Amidst the rising number of Covid-19 cases in India, there is a lot of fear and apprehension among people about the infection. The need of the hour is to stay positive. Even while checking a person for symptoms, it is important to look for the positive aspects such as sense of taste and smell, rather than only temperature. Kids should also be given the right information and not made to panic about the disease.

No need to panic, stays in the body for only nine days:

COVID-19 stays in the body for only nine days. By the time, one gets diagnosed with COVID; it’s the seventh day and, one needs to struggle for some days to remove it from the body. The recovery rate of people with the infection in India is high and even the direct fatality rate is low. The key is to remember that even in patients with co-morbidities, precaution and prevention must be the norm.

There are two phases of COVID-19 and it manifests in the temporary form (for the first 9 days) and persistent form (which takes about 3-4 weeks).

1. The first form is called the viral phase in which the infection can lead to loss of sense of smell and taste, pain in the ear, diarrhea, pneumonia, cough, fever, etc. After 9 days, the virus enters the non-replicative state and the damage can take about 3-4 months to recover.

2. In the second phase, it can cause diarrhea, gastritis, esophagitis, pharyngitis, and pneumonia or even recurrent loss of smell and taste which usually disappears in four weeks.

Maintain respiratory and hand hygiene:

It is very important to maintain respiratory hygiene. Do not cough on your hands or handkerchief. Either use a tissue paper or cough on your sleeve. Whoever has fever, cough and cold should maintain a distance of 1 metre or 3 feet from others. Hand hygiene is also a must. Moreover, if you are rubbing your eyes continuously, you may be suffering from computer vision syndrome, so use eye drops. If you are picking your nose again and again, you have an allergy and you must get yourself treated for it. Last but not the least, isolation does not mean jail but rather social distance of 3 feet, wearing a mask.

Some tips from HCFI

1. It is important to remember that if there is no fever or flu then it is not corona. If there is no breathlessness, then there is no oxygen requirement.

2. It is better to do a corona namaste or elbow touch rather than shaking hands.

3. Maintain social distance 1 meter from a person with cough and cold; wash hands (Remember the mnemonic SUMAN K – seedha ulta mutthi anghuta nakhun kalai) with soap and water or 70% alcohol sanitizer, disinfect surfaces, use surgical masks, if infected (symptoms

4. If you have fever with dry cough with or without breathlessness self- isolate (quarantine yourself at home), wear surgical mask, do frequent hand wash and call your doctor.

Padma Shri Awardee, Dr K K Aggarwal
President, HCFI and CMAAO, New Delhi

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