BENGALURU: As novel coronavirus is known to have a fairly high rate of spread with each infected individual capable of contracting it to three others, Karnataka’s healthcare machinery is on a war-footing to contain the disease (COVID-19) that has already reached pandemic proportions.
According to Worldometers.info which is tracking coronavirus data in real-time, the disease infected a total of 1.07 lakh people across 80 countries, resulting in 3,662 deaths, as on Sunday.
World Health Organisation (WHO) says if the rate of spread (designated as R⌀) is 1, the epidemic progresses at a steady pace; less than 1 favours the epidemic to burn out. But since the current R⌀= 2.9, the spread is being considered worrisome.
However, globally, 60,924 people have recovered after being afflicted by the coronavirus and no death has so far occurred anywhere in India due to it which has brought rays of hope to Karnataka in its efforts to contain the spread of the disease.
WHO has lauded the efforts in China in containing the virus and reducing its impact using universally applicable actions, working across the society to identify sick people, bringing them to care, preparing hospitals and clinics to manage a surge in patients and training health workers.
The Karnataka government is trying to put just such a system in place. The state’s Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said, “We are making every effort to contain the virus and slow the spread to save lives. These efforts give health system the much needed time to identify effective treatments and develop vaccines.”
A suspected coronavirus patient from Dakshina Kannada has been put under hospital isolation. So far, six persons are admitted to isolation hospitals in Bengaluru, Ballari, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Hassan and Dakshina Kannada.
About 890 people have been identified for observation. Of them 258 have completed 28 days of observation and 622 are continuing home quarantine. These include the ones who travelled to COVID-19-affected countries.
Till now, 416 samples of symptomatic persons are sent for testing of which 357 have tested negative, while results are awaited for the remaining 59.
At Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), passengers returning from foreign countries are subjected to thorough tests as directed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in agreement with the Union Ministry of Health, the procedures being in place at every international airport in India.
Having an international airport and a seaport with passengers coming in, Mangaluru is already on a high alert over COVID-19. Passengers arriving from Dubai and Abu Dhabi (with which Mangaluru is airlinked) are being screened for COVID-19. A total of 87,066 passengers have been screened at Bengaluru and Mangalur airports so far.
At Mangaluru seaport, each international passenger so far has been screened, but now no passenger cruises are allowed to dock till March-end.
Dakshina Kannada district administration is fully equipped to meet emergencies and has opened an isolation ward at Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru.
Udupi district health and family welfare department officer Dr Sudhirchandra Sooda told TNIE that the government hospital at Ajjarakad has been equipped with an isolation ward with five beds.
"In case we get information about anybody in the district with COVID-19 symptoms after returning from foreign countries, we send a team of health professionals with protective gear in an ambulance to bring them to the district government hospital,’’ he said.
In Kodagu, the health department is distributing flyers to residents and tourists although tourist flow has decreased.
High alert has also been sounded in Uttara Kannada district where the temple town of Gokarna, Karwar commercial port and Tibetan colony (Mundgod) are located. It also shares borders with Goa which has a high foreign tourist footfalls.
The district administration deployed 37 teams in Gokarna and surrounding places where foreign nationals come to learn yoga and attend spiritual classes. The administration has also deployed 16 teams at the Tibetan colony to conduct a survey of all houses to monitor health.
In Hubballi, Arunkumar C, Medical Superintendent, KIMS, said, “The hospital set up an isolation ward of five beds and we are ready to handle such cases.”
Dr Chandrakiran, ENT specialist who has observed a surge in cases with symptoms similar to COVID-19, said, “While the WHO is still considering the use of the p-word (Pandemic), I believe we are already in one. In a few short weeks, it has spread from China to more than 80 countries, infecting more than 1 lakh people so far and causing more than 3,400 deaths.”
According to him, if one has influenza, be it from any flu virus, the symptoms are similar. People at higher risk are the elderly who have kidney problems and immuno-compromised.
“They (the elderly) are the first-line patients. If they have a problem in the respiratory system, they need to be checked and there is no way you can differentiate between flu and Covid-19 without a test. If influenza or common cold doesn’t die down in five days, then go get yourself tested,” said Dr Nagaraj R, director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, one of the primary isolation hospitals in Bengaluru.
According to experts, COVID-19 transmission can occur via large droplets (with the risk limited to 6 feet from the patient) and this is typical for respiratory viruses such as influenza. “As a precautionary measure, even airborne route of transmission is not being ignored. However, this means that there would be a need for N95 masks and not surgical ones. But in India, only some cities make it mandatory and it’s left to the discretion of the states,” said a senior doctor in Bengaluru.
Vaccine not anytime soon?
There may not be a vaccine for the novel coronavirus in the near future. While several countries are working towards this, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has initiated the development of a preventive vaccine against the virus in partnership with American biotechnology company Codagenix.
An email sent to TNIE by a Codagenix spokesperson said, “The vaccine designed by SII and odagenix is ready for the pre-clinical test and will progress to human trials in the next six months.
The SSI-Codagenix candidate vaccine is developed using a laboratory-made synthetic virus. It is an important breakthrough, because it could significantly reduce the time taken to build against the virus at the heart of the current outbreak emanating from China.”
SII chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said in an email, “It usually takes seven years to fully develop a vaccine for use.
For example, our pneumonia vaccine Rotavirus vaccine. We have just launched these vaccines after working on them for 7-8 years. It takes so much time because of animal studies and human studies...” Poonawalla said, “The vaccine will be ready for human trials within six months. That makes it the fastest ‘Make in India’ vaccine to enter this phase.”
The company believes in changing the mindset to ‘prevention is better than cure’ and vaccines should be taken to prevent hospitalisation and treatment, he said.
(With inputs from Vincent D’Souza in Mangaluru; Prakash Samaga in Udupi; Prajna GR in Madikeri; Arunkumar Huralimath in Hubballi and Karthik KK in Mysuru)