Winter means more caution
As the winter season is here the task ahead of us to control the spread of covid-19 has become all the more difficult and necessary as well.
We are fast approaching one lakh mark on positive cases and the deaths due to covid-19 too are a reality. Since the numbers are pretty high given our healthcare facilities and infrastructure, the best way people can ensure a decline in the number of fatalities and positive cases is to follow the guidelines and SOPs quite religiously to prevent Covid-19 spread.
What is adding to the worries is that scientists the world over have not been fully able to predict the behavior of the virus making the threat as grave as it was when the virus made its presence felt almost a year ago.
With new studies emerging about the virus, it is quite clear that the novel coronavirus is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious.
The research, published in the journal mBIO, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. The researchers noted that the mutation, called D614G, is located in the spike protein that pries open our cells for viral entry.
The researchers noted that during the initial wave of the pandemic, 71 per cent of the novel coronaviruses identified in patients in Houston had this mutation. When the second wave of the outbreak hit Houston during the summer, this variant had leaped to 99.9 per cent prevalence. This mirrors a trend observed around the world.
The researchers said this may allow that variant of the virus to more easily slip past our immune systems. This simply means that we have to religiously follow the list of do’s and don’ts if at all we want to spare ourselves of the trouble thay we may face during the winters.
Jammu and Kashmir witnesses deaths continuously besides, an average number of 500 person’s test positive for the virus on daily basis. This should alarm us as the healthcare infrastructure we have available here cannot support such a huge rush of patients and fatalities.
No wonder then that even some medico bodies have quite candidly admitted that our hospitals can handle cases only if they come in a trickle. But if the cases swell to waves, the healthcare system will collapse.
The warning sounded by the medico body seems to have come quite late. The healthcare setup has already been witnessing a huge pressure owing to the growing number of cases. In this kind of a scenario the people need to be extra vigilant and ensure that full precautions are taken. We already have a list of what to do and what to avoid. Almost the entire populace is in know of it, but somehow we have been ignoring these SOPs and guidelines.
It is high time that we realize the threat and without wasting any time we should make it a point to follow all the necessary guidelines religiously. This alone will ensure our safety from the deadly virus. Otherwise, ignoring the guidelines or SOPs will lead us into more trouble and chaos.
KV Network
