[raksrules]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

For all those who may have booked air tickets and hotels from Make My Trip -

MMT has put the policy related to cancellations, re-scheduling and refund process on their home page. I had booked Blr - Singapore (Go Air) - Bali ( Air Asia ) - KL - Bangalore (Air Asia Indonesia )starting 14th April and i just raised a cancellation request citing Covid-19. I am promised a revert in 24 hours basis airlines policy. Let me see what they come back with.

Even I have 4 tickets booked for Mumbai - Bangalore for May End and I am not sure if I should get it cancelled now or wait it out. Do keep us updated on what MMT tells you about the cancellation.

[sgiitk]

Both my son and daughter-in-law (both consultants in a major group of hospitals) have advised us to be extra cautious. We have been provided with two masks and advised to often wash our hands. Remember with the masks snug breathing takes some effort.

The charts on the TV do not impress me, they essentially show the infection rate is proportional to to current tally of the infected. A classic case of exponential growth.

In any case all malls, are closed, so they are doing their best to manage. Bihar shows a very low incidence, since they have only one testing facility. In the US there have been min-riots for (of all things) toilet paper. Over here supplies are running down. I have stocked six months of medicines and a couple of kilos each of potatoes and onions.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by splitsecond

Sorry if my query is offtopic,
World is going through a very tough situation, italy and spain are in deep trouble but why no country is helping them? China has given some aid, but i feel rest of the world is sleeping in this crisis situation, or its just that i dont follow world news properly? What you guys think? And also i feel all countries especially Usa and Europe as a whole have a lazy approach to this crisis, why its so? I have lost all respects to these european countries, i thought they were better than us in dealing with crisis situation. What you guys think?

Chinese have taken control of a lot of companies in different domains in Italy. For example, we all know Benelli though Italian is owned by Chinese. The first case of the WuhanCoronaVirus was way back in November, 2019. Chinese Communist Party informed the world of this virus only in mid Jan or late Jan. Just imagine how many affected asymptomatic Chinese would have traveled to Italy and back. One of the main reasons is this and secondly, Italy didn't establish social distancing till a few days back and so the number of cases and deaths is increasing rapidly.

Originally Posted by srishiva

I believe they need to increase the test kits. South Korea has screened 1 in 200 of their population. They have 633 testing sites and they can test 20,000 per day !
Australia is getting 100,000 kits today in ready to go condition, no assembling required from Roche.

Why is India not doing enough? With numbers being low, they have been able to test. Why couldn't they be aggressive in screening and tests like others ?

I dont know but the money being earned with low fuel prices could cover more than this. I believe people in power are not doing enough.

Please don't go by the testing statistics in news reports and journals who have absolutely no idea of sample size taken.

India began screening all airports, port of entry and land routes much earlier than western world.

Two scenarios,
1. Testing a person to find out if he is Covid19 positive on entry into country and quarantining the person. Tests done - 1
2. Allowing the person to enter the country without screening and letting him go home and mingle within society to later find out many people are Covid19 positive. Tests done - 500 to 600

Indian govt and healthcare professionals are trying to do it as per the first scenario which western world failed to do during recent weeks leading to increase in cases. It is a different matter that dumb people are escaping quarantine and affecting few more in our country.

But tell me which is better in above two scenarios? That answers the question to number of tests

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by splitsecond

Sorry if my query is offtopic,
World is going through a very tough situation, italy and spain are in deep trouble but why no country is helping them? China has given some aid, but i feel rest of the world is sleeping in this crisis situation, or its just that i dont follow world news properly? What you guys think? And also i feel all countries especially Usa and Europe as a whole have a lazy approach to this crisis, why its so? I have lost all respects to these european countries, i thought they were better than us in dealing with crisis situation. What you guys think?

Remember the warning on a flight during the safety demonstration? "Please ensure you have the oxygen mask on you before trying to help others". This is exactly that. The effects of this pandemic are unimaginable! No country is prepared for such a scenario and everyone is struggling to get over the curve. Italy has one of the foremost health infrastructure in the world and it is on its knees. Imagine the situation in other less equipped countries. China is helping out now because it "can". For example, entire Switzerland has only 750 ventilators, France ~5k. UK also 5K. Nummber of psotive cases in Italy as of now are 28k. China is now sending more to Italy while Germany, France, and other countries have ordered additional on a war footing. No country can have adequate number of medical equipment/ personnel for a pandemic and each country owes it to her citizen's to consider them the first priority.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Why is India not doing enough? With numbers being low, they have been able to test. Why couldn't they be aggressive in screening and tests like others ?

I don't think one needs to test everybody. People who had no contact with anyone traveling or a positive Covid-19 patient, or are showing no symptoms don't need to be tested at all. "But hey, how do we know there aren't more Covid-19 patients out there if we don't test everyone"? Just like we know there aren't any small pox cases in India without testing everyone. This call to test everyone would be a fool's errand. India put the brakes early on and now we can all do our best and only hope this is contained. Social responsibility will play a big role. Hope quarantined patients stop running away.

Originally Posted by Lobogris

...Why can’t some patients be transported to UK or elsewhere for treatment using trains or planes? I realise every country is worried about their situation getting worse but a coordinated EU wide response is required. Since UK, Germany and France along with other nations like Portugal are behind Italy in the disease cycle, they should have lent assistance and then when they became worse, Italy might have been able to help out if they had improved their situation. In addition, I would have expected more assistance from China, US and even India for Italy and other affected countries. Why can’t each major nation send say 100 doctors each? I realise there would be language issues but it could be handled with interpreters or with each foreign doctor working with teams of English speaking Italian doctors. Such things happen when countries dispatch medical teams to deal with callamities.

You have no idea how widespread this disease is and how terrible conditions are across the world. India has send supplies and personnel to Iran, China to Italy and other nations. 100 doctors each? There is an acute shortage of doctors in every country. Read more to understand the raging fire this Covid-19 is.


PS: another major reason for so many cases in Italy is because of the number of Chinese in Italy. There are approx. 100,000 Chinese in Italy working on various factories. Italy is the only European country where Chinese police officials are present to help the Chinese tourists.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by splitsecond

World is going through a very tough situation, italy and spain are in deep trouble but why no country is helping them?

On Quora, I read firsthand accounts by healthcare workers and laymen on how in Italy, they're forced to choose who gets to have ventilator support (usually the young) and who should be allowed to die (usually the old). 1000 people died yesterday in one day alone in Italy in this manner; the fact is that their healthcare systems and institutions are overloaded with only finite resources to work with. Definitely, any aid that reaches them will save lives.

I had to remind my colleague of Italy's situation when he was saying that locking down entire nations is an overreaction.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

I don't think one needs to test everybody. People who had no contact with anyone traveling or a positive Covid-19 patient, or are showing no symptoms don't need to be tested at all. "But hey, how do we know there aren't more Covid-19 patients out there if we don't test everyone"? Just like we know there aren't any small pox cases in India without testing everyone. This call to test everyone would be a fool's errand. India put the brakes early on and now we can all do our best and only hope this is contained. Social responsibility will play a big role. Hope quarantined patients stop running away.

Screening at airports is helpful after they develop symptoms. It doesn't help much. When I get cold, I dont even get fever !

One needs to look at South Korea on how they managed. They started producing test kits when there was no infection in the country. They knew it will come when cases increased in China.

With the contact tracing we are doing and keeping them under observation or quarantining very close people, wouldn't it be good if they were all tested instead ? The total of such numbers are still in thousands and could be easily done.

Italy has the second highest elderly population after Japan. Also, smoking is more prevalent.

[AnandB]

My friend who is a neurosurgeon shared this with me. Not official news yet.

3 cases from Bhilai shifted to AIIMS raipur, very close to my office where i am right now. 2 are critical on ventilator support and third person seems fine. This family of 7 arrived from Spain 10 days back and didn't bother to inform anyone. Govt supposedly tried to contact but they ignored (how did they let them leave without quarantine is another question). God knows how much have they spread till now. Although the weather is getting hotter now so we will truly find out in a month or so if we are heading the Italy way.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by whencut86

Please don't go by the testing statistics in news reports and journals who have absolutely no idea of sample size taken.

On the contrary, news/reports that have proper sources are much more valid than anything else. And several of those do; I had shared a few on this thread a few days ago.

India began screening all airports, port of entry and land routes much earlier than western world.

Really? Do we have any details? If you are going by declarations such as these, then those have been proved wrong by many. Also there was no screening done; we ourselves have discussed on this thread about how there hasn't been any screening yet back start of Feb when this thread was up.

We started screening entry into India from mid-January itself, while also gradually increasing restrictions on travel. ​The step-by-step approach has helped avoid panic

Believe in what you want; but basically testing validates how effective the operations are. Currently we can bask in the glory of such flawed declarations (which incidently are without any proofs) till we don't see cases of community based infection spread; which thankfully hasn't yet appeared on the local scene.

And there lies the catch-22 situation - sufficient pro-active testing helps identify cases; for an individual like you/me, currently the onus is on the individual to go to the hospital and satisfy certain conditions (self-international travel and/or contact with folks with travel and/or visible symptoms).

Thankfully we/the govt are doing certain things right - social distancing; strong directives to get companies to push for work-from-home; decent # of testing locations across the country and so on. But only time will tell; and that's probably another 2 - 3 weeks to go at most!

[AnandB]

Funnily the first message in the morning was from my friend in Mumbai as he was swearing at the tweet about checking from mid-Jan. He returned on 20-Feb from Dubai and there was no check. Another friend added that a friend of his returned from Dubai on 8th March and was not checked.

If the previous post is confirmed about the family from Spain returned 10 days back and weren't quarantined then you can guess how much check is actually happening.

[sushantr5]

Sunday, three of my friends traveled from Germany to Mumbai. Here is experience from them.

First it is easy for travelers to skip the compulsory quarantine process. But three friends from two different flights went for checkup and then quarantine
- 2 went to Kasturba, one was discharged after few hours and another once discharged after Swab Testing. It was quite hectic day for them as there was chaos regarding luggage and ambiguity of next action. They were in a group 27 and traveled from Amsterdam to Mumbai in last leg of flight. Both friends said arrangement was satisfactory and nothing to brag about. They were given teas and buscuits.

- Third friend traveled from Frankfurt to Mumbai in Air India flight. They were sent to Seven Hills for quarantine. The ward they were kept was pathetic, filthy, in unimaginable condition. Friend shared a video and also featured in new channel. Literally it was baddest and filthiest you can imagine. They were in a group of 300 people. They revolted strongly, tried to push themselves out of the building. But after some hassles Authorities allowed them to home quarantine.

Impact of this in news channel, the friend in Kasturba was still in quarantine, authorities blocked phone calls and photos.


It is clear from the situation that Government infrastructure is not ready and Basic Hygiene is still a dream in India. People do not expect luxury, but expect acceptable Hygiene.

Looking at their situation I postponed travel by a month. My Flight is also cancelled so now waiting for situation to improve. I can not imagine myself with my two kids in filthy quarantine.

It is not surprise, that many are running away from quarantine.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

For example, entire Switzerland has only 750 ventilators, France ~5k. UK also 5K. Nummber of psotive cases in Italy as of now are 28k.

The UK Govt has sent blueprint of the ventilator to major factories like Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Jaguar Land Rover to pitch in & start its manufacturing. Not sure how feasible the plan is.

Originally Posted by sushantr5

First it is easy for travelers to skip the compulsory quarantine process.

The way the immigration in all airports is designed, the travelers from all airplanes arrive and assemble in a common area. So a passenger can join travelers from the different flight and if immigration is not strict, might escape scrutiny.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

we ourselves have discussed on this thread about how there hasn't been any screening yet back start of Feb when this thread was up.

India had a screening policy in Jan & Feb, when it was a China only problem. It was basically ignored and no body bothered about quaratine. It was only when mayhem started in Italy, the state Govts noticed. The actual enforcement stated when the first positive case was detected in the respective states.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

Looking at their situation I postponed travel by a month. My Flight is also cancelled so now waiting for situation to improve. I can not imagine myself with my two kids in filthy quarantine.

I was planning to end my assignment in Germany last weekend and return to India. Cancelled at the last moment due to the same concern you mentioned. I was mentally prepared for home quarantine for a month. My employer asked us to stay here and decide later based on the situation.

We are not stepping out of my locality (suburb) and not using public transport since 22-Feb.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

For all those who may have booked air tickets and hotels from Make My Trip -

MMT has put the policy related to cancellations, re-scheduling and refund process on their home page. I had booked Blr - Singapore (Go Air) - Bali ( Air Asia ) - KL - Bangalore (Air Asia Indonesia )starting 14th April and i just raised a cancellation request citing Covid-19. I am promised a revert in 24 hours basis airlines policy. Let me see what they come back with.

How did do manage to get a response? I am struggling in this for some days. Even contacted them on Fb to not much avail.

[rascalangel]

If the virus is not showing any symptoms in some people, how long can they be the carriers? Without symptoms how do we know when to come out of self isolation? and that you are still not carrying it?

[adrian]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

It is clear from the situation that Government infrastructure is not ready and Basic Hygiene is still a dream in India. People do not expect luxury, but expect acceptable Hygiene.

I can not imagine myself with my two kids in filthy quarantine.

It is not surprise, that many are running away from quarantine.

I think you are a bit prejudiced with the Government facilities. Of course there may be exceptions and your reaction is understandable when young ones are involved in the scenario.

In the below video, you can see the facilities available in the quarantine wing of Government Medical College, Kannur (view from 5.29 of the video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGqpoz56bS8

EDIT : I posted this because I don't want your post to be a decision factor for someone to bypass the health desk at the airport for fear of a filthy quarantine.