COVID-19: India Moving Towards 'Herd Immunity' With Reducing Panic and Learnings From Lockdown 3.0, Say Experts

As the country is about to reach the end of the lockdown 3 on May 17th, India’s recovery rate is calculated at a little over 30% which shows better prospects of immunity. Experts say that the country is moving towards achieving better ‘Herd Immunity’ which means the population is succumbing less to the spread of coronavirus.

Herd immunity is when most of the population in an area gets immune to an infectious disease, then this provides indirect protection—or herd immunity to those who are not immune to the disease. In such times the need of ventilators has heightened and awareness regarding containing the spread of virus has become a prerequisite to enter public places. Could Vitamin-D Boost Your Immunity and Decrease Your Risk of COVID-19? Here's the Link Between the Vital Nutrient and Your Respiratory Health.

Reducing Panic with Adequate Ventilator Care

Ventilator has become a household name in India in the wake of covid crises due to its high demand and surging cases.

Anjan Trikha, Chairperson of clinical managerial group for Covid, AIIMS trauma centre said “Out of 100 patients who developed covid-19, about 12-15% need some level of oxygen therapy. They need monitoring of the blood circulation. About 2-3% of such people need ventilator support while 10-15% will require oxygen at varying levels.”

On the recovery rate of such patients he said, “People who go on ventilator may perform badly especially if they have comorbid conditions like if they have an inherent malignancy or leukemia, brain tumor or hemorrhage, or some stroke. People who don’t have comorbidities are likely to come out of danger faster and healthier. Patients who get only oxygen are likely to do very well and can be discharged in 8-10 days.”

According to Empowered Group 3 Chairman PD Vaghela - India needs 75K ventilators till June end of which, till May 1, India had 19,398 ventilators. Centre has ordered 60,884 new ventilators out of which only 1000 will be imported while the rest will be manufactured in India.

To manufacture ventilators through the ‘Make in India’ initiative, Centre has approached local manufacturers and has guided them in meeting the specifications, finalizing the training and creating new supply chains.

As a result, several startups and established companies have stepped up to produce ventilators. As per a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) signed on March 30, Maruti Suzuki and AgVA in a joint partnership are making 10,000 ventilators for the country while Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) in Visakhapatnam (AMTZ) is making 13,500 ventilators. As Coronavirus Spreads, Here Are Anti-Viral Foods You Must Eat to Build Your Immune System and Keep Pneumonia-like Diseases at Bay.

How to Live with Coronavirus

Since the lockdown cannot be prolonged and public institutione like Schools, Offices, markets have to be opened at some point to resume economic activity hence health experts suggest that “extra precautions have to be maintained”.

Mr. Trikha said, “Social distancing, washing hands regularly within half an hour or so are crucial in such times. It is important to even alert your family members to wash hands on regular intervals for about 20 mins as the virus mostly gets spread through hand movements. It's our duty to follow the government's guidelines like wearing masks in public places as it's for our safety and containment of virus. Anyone having cold and flu-like symptoms must abstain from going to public places or workplaces and must go into self quarantine. The person should contact the doctor immediately.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 11, 2020 11:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).