Page 74 - Poultry-Punch April 2020 edition

POULTRY PUNCH ARTICLE

IMPORTANT FACTS AND VARIOUS PREVENTIVE

MEASURES IN CONTEXTTO PANDEMIC

COVID-19 IN INDIAN SCENARIO

Parth Gaur , Gitesh Saini , Vinay Yadav , Amandeep Singh and Amarjeet Bisla 4*
2
3
1
2
1 Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
(LUVAS), Hisar-125004, Haryana, India
2 Department of Veterinary Gynaecology and Obstetrics, LUVAS, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India
3 Veterinary Surgeon, Department of Animal Husbandry, Jammu, India
4 Division of Animal Reproduction, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI),
Izatnagar-243122, UP, India
* Correspondence Email Id: amarjeetbislav@gmail.com

COVID-19/ Novel Corona virus link to an animal market in the city of Wuhan where the virus is
The 2019 novel corona virus (named as COVID-19) is a new virus suspected to have emerged from an animal source in this market.
that causes respiratory illnesses, ranging from common cold to
acute respiratory syndrome. It can spread from person-to-person Risk outside China
and was first identified in the 1st week of January 2020 during an Although the virus originated in a small city in China, it is now
investigation into an outbreak in Wuhan, China. It belongs to the rapidly spreading across the entire country. Moreover, several cases
family of viruses such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) have been reported in 165 countries outside China (till 17 March
and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). 2020) such as the USA, Australia, Thailand, Japan, Italy, Iran, Spain,
UK, France, India and Sri Lanka. According to data from the WHO as
Point of emergence on 17 March 2020*, more than 1 lakh cases have been confirmed
Corona viruses are a large family of viruses which can cause in 161 countries outside China which takes the global count to
illnesses in animals such as camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Similar to 1.8 lakh confirmed cases and more than 7150 deaths. WHO has
MERS and SARS, these coronaviruses can rarely infect people and assessed COVID-19 as very high risk across the globe including
then spread between people. Numerous studies in China report a China.

Method of spread
According to the WHO and Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
other corona virus MERS and SARS, spread
through respiratory route via droplets which
can be transmitted through a sneeze or cough.
This suggests that the mode of transmission of
the novel corona virus might be similar. Hence,
transmission between people can occur through
droplets, by coming in close contact with the
patient or by sharing objects of personal use.
However, the exact mode of transmission of the
2019 novel coronavirus is not known.

Signs and Symptoms-
According to the CDC, the patients suffering
from COVID-19 have reported symptoms of
mild to severe respiratory illnesses such as
cough, fever, shortness of breath, pneumonia
Pattern of spread of COVID-19 pandemic worldwide and case fatality rate
(as on 17 March 2020, as per WHO) and diarrhoea and vomiting, in some cases.

74 April, 2020