Won't be long before we see a community spread in Mumbai, say experts

A medic sprays disinfectant on a colleague as they prepare to transfer COVID-19 patients from Wuhan No. 5 Hospital on Tuesday. Pic/AFP

A full house at a seminar, 'Combatting Coronavirus,' organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) at the Trident hotel, Nariman Point, on Tuesday afternoon, saw a multi-pronged thrust - a look at China and Wuhan (the city in Hubei province) as the epicentre of the disease, a global approach to blunt the biological disaster - that finally narrowed down to a focus on India.

Participants and audience members warned it may not be long before we see a community spread of the virus here, and need measures to combat it.

Dhaval Desai, vice president ORF, started by stating, "The positive is that the number of new cases outside Hubei province in China are decreasing. The downside is that cases outside, in other countries, are increasing. This is seriously detrimental to the global economy given the centrality of China's position in the world today and the ramifications and repercussions are bound to be huge when China's industrial output is affected." Desai added, "global indices have fallen by more than 10 per cent."

Visitors wear protective masks in the wake of the deadly novel Coronavirus, at Government Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. Pic/PTI

Chinese initiatives
Tang Guocai, Consul General, Consulate General of China in Mumbai, started by stressing on the "great sacrifice made by my country in the fight against the virus. A megacity, like Mumbai, Wuhan, has been in quarantine and lockdown for days. It is not just small areas but an entire city in quarantine. One also has to commend great transparency shown by China and the responsibility taken by the nation in this fight." He added, "in this they have set an example of tackling all kinds of trans-border challenges."

While the economic outlook is gloomy, he said, "The larger perspective is that the pillars of China's economy are sound and stable. For instance, though Wuhan is in lockdown, the internal delivery system there is robust. Innovation has ensured e-businesses like Alibaba for instance are still doing well. Now we see there is concern in India too, but similarly we see great dynamism in India with reference to the economy. We should be confident that we will come out stronger."

Still on the India-China connect, he spoke about letters of support for China, from many political leaders in India. "We have also received a letter from actor Aamir Khan who is much loved in China. Today is Tuesday and the USA calls it super Tuesday. Since the world is trying to make everything super, we, both India and China are super populations, we have to approach this in the spirit of a global village. We should be proud of our super responsibility," Guocai finished.

Information Commissioner of Maharashtra Sumit Mullick urged people to keep a sense of perspective about Coronavirus, "which is a global citizen, it does not respect borders." He also said that it has "put the focus on public health systems, everywhere." He also had a doff of the hat for China, "where a city of 11 million people is on lockdown. It sets a new benchmark, it is called cordon sanitaire Wuhan. It may not work in Mumbai, it worked in China because of the discipline and control," finished Mullick.

Panel points
A panel discussion with doctors and experts and an interactive session highlighted Mumbai's measures, from more screening at airports and isolation wards to self-declaration forms in aircraft which ask passengers to cite certain details about where they have travelled and if they are feeling sick, honestly. We need an, "alert population and alert clinicians which should be the frontline of this fight," said some. For all the accolades to China, some did say that the country stands accused of being late in revealing the Coronavirus threat. One expert though stated, "it may not be long before we see a community spread of the virus here." Speakers collectively rued the 'infodemic' about the virus, the misinformation being spread, a feeling of fear suffusing the society because of fake news on social media with some advocating, "those who spread panic and misinformation through social media must be dealt with by the law."

Six
No. of Coronavirus cases in India

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