Day Seventeen
Entering week 3 of the lockdown.
Mumbai Municipal Corporation has made masks compulsory in public spaces. Even inside offices and cars. Not wearing one is a punishable offence.
And a very exciting news that IIT-B is planning to develop a nasal gel to capture and inactivate the virus.
New Scientist is taking about 3 exit strategies to end the lockdown:
1) Hold: Maintain the lockdown until the rate of new infections falls close to zero, then pivot to an aggressive containment strategy, with isolation of new cases and contact tracing.
2) Build: Lock down for long enough to build healthcare capacity for the second wave. That means increasing intensive care beds and staff, but working out how much we need is difficult.
3) Shield: End the lockdown abruptly while extensively protecting those who are likely to be most vulnerable to the virus.
Meanwhile the lockdown ended in Wuhan, the origin of the virus, after 76 days.
While no country has been unscathed by the scourge of the coronavirus, their responses have been varied. One of the best responses has come from tiny Taiwan, where instead of a top down approach, citizen and community generated apps have led the fight by keeping economic disruptions to a minimum. It is a model that would be increasingly dissected and discussed. In Western Europe, three giants - France, Italy and Spain - have fallen by the wayside, with casualties exceeding 10,000 already in each of these countries. Amidst this rot, Germany has stood firm. What has it done differently? One reason is that people getting sick in Germany are relatively younger. Second, Germany has a far more robust public health infrastructure. Thirdly, they are testing much more and hence the large denominator is keeping the mortality rate low. Two Scandinavian neighbours have adopted very contrasting methods. Norway has imposed mandatory lockdown, whereas Sweden has left it to the discretion of her citizens. Down under, New Zealand wants to exterminate the virus through comprehensive testing and isolation. But her bigger neighbour, Australia is contemplating a dubious plan to gradually infect everyone and gain herd immunity.
Mumbai Municipal Corporation has made masks compulsory in public spaces. Even inside offices and cars. Not wearing one is a punishable offence.
And a very exciting news that IIT-B is planning to develop a nasal gel to capture and inactivate the virus.
New Scientist is taking about 3 exit strategies to end the lockdown:
1) Hold: Maintain the lockdown until the rate of new infections falls close to zero, then pivot to an aggressive containment strategy, with isolation of new cases and contact tracing.
2) Build: Lock down for long enough to build healthcare capacity for the second wave. That means increasing intensive care beds and staff, but working out how much we need is difficult.
3) Shield: End the lockdown abruptly while extensively protecting those who are likely to be most vulnerable to the virus.
Meanwhile the lockdown ended in Wuhan, the origin of the virus, after 76 days.
While no country has been unscathed by the scourge of the coronavirus, their responses have been varied. One of the best responses has come from tiny Taiwan, where instead of a top down approach, citizen and community generated apps have led the fight by keeping economic disruptions to a minimum. It is a model that would be increasingly dissected and discussed. In Western Europe, three giants - France, Italy and Spain - have fallen by the wayside, with casualties exceeding 10,000 already in each of these countries. Amidst this rot, Germany has stood firm. What has it done differently? One reason is that people getting sick in Germany are relatively younger. Second, Germany has a far more robust public health infrastructure. Thirdly, they are testing much more and hence the large denominator is keeping the mortality rate low. Two Scandinavian neighbours have adopted very contrasting methods. Norway has imposed mandatory lockdown, whereas Sweden has left it to the discretion of her citizens. Down under, New Zealand wants to exterminate the virus through comprehensive testing and isolation. But her bigger neighbour, Australia is contemplating a dubious plan to gradually infect everyone and gain herd immunity.
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