Global cases of Covid 19 go up .. .. some products claim to kill 99.5% of germs and Corona virus !!

As the World struggles to grapple with Covid 19 crisis, some companies have had their sales going up by advertising that their products kill 99% germs and protects from Corona virus !!  .. .. how were they able to identify, analyse the virus and create a product that could kill the dreaded virus ! .. a shop in Ahmedabad – have you seen anything similar in Chennai, sadly I have not !

In India, from (Mumbai / Chennai / Delhi – in early months) – the State tally has changed drastically.  Maharashtra has most victims at 1768695; followed by Karnataka 8.69 lakhs; Andhra Pradesh 8.59; Tamil Nadu 7.66; Kerala 5.51; Uttar Pradesh 5.21; Delhi 5.17; West Bengal 4.49; Odisha 3.12 & Telengana 2.62 – and those with conscience would recall what was read and written during June / July – on how Kerala has succeeded, how Arvind Kejriwal has acted and .. .. how Uttar Pradesh has failed !  .. .. .. sad, the statistics and worser still the media.

Covid-19 is spreading faster than ever before in the United States, with hospitals in some states running at capacity. The country is now in the same situation that France, Belgium and the Czech Republic were last month, when rapidly rising infections put their health care systems within weeks of failure. Now European media is touting that the European countries have managed to avert, for now, the worst-case scenario, in which people die because hospitals are full and they can't access the care they need to survive. They slowed down the epidemics by imposing lockdowns and strict mask mandates. (full praise to Indian Govt for their early action, lockdown, controlling movements and controlling epidemic in a Nation of 130 crore people).  The United States passed 11 million total coronavirus cases on Sunday, and its caseload has now soared past 12 million. New daily cases are approaching 200,000: on Friday, the country recorded more than 198,500, a record. As the nation reconsiders the usual winter holiday travel and cozy indoor gatherings, new cases are being reported at an unrelenting clip. The seven-day average has exceeded 100,000 cases a day every day for the last two weeks, according to a New York Times database. The latest virus surge began accelerating across much of the country in mid-October. It took just over two weeks for the nation to go from eight million cases to nine million on Oct. 30; going from nine to 10 million took only 10 days. From 10 million to 11 million took just under seven days.

The drug maker Pfizer said on Friday that it had submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, setting in motion an accelerated regulatory process that could allow the first Americans to get a vaccine by the middle of December. Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, announced on Wednesday that the vaccine was safe and 95 percent effective, and that it also worked well in older people and in preventing severe Covid-19. Another front-runner, Moderna, said on Monday that its vaccine, which uses similar technology, was 94.5 percent effective and that the company also expected to apply soon for emergency authorization.

In India, detergents, sanitizers, hand-wash, soap and other products have hit the ceiling with new highs.  Established about 80 years ago, Dettol was initially used in hospitals for cleaning and disinfection of skin at the time of surgeries and its related procedures.  People trust the product blindly and consider it as one of the best germ killers.  A few drops of Dettol now gets added to bathing water, cleaning floors and every other activity.  I bathe in dettol dropped water !! There are other competitors with similar products including Lizol,  Savlon, Himalaya, Dabur, Boroplus .. .. out of curiosity, read that Dettol Antiseptic liquid comprises of chloroxylenol, Terpinelol & absolute alcohol antiseptic liquid.  Dabur also has a similar product – chlorhexdine glucomate & cetrimide antiseptic solution

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms are raising the supply of personal care and hygiene brands, and doubling down marketing efforts amid a surge in demand for products spurred by the rise in the number of positive Covid-19 cases detected in India. Global FMCG major Unilever on Saturday said it will bring to India its mouthwash formulation, which, it claims, will reduce 99.9% of coronavirus after 30 seconds of rinsing. “Unilever claims  that preliminary lab test results show that mouthwash formulation containing CPC Technology reduces 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, after 30 seconds of rinsing,” the company said in a statement. The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose, which has been detected before, during, and after the acute phase of illness, as well as in asymptomatic cases.

With Gujarat witnessing a rise in Covid-19 cases, the government has decided to impose night curfew in Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot from Saturday. During the curfew, essential services such as medical shops, hospitals, clinics, dairy booths and petroleum/CNG pumps will remain open.  Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government is toying with the idea of suspending train and flight operations to and from Delhi in view of the rising coronavirus cases in the national capital, PTI quoted a senior official said.  

India’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 90.50 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to over 84.78 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 93.67 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Saturday.  The number of active cases remained below five lakh for the eleventh consecutive day.  As the number of coronavirus cases is on the rise in Delhi, the national capital recorded the second highest death toll in the past 24 hours on Saturday (November 21, 2020).  According to health bulletin released by Delhi, at least 118 people have succumbed to the COVID-19 infection in the last 24 hours. The highest single-day death toll is 131.

Delhi High Court on Thursday pulled up Kejriwal government for its flip-flop on the cap on the number of wedding attendees in the wake of a fresh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the city. Why did you ou wait for 18 days to restrict the number of attendees at weddings? How many died of Covid-19 during this period?" the high court also asked the Delhi government, according to news agency PTI. The court also noted that the quantum of fine for not wearing masks and not maintaining social distancing does not appear to be a deterrent. Delhi on Tuesday restricted the number of people allowed at weddings from 200 to 50 amid a surge in coronavirus cases. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad also slammed the Delhi government for their delay in introducing measures to curb the virus spread. The bench noted that statements made by the Delhi government to the media were contrary to the submissions they made in the High Court. Pointing out at the ministers had mentioned that the third wave of the Coronavirus had reached its peak and the daily number of cases were declining, however, the same 'is not reflected' in the daily tally.  The two-judge bench also warned the advocates representing the Delhi government that they could take judicial note of the statements made by the ministers in media. Moreover, it questioned the Delhi government over its preparedness to deal with rising in the number of deaths and required arrangements to cremate or bury.  The High Court bench has directed the AAP government to file a status report before November 26, indicating the funeral/burial arrangements, increase of ICU beds in its hospitals by an additional number of 663 and number of care homes for accommodating those who cannot home quarantine themselves. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
21.11.2020.