up and down

Thank you very much for telling me about this.

I guess I did. Never follow much on the 2018 Commonwealth Games either. Sorry to let you know about it.

Australia is too big itself. Vanuatu is not a famous place in Australia. We focus too much on Sydney, Melbourne and other big cities instead.

Thank you very much for your valuable information. I also get to know the name of another country name Vanuatu after you posted the news today. Never know that this country existed before this.

Agreed,

Articles related to shortage of protective equipment. https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/03/31/heres-how-some-of-the-countries-worst-hit-by-coronavirus-are-dealing-with-shortages-of-protective-equipment-for-healthcare-workers/#7eb5837a2c13 Excerpts from the article above. The coronavirus pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on global healthcare systems, with the surge in medical needs exposing yawning gaps in inventory of personal protective equipment like face masks, lifesaving equipment like ventilators and basics like hospital beds. The shortage is putting healthcare professionals at increased risk of contracting the virus and forcing them to improvise with the next-best alternatives. The U.S.: Healthcare workers on the front lines have, in some cases, taken to creating PPE using office supplies, or reusing existing supplies more times than the CDC recommends in order to stretch supply. Doctors, nurses and medical workers desperate for more protection are protesting, while the New England Journal of Medicine has warned that “no matter which estimate we use, there are not enough ventilators for patients with COVID-19 in the upcoming months” in the U.S. Donald Trump ordered General Motors to make ventilators, but this week suggested that they could also be sent to Europe. Italy: Now the worst-hit country by number of deaths linked to COVID-19, healthcare workers accounted for more than 8% of national infections between March 11 and 17, 2020, according to one study. At least 61 Italian doctors have died after contracting the virus, with the threat to front-line staff caused in part because of a lack of PPE. “So far, the outbreak-related global PPE shortage has forced the use of lower-protection PPEs,” including masks for infection control procedures on hospital patients, one study found. Spain: Spain is the third-worst-affected country in terms of cases, and a severe PPE shortage has contributed to at least 12,000 healthcare professionals contracting the virus, or 14% of total infections, the New York Times reports. Some staff at Madrid’s La Paz hospital are left with little choice but to reuse gowns when treating different patients, and doubling up on flimsy masks in the absence of more sophisticated respirator masks. The shortage of PPE and its effect on the number of infections among medical professionals, is having a knock-on effect on the availability of medical staff. France: Authorities have seized tens of thousands of face masks being hoarded by individuals seeking to profit from online price gouging. France’s health minister over the weekend said the government had ordered a billion masks from China, while 40 million are consumed there each week—around ten times precrisis levels, Reuters reported. French luxury brands Chanel and LVMH have pivoted their facilities to produce PPE and hand sanitizer. India: Doctors are using raincoats and helmets in place of N95 masks, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government is trying to get access to a bulk shipment of PPE from South Korea and China. Ambulance workers in one state are on strike, while one anonymous doctor told Reuters: “We won’t work at the cost of our lives.” India’s 1.3 billion residents are on lockdown, while there have been 1,250 confirmed cases to date. The U.K.: The British Medical Association warned this week that NHS workers and their families are being put at risk from a lack of PPE. Doctors have in some cases been left to improvise, the BMA said, and buy sealed masks from garages and DIY stores, with one consultant using goggles taken from his daughter’s party bag. The U.K. government is under pressure from medical bodies to provide more, while the Royal College of Nursing warned that some nurses are treating patients without any equipment at all.

You are right. Basically the whole world has been badly infected with the virus. Even countries names which are not heard of before now become famous due to the virus.

We have more troubles coming in from Cruise Ships. Find it so bizarre that in the midst of pandemic there are still ignorant people going on holiday in cruise ship. What are they thinking? Thousands of people in the cruise ship is a good way for the virus to spread. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/03/coronavirus-stricken-cruise-ships-dock-florida-zaandam-rotterdam-fort-lauderdale-more-ships-wait-at-sea Accoring to the article above, among the 1,200 passengers were 305 Americans, 295 Canadians, 229 from the UK and 131 Australians. Well looks like people in the European countries, American countries and Australia are still having the wrong mindset about holidaying in the midst of the pandemic. Worse still there are 4 people who died in the cruise ship itself.

Keep up the good work to combat the virus in India. Well India is the second biggest country in the world after China. Somehow good to hear that India is willing to do more to combat the virus. Well it is understandable that it will not be that easy to do mass testing for the citizens like what South Korea is doing because that is very costly. However, increasing the test in India itself has really helped a lot to combat the virus.

@nitinsanker Thank you very much for your response. How is the situation in India now? IS the 21 days lockdown bringing in good news?

So do you know how many tests have been conducted in Argentina thus far?

WHO have said many times that Asia and Africa countries are the most vulnerable group for the virus. WHO have noted that there are many poor countries inside the Asia and Africa continent who could not do mass testing as they have limited number of test kids thus endangering the life of their citizens. Who have also categorized the Asia into different categories. First category (Countries who did mass testing for their citizens) 3 countries in Asia have adopted their own rapid test kits to test their citizens. South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia have ways to test their citizens efficiently. WHO said that in Asia countries only South Korea and Malaysia have introduced “drive-thru” COVID-19 tests which can help citizens get screened for the virus in less than 10 minutes with the results available in about 24 hours. These 2 countries adopted the same concept which is to test everyone and detect the patients at the early stage to give them treatment. Second category (Asia countries with the ability to do mass testing) WHO said only Asia countries like China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Chinese Taipei have the ability to do mass testing for testing for their citizens and are in the safe zones. Third category (Dangerous Zone) The second largest country in the world India and the forth largest country in the world are both categorized as the dangerous zones in Asia. These 2 countries have large number of population but there are many undetected cases in these countries as they have limited test kids and could not do mass testing. Hence lots of cases go on unreported and undetected which could harm their citizens. Forth category (Countries who have the ability to do more tests but are not testing enough) Japan has the capacity to test a lof of people. Japan whose country is so much bigger than Korea has only conducted 25,000 tests for their citizens thus far and this number is worrying according to WHO standard. Many cases have gone undetected and unreported in Japan as there is no mass testing done in Japan. WHO even said that South Korea whose country so so much smaller compared to Japan have by now done lots of mass testing and have given more than 400,000 of their citizens mass testing. Fifth category (Poor countries with not enough of test kids) WHO said most of the Asia countries fall into dangerous zones as they are poor and could not enough to buy enough test kids to test their citizens. WHO have always said do not be misled by the number of cases in Asia. There are lots of poor countries in Asia who could not even buy test kids to test their own citizens. Thus many cases went undetected in Asia and this is very dangerous, WHO said remember Coronavirus is very dangerous and contagious. A person with the virus can spread to another 4 person just within 1 second. So imagine how many cases have gone undetected in Asia poor countries? They could have spread the virus to more and more people thus harming the lives of their citizens.

An interesting article for reading purpose. https://theaseanpost.com/article/low-testing-means-low-covid-19-cases Low testing means low COVID-19 cases? As of 30 March, over 700,000 people have been infected with the new COVID-19 virus, with 8,000 confirmed cases reported across ASEAN. The virus, which first emerged from China’s central Hubei province has killed over 200 people in Southeast Asia and shows no sign of slowing down. Currently, numerous countries around the world have opted for strict measures to contain the spread of the deadly disease which include city-wide lockdowns and travel curbs. The COVID-19 virus is said to be highly infectious, spread mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States (US). For example, if a person who has the disease coughs or sneezes, the droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby and possibly be inhaled into the lungs. Despite being deadly, not everyone who is infected will present symptoms. Therefore, many cases of those who are infected without obvious signs go unreported as they fail to appear at hospitals for further testing. Indonesia reported its first two cases of COVID-19 in early March and its first death from the disease a few days later. On 30 March, 1,414 people had been infected in the country with 122 fatalities, the highest recorded number of deaths in Southeast Asia. Despite the rather low number of confirmed cases compared to neighbouring Malaysia which has reported over 2,000 cases, researchers believe that there could be tens of thousands of hidden infections across Indonesia. According to media reports, a study by the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases estimates that as few as two percent of Indonesia’s COVID-19 cases have been reported. This means that the true number could be as high as over 30,000 infections. However, many speculate that the numbers could be at more than half a million in a country of 273 million. For ASEAN member states Myanmar and Lao PDR, where the first COVID-19 cases there were reported just last week, the low numbers of reported cases have invited scepticism by observers from around the world. As of 30 March, less than 10 people were officially infected in both countries. Many claim that the reason for these seemingly low numbers of cases is simply because of limited test kits. Indonesia’s health ministry data stated that the country which is the fourth most populous in the world has around only 321,544 hospital beds. Local media have reported incidents of the country’s slow process and poor response towards citizens showing signs of the virus. “I told them that my father showed strong symptoms and was previously rejected by a hospital that had been appointed as a COVID-19 referral centre,” explained a son of a patient in Indonesia to the media. “I lashed out at them and threatened to make their poor response viral. They eventually agreed to an ambulance. We waited for almost three hours for the ambulance to arrive,” he continued. The father had tested positive for the coronavirus two days later and is said to be currently in treatment. Jusuf Kalla, chairman of Indonesia’s Red Cross said that “if the tests are low, then the cases are low”, adding that the true number of cases should be revealed once the country steps up its testing. In Myanmar, it was reported that the country currently has enough test kits to detect suspected cases, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) official. "For now, Myanmar has some 5,000 or more test kits, which can test some 1,700 people," assured Stephan Paul Jost, the WHO representative to Myanmar. However, according to a professor at the University of Medicine 2, in Yangon, the “ministry said no confirmed case until Monday (23 March), but it tested only about 200 suspected patients. It is not enough,” he told the media. He then stated that the reason for this is probably because the country has only one laboratory for coronavirus testing. According to local Myanmar media, the National Health laboratory in Yangon has only seven microbiologists and four testing machines. The same situation applies for another small ASEAN country of nearly seven million people, Lao PDR. Dr Phonebadith Sangxayalath, Director of the National Center for Laboratory and Epidemiology (NCLE), Ministry of Health, stated that the country is well equipped to test for COVID-19 cases. Nevertheless, many believe that the virus is spreading among its people, but remains undetected or untested. It was reported that a doctor from Luang Prabang, a city in Lao PDR, said that “provincial hospitals do not have equipment to test people and they might only refer the worst cases to laboratories in Vientiane.” Recently, other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia have developed rapid test kits for COVID-19. With support from a few international organisations, a research team in Thailand led by VISTEC (Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology) has developed test kits that can deliver results in under an hour. Other than that, Malaysia has also introduced “drive-thru” COVID-19 tests which can help citizens get screened for the virus in less than 10 minutes with the results available in about 24 hours. “We are following the South Korean model to test everyone. Test, test, test – and then test again. By testing everyone, we can detect positive cases early and help minimise the spread of COVID-19”, said Dr Nur Abdul Karim, consultant emergency physician and head of Accident & Emergency Services at KPJ Damansara Hospital in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also echoed the same sentiment with a simple message for all countries to "test, test, test".

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-indonesia-governor/indonesia-needs-massive-rapid-testing-for-coronavirus-idUSKBN21K1OI Indonesia needs 'massive, rapid' testing for coronavirus Excerpts from the article above. Indonesia needs to perform “massive” testing to reveal the full spread of the coronavirus and ensure that people who travel home during the approaching Muslim holiday isolate themselves, the governor of the archipelago’s most populous province said. Indonesia’s coronavirus death toll rose to 170 on Thursday as the world’s fourth-most populous nation passed South Korea as the country with the highest number of recorded fatalities in Asia after China. The country has confirmed 1,790 infections, while 7,193 tests have been performed out of a population more than 261 million of as of Thursday, far fewer than many smaller neighbours.

A good role model to follow. Country, Other Total Cases New Cases Total Deaths New Deaths Total Recovered Active Cases Serious, Critical Tot Cases/ 1M pop Deaths/ 1M pop South Korea 9976 89 169 4 5828 3979 55 195 3 South Korea has indeed done a great job to do mass testing. Hence they are able to detect the cases early and gave them early treatment. Despite having 9976 cases, 5828 patients have recovered and this has proven how effective it is. When the Coronavirus cases are detected early, the chances of the patient recovering from the virus will be higher and it will also help to stop the virus from spreading further. To date South Korea has conducted more than 400,000 Coronavirus tests. https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-31/how-south-korea-created-the-world-s-most-ambitious-coronavirus-testing-programme/ Excerpts from the article above. How South Korea created the world's most ambitious coronavirus testing programme Drive-through test centres were invented as the Government fast tracked test kits into mass production. A drive-through allows people to be tested from the safety of their cars. It takes just a matter of minutes and results are received within 24 hours. Walk-through centres at clinics and hospitals were also added to a nationwide effort to contain what threatened to be a major outbreak in the country. By the beginning of March, South Korea was capable of testing 20,000 people a day. To date it has had 9,786 confirmed case and 162 deaths. The Government believes its strategy of mass testing has also helped keep the mortality rate to one per cent, compared to 3.4 per cent globally. While other countries - including the UK - question the accuracy, feasibility and value of testing on this kind of scale, South Korea is sticking to a system which, so far, is proving a success.

Well according to the news above it is indeed not nice to see doctors who are not treating Coronavirus patient have died as well. Well it was mentioned in the news that in certain countries some people may not even realised that they have contracted the virus. So they went to the hospital to get treatment. Then they spread the virus to the doctors and nurses in the hospital. Then these doctors and nurses who are treating patients at the regular ward will then spread the virus to other patients. Patients who did not know they are infected with the virus and being placed in the same ward as the other patients in the ward will also pose a lot of trouble as they will further spread the virus to the other patients. Looks like the virus is really getting out of hand.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/indonesia-covid19-doctors-nurses-at-risk-12573980 'We are worried,' say Indonesian healthcare workers as COVID-19 takes toll on medical system Excerpts from the article above. On Saturday (Mar 21), Dr Djoko Judodjoko breathed his last in a Jakarta hospital. The 70-year-old, who had underlying health conditions, was treated for COVID-19 earlier. He was one of the seven doctors nationwide who contracted coronavirus and eventually passed away, according to the Indonesian Medical Association. More than 40 healthcare workers are currently being treated for COVID-19. Dr Judodjoko's brother-in-law, Dr Pandu Riono, tweeted: “Farewell brother Koko. Forgive me for not being able to push the government under @jokowi to seriously overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. You’re infected when in active service. Many health workers have been infected and left. The (excuse) of lack of PPE (personal protective equipment) is not forgivable.” “It’s not enough to talk, we need to act,” the public health expert from the University of Indonesia wrote. The number of COVID-19 cases involving healthcare workers has led their colleagues across the country to be more vigilant, while appealing for urgent measures to be taken to safeguard them. “These are not just numbers, not just statistics. These are human beings,” Dr Riono told CNA. SOME HEALTHCARE WORKERS WHO DIED WERE NOT TREATING COVID-19 PATIENTS He said Dr Judodjoko was, in fact, not treating COVID-19 cases. He opined that every health facility personnel, including doctors who operate their own private practice, should have been educated that they were likely serving people who had already been infected. “They should have been given personal protective equipment. Many doctors were not aware, they thought they were handling normal patients who had complaints but what happened was they (the patients) were infecting the doctors. "That’s why in the first few months, many health workers will be infected,” he said. Separately, a nurse who works at the same hospital as one of the doctors who died also said the 34-year-old doctor was not tending to COVID-19 patients. The hospital is wondering how he could have gotten infected, said the nurse who declined to be named. Dr Riono noted: “What now is happening is that many people in Indonesia have already been infected but do not yet know because there are limited testing kits." The public health expert added: "Protection to the health workers is number one. Don’t bother thinking about incentives, they don’t work for money … they work because it is their calling."

Latest updates for Coronavirus. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/indonesia-covid-19-coronavirus-cases-deaths-jakarta-measures-12585684 Commentary: Without major intervention, Indonesia could have 71,000 COVID-19 cases by end-April Excerps from the article above. HOW BAD IT COULD GET FOR INDONESIA Theoretically, interventions such as limiting social gatherings, mass testing and the isolation of positive cases should slow the number of new cases down. Without these strict restrictions, the growth in the number of COVID-19 patients will be exponential. This means that for every similar period, the number of patients multiplies by the number of patients before. For example, if the number of patients increases by two every day, each patient transmits to two people per day. So, the number of patients on the first day to the 7th day would be: One, two, four, eight, 16, 32 and 64. In this first week, medical staff would still be able to handle the number of patients they need to treat. But if the doubling continues, at the end of the second week, the number of patients will be 8,192. By the end of the third week, it will pass the 1 million mark. By the end of the fourth week, the number will break past 10 million and be at 13,421,728. This rate of increase is dynamic, depending on the period analysed and interventions conducted to slow the spread of the virus. To prevent the health system from being overwhelmed with patients, the doubling must be stopped as soon as possible, at the beginning of the outbreak, when the number of patients is still small.

South Korea with 9976 cases have 169 deaths. South Korea is touching the 10,000 number by tomorrow. Indonesia with 1790 cases have 170 deaths. Indonesia death rate has surpassed South Korea. Names of countries in Asia with high death rate. 1. China - 3318 2. Iran - 3160 3. Indonesia - 170 4. South Korea - 169 5. Philipines - 107

Now I get it. Thank you for the explanation.

Aww this is bad. Huge mass gathering during the pandemic is a bad idea.

Key things mentioned in the articles posted online. 1. Slow detection of the virus caused harm. 2. Government knew that the virus existed since January but decided to keep it away from public knowledge to avoid fear. 3. Lots of patients with severe symptoms of Coronavirus not getting the correct treatment. Despite showing symptoms of Coronavirus many patients ar3e turned away and not given any treatment or any test done on them. 4. Sick people had to move from one hospital to another hospital to another clinic to get treatment when they are rejected. This caused the delay in virus detection and caused harm. 5. Poor healthcare and expensive medical bills not helping to fight the virus. 6. High number of deaths recorded on daily basis. 7. Some patients passed away even before they are able to be given treatment at the hospital.

Another interesting news posted online. https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/03/13/covid-19-patient-rejected-waited-for-days-for-testing-in-jakarta.html

Interesting article posted online about how some countries are slow to react towards Coronavirus. http://theconversation.com/without-major-intervention-indonesia-could-have-71-000-covid-19-cases-by-aprils-end-134239

What a sad situation this is. Heard that Indonesia is not that rich enough and their health care facilities is not that good either. So many cases went undetected and not many people can have the luxury of getting the test. Read the recent unpleasent news. Hendry Saputra is still waiting for his swab test and other test results to confirm he is postifive or negative Covid-19. Then the other 3 MS players who played in All England still cannot get the test done and still waiting for their long queue to get the check up. Guess it is never easy in Indonesia. No choice when the country is not rich enough to do mass testing. So little people from Indonesia managed to get their check up. Plus shortage of medical equipments is also not helping.