing going on here.

India has its own myriad problems, which are yet to be overcome. TB, malaria and such other disease have a ready solution available. But India has so far failed to eliminate those diseases. So there is a question on India's capability to provide health care to citizens. I wouldn't be surprised if plague breaks out in any town in India.

[Deep Blue]

Originally Posted by CarManMotorcycl

I have my exams on the 20th and I am absolutely worried that i wouldn't be able to give my exams because of this, please suggest on how to go ahead.

You are primary contact of an asymptomatic person with only history of travel. So you would be in the very low risk category. While you can continue all the measures that you are taking, there is no problem in you taking the exam. Again follow all the precautions advised. But, I guess your exams must be postponed by now already.

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys, there really is nothing extra-ordinary that India has done,

We are doing a lot. Apart from what is visible, the lockdowns, and airport-seaport checking, travel advisory etc, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes. A lot of government health machinery in all states of all political hues are doing a lot of work. There is an extensive contact tracing work going on. Health workers are trying to trace each and every contact of the proven cases, including the lady who travelled to Agra and making sure they undergo self quarantine. Those under self quarantine are also checked on almost daily basis. While I agree, tracing each and every primary and seconday contact is impossible, it is being done in a meticulous way. This is a mammoth task and we could support the government by self reporting if we are aware that we were in contact.
There has also been an extensive checking on preparedness available at district levels and people assigned to be responsible for specific duties.
Guidelines are being drawn, updated and flowcharts distributed to the officials frequently by the government.
It would be our duty to take the precautions and submit ourselves to quarantine etc as the government says.
With all these measures, from what we know of the virus behaviour, if we can prevent entering the stage of community transmission, we can greatly reduce the number of cases. This will relieve a massive burden off the healthcare resources and they can devote time and equipment more efficiently.
Knowing our social conditions, it is absolutely essential that we don't enter the phase of community transmission. If we do, the numbers would balloon to unmanageable levels.

There are few posts suggesting testing everybody with flu symptoms irrespective of travel or contact history. That is not necessary now as cases have to come from those who have come from abroad. So it is more efficient to trace their primary and secondary contacts and test them if they have symptoms. This is what was done in China along with lockdown. South Korea,on the other hand tested all the contacts irrespective of whether they had symptoms or not. It is feasible for them as they have a robust government run public health system. But they too did not test all the people with flu symptoms, only those with contact history. It is probably not cost effective for us and probably not required.

Regarding not allowing private labs to test for Covid19. The government would then have no control. Many individuals would then go test and never report if they test positive particularly if they are asymptomatic. Their contact tracing would never be done. Besides every Tom Dick and Harry would queue outside a lab, symptoms or not. Labs would only be happy at the business oppurtunity. That would be a massive waste of test kits.

Let us do our bit and help our govt to tide over this crisis.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Since you are a doctor... I think all BHPian doctors should mention if they are doctors (on this thread), to separate their opinion from others.

P.S : As per Samurai's request, I am a doc - a surgeon though, not an infectious disease specialist or epidemiologist.

[DaptChatterjee]

Originally Posted by saket77

Isopropyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol can be diluted with water (75:25 ratio) and used as a safe hand sanitizer.

Isopropyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol, available in the market, are all denatured (which is a subtle way of saying poisoned) with Methanol. Using these as hand sanitizer could well be dangerous. Please avoid. These can be used to sanitize inanimate things.

[nandadevieast]

My hunch is, well, because it’s impossible to trace down to infinity, at some point this starts circulating in communities. Where are we?

I understand they cannot test all symptomatic patients, so why can’t they check pneumonia samples at various hospitals to find out if we are already there at stage 3.

[Deep Blue]

Originally Posted by nandadevieast

why can’t they check pneumonia samples at various hospitals

Every pneumonia case which falls within the govt guideline or for any reason has a suspicion of Coronavirus infection will be tested.

[charanreddy]

Agree with what most folks are saying regarding the speed at which govt machinery is operating. Here in Bangalore I have seen super high traction and previously unheard of response speed from the govt interms of guidelines to public and directives to various entities. Credit where it’s due.

However , it’s now in the public’s hands to discharge their responsibility and help stop spread the contagion. I saw people queuing up outside the local DMart even though the DMart security weren’t allowing all to go in at once, pushing and literally touching each other. Hope we get through this with minimal damage to us .

[dailydriver]

I might be diluting the essence of the thread a bit by asking this rather mundane and perhaps inconsequential question, but the answer would be a pointer to our life in the coming days. So, here it is.

I have two essential but not severely urgent appointments tomorrow.

1. With my dentist for a long pending cavity filling.
2. With the barber for my regular haircut.

While both can be postponed, I am uncertain whether the coming days would really be conducive enough for these.

One can't be sure about the previous occupant of the chair, both at the dentist's clinic and the saloon.

On the other side, though no confirmed Corona cases have been reported in my town, I myself have returned from Bengaluru yesterday, starting from Majestic and travelling in a fully loaded KSRTC Rajahamsa (Non AC) bus that also had three passengers who had come directly from the airport.

What should I do?

[Chetan_Rao]

With the size of our population, and more importantly, the density in most urban centers, preventive measures applied aggressively is the most practical method to contain the situation.

As much as we'd like to magically will them into existence, testing kits (and facilites to actually conduct tests) will probably never get to a number that will serve any significant chunk of our population.

Stay safe and follow guidelines published by verified authorities (WHO Global Advisory page and local ones to your area as applicable) and for the love of humanity be responsible with gyan spread on social media.

Most importantly, please DON'T freak out. That's one thing that definitely WON'T help.

P.S. Please buy enough supplies for your families, but please AVOID hoarding stuff that'll make someone else suffer to get theirs.

Hoarding supplies 'to be safe' is no good if your neighbours then have to risk going far and wide in search of stuff and risk bringing an infection back right next door.