Stay at Home, Maintain social distancing and let’s fight COVID -19 together
Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that can be mild, such as some cases of the common cold (among other possible causes, predominantly rhinoviruses), and others that can be lethal, such as SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. Symptoms in other species vary: in chickens, they cause an upper respiratory tract disease, while in cows and pigs they cause diarrhea. There are yet to be vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections.
Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching your face. The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette (for example, by coughing into a flexed elbow).
At this time, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments. WHO will continue to provide updated information as soon as clinical findings become available.
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared Corona an emergency of international concern to a pandemic on March 11. As ever, when the word “pandemic” starts appearing in headlines, people become fearful, and with fear come misinformation and rumors. Here are some fact checks.
Also to prevent this pandemic govt. has come up with various new innovative ideas there are many awareness campaigns that are being run and people are being educated about the preventive measures and importance of Social distancing at this time.
The Government of India has launched Aarogya Setu, a mobile application aimed to connect health services and we the people of India in our combined fight against COVID-19. The App will augment GoI’s initiatives in proactively reaching out to and informing the users about the potential risk of infection, best practices and relevant medical advisories pertaining to the containment of COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the outburst of Pandemic COVID 19 in Himachal govt. has also take many steps to contain this also all the health workers are working day and night to keep us and our families’ safe .
Here is list of a few steps that state govt. took to control COVID 19 and to maintain the supply of essential commodities at the time of lock down:
- State government has decided that the Social Security Pension to widows and disabled persons would be given at increased rate from April 01, 2020. As per the decision the pension would be increased from Rs. 850 to Rs. One thousand.
- State govt. has decided to extend the last date of depositing school fees by 30th April, 2020 without any late fee. Management of the concerned private schools would have to take appropriate decision/ action to intimate the parents of the students regarding this decision.
- State government has extended the offer to all the Medical Officer, faculty members and paramedical staff, who have retired or have been released from the Military and Paramilitary forces for appointment for the post of Medical Officer or paramedical staff. They should have the experience of working on equivalent or analogues post and possess prescribed minimum educational, professional qualifications and qualifying service for appointment to these posts.
- Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure that the supply chain of essential commodities in the State was maintained effectively so that there was no dearth of essential commodities in wake of Corona epidemic.
- National Food Security Act (NFSA) families in the state will be given the quota of food grains of April and May months in April on priority basis.
- To ensure that the people could purchase the essential commodities, the state government had yesterday decided to give six hours relaxation in curfew by maintaining proper social distancing, but it was felt that the people are misusing this relaxation and coming out un-necessarily thereby defeating the purpose of curfew. Now, the state government has decided to give three hours relaxation daily in the curfew so that people could purchase essential commodities nearer to their homes.
- State Government has decided to ensure availability of essential medicines to citizens facing difficulty in getting such medicines during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Disclosing this, requiring any particular medicine available in other parts of the state or even outside the state could register the requirement for the medicine on the helpline numbers 0177-2626076 and 0177-2626077 or toll free No. 1070. He said that efforts would be made to make the medicine available in the nearest available chemist shop of his location.
- State Govt.sanctioned rupees one crore (Rs. 50 lakhs from HP COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and Rs. 50 lakhs from State Disaster Response Fund) to Police Department for purchase of high risk Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and N-95 masks for police personnel of the State in the wake of pandemic COVID-19.
