scholarly journals Kumbh Mela Religious Gathering as a Massive Superspreading Event: Potential Culprit for the Exponential Surge of COVID-19 Cases in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 868-871
Author(s):  
Ian Christopher N. Rocha ◽  
Mary Grace A. Pelayo ◽  
Sudhan Rackimuthu

ABSTRACT. The Kumbh Mela is a significant religious gathering of millions of Hindu devotees in India. It is celebrated on certain auspicious days in the Hindu calendar and attracts millions of pilgrims across the country. Despite the religious intention of millions of Hindu devotees, it raised public health concerns as it became a massive superspreading event for COVID-19. Being the second most populous country, India became the second most affected country during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the arrival of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants and the presence of the double mutated variant, which was first identified in India, the Kumbh Mela probably aggravated the country’s COVID-19 situation which resulted in an uncontrollable second wave. Several cases of COVID-19 across India had been contact-traced to returnees from the event who acted as a nidus to help spread the infection. As a consequence, India’s healthcare system was severely challenged as a result of the overwhelming hospitalizations and increasing fatalities resulting in an acute manpower shortage in healthcare along with the depletion of drugs and medical supplies despite being one of the largest pharmaceutical hubs globally. Leaders and governments around the world should learn from India’s experience and thereby take preventive measures to manage potential superspreading events to curb the spike of COVID-19 cases.

Author(s):  
Prathiviraj R ◽  
P CHELLAPANDI ◽  
G. Seghal Kiran ◽  
Joseph Selvin

The second wave of COVID-19, which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is rapidly spreading over the world. The mechanism behind the escaping from current antivirals is still not clear, due to the occurrence of continuous variants in SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Brazil is the world’s second most COVID-19-affected country. In the present study, we identified the genomic and proteomic variants of Brazilian SARS-CoV-2 isolates. We identified 16 different genotypic variants were found among the 27 isolates. The genotypes of three isolates such as Bra/1236/2021 (G15), Bra/MASP2C844R2/2020 (G11), and Bra/RJ-DCVN5/2020 (G9) have a unique mutant in NSP4 (S184N), 2’O-Mutase (R216N), membrane protein (A2V) and Envelope protein (V5A). A mutation in RdRp of SARS-CoV-2, particularly the change of Pro to Leu at 323 resulted in the stabilization of the structure in BRA/CD1739-P4/2020. NSP4, NSP5 protein mutants are more virulent in Genotype 15 and 16. A fast protein folding rate changes the structural stability and leads to escape for current antivirals. Thus, our findings help researchers to develop the best potent antivirals based on the new mutant of Brazilian isolates.


Author(s):  
Kunal Parikh ◽  
Tanvi Makadia ◽  
Harshil Patel

Dengue is unquestionably one of the biggest health concerns in India and for many other developing countries. Unfortunately, many people have lost their lives because of it. Every year, approximately 390 million dengue infections occur around the world among which 500,000 people are seriously infected and 25,000 people have died annually. Many factors could cause dengue such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, inadequate public health, and many others. In this paper, we are proposing a method to perform predictive analytics on dengue’s dataset using KNN: a machine-learning algorithm. This analysis would help in the prediction of future cases and we could save the lives of many.


Author(s):  
Tatsuya Yoshihara ◽  
Kazuya Ito ◽  
Masayoshi Zaitsu ◽  
Eunhee Chung ◽  
Izumi Aoyagi ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a serious public health problem worldwide. In general, healthcare workers are considered to be at higher risk of COVID-19 infection. However, the prevalence of COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Japan is not well characterized. In this study, we aimed to examine the seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies among 2160 healthcare workers in hospitals and clinics that are not designated to treat COVID-19 patients in Japan. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G was 1.2% in August and October 2020 (during and after the second wave of the pandemic in Japan), which is relatively higher than that in the general population in Japan (0.03–0.91%). Because of the higher risk of COVID-19 infection, healthcare workers should be the top priority for further social support and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2.


2021 ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Donizete Tavares Da Silva ◽  
Priscila De Sousa Barros Lima ◽  
Renato Sampaio Mello Neto ◽  
Gustavo Magalhães Valente ◽  
Débora Dias Cabral ◽  
...  

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (1) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic and a threat to global public health (2). The virus mainly affects the lungs and can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In addition, coronavirus 2 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARSCOV2) also has devastating effects on other important organs, including the circulatory system, brain, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and liver


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Li ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Patrizia Agostinis ◽  
Arnold Rabson ◽  
Gerry Melino ◽  
...  

Abstract The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in December 2019. As similar cases rapidly emerged around the world1–3, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020 and pronounced the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 20204. The virus has reached almost all countries of the globe. As of June 3, 2020, the accumulated confirmed cases reached 6,479,405 with more than 383,013 deaths worldwide. The urgent and emergency care of COVID-19 patients calls for effective drugs, in addition to the beneficial effects of remdesivir5, to control the disease and halt the pandemic.


Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao-Ju Chen ◽  
Li-Ling Hsieh ◽  
Shu-Kai Lin ◽  
Chu-Feng Wang ◽  
Yi-Hui Huang ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the current uncontrolled outbreak of infectious disease, has caused significant challenges throughout the world. A reliable rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 is demanded worldwide. The real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain was one of the most quickly established methods in the novel viral pandemic and was considered as the gold standard for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this report, we illustrate our experience of applying a protocol from the Taiwan CDC and achieving assay optimization in the immediate circumstances to meet the urgent medical and public health needs.


Significance This comes amid partisan divides over how to handle the pandemic; particularly with state and federal elections nearing in November, voters’ views will increasingly influence how decisions are taken regarding any second wave. Impacts COVID-19 will disproportionately affect the health and economic wellbeing of minorities. Partisan views of the COVID-19 threat will affect how Democrats and Republicans hold conventions this year. Some states or localities might use public health concerns to try to engage in voter suppression. Partisan divides over COVID-19 are less likely to be as salient in state elections as federal.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 366-369
Author(s):  
Rooh Ullah ◽  
Muhammad Suleman Rana ◽  
Mehmood Qadir ◽  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Niaz Ahmed

Pandemic of novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in China is now become global public health crisis. At present 87.64% of the world is infected by this deadly illness. The risk from this epidemic depends on the nature of the virus, including how well it transmits from person to person, and the complications resulting from this current illness. The novel coronavirus has killed thousands of people in China and other countries as well; its rate of mortality is increasing day by day. There is an urgent need to control the virus by developing vaccine or any other antiviral drugs to save the world from this deadly viral infection.


Author(s):  
Mina Aghaei ◽  
Masud Yunesian

Although the vaccination has begun in many countries around the world, experts declare that there is a long way to go in coronavirus battle, and it will take a long time for the vaccine to have a significant effect.  Therefore many questions have arisen about “the necessity to keep taking health protocols” and “how long does it take for people to return to normal activities and reduce or even abandon health protocols after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine”. According to CDC (Centers for Disease Control and prevention) reports, significant immunity is expected to occur approximately 2 weeks after receiving the second dose of the vaccine, however getting the vaccine does not mean the end of public health and preventive measures, and all full vaccinated people need to keep taking all health protocols and precautions for the reasons discussed in this letter to editor.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 692-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed N. Al-Ahdal ◽  
Ahmed Ali Al-Qahtani ◽  
Salvatore Rubino

Although viruses that belong to the coronavirus family are known since the 1930s, they only gained public health attention when they were discovered to be the causative agent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in China in 2002–2003. On 22 September 2012, the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Saudi Arabia announced the detection of what was described as a “rare pattern” of coronavirus respiratory infection in three individuals, two Saudi citizens and one person from the Gulf Region. Neither Saudi citizen survived the infection. Molecular analysis of the isolates showed that the virus belongs to the genus beta-coronavirus. It is not known if the new isolates are circulating in the population or has recently diverged. The emergence of these novel isolates that resulted in fatal human infection ascertains that health authorities all over the world must be vigilant for the possibility of new global pandemics due to novel viral infection.


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