[deanhills]

I found this Al Jazeera map of countries that have completely blocked their borders.  The ones who blocked their borders are marked in red and those who partially blocked their borders are marked in yellow. Gray areas are countries who have unblocked borders. The footnotes say citizens of the country will be allowed in. You can find the map on this web page:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/m...20792.html  

Date of the map is 27 March 2020:



South Africa is in lock down from today.  I'm wondering how effective it is going to be though as the largest part of the population live in informal settlements where it is very difficult if impossible to maintain a Corona safe distance.  South Africa also has of the highest crime rates in the world.  Feels a bit scary and not sure what to expect when I go out later in the day.  The army has been deployed in addition to the police to enforce the lockdown.

[rudra]

yes. dean. I am concerned about that too. we will have to remember that in many countries including mine, police are not held as the ones who safeguard people and uphold the basic tenets of humanity. they are just licensed thugs ( except individual cases. which are extremely small in number ). Also with this extensive use if masks is complicating their tasks. There are confirmed news of multiple robberies here.

opportunists plying their trade. and they are found everywhere. businessmen hoarding essentials and selling at a high margin.

I also know of other troubles. Patients with maleria or inflammatory arthritis are not getting quinine or hydroxychloroquine. I dunno if it is insufficient productions, delivery troubles, or hoarding. May be a combined effect. I didnt buy the azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine tabs for myself. only helped another person buy enough for a course for adults.

just worried a bit that if this is what happens now, then what is in store when it gets worse...

I hope everything goes better there than what we are experiencing here.

re. The standard narrative that china has effectively controlled the spread of this disease is being disputed even in chinese alternative media. So i dunno where we are at...right now

[deanhills]

yes. dean. I am concerned about that too. we will have to remember that in many countries including mine, police are not held as the ones who safeguard people and uphold the basic tenets of humanity. they are just licensed thugs ( except individual cases. which are extremely small in number ). Also with this extensive use if masks is complicating their tasks. There are confirmed news of multiple robberies here.

Same here.  People here are also warned to take even more precautions with online banking than they have already.  Which has been significant.  

opportunists plying their trade. and they are found everywhere. businessmen hoarding essentials and selling at a high margin.

It's happening here too.  I guess that's rampant in societies where there is such a huge gap between those who have and those who don't have. The rich and the poor.

I also know of other troubles. Patients with maleria or inflammatory arthritis are not getting quinine or hydroxychloroquine. I dunno if it is insufficient productions, delivery troubles, or hoarding. May be a combined effect. I didnt buy the azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine tabs for myself. only helped another person buy enough for a course for adults.

This is ironic. Did you hear that possibly a malaria drug may help with Corona?  So do you think by definition then that those being treated for malaria may have some resistance to the Corona Virus?  WHO organisation is upset with people going around with comments like these as unsubstantiated, but I learned from one of the news channels that chloroquine, a drug that is used for malaria may be effective.  I Googled it also and found an article below:
https://www.livescience.com/chloroquine-...tment.html

[Littlemaster]

I have heard a man with no Corona has died by using a variety of chloroquine.It shows people are panic. They have a reason to be panic. Caution is more important than fear.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/23/healt...index.html
India has banned export of hydroxychloroquine.
https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavi...hloroquine
The other thing to fear is that IMF says the economy goes through recession.

[Sn1F3rt]

Alright, I know I'm quite late in replying to this topic however, I'm sure I've something to contribute here. First of all, it is known by all of us where did Corona come from or originate, as per the question in the title of the thread, but since this is a public forum and my views would be political, I'd refrain from directly writing about something here.

Now friends, a staright fact is that we've started to come into it's influence, it has already driven things haywire in Italy, Spain and China, and it's latest target is the US. In India too, we're having it's influence. Already more than 900 positive cases with less than 15 deaths, however, considering the population of India, this virus could have it's stronghold in no time if people are careless.

The Indian Government has been very vigilant and alert in this regard, and I must say we might be able to control this pandemic, as we're having a 21-day complete lockdown in the country.

What I'm trying to say is that, since we've already been affected by this virus, it's better now to think of ways to control the spread of this virus, and to help as a society, instead of moaning or creating unnecessary panic among the people or protesting against the government's orders. This is time to support the government. If we live, there will be enough time to do all this nonsense.

Guys we really dunno what's gonna follow. Experts say that chances of getting infected in tropical countries is less due to temperature factors and all those, but again those are only chances. There's no guarantee that you'll not be infected. Also, agreed that mortality rate of this virus isn't so much, but remember you may be the unlucky one that day.

Hence, stay home, don't go out unless it's extremely essential, do whatever you want at home for few days. We'll all pass this bad times together. #StayHomeStaySafe

Regards,

[deanhills]

Now friends, a staright fact is that we've started to come into it's influence, it has already driven things haywire in Italy, Spain and China, and it's latest target is the US. In India too, we're having it's influence. Already more than 900 positive cases with less than 15 deaths, however, considering the population of India, this virus could have it's stronghold in no time if people are careless.

Thank you for your quality contribution @sohamb03. I've been following the Corona Virus, and what's come out from the different News Reports is that the info we're getting about statistics is not necessarily representative of the facts. Like in Italy they're so lacking resources vs the huge number of Corona cases that they're only testing the emergency cases for taking up in ICU - no longer all of the cases that are reported. Like the stats that are provided are only confirmed tested cases.

Also, with the United States we have approx 330 million people in the country. Under normal circs there are approx 7000 deaths per day against the 330 million population. UK population is 67 million. Italy 60 million. Spain 47 million. Etc. So at this stage United States collectively has less cases on average than what we are comparing with other countries. But because the media gives us total deaths per country, it creates a different total picture. It is of course going to get worse in the States, if they can't get their cases to flat line, particularly in the cities where people are congested and living on top of one another. In the cities you also find people who don't care that much and will even try and infect others - like it's a total different culture the Government has to cope with. Also, United States is battling with availability of test kits. I'd say the stats are getting haywire and in your more unsophisticated populations grossly under reported.

Good that you're avoiding politics - guess it's a bit futile to do so as that to me is always the area of the biggest lies. I'm surprised there is so little accusation of China though. I'm happy when Trump calls it the China flu - for me as a dumb bystander it's where it started. That's where it originated from. At the same time I'm happy China is coming to the aid of trouble stricken countries like Italy. Just hope they're not selling their help and it is given voluntarily as for me that's the least they can do now that they claim that their cases have flat lined.

[Sn1F3rt]

@deanhills Yeah I do agree that the available resources for treatment of COVID-19 is in sharp contrast to the number of people who actually need the treatment.

Myself I'm closely following the news on Corona, and here's what I've been seeing over the past few days. In US, you see the most affected area is NY. To be really honest, most countries thought of US as such a powerful country as it usually appears to be in it's dominance. However, again the fact is - there are only 400 ventilators, sum total of all the healthcare centers and hospitals in NY as opposed to the number of people who require the ICU/ventilation which is increasing by leaps and bounds (at the time I saw the news, it was 3000). The US Government has also provisioned for the use of one ventilator for two patients, but even then it is nowhere close to the requisite amount.

To share a small fact, and before I write it I must give a disclaimer that in no way I'm trying to show that India is superior, neither am I demeaning the US, I'm only sharing facts and my opinion based on what I saw/read/heard. Criticisms are always welcome. Officially there has been a video released in media by a renowned Medical practitioner of NY in which he says that the Emergency Medical arrangements of India are much better than that of America, both in quantity and quality to cater to a large number of people.

The number of cases in India are still less than a thousand, which is commendable considering the population, but I'd say some countries caused their own devastation by not taking this matter seriously. We all know which are those so I needn't state them by name. However, an early response from the Indian Government is what I believe the root cause of the situation being under control.

Regarding China, well, since today morning news channels here have started focussing on them rather than global Corona news. China is being severely accused for hiding the actual Corona statistics from the rest of the world, and so is WHO for praising China. The sudden urge of China to come forward to help Italy, Czech Republic and others is also quite suspicious according to them. On the other side, China is blaming US for spreading the infections in Wuhan, during the Global Army Olympics of October, 2019 wherein the US team had put up in Wuhan. Russia and Iran are supporting China completely but that's for obvious reasons.

In short, since the severe effect of COVID-19 stage 4 has already started, it's really not worth it playing a blame game. Ultimately, the truth will come to light, as it has always been in the past and so will it be this time as well. But unnecessarily blaming someone for causing something, at the time awareness is to be spread among the mass is, according to me, really not worth it.

Regards,

[LightDestory]

Updates from the global map see USA as the first nation for affected. Well, let's hope that they can handle it better than anyone help, they are very huge and if they don't lockdown very strictly there will be a tragedy there.
I can't say much about the health-service in the USA but here in Italy, our system is always working near to its limits, we are airing new doctors, building new tools (we are converting Scuba marks to respiratory mask using 3D printing).
USA uses a different health-system, more private than public and I hope that they will nurse everyone fairly, let's pray for the poor people that can't afford insurance.

[rudra]

After reading the above posts by dean and soham, i have so much to comment on now that i dont even know where to start.

1) naming it 'China virus'

it can't get any more ridiculus than this... seriously !!

Some people saying that some rich Chinese person has caused this in his reckless search for exotic food items.

Some saying It is a Chinese ploy for world domination ( now they have it under control there and started to resume normal work and industry. the world is and will keep reeling in its effect for a long time. long enough for them to invade even deeper and weaken the roots of local industries around the world by grabbing the demand.)

Some say it was spread by USA to destabilise Chinese economy, cause with every passing day, it is getting more difficult for them to survive Chinese onslaught in every sphere of influence internationally. Bur as with most of their covert foreign actions, it backfired.

I am not saying that any of these are totally impossible. I am just saying that probably you will never know, short of a leak on wikileaks or something like that. But even after so many leaks, how much do you think the workings of governments have changed... unless for worse. with increasing nationalism and racism, which are nothing but slow but sure poisons for human society.

Also China is already ruling a big part of the world and gaining even wider foothold at a rapid speed. They have done it with a lot of hard work and they have that kind of society and culture that goes with it. No need to mess things up like this intentionally by themselves, is there ? USA theory may have more water, cause they have proven track records.

Some says it might be from pangolin and some , bats. so i didn't read anything that confirms the nonhuman source. But whatever it is, I don't see how it could be the responsibility of China. Look how USA and many other countries responded at government levels.

2) Even flu virus keeps evolving and sharpening its bite. there is an interval of like 40 year or so between the waves of severe forms of flu epidemic. Also there are many modern pathogens which were not here in our remote past. This is a battle that is going to be waged forever. That is how nature works.

You will have to remember that raising a kid or living for long in a sterile environment free of germs is highly damaging for us. This continual struggle trains our immune system. But alas there is no stronger immune system. Just agile ( when you are young ) vs experienced ( of some fights with pathogens ). In this corona case , as it is novel ( we never met before ), experience is of little use, agility or high adaptability of our immune cells is. Thats why kids are much safer.

3) we humans dont even have the power to predict protein folding for even slightly complex molecules of them. How do you think a country will be able to tailor made such a finely balanced virus...one that kills a small percentage and spreads fast and remains in host with little symptoms for long but keeps spreading even in that stage

we humans try to make severe strains that we will be able to send to an enemy country and make it literally unravel fast. like chemical warfare. but the good side of those are they wipe their infected in such high percent that spreading becomes an issue.

4) hydroxychloroquine and other quinine forms and azithromycin for Corona treatment.

Most are dying from corona due to a severe immune response of our body. inflammatory response. it is what happens when you get punched on your face and it gets swollen. That lung is being punched by the virus and your body makes it swollen so it can fight and repair better and easier. But that process becomes unregulated and extreme and that is when you die (literally get killed by your own army). Cytokine storm is the term i think.

So many of the treatments docs are trying is aling this line. to block Cytokine / keep immune response in check. This combination does that and also makes it difficult for the virus to enter host cells. so yes it works in many cases. BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO NOTE THAT -- It should only be administered by alert, informed and experienced medical personnel. They need to keep monitoring your QT interval on ECG. that is one of its side effects and when you are already weak from this illness, it might just raise your pulse rate so high that you will die of heart failure. So please don't self-administer.

5) Some antiviral drugs are being tried too. hope one of them will be effective and safe enough.

6) India has relatively low number of patients now. Multiple reasons have been forwarded...i will reiterate some...

summer weather might be helping.

it is one of the less dangerous strains of this corona virus.

insufficient testing and reporting. They are only testing people who went abroad recently or came in contact with one who did or became a patient. Not all patients with flu / fever / respiratory problem like syndromes. ( just check the stats website. severe patients no always at 0. are we even less transparent than china. lol)

I have a theory too...hehehe.... it is like sowing 1 kg paddy vs 100kg. the countries at the top received more incoming carriers/hosts/possible patients than we did. it is that simple.

7) Social distancing --

in a democratic country with such huge and varied population, it could never be a deterrent and NO, ,it is not going to be. But there is no other way. If they allow normal life....the increase in no of patients will be so high and rapid that our health system will be just obliterated.
Just look at what New York is doing. they are also increasing the capacity of health system very rapidly. unfortunately we are not. we are mostly announcing financial aids and committees so far.
I just hope our huge poor population dont get even weaker before they face this. If they do then that number of total deaths will be much much worse than what they predicted if we allowed normal life to continue.

RE. I must be a fool. none will read this babble.

RE. Your dog suddenly ran towards me and bit on my leg. I dont see how it can be your fault unless you trained and asked it to do so. it might be criminal negligence. But look at your own respective governments and their long track records of neglecting their own....

[deanhills]

To share a small fact, and before I write it I must give a disclaimer that in no way I'm trying to show that India is superior, neither am I demeaning the US, I'm only sharing facts and my opinion based on what I saw/read/heard. Criticisms are always welcome. Officially there has been a video released in media by a renowned Medical practitioner of NY in which he says that the Emergency Medical arrangements of India are much better than that of America, both in quantity and quality to cater to a large number of people.

I totally agree with this. The US is capitalist in nature and I'd imagine most of its budgets are going to the top specialties in the US like surgery, oncology, etc where lots of money can be made. Public Health is not as highly rated and not considered a clinical science. India and Pakistan are countries where Public Health is much higher rated as a clinical science. Even in South Africa where there are limited resources, Public Health is not that highly rated, and lack of kits and resources almost predictable.

The number of cases in India are still less than a thousand, which is commendable considering the population, but I'd say some countries caused their own devastation by not taking this matter seriously. We all know which are those so I needn't state them by name. However, an early response from the Indian Government is what I believe the root cause of the situation being under control.

Totally agreed.

In short, since the severe effect of COVID-19 stage 4 has already started, it's really not worth it playing a blame game. Ultimately, the truth will come to light, as it has always been in the past and so will it be this time as well. But unnecessarily blaming someone for causing something, at the time awareness is to be spread among the mass is, according to me, really not worth it.

Regards,

I certainly hope that the truth will come out although I'm a bit cynical about that. But most of all I wish this Corona will go away.