COVID -19 What is your say on this?

Coronavirus is no more a news, the whole world is feeling the heat of the virus originated from China.

Question of the day - lets assume this virus keeps spreading,what measure do you think can be put in places to curtail the spread as people continue with their daily routine?

COVID -19 China reports highest number of new cases in almost six weeks

China reported 108 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily total since March 5, the country’s National Health Commission said Monday.

While those numbers are still far short of the daily totals that were reported during the height of the country’s epidemic in February, the uptick is heightening fears of a second wave of infection that could once again push the country into a state of near-total lockdown.

Notably, all but 10 of the new cases involved people who entered mainland China from abroad. Nearly half were reported in Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia.

On Sunday, officials in the border city of Suifenhe announced that anyone coming from abroad would be required to spend 28 days in quarantine and undergo nucleic acid and antibody tests, Reuters reported. Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, plans to introduce similarly stringent measures and will also mandate 14-day lockdowns for any residential units where coronavirus cases are detected.

China also reported 61 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases on Sunday, a decrease from 63 a day earlier.

COVID -19 coronavirus patients who are put on ventilators have low rates of survival.

Recent research, however, suggests that coronavirus patients who are put on ventilators have low rates of survival. "If you go on a ventilator, there is about a 20 percent chance that you will survive," said Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health in a Face the Nation interview on April 5.

The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre in the U.K. reported that 66% of patients on ventilators died. A University of Washington medical study published March 30 noted that nine of 18 patients died.

Infected patients can develop acute respiratory distress syndrome – ARDS – a condition with a high mortality rate. Those with ARDS build up fluids in the alveoli, the tiny air sacs in the lungs that transfer oxygen to the blood and remove carbon dioxide.

More than 40 percent of COVID-19 patients develop ARDS, according to a March 13 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association. Other serious respiratory ailments can also occur.

As the transfer process is impaired and oxygen levels fall, ventilators keep patients breathing. While they don't treat the disease, they do give patients time to fight it.

Bridge between life and death: Most COVID-19 patients on ventilators will not survive.

But coronavirus patients need more time – an average of 10 days, according to the University of Washington study. Other reports say one to two weeks is usual. A typical ICU patient averages 3-7 days, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

The devices are removed once patients can breathe on their own.

Ventilators range in size and can cost $25,000 to $50,000 or more. They are used in intensive care units.

Lung sacs provide oxygen

How ventilators aid coronavirus patients

Ventilators gently pump air through a breathing tube into the patient’s lungs and allow the patient to exhale. This gives patients oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, which can damage the patient's organs if not expelled. In some cases, air with higher oxygen content is used. Settings are tailored to patient needs.

Patients can't talk because the tube passes through their vocal cords. The tubes can be uncomfortable and it takes time to get used to them, according to AgingCare.

Ventilator operation is closely monitored to maintain pressure and expiration levels.

How do ventilators help patients breathe?

Doctors monitor patient breathing rates per minute:

A popular mode used with ventilators is called assist-control (AC). In that mode, the ventilator assists with breathing. It's ideal for recovery because the patient only has to initiate a breath and the ventilator does the rest.

In this example, the respiratory rate is set to 15 breaths per minute. That means the patient will receive a breath every four seconds, regardless if the patient needs a breath.

Even if the patient attempts a breath in between the timed breaths, the ventilator will take over and deliver the same volume of air as the timed breath.

Hooking up coronavirus patients to ventilators

Patients are connected to ventilators in three ways. Though patients are sedated for the invasive procedures, the process of putting tubes in patients can be dangerous for health care workers, who risk being infected themselves. There's also a risk of infection for patients with breathing tubes.

Non-invasive mask:

In less critical cases, oxygen can be delivered through a face mask instead of a tube. This type of ventilator can be more commonly available in some areas and is relatively safe to deploy.

Endotracheal tube:

For more invasive procedures, medical workers don protective clothing and sanitize and sterilize the ventilator equipment.

A specialist called a respiratory therapist inserts a laryngoscope into the patient’s mouth and guides the endotracheal tube into the windpipe.

Once the tube is inserted, a cuff is inflated to keep the tube in place and seal out secretions. The laryngoscope is removed and the tube is taped to the side of the face. The tube is checked to make sure it can equally inflate both lungs.The endotracheal tube is attached to the lines running to the mechanical ventilator.

Tracheotomy:This is a more invasive procedure with an incision in the windpipe for insertion of a tracheal tube. This method is less likely to be used for COVID-19 patients since it puts the health care team at increased risk from aerosolized viral particles which can remain infectious for up to three hours.

Shortage of ventilators looms

Health officials warn of a critical shortage of ventilators as COVID-19 infections continue to rise. Hospitals are estimated to have about 160,000 ventilators with another 12,700 in the federal National Strategic Stockpile.

Demand, however, may exceed supply. Governors in New York and Louisiana said their states could run out of ventilators this week. The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projected more than 25,000 ventilators could be needed by mid-April alone.

In response, Ford and General Motors are setting up production lines, Ford in Detroit and GM in Indiana, in emergency efforts to build ventilators. Ford will build 50,000 ventilators, while GM plans 30,000. Tesla and Dyson are also working on ventilators