Precautions to take during COVID-19

COVID- 19 or Coronavirus as widely known has been widespread throughout the world for the past few months. The virus first was found or recorded in Wuhan, China on December 31st 2019. Though there are no definitive leads to how the outbreak started, the toll it took on the entire world is quite heavy. With thousands and thousands of people dying nearly every day a few months back, the world had to go in a state of complete quarantine for their own as well as others safety. The outbreak had been reported to the World Health organization on 31st December of 2019, but the major cases had not been completely been brought to light until January of 2020. The area of origination was Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market of Wuhan, though it is said that the virus originated from consuming Bat meat, the truthfulness behind this Information is still debatable.

While the toll of people getting infected rises nearly every day, may it be in hundreds or in a just a number of few people, the number of infected keeps rising. While COVID – 19 or coronavirus is something that cannot be taken lightly. The cases that arose during the outbreak had very similar cases to that of Pneumonia. This also shed the light that COVID- 19 heavily affected the respiratory organ of the infected person. The cases also did not show any signs or symptoms of being affected by the virus for nearly 2 weeks, this furthermore made the world panic as you could not basically tell if you were affected by the virus for a long time and even within the time of the virus not showing signs it could be transmitted from one person to another, that brought even more panic among the people of the world.

Due to ignorance of many people around the world, many countries had a huge spike in the death toll as many people did not take the virus seriously, even now there are many people who think that the virus is not serious or can do any damage to the people, this has raised a lot of concern, especially in the Western Countries, where people seem to have taken the virus rather lightly. The death toll of America is currently the highest among the world because of this very ignorance of the people and even maybe the governing bodies. To the date of this article, the number of total deaths in the world currently due to COVID-19 is 282,872. And the highest number of deaths is in the United States of America with 80,574 deaths.

The virus has even effected Nepal, due to the ignorance of the people and the governing body that allowed the foreigners and other people enter the country through various routes of the open border as well as various air transits. The ignorance of people has caused a lot of turmoil especially in the Terai region of Nepal where there is an open border between Nepal and India. This caused the Indians who are fleeing from their country bringing the disease into Nepal and wreaking havoc, which the government of Nepal has not tried to stop at all. This also raises the question about what the government of both countries are even trying to do to save the people of their country as well. As of writing this article the infected number of people of Nepal is over ten thousand. While there are some people who have recovered from the virus, there are alot of people still infected. The lockdown that was stated by the government has been loosened on the pretense that the virus is not effecting alot of people, all the while more than 30 people have already died due to the virus.

So, to be protected against COVID-19 or at least try to protect yourself and the others around you, first of all, you should not be “Ignorant” about how dangerous this virus is. And the other precautions are listed and discussed below:

Washing Hands often:

• Washing your hands often with soap and water or other disinfectants that have similar soap properties for at least 20 seconds is advised. This should be done especially after you have been to public places, or after blowing your nose or coughed or sneezed.
• If in any case, that soap is not readily available, using a hand sanitizer which has almost 60% alcohol composition is also a good way to sanitize your hands.
• Also try to avoid touching your face, eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands as the pathogens can enter through your mouth or other openings as well.

Avoiding Close Contact/ Social Distancing: 

• Avoiding contact with people who are affected is the best way to stay safe, even if the person affected is one of your family members.
• Maintain a 6 feet distance between the person who is sick and you.
• Make sure not to gather in groups.
• Stay out of gatherings and crowded places.
• If you are someone who gets easily sick, then you must maintain this distance strictly.

Use of masks:

• The use of masks when going out is a must, especially when you are going for buying something.
• You should use the masks even if you do not feel sick as the transmission can happen through the droplets from the sneezes or coughs of other people.
• DO NOT use the masks that are supposed to be provided for the health workers as they are the front line during this pandemic and any shortage of such special masks can cause the health workers to fall sick which can furthermore spread the virus.

Cleaning and Disinfecting areas: 

• Disinfecting area is a key to being safe as well. Places such as tables, doorknobs, light switches, desks, handles, toilets, sinks and faucets should be clean and disinfected.
• If the surfaces are dirty, use of detergent or soap before disinfection is highly advised.
• Use of disinfectant even when using household material is very necessary.

Currently, there are various videos of making homemade disinfectant, but there have been a number of cases where the disinfectant or the sanitizers made in the home itself has caused burns, we advise you not to use sanitizers before touching any form of flame, or to be more precise, not to make any homemade sanitizers or disinfectant as the alcohol content in the homemade ones might be high and cause burns in various cases.

The self-quarantine all over the world has been going on for a while now, we advise you to follow those rules, stay home and stay safe, not only for yourself but also for the community and especially for you loved ones. #STAYHOME #STAYSAFE