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Multifaceted Coronavirus Narrative Raises Multiple Questions

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Last night, amid the national lockdown, many people followed Prime Minister Modi’s video message, broadcasted on April 03 at 9 am for all, ‘to challenge the darkness of Coronavirus together – with a Diya, candle, torch or flashlight, at 9 pm for 9 minutes, from their respective balconies.’ That was the 12th day of 21-day lockdown, when the deadly microbe – Covid19 infected, tested and detected cases climbed to 3,577 in the country, with the death toll rising to 83. This is against 564 - the total number of confirmed cases in India when the lockdown commenced on March 24, 2020.

With all this, a mind-boggling narrative is developing at an accelerating pace. It’s not just about the rogue microbe – rampaging the world hunting for its prey. But also pans over multiple dimensions of its fallout, impacting virtually everything, for all. People of all sections of the society are participating, deliberating or debating on this issue, as the invisible camera of destiny rolls on. Unprecedented!

That’s the real world where, despite fear of an unknown future, most people prefer freedom of expression while playing a constructive role in containing the menace, collectively. We are witnessing a similar scenario – the world over. But, more in the democratic nations. Relatively enlightened citizens will always want to participate in this emerging chronicle, shaping the overall narrative and help sharpening the nations Covid19 policy further – instead of being passive onlookers.

Meanwhile, the objective of maintaining physical distancing during 21-day national lockdown period and beyond must be achieved, regardless of any public discord on its mechanics. This has to happen, primarily because of the TINA factor. Likewise, it’s also a prerequisite that the lockdown is handled efficiently, with meticulous advance planning, deft and dignified handling of any situation, by all and for all. That said, the good news is, newer scientific, evidence-based data are revealing more actionable pathways, in this multifaceted narrative.

A multifaceted narrative raises multiple questions:

As I wrote above, Covid19 narrative is multifaceted and not just one dimensional. It’s true beyond doubt: ‘If there is life, there is the world.’ But, that has to be a life with dignity, a life that help protect families and facilitates contributing to the nation, in different ways – enabling a scope of fulfillment of all.

In this article, I shall, explore some important facets of the evolving narrative on the Covid19 outbreak to drive home this point. In that process some very valid questions, as raised by many, also deserve to be addressed. Some of these include:

  • Covid19 is a war like situation where no questions are asked about the strategic details of a warfare, why the same is not being followed today? In a war some collateral damages are inevitable, why so much of noises now?
  • Why has Covid19 created a general panic with stigma attached to it?  
  • Panic is avoidable, but is the threat real. If so, why?
  • Why people violating national lockdown by migrating from the job location to respective hometowns – increasing the risk of the disease spread, must be brought to their senses mostly through the harsh measures?
  • In the absence of any vaccine or an effective curative drug, why all decisions of policymakers must be blindly accepted by all, during national lockdown and maybe beyond, as if there is ‘not to reason why, but to do or die?’

Let me now explore each of these questions.

A war like situation?

No doubt Covid19 is a war like situation, but with some striking dissimilarities between a conventional war and this war. A conventional war is fought by a well-trained and well-armed defense forces with already developed a gamut, against a known and visible enemy nation.

Whereas, the war against Covid19 is against an invisible and unknown microbe’s sudden attack, being fought in India by a limited army of health care professionals and workers. They fight this war, mostly without adequate or no battle gear, like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), testing kits and ventilators, supported by a fragile health care infrastructure.

Moreover, in the conventional warfare, the type of advance information and intelligence that the Governments usually possess against the enemy nations, can’t be matched by any private domain experts.

Whereas, Covid 19 still being a lesser known entity to medical scientists, as on date, the remedial measures are still evolving. Only scientific-evidence-based data can create actionable pathways for combat, spearheaded by the W.H.O. Thus, most people expect the nation to comply with, at least, the current W.H.O guidelines for health-safety of the population.

Further, in the cyberspace, several latest and highly credible research data are available for all. These are being well-covered by the global media as a part of the narrative. Thus, unlike conventional warfare, external experts may know as much, if not even more than the Government on Covid19.

Some avoidable show-stoppers:

There are several such avoidable show-stoppers. For example, when one reads news like, ‘Delhi Government Hospital Shut As Doctor Tests Positive For Coronavirus,’ or something like, ‘Indian doctors fight Coronavirus with raincoats, helmets amid lack of equipment,’ alongside a jaw-dropping one, ‘India Sends COVID-19 Protective Gear To Serbia Amid Huge Shortage At Home,’ chaos in the narrative takes place.

In the tough fight against Covid19 menace, these much avoidable fallout may be construed as show-stoppers, if not counterproductive. Many may advocate to pass a gag order against revelation of such difficult to understand developments, and keep those beyond any public discussion. Instead, why not order a transparent enquiry by independent experts to find facts – holding concerned people accountable?

Why has the disease created so much of panic with stigma attached to it?

This is intriguing because, according to the W.H.O – China Joint Mission report on COVID-19, around 80 percent of the 55924 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in China, had mild-to-moderate disease. This includes both non- pneumonia and pneumonia cases. While 13·8 percent developed severe disease, and 6·1 percent developed to a critical stage requiring intensive care.

Moreover, The Lancet paper of March 30, 2020 also highlighted, in all laboratory confirmed and clinically diagnosed cases from mainland China estimated case fatality ratio was of 3·67 percent. However, after demographic adjustment and under-ascertainment, the best estimate of the case fatality ratio in China was found to be of 1·38 percent, with substantially higher ratios in older age groups – 0·32 percent in those aged below 60 years versus 6·4 percent in those aged 60 years or more, up to 13·4 percent in those aged 80 years or older. Estimates of the case fatality ratio from international cases stratified by age were consistent with those from China, the paper underscored.

Even the Health Minister of India has emphasized, ‘around 80-85 percent of cases are likely to be mild.’ He also acknowledged: “My biggest challenge is to ensure that affected people are treated with compassion, and not stigmatized. This is also applicable for the health care workforce, which is working hard to counter this epidemic. It is through concerted, community-owned efforts, supported by the policies put in place by the government that we can contain this disease.” This subject, surely, needs to be debated by all, and effectively resolved.

Panic is avoidable, but does a real threat exist with Covid19?

As The Lancet paper of March 30, 2020 cautions by saying - although the case fatality ratio for COVID-19 is lower than some of the crude estimates made so far, with its rapid geographical spread observed to date, ‘COVID-19 represents a major global health threat in the coming weeks and months. Our estimate of the proportion of infected individuals requiring hospitalization, when combined with likely infection attack rates (around 50–80 percent), show that even the most advanced healthcare systems are likely to be overwhelmed. These estimates are therefore crucial to enable countries around the world to best prepare as the global pandemic continues to unfold.’ This facet of Covid19 also requires to be a part of the evolving narrative to mitigate the threat, collectively, with a robust and well thought out Plan A, Plan B, Plan C….

Violation of lockdown increases the risk manifold, but… 

There isn’t a shade of doubt even on this count, in any responsible citizen. Besides individual violation, recently a huge exodus of migrant laborer’s ignoring the lockdown raised the level of risk for others. This exodus should have been stopped at the very start, by better planning and with empathy and dignity by the law enforcing authorities, as many believe. Curiously, even the current Chief Justice of India (CJI) commented, on March 30, 2020: “The fear and the panic over the Coronavirus pandemic is bigger that the virus itself,” during a hearing on the exodus of migrant laborers from workplace to their respective hometowns, due to Covid19 lockdown.

To mitigate the risk, the CJI advised the Government to ensure calming down ‘the fear of migrants about their future, after being abruptly left without jobs or homes because of the 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.’ The Court felt, ‘the panic will destroy more lives than the virus.’ Thus, the Government should “ensure trained counsellors and community leaders of all faiths visit relief camps and prevent panic.”

The CJI also directed the Government to take care of food, shelter, nourishment and medical aid of the migrants who have been stopped. This appears to be the desirable pathway of preventing the migrant exodus, causing greater risk to people, requiring better planning, deft situation management with empathy and dignity, by the law enforcing authorities. However, individual violations, if any, can be addressed by intimately involving the civil society, against any possibility of the disease spread.

Whatever decision the policy makers take, must be blindly accepted by all:

In this area, all must first follow what the Government expects us to do. Maintaining strict compliance with such requirements. But, some people do ask, is it in total conformance with the steps W.H.O recommends following? At the March 30, 2020 issue of the Financial Times reported, the W.H.O’s health emergency program has outlined four factors that might contribute to the differing mortality rates in Covid19 outbreak:

  • Who becomes infected?
  • What stage the epidemic has reached in a country?
  • How much testing a country is doing?
  • How well different health care systems are coping?

Many members of the civil society are also keen to know these facts, and may want to seek clarification, if a gap exists anywhere. After all, Covid19 outbreak has brought to the fore, an unprecedented future uncertainty of unknown duration, involving not just life, but a sustainable livelihood and a dignified living in the future, for a very large global population, including India.

Conclusion:

There seems to be a dose of chaos in an otherwise reasonably controlled scenario. One option of looking at it as a pure law and order issue, which needs to be brought to order only with a heavy hand. The second option is to accept it as a golden opportunity to take all on board, by clearly explaining what people want to know – with reasons, patience, persuasion, empathy and compassion, as is happening in many countries.  Of course, without compromising on the urgency of the situation. This is a challenging task, but a sustainable one. Overcoming it successfully, will possibly be the acid test of true leadership, at all levels. However, the slowly unfolding narrative on the ground, doesn’t appear to be quite in sync with the second option.

In the largest democracy of the world, people want to get involved in a meaningful discussion on Covid19 crisis, collectively – based on evidence-based scientific data. Then, it’s up to the policy makers to decide what is right for the country and in which way to go. In tandem, fast evolving, multifaceted Coronavirus narrative, I reckon, will keep raising multiple questions.

As the disease spreads, the pathways of combating it decisively, is being charted by different experts, led by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is being widely covered by the mainstream global media, even in the din of a cacophony. Nonetheless, it is generally believed that a true relief will come, only after a vaccine is developed and made available and accessible to all sections of the world. Till such time a ‘hide and seek’ game, as it were, is expected to continue.

By: Tapan J. Ray  

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

 

What A New Microbe Can Man Can’t?

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Our world is indeed so fascinating, where mankind is in possession of a predictable lethal power to annihilate fellow citizens of any country or countries – just in minutes or hours or days, as it would decide. Whereas, any sudden attack of an unpredictable crippling power of unknown microbes, can make the same mankind feel helpless – grappling to save lives of the citizens – along with its socioeconomic fabric.

Because of the sudden nature of such crippling attacks, mankind is put to fight against time to build a new arsenal of medicines and vaccines – while defending itself under an umbrella of preventive measures. It’s not that such a situation was never envisaged. On the contrary, as we shall see below, the warning from the same came from several credible sources. Even Bill Gates during a TED Talk five years ago had warned: “If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war – not missiles, but microbes.”

A few years later, the 2018 publication of the World Health Organization (WHO) – ‘Managing epidemics,’ articulated a similar cautionary note, which I am quoting in verbatim: “We are continuously learning about the unpredictable powers of nature. This is nowhere more true than in the continuous evolution of new infectious threats to human health that emerge – often without warning – from the natural environment.” Elaborating the point, it further cautioned: “Given the effects of globalization, the intense mobility of human populations, and the relentless urbanization, it is likely that the next emerging virus will also spread fast and far. It is impossible to predict the nature of this virus or its source, or where it will start spreading.”

Ironically, in about a year’s time, by end 2019, a new Coronavirus broke out in Wuhan of China. From January to March 22, 2020, 13,569 people, reportedly, died globally due to Coronavirus (Covid 19) infection. In India, as I write as I write during 14 hours long public curfew, 341 confirmed cases and 6 deaths have been reported. This outbreak has now shaken, almost the entire world – more than even before. The reverberation of the life-shattering impact of the disease, is now being felt and heard across all the facets of human life, including social, economic and political. Thus, the broad point to ponder in this article: Why the mankind can’t do what a new microbe can?

Various elements to it:

There are various elements of the above broad issue. A comprehensive response to which would involve, at least, two critical sub-questions:

  • Was it avoidable? If so, to what extent?
  • Or, at least, could its overall impact have been blunted?

Moving in that direction, let me try to explore some important facts that may help taking an unknown microbe bull by the horn, if such calamity strikes again – unannounced, in future.

None of these facts were unknown:

As we have seen above, the possibility of emergence and a sudden crippling strike of a new microbe was not unknown, including the warning of a global crisis from the W.H.O.  Besides, ‘nearly 50,000 men, women and children are dying every day from infectious diseases; many of these diseases could be prevented or cured for as little as a single dollar per head.’

Another interesting report: ‘Global rise in human infectious disease outbreaks,’ published in the Journal of the Royal Society interface on December 06, 2014, presents more facts. It says: Since 1980, over the last 30 years till 2014, outbreaks of infectious disease mostly caused by bacteria and viruses are steadily increasing with different health impact in different countries.

Several reasons for the high death rate related to infectious disease:

Several reasons could be attributed to high death rates for infectious disease, despite the availability of a large number of powerful antibiotics in the world, which include the following:

  • Developing nations with lesser access to drugs.
  • Fast development of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) owing to misuse and abuse of antibiotics.
  • Emergence of new bacteria and viruses, such as, Covid19 catching the population off-guard, as is being warned by top experts, from time to time.

Several times in the past, I wrote on the subjects of access to medicine, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), as well as the recent Coronavirus outbreak. Nevertheless, for this specific discussion, I shall focus only on the second and the third points, in the reverse order, with a different perspective.

Fresh threats of new infections are ongoing:

As the 2018 paper of ‘Managing epidemics’, published by the World Health Organization (WHO) had articulated – besides new microbial pandemics, the history of previous viral outbreaks can also possibly repeat themselves. That means: ‘A new HIV, a new Ebola, a new plague, a new influenza pandemic are not mere probabilities. Whether transmitted by mosquitoes, other insects, contact with animals or person-to-person, the only major uncertainty is when they, or something equally lethal, will arrive.’

As these being ‘newer’ types – just as Covid19 is so different from commonly occurring Flu - in all probability would be unique viruses with unique characteristics. For example, as the W.H.O describes, while Seasonal Flu cannot be stopped, countries still have the chance to limit cases of Covid19, through stringent implementation of scientific protocols. More, importantly, Covid-19 seems to lead to much more severe disease than Seasonal Flu strains.

Effective solution of both – the new and the new forms of known viruses, would require successfully navigating through tough challenges, involving multiple areas, such as, medical, technological, social, economic and political. No doubt, the world has progressed a lot in this area. But, effective ‘capacity building’ to combat the sudden onslaught of any deadly microbial pandemic, still remains an unfinished agenda.

The world has moved a lot, but still needs to accelerate capacity building:

Just in 2018, the world remembered the devastating Great Flu pandemic of 1918 on its 100th anniversary. Although, it lasted only a few months, claimed 50 million to 100 million lives worldwide. The book - ‘Influenza: The Hundred Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History,’ provided a glimpse of that scenario. Interestingly, Flu still kills about 1 percent of those infected by this virus. Whereas, about 3.4 percent of Covid-19 cases have been fatal, as on date, according to the W.H.O.

A comparison of these two pandemics will include both the similarities and the differences. The most striking similarity being – in both the global pandemics, most people are just not afraid, but are also getting panicked.

Whereas, the key differences between the two episodes are – the quality health care infrastructure in today’s globalized world, speed of diagnosis and the versatility of available drugs – even for ‘repurposing’, as being done in the present situation. Now, many people understand the need of putting the exposed persons in isolation – or under quarantine, besides co-operating with various infection control measures, as prescribed by the health authorities. In the midst of this crisis, an ongoing and very related critical issue remains virtually ignored - fast developing AMR, as I mentioned above.

Fast developing AMR continues taking many lives:

In this article, instead of dwelling on the cause of AMR and how to address it, I would rather focus on the current threats that AMR poses and will pose in the future, if not addressed on a war footing, collectively.

The latest details in this area are available from the paper – ‘The Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark 2020’, published by the Access to Medicine Foundation. It emphasized that infectious diseases are still the cause of “more than 500,000 deaths each year, including more than 200,000 infant deaths. In India, for example, resistance exceeds 70 percent for many widespread bacteria.” As I mentioned in one of my previous articles that the 2017 Review Article, titled ‘Antimicrobial resistance: the next BIG pandemic,’ has termed India as ‘the AMR capital of the world.’ Even a 2020 news report says: Two million deaths are projected to occur in India due to AMR by the year 2050.

The current status:

The following two reports of WHO, published in January 2020, unfolded some interesting facts:

The analysis demonstrated, although, many drug companies are making enough investments to discover and develop innovative medicines, anti-infective therapy area does not feature there for most companies. As the reports unraveled:

  • Not just a declining trend of investment, even the current clinical pipeline remains insufficient to tackle the challenge of AMR.
  • With large drug companies continuing to exit the field, primarily due to commercial considerations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are entering this space, but not with as much resources and other wherewithal.
  • All the eight new antibacterial agents, approved since July 01, 2017, offer limited clinical benefits.
  • One new anti-TB agent, pretomanid, developed by a not-for-profit organization, has been approved for use within a set drug-combination treatment for MDR TB.
  • The current clinical pipeline contains 50 antibiotics and combinations and 10 biologicals. Six of these agents fulfil at least one of the innovation criteria; only two of these are active against the critical MDR Gram-negative bacteria, with a major gap in activity against metallo-β- lactamase (MBL) producers.

As the AMR situation is getting worse, globally, unlike any possible repetition of a new microbial attack in the future, AMR isn’t a future problem. It needs to be addressed here and now. Fixing the problem does not require a scientific miracle. It demands a very human solution, spearheaded by the R&D based drug companies, the academia and the Governments, collectively. The reasons of why it is not happening - is known to many, but how to chart an effective pathway for its meaningful resolution – possibly isn’t. The signal today is loud and clear that infectious diseases are reemerging and threatening human lives – be it due to AMR or a sudden attack by a new microbe such as Covid19.

Conclusion:

It is loud and clear that infectious diseases will continue to reemerge in various shapes, forms and virulence – having the incredible power of shaking the world, including the most powerful and developed nations, as we all are experiencing today. As and when Covid19 pandemic gets over, and it will, learning from the past situation and picking up the global best practices to combat and decisively win over any such future crisis, will be critical. But, this is easier said than done – going by the past.

All concerned can feel it today, without any shade of doubt. There is no room for complacency in this regard, for anyone, regardless of having the best of health care infrastructure, diagnosing facilities, state of the art treatments of all types, including vaccines, for a wide range of number of life-threatening conditions.

As the W.H.O said, ‘The microbes didn’t go away. They just went out of sight. Instead, the focus turned to chronic, noncommunicable diseases, which came to receive much more attention. But nature was by no means in retreat. In fact, it seemed to return and took many health institutions and decision makers by surprise.’

It’s, therefore, high time for all to read the writing on the wall. A time to accept and realize that, when it comes to an unpredictable, crippling power of bringing the entire world to virtually a grinding halt – making even the most powerful nations feel helpless and highly vulnerable – what a new lethal microbe can do in one go, even the most developed and the powerful nation can’t. An all-time preparedness against biological threats, therefore, has emerged as a new normal.

By: Tapan J. Ray  

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.