There is a proverb when it rains it pours, something similar happened in 2019 followed by 2020. The world was recently facing issues with their individual governments and some countries were under attack. It seems that wasn’t enough, a virus that originated in Wuhan, China took a horrifying shape; finally being declared as a pandemic on 11th March by the World Health Organisation. From raising a united revolt against the government to socially distancing each other was definitely an amazing turn of events. 

Irrespective of the government institutions being silent, the Coronavirus Outbreak makes us anxious, alerting us to stay clean. We are a technology-driven company, but it is our duty to acknowledge the need of the hour, to educate and promote this issue of great importance. Even though you decide to stay in quarantine,  you must know about the safety measures. So, we at Vyrazu Labs want you to stay safe and guard yourself against growing pandemic. 

What is coronavirus and COVID 19?

You may be aware of the coronavirus outbreak, its symptoms, the after effects or how the assumption of it being animal ridden was stricken off. However, you should understand that the coronavirus outbreak is a large family of viruses that can not be cured with antibiotics rather cause treatment prevention. Corona is responsible for causing respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS), as per WHO. COVID 19(Co- Corona; Vi- Virus; D-Disease; 2019) is the newfound infectious disease that first broke out in China. 

As this disease is new research is ongoing for a treatment that can help say goodbye to this disease. Current medicine has shown no signs of cure, however, clinical trials are going on that include both traditional and western medicine. There is no vaccine, drug or treatment for COVID 19 while this matter is still under investigation. If you feel uneasy seek medical help, without self-treating yourself. Don’t take medicines on your own, only take medicines that are being prescribed to you by the doctors. If you want to check how many places have been affected you can refer to this world map.    

The emergence of COVID 19 or Coronavirus Outbreak

COVID 19 is caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, measles virus being most contagious among them all. This kind of virus is common in people and different species of animals, including cats, camels, bats, and cattle. Animal coronavirus can infest people rarely, which then spreads among people such as SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and now the new virus SARS-CoV-2. These can be called the beta coronavirus, all the three viruses originate in bats. The US patients reported a similar emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir. 

Eventually, when the pandemic emerged in Wuhan, China, the affected people were exposed to seafood and live animal markets, which suggested animal-to-human spread. Later, when others started showing symptoms or got affected were not exposed to animal markets, that indicated person-to-person spread throughout China and the United States. Recently many countries are exposed to community spread that is affecting the global population steadily. Even though the casualties are not abnormal, a constant fear roots in our minds. Find out how quickly the virus spread and if we socially distance each other we can increase our survival chances.   

Symptoms of COVID 19 

The common COVID 19 effects are tiredness, fever, and dry cough. However, some patients can have pains and aches, running nose, nasal congestion, diarrhea or sore throat. These symptoms are generally mild and start appearing gradually. Some cases have also been reported where infected people do not develop symptoms and don’t feel unwell. Maximum people (about 80%) get recovered from this disease without any special treatment. 

If 6 people get infected 1 among them is most likely to fall seriously ill and develop difficulty in breathing. People with underlying medical problems like heart problems, high blood pressure, or diabetes and older people are more likely to get affected. Those who have fever, cough and/or difficulty breathing must seek medical attention. If you want to contact in case of a medical emergency this list of numbers will help the Indian Residents seek help.    

The severity of Coronavirus Outbreak

The entire clinical image of COVID- 19 effect is yet to be discovered. The COVID-19 reports have ranged from very mild (that includes some with no symptoms) to severe, including illness resulting in death. The information that so far suggests that most COVID-19 cases are mild, a report generated from China shows 16% of casualties with serious illness. 

People of all ages with severe chronic medical conditions and older people seem to be at a higher risk of developing serious COVID-19 illness. A CDC Weekly report of Morbidity and mortality generated a report on the severity of this disease among COVID-19 cases in the United States. This report found that 80% of deaths were among adults 65 years and older with the highest percentage of occurrence in people who are 85 years and older. 

Measuring the High Risks of Coronavirus Outbreak

The risk depends on the characteristics of the virus, that includes the spread of it among people; the severity of the illness caused, and the medical and other measures available to control the impact of the virus (such as medications or vaccines that will be used to treat them) and the success of these measures. The absence of vaccine or treatment medications highlights the importance of non pharmaceutical techniques to avoid the virus. Following these strategies, you can reduce the impact of the virus in a community. 

Risk of exposure:

• The immediate risk of being exposed to this virus is still low, but as the outbreak expands, that risk will increase. Cases of COVID-19 effects and instances of community spread are being reported in a growing number of states.
• People in places where ongoing community spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been reported are at elevated risk of exposure, with the level of risk depending on the location.
• Healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19 are at elevated risk of exposure.
• Close contacts of persons with COVID-19 also are at elevated risk of exposure.
• Travelers returning from affected international locations where community spread is occurring also are at elevated risk of exposure, with the level of risk depending on where they traveled.

Risk of Severe Illness:

Early information out of China, where COVID-19 first started, shows that some people are at higher risk of getting very sick from this illness. This includes:

• Older adults, with risk increasing by age.
• People who have serious chronic medical conditions like:

• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• Lung disease

CDC has developed guidance to help in the risk assessment and management of people with potential exposures to COVID-19.

How technology is helping to soothe the Coronavirus Outbreak

The Chinese are working with tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent for developing technology that is detecting the disease. Today as the news read there was no new COVID-19 effects report in China, this might be because they are using technology to aid their operations. 

Color Coding

• Introducing the color code red, yellow and green to denote the health condition of a person. 
• This app has a QR code that changes color and has to be scanned by the citizen to use public transports like metros. 
• This technology was made taking help from Alibaba and Tencent- a health rating system that tracks people’s health on a daily basis.    
  

Robots

• Robotics is being used for spraying disinfectants and cleaning. 
• Vending rice and giving out hand sanitizers, robots are on the frontline to battle with COVID- 19. 
• In a few hospitals, robots are also conducting diagnosis and thermal imaging. Medical samples are being transported by robots. 
• A Robot called Little Peanut is delivering food to passengers who were on flights and are being quarantined.

Drones

• The drones are flying above China with QR code placards that scan and register their health information. 
• The drones are supplying patients with samples and medical equipment.
• While some of the drones have been dispatched to spray disinfectants in the countryside for the crops being grown.
• The drones with facial recognition are being used to broadcast a warning to the citizens to not go out of their homes and rebuke them to wear facemasks.  

Facial Recognition and Big Data

• A dashboard is continuously monitoring the virus these dashboards are being created by organizations using big data. 
• Face recognition and infrared temperature detection techniques have been installed in big cities.
• Companies are working to make these technologies even smarter by using modern technology to detect people’s faces even though they are wearing face masks. 
• Smartphones are being used to track people’s movements and whether they have been in contact with an infected person. 
• CCTV cameras have been installed to monitor the people who have been quarantined.

Artificial Intelligence

• Baidu, the Chinese internet giant has made its leaner fold algorithm available for those fighting the outbreak, reports MIT Technological Review. This algorithm helps predict the structure of a virus.
• Baidu has developed an infrared system that detects the changing body temperature, this device detects almost 200 people without disrupting the passenger flow.

Autonomous Vehicles

• The autonomous vehicles are being used to deliver medicines and food items.
• The microcar kits and autonomous driving by Baidu has been made free for organizations fighting this virus.

Healthcare Processes

• A blockchain platform has been offered by ANt Financial that helps speed up processes and reduces the face-to-face contact between patients and doctors.
• Sonovia develops face masks with anti-pathogen, anti-bacterial fabric that is supported by metal-oxide nanoparticles.

Drug Development

• Google’s DeepMind divisions used it’s latest AI algorithms to understand the proteins that might make up the virus, and published what they found to help researchers. 
• BenevolentAI uses its AI to build the strongest drugs to fight any given diseases, now they are focusing on defeating the coronavirus outbreak.

Chatbots

• WeChat by Tencent can be accessed by people freely for online health consultation services. 
• The travel and tourism industry is using chatbots to inform travelers about the latest travel procedures and disruptions.

Supercomputers

• Cloud computing services and supercomputers are working to develop a vaccine for the virus to speed the process.
• These technologies run calculations and create solutions much faster than standard computer processing.

India’s Combat Against Coronavirus Outbreak

Unlike the other terrains India had taken the world by surprise as the coronavirus outbreak did not affect India tremendously. In the beginning, when India received the news the India government became highly cautious. Both the Central and the State government took steps in the very early stages, thanks to the government that coronavirus in India is not spreading like it did in China, America, Italy, and the UK.

The recent Indian graph said there are 200 cases and 5 deaths in total on 20th March, 2020. India’s statistics in this pandemic has to be controlled, so yesterday PM Modi gave his speech on how we can control or avoid the inevitable.

He said that we need to take care of ourselves and find a resolve to this condition by staying clean and keeping ourselves isolated for a few weeks. He requested all the citizens to leave their normal lives for a while and stay home. On Sunday i.e. 22nd March 2020 he announced a Janta Curfew from 7am to 9pm.

He has requested all the citizens to stay at home. He has also said that for a couple of weeks all the citizens of India must maintain the Janta Curfew and stay away from social gatherings.  In his speech he has also asked the citizens to come out on their balconies, or terraces to appreciate the hard work that the media, media representatives, and delivery persons are doing.

Here is the list of measures that Indian Government took to prevent coronavirus outbreak from mass encounter-

1. All the government bodies announced to close down schools first.
2. All the cinema halls, and community stores were being closed. 
3. The government ordered the offices to give out hand sanitizers.
4. Later the government asked the offices to give out a work from home order
5. The offices were allowed to invoke some rules while the work from home order dispatched. 
6. The citizens have been requested to stay clean stop social gatherings
7. Everyone has been requested to follow the rules and regulations that have been directed to us by WHO.
8. The Government wants Indian citizen to stay safe not get affected themselves and keep other safe as well
9. As a citizen we must spread social awareness using our smartphones and stop spreading rumors that will tense the people.

What are the dos and don’ts that you must commit to?

Do’s of Coronavirus–

1. Practice Social Distancing
2. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or keep them sanitized.
3. Help people who need your help with proper face masks
4. Stay clean and keep your surroundings clean

Don’ts of Coronavirus

1. Don’t smoke
2. Don’t wear multiple masks
3. Don’t take antibiotic medication on your own
4. Don’t touch anything that you don’t need to touch like rails, benches, etc.

These are very simple rules that you must follow so that you are not affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak. At this time you can watch movies, TV series, search out your creative side, and do a lot of things that will keep you entertained. The best thing about technology is that you will be able to video chat and text your friends if you are missing them. Well, we have finally got the time to explore ourselves lets stay healthy and utilize it to the fullest.

How can we contribute to this pandemic

There are different ways you can contribute to this pandemic.

1. Educate people who are not tech-savvy or still are unaware of this information.
2. Don’t treat animals ill as they are not responsible for transmitting the virus
3. Stay indoors as much as you can
4. Let your work be directed from home so that you don’t have to touch foreign objects.
5. Keep your children clean and don’t let them put their hands in their mouths, nose, and eyes.
6. Stay informed about this pandemic so that you can act accordingly.
7. Don’t get anxious, stay calm and informed.
8. Make sure this is not affecting your mental health, find something that will keep you engaged. 
9. Keep your house clean and the surroundings cleaner.
10. Don’t spread rumors that will trigger people.

Conclusion

I hope that this article on coronavirus helped you to understand the recent updates and how technology is in the frontline for defeating this pandemic. If this article helped you please share it with your friends and family. If you have any questions on what technology will help you leave a comment for the same leave a feedback if you have confusions. 

If you want to develop one such technology that will help humankind contact us right now, with your unique ideas. Being one of the leading software development companies we will be able to develop any complex software. In the end stay safe-keep your family and friends safe, don’t visit anybody and keep away from germs. See you in the next blog.