There is a vaccine against coronavirus. Behavioural vaccine
here are four behavioural adjustments that everyone needs to make to stop spread of novel coronavirus. This is important to adjust since the WHO says an effective vaccine against Covid-19 is at least one year away.
Passengers waiting at Ranchi airport on Sunday, when a janata curfew was observed to mitigate spread of novel coronavirus infection against which there is no pharmaceutical vaccine but certain behavioural adjustments have proven to be as effective. (Photo: PTI)
If you are keeping yourself updated with developments around novel coronavirus pandemic, you must have read reports that a vaccine against Covid-19 has reached human testing phase. That is encouraging piece of news. But this may not be very helpful in the middle of novel coronavirus pandemic. However, there is a behavioural vaccine that can stop novel coronavirus spread.
But if you are in a region in India where novel coronavirus has already reached, and if you have dry cough, high fever and breathlessness, call Helpline Number Toll free: 1075 or +91-11-23978046 or consult a doctor immediately instead of reading further. This will save time, and if you actually have it, reduce chances of spreading infection to other persons.
Remember, time is money.
And, it would take at least one year before any pharmaceutical vaccine against novel coronavirus infection is available for everyone's use as World Health Organisation Health Emergencies Programme director Dr Mike Ryan on Sunday told the BBC.
Follow Coronavirus in India all updates here
That is the medical side of vaccine story or defence against Covid-19 that is not a very severe disease in its own might but when it develops in a person with existing health conditions such as diabetes, cancer or ailments related to heart, lungs and kidney, the infection becomes potentially fatal. It can cause pneumonia, sepsis or even septic shock, where body's defence mechanism starts attacking protecting cells leading to death.
Good thing is that there is a very effective vaccine against novel coronavirus spread. This is behavioural and can be called behavioural vaccine. There are four ways (think of them as doses) of this behavioural vaccine.
First, carry tissues that you will use every time you cough or sneeze anywhere, not necessarily in public. This will be your real "excuse me" response that you otherwise offer in such situations. If you don't have tissues, use clean handkerchief that you shall wash with detergent before you use it again but not before you have dried it preferably in the sun.
Second, wash your hands frequently during the day. Use soap to clean your hands. Make sure you rub that foamy soap for at least 20 seconds on both sides of your hands. Many people don't use soap for that long. It is in the habit.
If you don't let soap stay in the grimes on your hands, the chances are that the novel coronavirus may hide itself along with other less problematic pathogens. A simple washing of hands by clean water does the same thing: remove bacteria, viruses and other germs along with dirt. But it does not remove some of the sticky pathogens. Novel coronavirus seems to be one such pathogen. Soap removes sticky germs including novel coronaviruses.
If you are at a place where you cannot use soap, use alcohol-based sanitiser. If you are buying sanitiser yourself, see to it that the disinfectant contains at least 60 per cent alcohol. Sanitiser is just an alternative to soap. It is not as effective as soap. So, use it a little extra.
Third, you need to stop being obsessive about your own face. It may be the most beautiful in the world but the habit may land you in a bed you hate the most. Mouth, nose and eyes are the principal routes through which the novel coronavirus enters human body and then multiplies very fast.
Our hands are the means for a variety of pathogen to enter our bodies. We touch surfaces of all kinds and pick up bacteria, viruses and other microbes all the time. Then, when we touch our mouth, eyes and nose, we transport them into our body system. This has to stop if you want protection from novel coronavirus, and others too.
There is a simple remedy to this behavioural "disease" (obsession is one). It is common for humans to touch their faces 20-30 times every hour. This means, on an average we may be touching our faces over 500 times every day, discounting the sleeping hours. This is the number of times or chances we have of infecting ourselves with novel coronavirus. Some people are such habitual offender that they touch their faces up to 3,000 times a day.
And fourth, stand at distance from other people. Practice social distancing. This distance should be a minimum of one metre. This is usually the influence radius of a person's cough and sneeze. Some people may be more powerful in their sneezing and coughing. Now, health experts advise to keep a distance of two metres.
This is difficult for Indians. We are habitually suited to rub shoulders of others standing in a queue even. All public transport means witness such body-pushing-body scenes every day. This aspect of your behaviour should change.
Don't shake hands with others. Anyway, hand-shaking came into vogue some time in medieval Europe. Back then mistrust was so much to make sure that the other person is not hiding some weapon in their hands, they started the practice of handshake. This was to show both sides of their hands - palm and the back - in kind of oath that there is nothing hidden in them. Right now coronavirus could possibly be hiding in the same hands. You would not like to be stabbed with a novel coronavirus.
If everyone starts taking this behavioural vaccine, the novel coronavirus will die its own death. If you think you cannot, adapt at least until a medical vaccine arrives in the market through proper testing and following all established procedures.
Read | Tracking coronavirus in India: Daily trends, state wise cases, patients cured and more
Also read | Coronavirus in India: What gives hope in fight against Covid-19
You may like to read | Novel coronavirus: Understanding the virus that has brought world to its knees
0 Comments :
Post a Comment