Travel restrictions, quarantine,social distancing of people

The question on people's minds is when will the Coronavirus (2019 nCoV) burn out? 

Stamping out the Coronavirus with quarantines and screening at airports is going at full speed. People around the world are all in a panic,perhaps,quite rightly so.

Researchers analysing how many people who catch the infection get sick,how many of those people die and how easily is it to spread from one person to the next, is taking place?
No one has come up with a vaccine as yet. It takes time to research this platform? But, we are informed that a Vaccine will be available in the US by June 2020. Do we have to wait for vaccines to save us, or do we take the precautions, well in advance?
                                                   

Past pandemics

With the outbreak of every infection, as we have seen with recent past epidemics, the HINI the avian flu-the infectious Bronchitis, and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in November 2002/03 which killed 770 globally,including 349 in China, according to epidemic research,they all are member of the same family.

We are also told that with each outbreak there has always been a peak and a induced reduction or containment with quarantine, inoculation, with  the four different strains of this infection that have been noted in humans up to the recent virus. They start off as common colds,becoming pneumonia and affecting the respiratory system,within a unknown short time. The spread,rather the fear of spread, has yet to be quantified?  

It appears, the Coronavirus has become the fifth virus.There is the possibility or rather the probability, it and can come and go like the seasons, or else like the Black Death it could envelope the world, as in an earlier century?                                            

Incubation period

The incubation period also according to the medical research,  is the time before symptoms appear,ranges from 2 to 14 days. But, we are also informed that these estimates may be narrowed down,as more data becomes known or available. 

Knowing and understanding the incubation period is again as far as we know, according the WHO and Health authorities very important. This is to introduce more effective ways to control the spread of the virus.

Who are the most likely persons to be affected? 

Medics state that this virus can pose a particular risk for elderly people and those with pre-existing medical problems like diabetes,respiratory problems, or a weak immune system. 
                                              

                                               

The hope is that the students who recently were repatriated and arrived from Wuhan,Hubei Province back to Diyatalawa IDH, preliminary tests have shown, none were suffering from nCoV, or so it seems at present.

While the National Health Commission of China states it can take a week to recover from a mild coronavirus system.

Why are we not immune to Coronavirus? 

Most infectious diseases are animal borne disease. This is due to the way animals especially  wild animals and humans interact with each other. It appears to be an evolutionary jump from animals to human species.

We note HIV/Aids crisis of 1980's originated from the Great Apes, the Avian Flu pandemic from birds, then pigs gave us swine flue, SARS came from bats and so did Ebola.

The cause of infectious disease

For centuries past, humans have caught diseases from animals,mostly from wildlife with bacteria. With the ease of international travel of humans,they are spread very quickly. It is man's inhumanity to nature. It is where the habitat of animals and man impact each other, who eats whom, and who is afraid of whom?

We saw in Sri Lanka recently how wild elephants and man interact. For us it is a spectacle when elephants roam in the wild and it is a bigger spectacle when we put obstacles in the way they roam and not allowed to live and are trapped. 

We also recently saw how two elephants in the Eastern Province roamed in search of food and "gorge" at a waste disposal by unfriendly to environment humans, making urban spaces a melting pot for evolving disease. 

Humans are to blame for the unsanitary conditions which cause new infections which spread rapidly in big cities as people live on top of each other, breathing polluted air.

How I remember wild boar in Sri Lanka was craved by one and all, as a food delicacy. We talk of inhumanity to man, what about inhumanity to animal life?

All living creatures have a right to life?

What can we do now and in the future?  

The more humans disrespect Nature by non recognition of the space between Man and Nature, the more we will have to contend with these diseases?

We have the measurement for temperature, for wind and weather, rain and snow and Air Quality in cities around the globe, why shouldn't we in Sri Lanka be the first in the world to set up a mechanism, a Rating Scale to monitor the cruelty of man in nature?

The more we will become a civilised race, respected by the world and to follow our lead? 

It makes sense to keep track of animals scavenging for food and habitat, rather than bringing them to market and our tables for man to consume? I am not suggesting that we all become vegetarians or rather "vegans"? 

Besides, we can of course, improve our sanitation, particularly with our waste disposal,effluent and especially pest control,the breeding grounds for dengue?
                                                                                                

                                                                          
The more we will be able to eradicate infectious disease, from emerging and spreading in the future, the more we will stand out as a nation with a purpose and be respected, if not emulated around the world?

Victor Cherubim