A to Z of Corona Vocab (Day 8 & 9 of the lock down) - 1st and 2nd April 2020

1st and 2nd April - A to Z of Corona Vocabulary

Morning shows the day. The corona crisis was worsening across America and Europe. Global total of Daily deaths crossed 5000 and a whopping ~65k-70k new cases were being reported everyday. Globally more than 1 million people had been diagnosed positive with covid-19 and total death toll had crossed 50k by 2nd April. US by now was the new epicenter adding ~25k new cases and a thousand positive cases everyday.

Back home in India, number of corona positive cases had exploded after the Markaz crisis. As test results of the Nizamudding Markaz attendees started pouring in,  most of the new cases were directly or indirectly linked to the attendees. In related incidents, foreigners who had attended the religious event on tourist visas had been black listed and a FIR was also lodged against the maulana of the Markaz.

Days were being spend in updating the blog, preparing food and watching news. One of the ideas that had flashed while writing the description of few words which shot in lime light in the corona crisis, was to do a full A to Z vocabulary list related to the ongoing corona crisis. Each term is followed by a a short description / defined as commonly available on internet and supplemented with anecdotes or personal experiences. Here it goes -
A to Z of Corona Crisis

A - Azithromycin
Anti body

B - 

Source: The Minds Journal

C – Corona Virus - The virus that has scared the shit out of this world in 2020. Technically, Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses include some cases of the common cold (which has other possible causes, predominantly rhinoviruses), while more lethal varieties can cause SARS, MERS, and COVID-19.
Covid-19 is the disease caused by novel corona virus SARS-CoV-2.

Covidoit - One who behaved idiotically during the times of Corona.
D - 

E - 

F – Flatten the curve - Closest the world had come to learn geometry and calculus and statistics all at a time, almost over night. In context of covid-19 pandemic, the term was being extensively used to explain spreading of the outbreak to a larger time horizon by use of preventive measures so that at any point of time, total number of affected persons remain manageable, for the health workers.

G - 

H – HCQ (Hydroxycholoroquine) - Otherwise a Two rupees (three cents) tablet used to cure Malaria in third world countries. People learned the importance of this non-descript drug when the then President of the US was agressively pushing for its use to cure covid-19. Medics and researchers, however maintained a measured distance from the president's stance. Technically HCQ - Hydroxychloroquine is a 4-aminoquinoline with immunosuppressive, antiautophagy, and antimalarial activities.

I - Isolation - Once the prerogative of wise or wealthy and wished by household ladies and lords who were fed up with their worldly duties, Isolation along with its sibling Quarantine was being offered as the solution to stop the spread of covid-19 by health authorities and governments across the world. All those confirmed with covid-19 were spending their time in isolation under medical supervision.

J - 

K - 

L – Lock down - Never before hard a single world put half the earth's population under house arrest. It is a state of isolation or restricted access, instituted as a security measure. Some were rejoicing the lock down being able to spend time at home, others who could not reach their homes before lock down were help less and desperate..

M - Mask - "the one physical device" that was being used, by most of the people as a primary protective measure against covid-19. It is a partial face cover worn typically for protection, disguise, performance or even entertainment. Effectiveness of mask was discussed and debated during the pandemic and recommendations for its use swung wildly from being a health hazard, unnecessary to absolute necessary, it's supply crisis also lead to changes in geopolitical equations.

N – N-95 - A particular type of mask, said to be efficient against airborne particles and liquid contamination, typical corona virus carriers. As the wrath of covid-19 pandemic was unfolding, N-95 was advertised as most effective against respiratory infections and that led to panic buying of whatever little quantities that ere in stock. So much so that initially hardly any stock was available for use by Medical workers.

O - 

P – Pandemic -
PPE - Personal Protective Equipment -
PM CARES - 

Q - Quarantine - younger cousin of isolation and yes, the two are different. While Isolation was for confirmed cases, Quarantine was for suspected cases and mostly under self or community observation.

R - Respirator - 

S - Swab -
Sanitizer - 

T - Tablighi Jamat Markaz - 

U -

V – Ventilator -
Virus - 

W – Wuhan - The Birth place of Covid-19. Previously known in India for Modi - Xinping Informal Summit.

X - 

Y - 

Z -

In the year of 2020, auspicious Hindu festival of Rama Navami was on 2nd April 2020. The grandeur and scale of celebrations were definitely impacted by the ongoing corona crisis but the spirits remained high. Ram Navami is birth date of Lord Rama, who had championed righteous behavior - "Maryada Purushottama" - and embodied victory of good over evil. His life story remained a source of divine and eternal inspiration to millions of devotees across ages. In current times, it also became life line of Indian Political Discourse as well. The Ram Janam Bhumi court dispute having been resolved late last year, the celebrations were expected to be grand. Bu the way the entire community displayed a sense of responsibility by not resorting to any mass religious gathering or making a hue and cry about it, would perhaps be forgotten by history writers but  would remain unparalleled.

Also, I deleted tik tok app from my phone today. The app had become immensely popular as a video sharing platform where the user had the liberty to create the content and show case his / her talent. Off late, there were reports that the app is acting as dummy for data mining and surveillance. I had no confirmation but was not willing to take chances, specially so in times of corona which had originated from China.

Late in the evening Hon'ble PM sent out a tweet - this time a video message at 09:00 AM in the morning. What has it got into its fold - entire country was guessing. Big Boss would announce his new task tomorrow morning. Prime time was being redefined.

At 9 AM tomorrow morning, I’ll share a small video message with my fellow Indians.

कल सुबह 9 बजे देशवासियों के साथ मैं एक वीडियो संदेश साझा करूंगा।

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 2, 2020