Daily Archives: April 1, 2020

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THE Queen is known as one of the hardier members of the royal family, having only cancelled royal engagements due to ill health on a handful of occasions.

And according to insiders Her Majesty may have alternative medicine to thank for her good health.

Read ourcoronavirus live blogfor the latest news & updates

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During overseas engagements the monarch would be accompanied by a small leather case with a bewildering supply of homeopathic remedies, according to the Daily Mails Richard Kay.

The case would include arsenicum album for food poisoning, cocculus for travel sickness, nux vomica for indigestion and arnica, for jet-lag and bruising.

And it seems as though the alternative medicine has served the monarch well as she has remained astonishingly resilient throughout her reign.

Apparently homeopathy runs in the family with her father George VI relying heavily on alternative medicine and naming a racehorse Hypericum after a remedy.

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The Queen mother, who lived to 101 was also said to be a fan of homeopathy.

On Wednesday it was confirmed their grandfather, Prince Charles, has tested positive for coronavirus.

A statement fromClarence House confirmed the heir apparent, aged 71, tested positive for Covid-19.

Meanwhile the Queen is "in good health" and isolating with Prince Philip after meeting Boris Johnson two weeks ago.

Buckingham Palace today said the 93-year-old monarch was well after thePM confirmed he had tested positive for the bug.

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DADDY ISSUESI love my partner to bits but I have a feeling he's not my daughter's dad

TO CATCH A CHEATFurious wife beats and strips her husband's suspected mistress in the street - but crowd does nothing

DOUBLE THREAT'World's most identical twins' claim they 'nearly died' of alcohol poisoning

TOO FAR?Comedian Katherine Ryan upsets fans after lying about having botched bum lift to promote TV show

'SUPERGRAN'Great-gran, 94, becomes 'oldest Brit to beat coronavirus' after 9-day battle

LEARNT HER LESSONMum calls for teachers to get 1m pay rise after homeschooling

In other royal news, we told you how Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis joined thousands to applaud the NHS last night.

And Kate Middleton's faveFrench designer has just released a capsule collection for a fraction of their usual cost.

Plus Kate Middleton's Mother's Day post on Instagram getsdouble the likes of Meghans Markle as fans praise her gorgeous photos.

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How the Queen relies on homeopathic remedies to keep her well during the coronavirus outbreak - The Scottish Sun

Federal regulators fired a shot across the bow of a host of telemarketing firms on Friday, warning them against propping up illegal robocalling scams seeking to cash in on the coronavirus pandemic.

Staff at the Federal Trade Commission have reason to believe that one or more of your customers may be involved in such illegal telemarketing campaigns, the FTC wrote in letters to nine call center companies dated March 27. Many of these robocalls prey upon consumer fear of the pandemic to perpetrate scams or disseminate disinformation.

Government agencies and private watchdog groups have tallied thousands of such robocalls, which attempt to bilk consumers with offers of discounted health insurance and free coronavirus testing kits. They represent one of several new targets of government-wide efforts to crack down on scammers using the virus outbreak to try to cash in.

There already is a high level of anxiety over the potential spread of coronavirus, FTC chairman Joe Simons said in a statement on Fridays warning letters. What we dont need in this situation are companies preying on consumers by promoting products with fraudulent prevention and treatment claims. These warning letters are just the first step. Were prepared to take enforcement actions against companies that continue to market this type of scam.

The Federal Communications Commission is also monitoring coronavirus-related telemarketing scams. Its even set up a website where visitors can listen to recordings of scam phone calls and find information on weeding out and reporting the scammers.

We are aware of and concerned by scam calls and texts trying to prey on consumers during this crisis, an FCC spokesperson told The Daily Beast last week. We hope consumers will use extreme caution and will refrain from providing any suspicious callers or texters with any personal or financial information. As we review consumer complaints about specific scam patterns, we will work to help consumers stay informed.

Archives of coronavirus-related robocalls set up by the FCC and privately run websites such as NoMoRobo and YouMail reveal some templates for the various scammers trying to capitalize on the outbreak. Many offer free coronavirus testing kits. Others hawk health insurance or various Medicare supplemental plans. Some even impersonate federal agencies themselvesDear citizen, this is United States Department of Health, one recorded caller says, if you wish to talk to a health advisor right now please press one.

Federal law allows the FTC to seek civil penalties against companies engaged in illegal robocalling, which includes any automated marketing calls that make a false or misleading statement to induce any person to pay for goods or services or to induce a charitable contribution.

The novel coronavirus has dominated headlines for weeks now, and fears about its spread provide fertile ground for scammers looking to market fake health care products. Nearly as concerning as overt efforts to extract money from unsuspecting consumers is the disinformation about the virus that these appeals often spread.

The FTC and the Food and Drug Administration have also gone after homeopathic medicine proponents and other natural wellness websites of late over false claims that their products can cure or mitigate the coronavirus. The agencies highest profile target to date is Jim Bakker, a televangelist who has promoted fabricated silver-based cures to the virus on his popular talk show.

The state of Missouri is now suing Bakker to prevent him from making such claims. A post on his website headlined Covid-19 Coronavirus, building immunity, staying healthy and the benefits of Silver Solution is no longer publicly accessible.

Others targeted in the federal governments crackdown on such misinformation have been more obstinate. After receiving a warning letter on March 6, the website Herbal Amy, a natural medicine website that had promoted various plant-based coronavirus remedies, removed the post flagged in the letter from its website. But two weeks after the letter was sent, Herbal Amys Facebook page doubled down on the underlying claims.

Cinchona [tree bark] is the only economically practical source of quinine, a drug that is still recommended for the treatment of malaria and now Coronavirus, the page read. If anyone tells you that herbs don't work, they are either ignorant to facts or lying.

Additional FTC action against other sources of such misinformation indicates that it hasnt slowed up since the commission went after Bakker, Herbal Amy, and five other companies earlier this month. Last week, the FTC sent two more warning letters to companies engaged in similar practices. One of them, corona-cure.com, appears to have removed its website entirely since receiving a warning letter on Thursday. Postings on another website, carahealth.com, claiming that the virus can be addressed through Chinese medicinal herb extracts remained publicly accessible on Sunday afternoon despite a warning letter also sent on Thursday.

Though few news consumers have likely come across sources of information as obscure as those, such misinformation is not confined to fringey alternative medicine Facebook pages. Some large, widely read news outlets have peddled similar alternative medicine and homeopathic remedies.

The health vertical on conservative news giant Newsmax is a hotbed of such claims. As the coronavirus spread, it published debunked claims that originated on an alternative medicine website that regular doses of vitamin C could slow or entirely stop the spread of the virus.

Newsmax has promoted other dubious remedies as well. Zinc Lozenges May Help Combat Coronavirus declared the headline of a March 17 story that linked to a McGill University blog post that found the exact opposite. A story in its health section a week later promoted traditional Eastern medicine remedies as a coronavirus treatment.

Newsmax has not been singled out by federal health authorities for spreading false information about coronavirus treatments. But as it runs those stories, its also served readers with ads that warn of impending financial disaster due to the virus. That was enough to earn a stern warning from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which demanded that the site stop claiming, falsely, that banks might soon raid Americans retirement accounts.

The FDIC has repeatedly sought to contact Newsmax to stop publishing these false ads and to issue a correction to its readers, the agency wrote in a statement. The media organization has not responded to these requests.

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Feds Warn Telemarketers to Stop the Coronavirus Robocall Scams - The Daily Beast

The petitioners had urged for the use of alternative medicines by way of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Homeopathy and Naturopathy to treat the Coronavirus, apart from the allopathy methods.

The Madras High Court on Monday directed the state government to consider representations made to test Siddha (Indian traditional herbal medicine treatment) for the curing the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Two members of the Ayush Medical Welfare Association, K Muthu Kumar Nayakar and Dr KM Senthamizh Selvan, had made representations to this effect. The had moved a writ petition in the High Court urging that their representations be considered by the state government in a time-bound manner.

The petitioners had urged that the government allow the use of alternative medicines by way of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Homeopathy and Naturopathy to treat COVID-19, apart from the allopathy methods commonly used.

During the hearing conducted through video conferencing, Additional Advocate General Arvindh Pandian told the Court that the state government has already constituted a Technical Committee comprising various experts who would consider such representations.

The Bench of Justices Dr. Vineet Kothari and R Suresh Kumar therefore issued notice returnable by four weeks, and directed that the petitioners representations be considered by the governments Technical Committee in the meanwhile.

Further, the Bench has also directed the state government to look into provision of hand sanitisers, soaps and masks which can be supplied at large for the public to guard against the spread of COVID-19. The Court added,

We hope and expect that the said Committee and the State Government shall take appropriate decision in this matter as quickly as possible, so that the public at large can avail the benefit of the same, immediately."

Madras High Court

The matter has been posted to be taken up after four weeks, when the Courts are expected to resume regular working after the lockdown period.

Madras HC - Use of alternative medicine for COVID-19 - March 30 Order .pdf

More here:

Madras HC directs govt committee to consider representation for use of Indian traditional medicine to treat COVID-19 [Read Order] - Bar & Bench -...

As new cases of coronavirus mount in the Ohio Valley, health officials are bracing for an onslaught of patients and what could be unprecedented demand for beds, medical staff and specialized equipment.

Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia have disproportionately high rates of people vulnerable to serious illness from COVID-19. But the regions capacity to treat them has been sharply reduced by the closure of some 21 hospitals over the past 15 years. An analysis by the Ohio Valley ReSource shows some of the communities where hospitals have closed have some of the nations poorest health outcomes, making them especially vulnerable.

Still more hospitals in the region are being closed now, even as the pandemic unfolds.

Click to hear Liam's story about how Ohio Valley health care systems are handling the coronavirus pandemic.

Tiffany Wilburn-Meeks has lived in eastern Kentucky's Greenup County for most of her 38 years. And the hospital her family has always relied on is only a five-minute drive away.

Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital is where she would go if she was sick growing up, and its where she was considering taking her 23-month-old daughter Darian for speech therapy. Its also where her mom, Judy, would go if an asthma attack turned for the worst.

But I think if she'd had to go to Kings Daughters [Hospital], I don't know that she would have survived the drive because it's 10 or 15 more minutes down the road.

But by May, her family wont be able to rely on Our Lady of Bellefonte anymore. The 220-bed hospital with more than 1,000 employees started by a congregation of Catholic sisters in 1953 with the blessing of the pope via telegram will close its doors.

That would leave 35,000 people in Greenup County without a hospital, forcing those who need intensive medical care to drive to Kings Daughters Hospital in Ashland. This comes as many Ohio Valley public health officials are bracing for the coronavirus to reach their communities.

While the number of confirmed cases in her region have not reached levels in larger cities, she knows the number will grow.

If it does, there's no way that Kings Daughters is going to be able to handle that, she said. It is terrifying, and I'm afraid that people will die as a consequence of the hospital closing.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Kings Daughters Hospital said they were working daily with Our Lady of Bellefonte to potentially expand the capacity of Kings Daughters if patient needs surge due to coronavirus.

Wilburn-Meek started an online petition to try to call attention to the situation and save the hospital, but she isnt optimistic shell be successful. And more than a dozen communities across the Ohio Valley are facing a similar situation.

Our Lady of Bellefonte will join at least 21 other hospital closures in the Ohio Valley within the past 15 years. The Ohio Valley Resource estimates those 21 closures represented more than 1,000 hospital beds in total.

Some shuttered hospital sites are now vacant parking lots. Some have been turned into addiction rehab facilities or urgent care facilities, but those often have limited or no in-patient services.

These closures have left a hollowed out healthcare infrastructure in the Ohio Valley, and leading healthcare professionals worry that the loss of hospital beds, skilled staff and equipment combined with a population that is especially vulnerable to COVID-19 disease could hinder how well the region can respond to the coronavirus.

Running Out

For 15 years, Marlene Moore was lead nurse of the intensive care unit at Ohio Valley Medical Center in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia. She would make determinations about who would be admitted and who would be discharged, who would be transferred to other departments and hospitals, and helping younger nurses with questions and assistance.

That time came to an end when the company that owned OVMC and another hospital in nearby Martins Ferry, Ohio, announced last year both hospitals would close. Along with Belmont Community Hospital also closing, three hospitals in total last year shuttered in the Wheeling metropolitan area.

It was just devastating, because especially at our smaller hospitals, the employees know everybody. I mean, from housekeeping, to dietary to the lab, to all the departments, Moore said. It affected the whole valley.

Moore started working last month at what is now the only hospital in town, Wheeling Hospital, where a coronavirus patient is currently being treated.

She said because Wheeling Hospital often has many beds filled with patients having other needs, those needing a bed for coronavirus treatment may have to travel a half-hour or more to hospitals in Steubenville, Ohio, Columbus or Pittsburgh.

And its the kind of people her hospital tends to serve that has her particularly worried.

We have such an older population here. And if you get several that come in at the same time with severe respiratory distress, you're going to run out of ICU beds, you're going to run out of ventilators, you're actually going to run out of places to treat these people, she said.

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found West Virginia led the nation in how vulnerable its population is to coronavirus because of old age and preexisting conditions. More than half of all adults in West Virginia and more than 45% of all adults in Kentucky were at high risk of serious illness from coronavirus because of advanced age, pre-existing conditions, or both.

A report from Kaiser Health News also found there are only 325 ICU beds for more than 12,000 people over the age of 60 in Ohio County, where Wheeling is located. People over the age of 60 make up 28% of the countys population.

According to an Ohio Valley Resource data analysis, 4 of the 18 counties that lost hospitals over the past 15 years also have some of the worst health outcomes in the nation. Those counties have some of the countrys highest rates of chronic respiratory disease deaths, cardiovascular disease deaths and diabetes prevalence.

Amid closures, remaining Ohio Valley hospitals are reinforcing their capacity for beds, equipment and personal protective equipment for worst case scenarios.

A statement from the West Virginia Hospital Association said hospitals are canceling or rescheduling elective surgeries to free up more beds, in compliance with a state emergency order. Hospitals are converting different departments into infectious disease units, and developing alternative treatment sites. One hospital in Athens, Ohio, has now set up a triage tent to treat potential patients outside.

Rising Costs

Even if Ohio Valley hospitals are able to accommodate a surge of coronavirus patients, the financial toll it could take could devastate rural healthcare providers.

A report last year from Navigant Consulting showed that 16 rural hospitals in Kentucky about a quarter of all rural hospitals in the state were at high risk of closing due to unstable financial situations. Some of the reasons cited for financial struggles include population loss with fewer people to serve, and more patients insured through Medicare and Medicaid, which often undercompensates hospitals for treatment.

Those ongoing challenges will only be made worse by the pandemic.

The payment mechanism for treating these patients is not clear at this point. The unusually long length of stay I think is a concern with the very sick of these patients who typically end up, or have ended up, on ventilator care, which is very expensive and resource intensive to deliver, said Bud Warman, Kentucky Hospital Association Vice President and former CEO of Highlands Regional Medical Center in east Kentucky. They haven't always had potentially this much volume of wants to deal with.

The American Hospital Association is asking for $100 billion from Congress to offset anticipated coronavirus costs, while some rural hospitals struggle to ration protective medical supplies. A bill being considered by the Kentucky Senate would also provide a loan program for struggling rural hospitals.

Warman also said when hospitals have closed in Appalachia, there are often few options remaining for the people the provider served.

In some cases, they just don't have adequate transportation to get them that longer distance, Warman said. If they're deciding between food on the table or traveling 50 miles to see a doctor or to seek health care, oftentimes, they make the choice for food on the table. It sounds dire, but the fact is in many parts of our state, many parts of Appalachia, that is the case.

Whats Left

In central West Virginia, Michael Brumage is leading one of the remaining options for those without easy access to a hospital.

As Chief Medical Officer of Cabin Creek Health Systems, he directs several Federally Qualified Health Centers that provide preventative care and substance abuse treatment, often for people who are low-income or uninsured. His experience also extends across multiple organizations: Brumage serves as director of the Preventative Medicine Residency Program in the WVU School of Public Health, was former executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, and former health officer for Kanawha County and Putnam County, West Virginia.

His staff is preparing to treat patients who have respiratory symptoms outside of the centers in order to prevent the spread of the virus inside their buildings, and theyll also have curbside service for those with respiratory symptoms.

Our public health system has been underfunded for many, many years, at the federal, state and local levels, Brumage said. So we're fortunate, I think that there are federally qualified health centers, that there are free and charitable clinics that are able to pick up the slack.

But even with his centers, there are still intensive, in-patient services that he cant provide, that a hollowed out healthcare infrastructure has left lacking.

Brumage was born in Fairmont Regional Medical Center in Fairmont, West Virginia. So was his sister. Hes had several relatives whove been hospitalized there over the years. The hospital is set to close this week.

It's befuddling to me how they can close this hospital during a pandemic, when there are going to be so many more beds that need to be filled. It staggers the imagination, Brumage said.

While a hospital is being built to replace Fairmont Regional, Brumage is worried that it will be too late for the demand for hospital beds, ventilators and skilled staff needed to respond to the pandemic.

There will be many competing economic priorities once this clears to restore the American economy, Brumage said. But shame on us if we don't invest in our public health infrastructure, and if we don't invest in our overall health infrastructure, and if we don't look for ways to make health care equitable for all Americans.

Original post:

Ohio Valley Facing Pandemic With A Health System Hollowed Out By Hospital Closures - WKU Public Radio

Written by Prabha Raghavan, Rahul V Pisharody | Hyderabad, New Delhi | Published: April 1, 2020 3:03:19 am The shortage of manpower, coupled with an ongoing fear of disciplinary action by law enforcement authorities, means that stocks of medicines have been slow to reach retail outlets despite them being considered essential. (File Photo)

Nearly a week after the 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2), India is still facing hiccups in ensuring adequate and timely supplies of medicines. The shortage of manpower, coupled with an ongoing fear of disciplinary action by law enforcement authorities, means that stocks of medicines have been slow to reach retail outlets despite them being considered essential.

For instance, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine medicines like Ipca Laboratories HCQS and Lariago are still stocked out in several pharmacies in Delhi.

Hydroxychloroquine, especially, is used by several patients with auto-immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, according to Fortis Memorial Research Institute rheumatology consultant Dr Naval Mendiratta.

Further, stocks of blood pressure medicines, insulin and other medicines to treat diabetes have stopped making their way to distributors, said All India Chemists and Distributors Fedration president Kailash Gupta.

The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), too, on March 29 wrote to various pharmaceutical associations to support and ensure adequate stocks of medicines at their depots and to coordinate transportation to chemists and druggists.

At present, it is reported from all states that stock level is going down and may last for the next 15-20 days. Therefore, we request you to please look into the issue and ensure that sufficient stock is maintained at your stock points, stated AIOCD president JS Shinde and general secretary Rajiv Singhal in the letter.

Meanwhile, a large number of medical stores in and around Hyderabad enlisted in the essential establishments during the lockdown have downed their shutters. If a disruption in supply leading to a shortage in stock is one reason, the absence of workers from attending to their duties is another.

According to Kishan Murary Shetty, general secretary of the Greater Hyderabad Retail Medical Shops Association, around 60 per cent of medical stores in the city are shut as of today.

Employees are unable to come to work. Most of them depend on public transport and are unable to reach for work. Others who own vehicles are being stopped at police checkpoints and despite showing ID cards they are not being allowed to go, he said.

Heres a quick Coronavirus guide from Express Explained to keep you updated: What can cause a COVID-19 patient to relapse after recovery? | COVID-19 lockdown has cleaned up the air, but this may not be good news. Heres why | Can alternative medicine work against the coronavirus? | A five-minute test for COVID-19 has been readied, India may get it too | How India is building up defence during lockdown | Why only a fraction of those with coronavirus suffer acutely | How do healthcare workers protect themselves from getting infected? | What does it take to set up isolation wards?

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A week into lockdown: Disruption in supply of essential medicines, dearth of staff at drug stores - The Indian Express

Two men were on a mission in a bullockcart. Covering the hilly terrain was not easy in the mid-1930s when roads were few. Moving from village to village and walking through paddy fields and slush in the rural area of Kadakkal, now in Kollam district, nearly 50 km from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, were Dr Sankaran Govindan and his compounder Padmanabhan Pillai. Over three years they injected more than 12,500 patients with medicine, to cure them of the tropical bacterial infection yaws that was mutilating and crippling people.

As doctors and health workers battle COVID-19 the world over, Dr G Krishnakumar rewinds to an era when his father worked hard to cure the people of Kadakkal from yaws, an infection affecting the skin, bones, and joints, that was endemic in the hilly areas of the princely state of esrtwhile Travancore, on Indias south-west coast.

Dr Govindan, then a young doctor in his thirties whod graduated from Madras Medical College, took up his first posting as medical officer in 1935-36 at a government dispensary in Kadakkal. His father Shangu Vaidyan was the Kottaram Vaidyan (palace physician) and he sent his son for higher education to what was then Madras.

Allopathy was still an unknown system of treatment in rural Kadakkal, but the young doctors work, attitude, and sincerity gradually brought him patients. In the predominantly agrarian area, inhabited by marginal farmers and tribes people in the hills, Dr Govindan noticed a lesion that occurred in many people of different age groups, especially among those who lived in close quarters. He identified it as yaws that is closely related to the bacterium that causes syphilis, though it is not transmitted through sexual intercourse. It spreads through direct contact with infected wounds, instead.

What causes Yaws

My father began documenting the illness and its treatment in an album-cum-journal that he meticulously maintained in 1936, Dr Krishnakumar says, gently turning the pages of two albums, crumbling with age, and speaking of an era before the arrival of antibiotics, when doctors and compounders worked hand in hand to make medicines.

A jotting in the journal, supplemented with photographs, explains his findings and the progression of the disease. He noted that the primary lesion often occurs at the site of an existing ulcer or bruise, does not respond to any local treatment, and persists for years. Children were susceptible to yaws, perhaps because of their tender skin and poor health.

Dr Govindan found that healthy children with primary or secondary manifestations were able to withstand the disease but at any point of time when their immunity was compromised, they would fall prey to it. The secondary manifestations sometimes appear after a period of years. The ulcerating condition is more prolonged and extremely destructive. It makes the patient a cripple. Bow legs are one of the characteristic features of Yaws, he wrote.

In those days yaws was considered incurable. Dr Govindan found that Neo-Salvarsan, a drug made in Germany was found to be effective in curing the disease. But he understood that this would be too costly to treat a large group of people, especially those he treated, who were mostly underprivileged.

That is when he read about an alternative treatment for yaws and found out that compounds of bismuth had been used in the treatment of syphilis since 1921. Immediately, he contacted his friend Narayanan Potti, then head of the department of chemistry at University College in the Thiruvananthapura, says Dr Krishnakumar.

Professor Potti managed to synthesise and purify the sodium bismuth salt of tartaric acid for him in quantities sufficient for mass use. He called it Bisota. Dr Govindan and his assistants travelled from village to village injected one dose into each of those afflicted by yaws. As a result of their tireless work, yaws was eradicated from Kadakkal and the surrounding areas, says a historical article published in The Journal of the Association of Physicians India that Dr Krishnakumar wrote.

My father had told me about this when I was a child. Now, these albums are all that remains of that momentous journey. Once the Trivandrum Medical College came up in Thiruvananthpuram, he was appointed in the department of surgery. After his retirement in 1962 as Professor of surgery in Kozhikode Medical College, he established Govidans Hospital in 1966, says Krishnakumar.

He adds that as long as his father was practising, patients used to come from Kadakkal for treatment. Today, Kadakkal is a town and not many remember the work of its first doctor.

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The man from Kerala who cured yaws in the 1930s - The Hindu

As there is no vaccine till now and in the absence of a scientifically proven cure or preventive for novel coronavirus infection, should one use alternative medicine?

One must be going through many forwarded WhatsApp messages that suggests Homeopathy is the antidote or there are multiple advisories from the AYUSH Ministry on coronavirus. Its long list of recommendations includes Unani concoctions Sharbat Unnab and Tiryaq Arba, and the homeopathic medicine Arsenicum Album 30 for post-exposure prophylaxis for doctors and caregivers.

Coronavirus Pandemic: Two young siblings tested positive in Srinagar

On all of this, here is what World Health Organization has to say: While some western, traditional or home remedies may provide comfort and alleviate symptoms of COVID-19, there is no evidence that current medicine can prevent or cure the disease. WHO does not recommend self-medication with any medicines, including antibiotics, as a prevention or cure for COVID-19. However, there are several ongoing clinical trials that include both western and traditional medicines.

Doctors are discouraging the use of drugs recommended by practitioners of alternative medicine because a drug has to be developed keeping in mind its safety and efficacy.

More here:

Is there any alternative medicine against the novel coronavirus? - Newsd.in

Written by Amitabh Sinha | Pune | Updated: April 1, 2020 7:44:10 am An official takes the temperature of migrants entering a shelter home in Lucknow. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

The emergence of human clusters in which several people together have been found to be infected with coronavirus is likely to significantly alter the nature of spread of the disease in the country. While the number of infected persons has increased much faster in the last three days than at any other time since the outbreak, experts believe that from the perspective of containing the spread, the emergence of these clusters might be a good thing.

The number of positive cases in the country has more than doubled in the last five days, from just under 700 on March 26 to over 1400 today. Many of the new infected cases are concentrated in large groups, like in those linked to a religious meeting of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi. Such clusters, not all of them linked to the Tablighi Jamaat, have emerged in Meerut, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Delhi and Telangana.

Besides the fact that the source of transmission in most of these cases can reliably be traced, experts say such concentrated cases could also be easier for the health authorities to handle compared to isolated cases dispersed in population, in terms of isolating them and preventing further spread from them.

The emerging news that nearly 100 cases in India could be traced back to people who attended a gathering in Delhi further strengthens the possibility that until so far, in almost all cases, the infection is traced back to a person coming from overseas. Such clustering of infections suggests that there is no community transmission, said L S Shashidhara, a professor of biology at Ashoka University.

Scientists should analyse the dynamics of infection in all clustered groups across India to understand how geo-climatic conditions and pre-medical history would influence the spread. A major caveat, however, is the absence of data on asymptomatic positive cases as we have not tested them at all, he said.

Gautam Menon, a professor of computational biology at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, agreed with the contention that clusters could be easier to handle, but said that there were many other cases, outside of these clusters, that looked like very good evidence of community transmission.

It is no doubt easier to track and isolate a large group of infected people in one place. But we are also seeing an increasing number of isolated cases now where the original point of transmission is not known, or is unclear. This is pointing towards what many of us have been saying for long, that community transmission is a reality and we cannot escape from that, he said.

The government has already declared some of the locations where these clusters have emerged as hot spots, and has said that it will increase surveillance and testing of samples at these places.

Heres a quick Coronavirus guide from Express Explained to keep you updated: What can cause a COVID-19 patient to relapse after recovery? | COVID-19 lockdown has cleaned up the air, but this may not be good news. Heres why | Can alternative medicine work against the coronavirus? | A five-minute test for COVID-19 has been readied, India may get it too | How India is building up defence during lockdown | Why only a fraction of those with coronavirus suffer acutely | How do healthcare workers protect themselves from getting infected? | What does it take to set up isolation wards?

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Explained News, download Indian Express App.

See more here:

Coronavirus: Clusters lead to surge in spread but could help contain it too - The Indian Express

Culture Spotlight

Former Health Secretary Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan says that you can protect your body from COVID-19 by simply doing intentional pressing. BY BARBARA MAE DACANAY

Boosting ones immune system, one of the main recommendations against COVID-19, remain a chief concern on everyones minds. While many take vitamins and supplements for this, there are those that are turning to more alternative means.

Take Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, a former Department of Health Secretary who promotes natural preventive measures in the fight against coronavirus, advocates for one method particularlyacupuncture. The doctor is one of the countrys pioneering acupuncturists, which he started in 1979.

Galvez Tans interest in acupuncture began in the mid-70s, when he took seriously his mission to be a barriodoctor nationwide. Thetough job included crafting community health programs, and training health workers to combat tuberculosis and other diseases aided by Church-based groups, local and international non-government organizations. He made a vow to look after thehealth care of poor people and not leave the Philippines for greener pastures. He spent two months in medical missions in Palawan in 1968 while he was still 20-year-old student at the University of the Philippines (where he finished medicine in 1974). I was born with this desire to helpothers. There is an inner voice that constantly gives meencouragement that this is the way to live life to the fullest, hesays.

"When my wife Rebeccaand I prepared to transfer from Manila to Mindanao for outreach missions, she began studying acupuncture under Dr. Benjamin Aquino and Dr. Liu, a graduate of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Sheintroduced me to acupuncture, Galvez Tan shares. "Ieventually studied acupuncture under Dr. Aquino after our intermittent missions to the Cordillera in Negros.

At the time, acupuncture was useful for themarginalizedbecauseonly five percent of 85 million members of Philhealth could avail of hospitalization and western medicine, Galvez Tan says.Acupuncture was legislated as acceptable medical practice in hospitals after 22 yearswhen President Fidel Ramos signed the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (or TAMA, also known as Republic Act 8423) in 1997. It also establishedthePhilippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC), a government agency in charge of training, regulating, and accreditingacupuncturists, including otheratypicalhealthpractitioners.

The law was sponsored by the late Senator Juan Flavier whose passion was todevelop herbal medicine in the country. Galvez Tan headedthealternative medicine program of the health department in 1992, andsucceeded Flavier in 1995, when the latter ran for the senate.

Flavier sent government doctors to study acupuncture in China from 1992 to 1995.Iofficially went to Beijing to sign an agreement between China and the Philippines to continue thetraining in acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) foranother five years (until 2000), Galvez Tan says.Later on, private and government hospitals did not encourage the use of acupuncture because the training program stopped after 2000. The best trained Filipino acupuncturists are growing older, the doctor laments.

To attain a mega immune system that can aggressively defeat COVID 19, Galvez Tansuggests self-massage sessions with intentional pressing on two major points:

Large Intestine 11 (LI 11, Quichi in Chinese, and Pool at the Bend in English), found at the lateral (or dorsal) space near the elbow, between the forearm and the lower hand; and Spleen 6 (SP 6, San Yin Jiao in Chinese, and Three Yin Intersection in English), measured four fingers up to the highest point of the ankle.

There are two importantact-pressure points that can strengthen the lungs and make it fight orwithstand pneumonia, a complication triggered by COVID 19.TheyincludeLung 5 (LU 5, Chiza in Chinese, and Cubit Marsh in English),located at the upper-central part of the lower arm;and Large Intestine 4 (LI 4, Hegu in Chinese, and Joining Valley in English), found between the thumb and the index finger (pointer).

Pericardium 6 (P 6, Nei Guan in Chinese, and Pool at the Bend in English), located four-fingers up the ankle, is an anti-panic pressure point: ithas a calming effect, which is needed for healing, says Galvez Tan.

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Strengthen your lungs, relax, and boost your immunity by working on these pressure points - ABS-CBN News