The coronavirus COVID-19 has affected about 115 countries and territories and the statistics unfortunately continue to increase. In India, the number of people who have been tested positive for coronavirus has risen to 107. Globally, coronavirus cases top to 142,000. In the United States, there are 2,800 COVID-19 infected cases. Understandably, the searches for Social Distancing are at an all-time high in the US, as per the official Twitter handle of Google Trends. More and more people are searching for ways to distance themselves from other people to prevent contracting coronavirus. For those who do now what social distancing is, here's everything you want to know.  Coronavirus Outbreak: WHO Urges World to Take Virus More Seriously, Says ‘This Is Not a Drill’. 

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What Is Social Distancing?

As the term suggests, social distancing is maintaining a distance from other people. However,  according to the definition, social distancing practice includes a set of actions taken by Public Health officials, whenever there is a pandemic or a contagious disease is spreading. The idea is to slow the disease down by reducing social contacts so that the spread of the disease is contained. Usually, the Health Officer has the legal authority to carry out social distancing measures. These measures are made to help the community as a whole and local agencies such as cities, police departments and schools are involved.  Coronavirus Live Map: How to Track The Spread of COVID-19 Across The Globe With This Dashboard.

What are the social distancing measures?

The idea behind social distancing measures is to contain the disease and slow down its spread. So the measures usually include restrictions on when and where people can gather to stop or slow the spread of infectious diseases, according to Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. They say that social distancing measures include "limiting large groups of people coming together, closing buildings and cancelling events." Some examples cited by CIRAP are:

  • Public and private colleges suspending classes, going to Web-based learning and cancelling all large campus meetings and gatherings.

  • Public and private libraries modifying their operations and restricting people from gathering by allowing people to come in only to pick up materials that have been reserved or requested on-line or by telephone.

  • Business changing company practices, setting up flexible shift plans, having employees telecommute and cancelling any large meetings or conferences.

 

Closer to home, in India, a new case has been detected in Kerala spiking the number of coronavirus patients in India to 40. Before this, the one confirmed case was from Delhi (Uttam Nagar). Until now, five people in Kerala have been tested positive from Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, according to reports.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2020 01:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).