((The writer is President, CMAAO, HCFI and Past national President IMA))
COVID Medtalks: Test, test, test. Test every suspected case
WHO is calling on nations to carry out more tests for coronavirus as health officials say there has been a rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases over the past week. Testing, isolation and contact tracing are the backbone of the response
— By Dr KK Aggarwal
Test, test, test. Test every suspected case, if they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in contact with two days before they developed symptoms and test those people, too.
WHO is calling on nations to carry out more tests for coronavirus as health officials say there has been a rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases over the past week. Testing, isolation and contact tracing are the backbone of the response.
WHO says more cases and deaths have now been reported throughout the rest of the world than in China. WHO has shipped nearly 1.5 million coronavirus tests to 120 countries.
1. ICMR increases random testing for COVID-19 as cases rise: The exercise began on March 15: and each of the 51 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) laboratories is expected to test 10 such samples every week
2. In keeping with the demand for more testing, the Centre has decided to allow accredited private labs to test for Covid-19.
Make SARI notifiable
For early detection of Coronavirus spread can only be confirmed by making SARI or all viral pneumonias notifiable. A rising trend of SARI/Pneumonia cases will indicate possible COVID 19.
The criteria for reporting the cases are: 1) age above 15 years 2) fever 3) any respiratory symptoms — severe cough or shortness of breath 4) hospitalisaiton. If a patient meets the four criteria points, the case should be immediately reported.
Airborne precautions for medical staff after study shows coronavirus can survive in air
WHO is considering airborne precautions for medical staff after a new study showed the coronavirus can survive in the air in some settings. The coronavirus can go airborne, staying suspended in the air depending on factors such as heat and humidity.
The virus is transmitted through droplets, or little bits of liquid, mostly through sneezing or coughing. When you do an aerosol-generating procedure like in a medical care facility, you have the possibility to what we call aerosolize these particles, which means they can stay in the air a little bit longer. It’s very important that health-care workers take additional precautions when they’re working on patients and doing those procedures. Health officials recommend medical staff wear so-called N95 masks because they filter out about 95% of all liquid or airborne particles.
CDC proposes cancel all events for 50 plus population
The CDC said in its release that it “recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers (whether groups or individuals) cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States.” Events of any size should only be continued if they can be carried out with adherence to guidelines for protecting vulnerable populations, hand hygiene, and social distancing. When feasible, organizers could modify events to be virtual.
NIH clinical trial of investigational vaccine for COVID-19 begins
A Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine called mRNA 1273 designed to protect against COVID-19 has begun at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle. The open-label trial will enroll 45 healthy adult volunteers ages 18 to 55 years over approximately 6 weeks. The first participant received the investigational vaccine today. The investigational vaccine directs the body’s cells to express a virus protein that it is hoped will elicit a robust immune response. The mRNA-1273 vaccine has shown promise in animal models, and this is the first trial to examine it in humans.
Scientists at NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center (VRC) and Moderna were able to quickly develop mRNA-1273 because of prior studies of related coronaviruses that cause SARS and MERS. VRC and Moderna scientists already were working on an investigational MERS vaccine targeting the spike, which provided a head start for developing a vaccine candidate to protect against COVID-19. Once the genetic information of SARS-CoV-2 became available, the scientists quickly selected a sequence to express the stabilized spike protein of the virus in the existing mRNA platform.
Study participants will receive two doses of the vaccine via intramuscular injection in the upper arm approximately 28 days apart. Each participant will be assigned to receive a 25 microgram (mcg), 100 mcg or 250 mcg dose at both vaccinations, with 15 people in each dose cohort. The first four participants will receive one injection with the low dose, and the next four participants will receive the 100 mcg dose. Investigators will review safety data before vaccinating the remaining participants in the 25 and 100 mcg dose groups and before participants receive their second vaccinations. Another safety review will be done before participants are enrolled in the 250 mcg cohort.