Coronavirus fear goes viral: Why you shouldn’t panic

“Those admitted at Safdarjung hospital are under isolation and stable. We have sent their lung washing samples for testing the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. Confirmation is awaited,” the health ministry said.

NEW DELHI: Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said the government was taking all possible steps to keep the city safe. Flanked by deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Jain said, “Isolation wards are being readied in 25 hospitals, including 19 government-run and six private hospitals.” As many as 3.5-lakh N95 masks were being arranged, he added. “We have over 8,000 separation kits for staff treating coronavirus patients.”

Health ministry officials told TOI that the six people from Agra, who are suspected to be infected, have a high viral load and have been quarantined at Safdarjung Hospital, while others who came in contact with the Delhi resident have been put under isolation at their respective homes....read more

28 cases positive in India: Its like a public corona health emergency in Rajasthan and Delhi

Remember “three Cs” scenarios –1st Case, 1st Cluster and 1st Community spread whenever a new Case comes

India, 28 cases: 3 Kerala, 1 Telangana, 1 + 6 Delhi, 1 + 1+ 15 Jaipur Cases in Delhi and Telangana: Red alarm Cluster in Jaipur: Red alarm....read more

CMAAO Formula of C to CONTROL COVID-19 Coronxiety

• Corona, COVID start with C
• China Pneumonia was the earliest name
• Containment is feasible....read more

COVID-19 Around the globe

March 4 119 new confirmed cases with 38 new deaths (37 in Hubei) has been reported. On March 3, almost 2,652 new discharges occurred in China, as stated by the National Health Commission (NHC) of China. 142 new cases confirmed in South Korea 3 new cases confirmed in Canada (British Columbia)....read more

3 Cs of Corona: 1st Case, 1st Cluster and 1st Community spread whenever a new Case comes

4th March: CMAAO Updated COVID 19 - SARS-CoV-2 Update: 80 countries affected, 92,880 cases, 3168 deaths, 48545 recovered, 41167 currently infected patients, 32012 (82%) in mild condition, 7162 (71%) serious or critical, likely deaths ( 3168 + 7162 x 15 =1074) = 4242 with the present trend and available treatment; 10,000 cases outside China China color coding of patients Red infected, Yellow contacts, Green non-infected....read more

Who is a Good Teacher?

A good teacher is the one who follows the principles of listening first, teaching in detail till confusion arises and then teaching with reasoning while going into the minutest details and finally summarizing the ‘take-home’ messages....read more

How Corona Aware Are You

Health Sutras By Dr K K Aggarwal

When working on computers, look at a distant of 20 feet for 20 seconds after every 20 minutes to relax your eyes.

Healthcare News Monitor

Europe panicking over Indias pharma export curbs: Industry body

Business Standard- Reuters

Indias top pharmaceuticals export group said the governments curbs on some drug exports amid the spreading coronavirus outbreak has caused panic in Europe and will "severely impact" businesses in the sector. India, the worlds main supplier of generic drugs, has restricted the export of 26 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and the medicines made from them, in a move seen aimed at tackling possible domestic shortages of medicine during the outbreak. On Wednesday, Dinesh Dua, chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), told Reuters that some of the restricted APIs and medicines were widely exported to Europe and the United States. "I am getting a huge number of calls from Europe because it is very sizeably dependent on Indian formulations and we control almost 26 per cent of the European formulations in the generic space. So they are panicking," Dua said. Indias list of restricted medicines account for 10 per cent of its total pharmaceutical exports and includes several antibiotics, as well as Paracetamol, a common pain reliever also sold as acetaminophen. The Food and Drug Administration in the United States, where Indian imports accounted for 24 per cent of medicines in 2018, said on Tuesday it was working to determine how the restrictions will affect US supplies. The restrictions could hurt Indias image as a pharmacy to the world and would impact shipments which were already lined up for export at warehouses and ports, Pharmexcil argued in a letter to Indias Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which was reviewed by Reuters.

Pharma body seeks relaxation on API exports for committed drug orders

Financial Express

In a letter to the directorate general of foreign trade, the pharma body requested for examining the feasibility of exempting those labelled “drugs manufactured for export purpose only” from the restrictions. Following export curbs on 26 drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in formulations, the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) under the commerce ministry has sought amendments to the export policy, thus allowing free export of drugs manufactured before March 3, 2020, and for goods lying at ports. Most of these drugs such as vitamins and hormones have limited shelf life of 18-24 months and if the restrictions prolong, buyers will not accept the product and the same formulations cannot be utilised for domestic consumption. In a letter to the directorate general of foreign trade, the pharma body requested for examining the feasibility of exempting those labelled “drugs manufactured for export purpose only” from the restrictions. “Most of the manufacturers and exporters have manufactured these listed items before the outbreak of COVID-19, and have planned and committed to ship the consignments to customers in agreed timelines. The reference notification imposing restriction on export of the listed items with immediate effect would severely impact our members, as many number of consignments are already lined up for export in the warehouses and ports,” a Pharmexcil letter said. Udaya Bhaskar, director-general, Pharmexcil, “Some of the orders for institutional supplies mandate the supply of all items committed in their contracts and non-supply of one item would result sometimes in cancellation of entire order for all other products resulting in blacklisting of the companies by the procurement agencies and imposes huge penalties.”

2-year-old dies in Patiala after being given wrong medicine

Hindustan Times

The father-son duo of Ghaggar Sarai village has been booked for the second time within a week for administering wrong medicine, this time to a two-year-old child, which led to his death. The complaint was lodged on Tuesday. The accused duo have been booked on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder at the Shambu police station. Last week, the two were booked for giving wrong medicine to a five year-old boy, leading to infection in both his kidneys and coma, following which, he is fighting for his life at PGIMER, Chandigarh. The accused are Garja Singh and his son Kulwinder Singh, both residents of Ghaggar Sarai village near Shambhu. Six days have passed since the last case was registered against the duo and yet the cops have failed so ascertain whether the accused are MBBS doctors or quacks or arrest them. In the fresh case, the suspects gave wrong medicine to the victim on February 19 and again on February 20, which led to infection in both the kidneys and liver of the two-year-old victim. Complainant Pardeep Kumar, a resident of Khairpur village, said that he took his son to the accused’s clinic on February 19 and 20. However, when the child did not recover and his health started to deteriorate further, he took the boy to a private hospital in Rajpura. “From there, the boy was referred to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh. The doctors found that child’s kidneys and liver were infected. the victim died while undergoing treatment on February 26 and a complaint was lodged on Tuesday,” said police. Shambhu station house officer (SHO) Prem Singh said, “The family informed us about the two-year-old boy’s death. We have registered a case against the accused duo under Section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 15C of the Indian Medical Council Act.”

Mohalla clinic doctors trained to look out for suspect coronavirus cases

Hindustan Times-Harikrishnan Nair

As Delhi readies itself to contain the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease in the wake of its first positive case, the mohalla clinics have been asked to start referring patients with possible exposure to designated hospitals. Doctors have been asked to advise patients about the disease and report to the government if they suspect people back from overseas travel or those who have been in contact with infected people have been exposure to the virus. Forty-year-old Sonu (who goes by a single name) said his primary source of information about the coronavirus was newspapers. “We take precautions mentioned in the newspapers,” he said outside a mohalla clinic in Mandawali where he had taken his wife to consult a doctor. “We didn’t notice any awareness posters there.” Some clinics had put up posters on precautions but these seemed too few to counter misinformation. Each clinic had doctors and assistants wearing face masks and using hand sanitisers while examining patients. “They should spread awareness in schools too,” said Aarti, who was at a Trilokpuri mohalla clinic. “We take care of ourselves by wearing masks when we go to a crowded place, wash our hands, They should definitely have more awareness measures in place at these clinics. The one I found pasted here was something I could hardly read.” The poster Aarti was pointing to was five black-and-white printed pages of the central government’s advisory on preventing the coronavirus disease. Doctors at these clinics refused to speak on the matter. Despite many attempts, health department secretary Padmini Singla could not be reached for a comment.