In a wake to impede the proliferation of virulent coronavirus, around 760 million people were confined to their homes in China which accounts for nearly half the population of the country. This brought down the number of infected people per day from thousands to just a couple of dozens. Travel restrictions, quarantines, lockdowns, physical distancing, closing of non-essential businesses, preparing hospitals for surges, and case monitoring and testing were the main drivers which brought the situation under control.
Researchers at the Northeastern University undertook a study to find which measures went well for China. They used the publicly available data on individual cases and real-time data collected from GPS locations to show the movement of people around the country. This virus can be transmitted from droplets produced while coughing or sneezing which remain alive on some surfaces for many days which can be stopped by avoiding social gatherings, keeping people away from communal areas and isolation of persons with symptoms. This will bring down the number of new infections and an increased number of testing and isolating prevented the outbreak from resurging. These measures are effective, but they take time, so precipitance can ruin the situation.
These measures reduced the cases from increasing by 67 fold; otherwise, it would have crossed 8 million by the end of February. Although there has been a significant decrease in the cases, a possibility of resurgence still lies. It could be reintroduced for other countries facing this outbreak and as many people were saved from being infected, they haven’t developed immunity against it. Moreover, we still don’t have a vaccine against it. So, whether the activities should be resumed or not becomes a thoughtful decision.
In this difficult time, what we need to do is learn and adopt the best measures from all around the world. These measures not taken today can ruin our lives tomorrow. So, follow the government advisory, stay inside, stay safe, and stay isolated.
Kriti Vishwakarma