Question

1. What actions are being taken in your residential area regarding COVID-19?

2. What has been a "look-back" you think the country, state, or your corner of the world will think twice about in the future?

3. How has COVID-19 impacted you and your family/friends?

4. What are your biggest concerns right now regarding the virus?

5. What news or resources are you using to get the most up-to-date information?

Answer 1

· What actions are being taken in your residential area regarding COVID-19?

In the current scenario of the global corona pandemic, with day by day increasing number of cases in the country following action is taken.

Measures taken by the Indian government to prevent the spread of corona infection are as follows:

1. Initially thermal screening of people with travel history to corona affected countries was done.

2. Screening of cases and contact tracing was done.

3. Confirmed cases are being treated at hospitals and contacts are asked for home quarantine for 14 days. Home quarantine is required for those with travel history to affected countries even if they are symptom-free.

4. Evacuation of citizens from corona affected countries is done and evacuated citizens are kept at isolation facilities at various places in the countries set by the government.

5. Now all domestic and international flights are stopped. Travel is banned for non-residents to prevent a new uptick of cases.

6. Many states have sealed their borders.

7. Nationwide lockdown is applied from the 25th of March till 14th April for 21 days, the biggest and most severe action undertaken anywhere to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

8. Priminister has addressed the nation twice on television, appealing people to stay at home to break the chain of corona transmission.

9. School, colleges and universities are closed, secondary and other examinations are postponed.

10. All shops and malls are closed except those of medicines, groceries, and vegetables.

11. Employees have been asked to work from home.

12. All employees' offices are closed except those which come under essential services like medical services, police, courts and military.

13. Some states have even imposed ‘curfew’ to ensure people stay in the homes, as there are a lot of reports people not following instructions to stay at home, increasing the risk of spread to themselves and others.

14. All hospital visits/ services for non-essential reasons are closed.

15. The government has set up many laboratories and allowed many private laboratories also to conduct tests for corona.

· What has been a "look-back" you think the country, state, or your corner of the world will think twice about in the future?

The lesson for the country or world from this global pandemic is that when political will, dedicated resources, sophisticated tracking, and a responsible population all work together, timely, hand in hand, as a team they can then only control such pandemic.

Any action alone by any party involved is not effective. It is a collective effort.

A timely response is a critical factor in determining the success of measures for prevention and control of spread, a delayed response is no response at all when it comes to highly contagious diseases like corona infection.

This is also supported by the examples of countries like Singapore, Hongkong, South Korea that have succeeded in containing the disease and preventing transmission due to lessens they learned from earlier ‘SARS’ epidemic by a rapid response.

Another learning is open and honest communication and not to take things lightly. Initially when 27 pneumonia-like cases linked to a seafood market were diagnosed, if appropriate measures would have been taken, the pandemic could have been prevented and controlled. China learned some lessons from SARS but failed to grasp the danger of covering up an outbreak, however they became successful in containing it.

While the countries who lacked in taking timely responses like Spain, Italy are struggling.

Social-distancing measures, lockdowns and quarantines, use of data and technology to identify and track cases, effective communication to reassure the public, and massive mobilization of medical resources to test and treat people suffering from the coronavirus are few strategies which have proven successful.

How has COVID-19 impacted you and your family/friends?

COVID-19 has badly affected the lives of people in the country. India is a country where people are more social, more close, and celebrate a lot of ceremonies, festivals together. In the shadow of corona pandemic measures taken by the government that is lockdown of the whole country has forced the people to stay in the home.

· It is difficult to keep kids engaged inside the house. Now they got a lot of vacations for nearly three months ao it is a big challenge.

· Another challenge is people are hoarding supplies fearing that curfew if imposed they will not be able to get them. So there is a shortage of many supplies on e-commerce sites, delay in delivery of things.

· Mask and sanitizers are not available in the stores.

· Maids and other helpers are not available, or not allowed in some apartments fearing the risk of transmission and it is difficult to work from home while managing household chores and kids, which is resulting in a pile-up of work.

· There are stress and anxiety about the unknown, the extent to which infection may go and the relative dearth of medical care facilities in the country. Even teenagers are scared.

· What are your biggest concerns right now regarding the virus?

Though the number of cases in India is relatively low nearly 600 — the fear is that should the virus hit as it has in Italy, Spain, Europe or China, the consequences would lead to a disaster far bigger than anywhere else in the world.

After the announcement of nationwide lockdown, when there is a total ban on coming out of home people are still out, jostling with each other in narrow lanes and still crowding into bus shelters, sleeping eight to a room in shabby tenements, and showing the impossibility of maintaining social distance.

Long lines of migrant workers streamed out of recently closed railway stations and moving in cargo trains or trucks unofficially, almost none of them wearing masks, marching close together to far-off villages, potentially spreading the virus deep into the countryside.

Nonadherence to guidelines is the biggest challenge in this second most populated country in the world due to a lack of resources.

What news or resources are you using to get the most up-to-date information?

For keeping updated we are using many resources:

· Live news on television broadcasted 24 hours on various channels – Aaj tak, BBC, India TV

· Shows or talks by experts on how to prevent the spread of infection

· Newspaper articles and news – The Hindu, Decan Heralds

· Helplines set by Government both state and Govt. of India

· World Health Organization Website

· Social media groups by many physicians and health care providers to provide true information and clarifying doubts