April 15, 2020 | Adamas University

COVID19 – How Geography is creating roadmaps

Extremely pleased to be a part of the domain, that is helping the world in battling against the very well known curse of the millennium COVID-19. At this time of the global pandemic when medical science endeavoring to discover reliable solution to fight against SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19); spatial science is playing proactive role in empowering the decision-makers to understand the game of novel corona virus from neighborhood to continental scale.

History behind medical geographical mapping

Since 5th century BCE geography is helping the society to fight against the deadliest disease of the world, the story begins with the acknowledgement of Hippocrates who significantly observed the relationship between health and environment. Utilization of incredible asset of geographical mapping empowered the society when German physician Leonhard Ludwig Finke prepared first disease map in 1792, and identified incidence and spread of infectious diseases within exclusive spatial environmental condition. Notable contribution of medical geographical mapping, and its implications evolved from the streets of England during English Cholera epidemic of 1830s. Dr. Robert Baker (1831), Dr. Thomas Shapter (1848), German geographer Augustus Petermann (1952) and Dr. John Snow created series of cholera map demonstrating the incidence and deaths related to cholera, nearby natural circumstances contributing the development, and spread of pandemic and vulnerable population exposed to the disease. Instead of limiting technology, these early maps were extremely helpful for decision-makers.

Geo-informatics fighting against COVID-19 – Global scenario

After centuries, today geographical science well-equipped with modern technology and advanced tool of geo-informatics is significantly more dynamic and helping the world in distinguishing the game of the pandemic of 21st century. Geographical institutions and GIS firms are striving to provide near-real times updates on the spread coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Track on its spreading way assisting with understanding it dynamicity, which is essentially critical to receive preventive measures to limit further episode of the deadliest COVID-19. Track on its spreading way assisting with understanding it dynamicity, which is essentially critical to receive preventive measures to limit further episode of the deadliest COVID-19.

World Health Organization displays the spread of COVID – 19 worldwide with detailed tracking data for each nation and territory. COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard produced by University of Virginia and John Hopkins University is astoundingly following the spread of Covid-19 utilizing multiple sources of information. By scrolling over the tab, viewers may get fabulous idea about worldwide cumulative confirmed cases, active cases, incidence rate, case fatality ratio, testing rate and hospitalization rate. Recognizing the power of mapping tool, Department of Geography, University of Washington has created an interactive map of the coronavirus. A single click on the countries displays the number of cases, recoveries, deaths, and trends over time on both linear and logarithmic scales. University of Georgia effectively displays the spread of the pandemic worldwide from its epicenter at Wuhan, China. Indeed, most nations have their own COVID-19 dashboards, sharing data publicly at various scales. ESRI, a leading GIS resource supplier is playing significant role in empowering the nations of Asia – Pacific, Americas, Europe, Middle-East and Africa in mapping the novel corona virus pandemic. On release of Coronavirus Response Solution exclusively for the community benefit at neighborhood scale, ESRI believes that GIS is not only for mapping the spread of pandemic, yet it very well may be successfully used as the answer for the most challenging questions pertaining to vulnerability and exposure of population to novel corona virus. Extremely appreciative steps were taken by South Korea, that produced superior quality COVID – 19 maps. Amalgamation of four technologies, i.e. track on card-less transactions by the patients, their phone locations, CCTV surveillances on the movements of patients along with geographical information system enabled the trackers to identify exact or near exact movement of virus, and it becomes simpler to uncover where, when and from whom new patients was or may infected.

Geo-technology at neighbourhood scale

At national level, many Indian states are conveying geographical technology as a significant tool during this tough time. Government of Gujarat launched mobile-based GIS application to track the movement of those advised to be home-quarantined. Telangana government is actively using geo-location technology to track the movements of suspects. State of Kerala deployed GIS technique to display route charting of positive cases on live-geo maps. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has published the map on its website indicating COVID-19 influenced regions. The aim is to spread awareness among the nearby community who needs to take more precautions. Apart from the interactive maps showing the spread of the disease, Google attempted to prepare the COVID-19 Community Mobility Report, to offer an approximate understanding of the community responses on social distancing guidance related to Covid19. Report is based on the sample data of location history from the users who have opted-in for their Google Account.

Few must visit surveillance sites tracking COVID -19

I will suggest my readers to visit the following sites and see how geographical techniques is excellently playing crucial role in fights against global pandemic COVID -19.

John Hopkins University

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0JRINvSRUu-wOIRTgT_r3pgphO564iuBkjCrNjBEM5QYdHEY6qMe4ygk8#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

University of Washington

https://hgis.uw.edu/virus/

University of Georgia

http://2019-coronavirus-tracker.com/maps.html

World Health Organization

https://who.sprinklr.com/

University of Virginia

https://nssac.bii.virginia.edu/covid-19/dashboard/

National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India

https://gis.ndma.gov.in/arcgis/apps/sites/#/data

United States of America

https://uscovid-19map.org/

ESRI COVID-19: Map, resources and insights

https://www.esri.com/en-us/covid-19/overview#maps-dashboards

Visit the site, track the trend, see what Geography is doing, and understand how it empowers.

Geography empowers – future ahead

Overcoming all myths where domain of Geography was considered to be limited in identifying the capitals, rivers or forests on map, today the subject is playing crucial role in making decisions. Tracking COVID-19 or identifying population vulnerability and exposure to the deadliest corona virus is one among thousands of significant role played by the Geographical science today. Whether it is smart urban planning, disaster management, environment protection, or population-resource distribution, Geography empowers everyone, everywhere.

COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard, University of Virginia (Accessed on April 15, 2020)

COVID-19 Dashboard, John Hopkins University (Accessed on April 15, 2020)

Leadership Take away from Hindu Mythology

At the end in Mahabharata’s, it tries to explain the complexity of KARMA, and how difficult is to decide what is good and what is bad. What happens in the war and after the war.

Kauravas lose and Pandavas win and they ruled over Hastinapur for 36 years and after that they moved to vanaprastha. Then they say they’ll head to Swarga. They believed they ruled well with dharma, so they should go to Swarga.

As they climb the mountain, one after another, the Pandava brothers start dying. Yudhishtir doesn’t turn back even once to see at his brothers or at Draupadi when she dies. He believes he has renounced everything.

He keeps walking and finally reaches. Deboraj Indra greeted him and said ‘ You have been the true Dharmaraj by being virtuous at all times, so come to Swarga’. Yudhishtira has a dog with him who has followed him from the palace. Indra refuses to allow the dog in Swarga. Yudhishtira says he will enter only if the dog is allowed, since they have been the companions in the long journey, otherwise both will stay out. Indra is very pleased by his principled stand and allows both to Swarga.

In Swarga , Yudhishtira shocked to see Kauravas. He asked Indra why Kauravas are here, they were the cause of war, where adharmis. Indra tells him that according to the rules, all those who die at Kurukshetra doing their duty as Kshatriyas, will find a place in heaven. That is to say if you follow your caste dharma in the punya bhoomi, you will achieve Swarga. This is more complicated than simply good or bad karma.

Now the most important question asked by Yudhishtira- ‘Where is my brothers and wife?’ Then Indra took him under the earth, full of misery place. There, his brothers and wife are suffering for their individual paaps, sins –

Bhima : for overeating
Arjuna : for being insecure
Nakula : for being a narcissist
Sahadeva: for being arrogant about his knowledge
Draupadi: for preferring Arjuna over her other husbands

Yudhishtira feels compared to all misdeeds and adharmas did by Kauravas , these are very small faults. But Indra explains that since they died on Dharma Kehstra- Kurukshetra during their duty, so their all bad karma was wiped off and they are here in Swarga.

Yudhishtira is very angry about the apparent injustice and he refuse to go heaven. At that moment Krishna says –

‘Hadn’t you given up everything? You said you have renounced everything but obviously you didn’t let go of your anger. You defeated and killed the Kauravas, punishing them for their misdeeds. You ruled over their kingdom for 36 years – wasn’t that punishment enough? You don’t seem to have forgiven them and angry even now. You are carrying your past baggage and still attached with negative emotions, so how can you be in heaven?’

With this twist , in the end , it’s not about physical Swarga or Narak rather it’s state of mind. Swarga is where you find pleasure and enjoy and Naraka is where you suffer. But unless you leave all your anger, envy, greed, resentment etc, you can’t achieve Swarga , success. So Swarga or Naraka is not outside but inside us.

Leadership Take out:

Never leave a person who believe you and accompany you in your journey.
Consider your work place is a Dharma Keshetra (Poonya Bhumi) and job assigned to you is your caste duty.
Avoid overeating
Never be insecure – God has given you something extraordinary to success in life , find it out by talking to yourself and inner call.
Never be narcissist and arrogant about your knowledge, skill, wealth, lifestyle etc.
Being a leader never ever prefer or favour to any individual of team members
Forgive misdeeds – Give chance
Leave aside and forget all past baggage

Remember road in front of you is endless – It’s created by almighty. Trust him and keep walking- Swarga / Success is there for you !!!

The role of diet and nutritional supplement during COVID-19 outbreak

Student Contributors:

Ms. SanchitaBaisya, (B.Sc Biotechnology, Sem- VI),

Ms. Shrestha Sengupta (B.Tech Biotechnology, Sem- IV).

With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in December 2019, a devastating situation has arisen for the entire world. To fight and rescue ourselves from the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to eventually lock ourselves down in our own house. Who in their wildest dream did think of such a situation? But, here we are dealing with it! All we can do is take up healthy habits and improve ourselves as human beings in this quarantine period.

Patients under the grasp of this lethal virus have shown clinical indications including fever, non-productive cough, dyspnoea, myalgia, fatigue, normal or decreased leukocyte counts, and radiographic evidence of pneumonia. The new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spreads primarily through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose. One infected person can be the cause of spreading the virus to 2.5 people in no time if not isolated. Keeping all these in mind, social distancing is the only way out for breaking its chain. Other precautionary measures include wearing a mask, washing hands frequently with an alcohol-based hand wash and boosting up our immunity.

SARS-CoV-2 infection-causing COVID-19 can roughly be categorized into three stages:

stage I: an asymptomatic incubation period with or without detectable virus; stage II: non-severe symptomatic period with the presence of virus; stage III: severe respiratory symptomatic stage with high viral load.

No food or supplement can completely protect us from getting infected by the virus (COVID-19). However, consuming a healthy diet is important for our immune system to function well, and many nutrients which are the component of a healthy diet, influence the body’s ability to fight infection

A healthy palette of food is significant for a healthy life.

Consuming superior quality diets is always desirable. A healthy diet that generally emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts also moderate consumption of fish, dairy products, poultry and the decreased intake of red and processed meat, refined carbohydrates and sugar.
Fats should be chiefly including oils such as olive, canola, or soybean oil. Highly restrictive, crash diets should be avoided and replaced with protein, fat and carbohydrate-rich foods.
Sufficient amounts of minerals and vitamins provided by a healthy diet help us to ensure proper numbers of immune cells and antibodies, which are important as the body mounts a response to infections.
The beneficial effects of nutrients have been recorded upon patients across all ages, and individuals with pre-existing chronic illness.
It is seen that a two-phase immune response is induced by the COVID-19 infection. If a defensive immune response is weakened, the virus will propagate and cause massive damage in cells, induce innate inflammation in the lungs which is in turn largely mediated by pro-inflammatory macrophages and granulocytes. Lung inflammation is the main cause of life-threatening disorders at the severe stage of the disease.

So, we can say a well-functioning immune system is important for endurance. An “activated” immune system is seen to increase the demand for energy during periods of infection, which can be met from exogenous food intake.

We can boost up the immune system by including certain food in our daily diet which has anti-viral property or reduces the risk and severity of COVID-19. A few of them are easily available in the Indian market under essential items.

Garlic: a bulb with assured anti-viral property can be eaten raw, mashed or even added to soups and curries.

Coconut oil: by cooking food in pure cold-pressed coconut oil as lauric acid and caprylic acid present in it are crucial for boosting the immune system against viral. So this quarantine is a good time to explore some South-Indian dishes too.

Vitamin-C rich food: L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is one of the well-known anti-viral agents. Incorporating Amla, red or yellow bell peppers in our diet can be helpful and also summer is here we can always indulge ourselves and our loved ones to a glass of refreshing lemonade.

Herbs: Anti-viral herbs such as Oregano, Tulsi, dried Thyme are great for immunity, and can be used in teas, curries or pasta and such delicacies for respiratory health including mucous problems which can become a “breeding ground for bacteria and pathogens”.

Vitamin-D rich food: A recent review suggested using vitamin D reduces the risk and severity of COVID-19. Egg-yolk, cereals, oatmeal’s, mushrooms, cow-milk and even plant-based milk substitutes like soy milk can help our immune system.

Table 1, represents a few required nutrients for their roles and food sources.

Nutrient	Role in the immune system	Food sources
Vitamin A	Known as an anti-inflammation vitamin as it plays a critical role in enhancing immune function.	Liver, whole milk, cheese, orange-colored fruits and vegetables, green leafy vegetables, etc.
Vitamin B6	Impact on both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses.	Poultry, fish, egg yolk, soya beans, sesame seeds and some fruit, such as banana, etc.
Vitamin B12	Helps in white blood cell production, and white blood cells are crucial for apt immune system functioning.	Meat, fish, milk, cheese, eggs, etc.
Vitamin C	Contributes to the immune defense system in both the innate and adaptive immune systems.	Citrus fruits, papaya, kiwi, green vegetables, peppers, and tomatoes, etc.
Vitamin D	Vitamin D can control innate and adaptive immune responses.	Fortified breakfast cereals, dairy products, oily fish, egg, etc.
Folic Acid And Cobalamin	Folic acid (vitamin B9) and cobalamin (vitamin B12) play a crucial role in the healthy balance of the immune system. An insufficient amount of folic acid and B12 can radically alter immune responses by disturbing the production of nucleic acid, protein synthesis, inhibiting the activity of immune cells.	Green vegetables, pulses, oranges, berries, nuts and seeds, cheeses, bread, etc. Vitamin B12 can be obtained from animal products, including fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and milk products
Iron	There is an interaction between iron grade and immune function, predominantly for the incidence and course of infectious disease.	Red meat, offal, beans, pulses, nuts, fish, whole wheat bread and dried fruits, etc.
Selenium	Satisfactory levels of dietary selenium are vital for initiating immunity.	Many whole grains and dairy products, nuts and seeds, eggs, fish, etc.
Zinc	It helps produce new immune cells, develops ‘natural killer cells’ that assists to fight off viruses.	Meat, poultry, cheese, shellfish (like crab, cockles, and mussels), nuts and seeds (like pumpkin seeds and pine nuts), wholegrain breakfast cereals and bread.

Besides having healthy food, working from home, binge-watching our favorite series and movies we can also indulge ourselves in something new and productive this summer. Like, we can meditate, spend time with family, call our friends, sleep early, enjoy the sunrise and sunset, learn something new, cook a meal and bake a cake. Trust me, with these we all shall explore a diverse side of ourselves!

Spending Quality Time during Lockdown

With regard to the present pandemic crisis that is engulfing the global world, I have also been a victim of the unforeseen situation. Though the entire country is fighting against the lifethreatening disease (COVID-19) and is under lockdown for near about a month, I being a teacher have devoted this time in conducting online classes for students so that students remain updated with their class preparation and syllabus along with doing different courses through Coursera.

Being a researcher, I am also utilizing the time during weekends to devote to one’s Ph.D research. Being a sociologist, this sudden lockdown has debunked certain social issues which is often not properly exposed —– there has been increasing domestic and verbal abuse of married women and children. Furthermore, elderly abuse has also increased. However, such issues can also be resolved if one keeps following these guidelines in mind—-

Being more enduring and patient: During this isolation phase which at times seem to be depressing, one needs to be patient and enduring since managing both household chores followed by work tasks is tedious. Such tedious work can take a toll and test one’s patience. One needs to calm himself/herself and develop the tendency of listening to elders more.

Assistance and understanding which can ensure reduction of domestic quarrels among family members: This is of significant importance since both husband and wife during this phase need to understand the importance of managing office work through virtual platform and housework as well. Both the spouses should help each other so that any form of domestic quarrel reduces when there is an upsurge of domestic violence in this lockdown phase.

Engaging oneself in one’s favourite hobby: This is possibly the best time to explore one’s hobby through writing, reading, listening good music, cooking, quilling, and even housework. Exploring and venturing one’s hobby detoxifies all negative energy which might develop due to the isolation! It also makes the person positive from within.

Yoga followed by Meditation every morning: A major pre-requisite during the lockdown phase which helps to maintain the physical and mental well-being of everyone. Practicing Yoga and Meditation ‘heals’ the body and mind and also ensures spiritual attainment —- a must in the to-do list for everyone, especially adolescents and elderly people!

Spending quality time through Art and Painting: One of the most effective ways to spend this isolation period, according to me, is through Art and Drawing.

1. Art is one of the most therapeutic means to indulge in one’s own world of imagination. Such gloomy period which brings forth stress, anxiety and depression can be vented out through the means of Art.
2. Not everyone needs to be an artist to engage in Art but if everyone; especially youngsters devote some part of their day in Art or Painting, they are sure to develop optimism which will also help to boost their self-confidence and provide emotional ecstasy.

As a small token of remembrance for everyone, I have shared two of my recent Sketch and Digital Painting in order to ameliorate my physical and mental well-being during this period of isolation:

Spending good time with kids (children) in the family: It is said and believed that Children are the gifts of God!! Spending good time with children (if anyone has) is possibly the best time spend to reduce any form of stress or anxiety (even with the naughtier ones!). Their innocence and enthusiasm can take away all forms of tension from life. However, one needs to interact with them patiently (with full vigour!).

To be more tolerant towards elderly people and helping them with essential commodities and housework: The toughest responsibility of any individual in family, yet the affinity which can bind family members together. This pandemic crisis has indeed instilled fear in the minds of bread earners of the family in terms of looking after their aged parents or grandparents since this life-threatening disease has high risk factor for them. One needs to be more tolerant towards the elderly and need to develop the tendency of listening more to their interaction since they are possibly the best guardians in giving advice. Further, helping them with the essential
commodities is also needed.

Exploring and venturing older photographs: Last but not the least, scribbling over the older photographs of childhood and even adolescence (for adults) also gives nostalgic vibe and takes one down the memory lane. It also helps to relive the unforgettable memoirs spend with family or friends, with a Hope to relive the moments soon.

Since this is a challenging time throughout the world, it is essentially important to stay indoors and spend precious time with family members (along with office work virtually) and properly utilize it in the best possible manner because life is indeed a precious gift of God!!