Covid-19: The situation reminds us how vulnerable we are!

What are the most promising coronavirus drugs?

by Anwar A. Khan

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.’

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect ourselves and others from infection by washing our or your hands or using an alcohol-based rub frequently and not touching our or your face.

The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette, for example, by coughing into a flexed elbow.

The baneful CORONAVIRUS or COVID-19 is affecting 213 countries and territories around the world.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, the World Health Organization (WHO) says it is supporting countries in their containment and mitigation efforts such as by providing technical guidance, laboratory capacity strengthening for testing, equipment for hospitals and healthcare workers, and creating awareness and addressing misinformation, but its averments are notquintessentially seeable!

Until on 2nd July, global total cases of coronavirus are 10,357,662 and total deaths are figuratively to 508,055…and in Bangladesh - Infection:153277, Recovery: 66442 and Death:1926.

Bangladesh records highest daily COVID-19 deaths, cases. Top bureaucrat, doctor died from pandemic, while politicians, police also contracted virus, according to local reports.

There are a significant number of studies under way into potential treatments for Covid-19. And some progress has been made in the search for effective medicines.

What work is being done to find treatments?

More than 150 different drugs are being researched around the world. Most are existing drugs that are being trialled against the virus.

The WHO has launched the Solidarity trial aimed at assessing the most promising treatments

The UK says its ‘Recovery’ trial is the world's biggest, with more than 11,000 patients taking part. One of the drugs, it is looking at - dexamethasone - has been shown to help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus.

And multiple research centres around the world are attempting to use survivours' blood as a treatment.

What types of drugs might work? There are three broad approaches being investigated:

1.Antiviral drugs that directly affect the coronavirus's ability to thrive inside the body;

2.Drugs that can calm the immune system - patients become seriously ill when their immune system overreacts and starts causing collateral damage to the body; and

3. Antibodies, either from survivours' blood or made in a lab, that can attack the virus.

What are the most promising coronavirus drugs?

Dexamethasone, the first drug shown to save the lives of people with Covid-19, has been hailed as a breakthrough. Initial findings showed the low-cost steroid cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators and a fifth for those on oxygen.

Coronavirus infection triggers inflammation as the body tries to fight it off. This can prompt the immune system to go into overdrive, and it is this reaction that can prove fatal. Dexamethasone damps down this response.

What is dexamethasone and how does it work?

Clinical trials of ‘Remdesivir’, an antiviral drug originally developed to treat Ebola in the African countries, have also been encouraging. A US-led trial of more than 1,000 people worldwide found ‘Remdesivir’ cut the duration of symptoms from 15 days to 11. Some were given the drug and others were given a placebo (dummy) treatment.

It is one of the four drugs in the Solidarity trial and its manufacturer, Gilead, is also organising trials. But, although ‘Remdesivir’ may aid recovery and possibly stop people having to be treated in intensive care - studies have so far not given any clear indication whether it can prevent deaths from coronavirus.

It is thought that antivirals may be more effective in the early stages, and immune drugs later in the disease. The UK government has made both ‘Dexamethasone’ and ‘Remdesivir’ available on the National Health Service (NHS).

However, the US has bought almost all of Gilead's forthcoming supply of the drug. The Department of Health and Human Services says it has secured 500,000 doses, which amounts to 100% of Gilead's production in July, 90% of it in August and 90% in September. Gilead has also donated an unknown quantity of ‘Remdesivir’ to South Korea.

The world is shutting down. Places that were once teeming with the hustle and bustle of daily life have become ghost-towns with massive restrictions put on our lives - from lockdowns and school, college and universities closures to travel restrictions and bans on mass gatherings.

It is an unparalleled global response to a disease. But when will it end and when will we be able to get on with our lives?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he believes the UK can "turn the tide" against the outbreak within the next 12 weeks and the country can "send coronavirus packing". But even if the number of cases starts to fall in the next three months, then we will still be far from the end.

It can take a long time for the tide to go out - possibly years.

It is clear the current strategy of shutting down large parts of society is not sustainable in the long-term. The social and economic damage would be catastrophic.

What countries need is an "exit strategy" - a way of lifting the restrictions and getting back to normal? But the coronavirus is not going to disappear, as it appears!

If you lift the restrictions that are holding the virus back, then cases will inevitably soar. "We do have a big problem in what the exit strategy is and how we get out of this," says Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh. It is not just the UK; no country has an exit strategy.

It is a massive scientific and societal challenge!

Coronavirus: How to cope with living alone in self-isolation:

After years of living with others, Lucia (pseudo name), the photographer was excited to finally have a place to herself. She had recently moved back to Italy from New York. She enjoyed spending time on long, meandering walks with her camera, and going out for food with friends.

But within a couple of months Milan, where she lived, had become the epicentre of Europe's coronavirus outbreak. She and millions of other Italians were ordered into lockdown, told to stay home unless absolutely necessary.

The first few weeks were the hardest, as the monotony of days isolated in her apartment took its toll. But now more than months on, Lucia is adjusting to being alone. She still misses her freedom and physical contact with others, but feels fortunate that she and her loved ones are healthy, when so many across her country have died.

"Sometimes I get worried about the future, about how life will be after this end," she says. "I wonder if there will ever be a real life outside our homes."

There are millions more stories like this around the world. As governments scramble to contain the deadly Covid-19 pandemic by restricting public life, many living alone have had to accept that they might not spend time with anyone else for a long time. She says, “I know because I'm among them.”

Weeks into the UK lockdown, my friend Asif’s ordinary life in London goes on but it looks and feels different. Trips to the office have become a rarity. “I feel lucky to have a cat for company and the ability to go outside for walks when others can't, but it's hard not knowing when I'll next see my close friends or family, who live hundreds of miles away,” he tones in an uncheerful modality!

These days the same screens that host our work meetings carry the burden of our social lives too. With the exception of conversations over the telecom or chance encounters with neighbours by the bins, all of our human contact is now online.

With so many other people across the world living by themselves through this strange experience, I decided to try to find expert advice and others self-isolating alone. That's how I have found Lucia, Aparna and Angie: three women continents apart, going through the same.

Angie, from Maine, has lived by herself for four years. Getting her own space became an important part of her growth and healing after a divorce. But as the US became gripped by coronavirus and local restrictions hit, the downfalls of her living situation became apparent.

A couple of weeks ago, when Angie was laid-off from work, she was left to deal with it alone. "In normal circumstances, if you were to lose your job, you'd be met with a hug by a family member or invited over by a friend for cheering up," she says.

Coronavirus: How to protect your mental health?

There is plenty of research to suggest our social relationships can be as important to our physical health as our mental one. Research links pervasive loneliness to higher mortality rates and other health complications.

Professor Naomi Eisenberger is a social psychologist at UCLA known for her research on how the brain behaves when it experiences social rejection and disconnect. She says our current situation, with billions of people cut-off from their normal lives, is unprecedented. She stresses the importance of people living alone trying to stay connected with those we care about. "One of the things I've heard from people is that it's interesting that now you start realising who you actually feel close to, because it doesn't matter who lives near you or who is easy to get to," she says.Her research group is also looking into whether the virtual communication we are all currently filling our schedules with is enough to feel truly connected.

Professor Stephanie Cacioppo, an expert in behavioural neuroscience and psychiatry at the University of Chicago, is also full of practical tips for those living alone. She and her late husband were known for their pioneering research that draws a distinction between being alone and feeling lonely.

She says adjusting our mindset and expectations is key to avoiding feelings of loneliness. This means accepting events are beyond our control and knowing that being away from the people and things we love is only temporary.

"Right now, you live alone. And right now, you have no choice. So, you can either scream all day long or make the most of it," Dr Cacioppo says.

-The End –

The writer is an independent political observer based in Dhaka, Bangladesh who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs.