WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE OF ECQ AND GCQ?

WHICH

METHOD WILL BE THE MOST EFFECTIVE DURING THE

PANDEMIC TIME TO FLATTEN THE CURVE?

On March 16, 2020, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared the entire Luzon

area in the Philippines under "enhanced community quarantine" (ECQ) which is effectively a

total lockdown, restricting the movement of the population but with exceptions, in response to

the growing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country. Additional

lockdown restrictions mandated the temporary closure of non-essential shops and

businesses. This quarantine came two days after the implementation of the community

quarantine of Metro Manila.

The quarantine was originally set to last until April 12, 2020, but President Duterte

accepted the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious

Diseases (IATF-EID) to extend the Luzon ECQ up until April 30, 2020. On April 24, Duterte

announced that the ECQ was to extend up until May 15, 2020 but only for Metro Manila,

Calabarzon, and Central Luzon (except Aurora) as well as other areas in Luzon that are

considered a high-risk for COVID-19. Low-risk to moderate-risk areas would be placed under

general community quarantine (or less strict quarantine) starting on May 1.

Except for Metro Manila and other parts of the country, the enhanced community

quarantine will be lifted after April 30. In spite of this, a general community quarantine will still

be in place for some provinces. This was based on a recommendation by the Inter-Agency
Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases or IATF and approved by President Rodrigo

Duterte, as announced by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a televised briefing

aired in the morning of April 24.

A recent study from the University of the Philippines (UP) COVID-19 Pandemic

Response Team found that an extended community quarantine, whether enhanced or

modified, would help flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases in the country. The UP team –

mostly composed of mathematicians across different UP campuses – estimated a peak of

COVID-19 cases in the country by the end of April to June, with approximately 140,000 to

550,000 people infected in Metro Manila.

These figures include undetected, mild, and asymptomatic cases which would

comprise "probably" 80% of the total.

 COVID-19 or Corona Virus disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly

discovered virus that came from Wuhan, China. According to timeline created by WHO (World

Health Organization), Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, China reported a cluster of cases

of pneumonia in Wuhan Hubei Province where a novel coronavirus was eventually identified.

The first case of COVID-19 outside China was January 13, 2020 in Thailand, and now it has

become pandemic. In order to apprehend this pandemic, all of the countries affected started a

lockdown. And here in the Philippines, the government took action by implementing Enhanced

Community Quarantine or ECQ which is effectively a total lockdown. And as the confirmed

cases rises and as the weeks goes by, ECQ extends. And now in our 6th week of ECQ

President Duterte announces ECQ and GCQ starting May 1 to May 15, 2020.

What is the difference of ECQ or Enhanced Community Quarantine and GCQ or

General Community Quarantine?

Enhanced Community Quarantine or ECQ and General Community Quarantine are

quite similar in a way of restricting the movement of people but with exceptions. However,

GCQ is a less strict quarantine than ECQ.

Enhanced Community Quarantine in order to prevent or avoid the spreading of the

virus has three main rules to be followed.

• Restriction of the People’s Movement – Mass gathering, public transportation

and School classes are prohibited. “Work from Home” is applied. Going outside of their homes

are also prohibited. People are only allowed to go outside to just buy basic needs such as

food, medicines etc. And “Social Distancing” is strictly applied.

• Allowed and Disallowed Establishments – Non-essential businesses are not

allowed to operate, only companies who provide food and medicine, gasoline stations and

funeral services are allowed.

 • Travel Restrictions – International and domestic transportation through air and

sea are prohibited.

General Community Quarantine is less-strict than ECQ. According to Presidential

spokesperson Harry Roque here are the rules and guidelines of GCQ

1. Selected workers in nonessential services are allowed to go to work. Companies in

electronics, exports, manufacturing, e-commerce, delivery, repair services, maintenance, and

housing can resume full operations as long as they observe minimum health standards such

as physical distancing. Those in finance, business process outsourcing (BPO), and non-

leisure trade and services can have half of its employees work from home while the remaining

50 percent are working on site. Schools, amusement centers, leisure facilities, gaming, and

tourism services must remain closed

2. Children (0 to 20 years old), elderly (60 years old and above), and people with high-

risk health issues are not allowed to go out of their homes

3. Non-leisure shops in malls are allowed to reopen. Malls should limit entry of

shoppers and implement mandatory temperature check and mandatory use of masks and

alcohol. They were also told to turn up the air-conditioning temperature and stop offering free

WiFi to discourage people to "linger" inside the malls

4. Priority construction projects can resume

5. Non-workers, except children, elderly, vulnerable people, are allowed to buy food

and go out to avail of essential services

6. Public transport can operate at reduced capacity to ensure social distancing

7. Local government units shall enforce curfew for non-workers

8. Airports and ports can only operate for the unhampered delivery of goods
 There are still some restrictions that will be implemented to stop people from loitering

around. For one, Roque said malls that will reopen next month are required to keep the

centralized temperature at 26 degrees Celsius and to shut off the free wifi service. Minimum

health standards like the wearing of masks, taking of body temperatures, and handwashing

protocols will also continue to be enforced.

“Health experts, including the World Health Organization, have warned that hastily

lifting quarantine restrictions — which include the suspension of mass transportation and the

imposition of stay-at-home orders — may lead to a second wave of infections, just like in

Singapore, which initially arrested the spread of COVID-19, but later faced a resurgence of the

viral disease.” – CNN

In this method it will be effective during the pandemic time to flatten the curve?

Both methods are for preventing the spread of the virus. ECQ is the action took to

avoid the spread of the virus and restrict the movement of the people. ECQ was the main

action that took place in order to do an effective total lockdown all over Luzon. While GCQ is

implemented to those places that are moderate-risk areas and low-risk areas that can be

affected by the spread of the virus.

As we all know, China was the first epicenter of the COVID-19 where the virus was

discovered. And eventually after the total lockdown that the implemented and now China has

healed and conquered the virus. The next epicenter was in Europe Italy to be specific, where

the cases of corona virus swiftly increased. After Europe, and as of today, the epicenter of the

virus is in USA. And now, Brazil emerges on becoming the next corona virus epicenter. In our

cases, it is not impossible that South East Asia can be the next epicenter. ECQ or total
lockdown can possibly be effective during this pandemic to flatten the curve. China is a proof

that total lockdown can probably stop the spreading of the virus because as of now they are

slowly healing. This method can possibly be effective to flatten the curve of the cases in

spreading the virus slowly if we will just follow the guidelines of ECQ.

We may not stop easily and quickly this pandemic but for me, I know we can prevent it

from spreading one step at a time and beat COVID-19. But of course it would not be possible

if we people are not going to cooperate to our government by simply following the rules

implemented. We are the ones that should be helping rather than being selfish or

discriminating and criticizing. For the sake of our country and especially the front liners who

are sacrificing everything in order to fight against this pandemic. Let’s just help one another,

because I know that humanity is what we need in this kind of situation and to win this fight.

General Community Quarantine (GCQ) is primarily the first level of the quarantine, this

means that people have a largely limited access in necessities and work. Almost half of the

public transport have declared to suspend to follow the social distancing, in response to the

coronavirus disease outbreak. Young people, senior citizen and people with high risk to the

virus are recommended to stay at home at this period. There are also uniformed authorities

and quarantine officers that might be present at border checkpoints. While the Enhanced

Community Quarantine (ECQ) is more like a total lockdown with hard borders. This means

that the GCQ will be strictly enhanced. In this period, strict home quarantine will be

implemented, transportation will be suspended excluding the delivery of medical supplies and

basic protection equipment of our frontlines and delivery of food supplies will also be

regulated. The enhanced community quarantine was implemented because of the high risk of

increasing the number of cases rapidly.

 Metro Manila hits the most number of cases for the past few weeks. Implementing

these steps is a great way to eliminate the spread of the virus within the community.

Lockdown will prevent the in and out transactions that might cause the spread of virus. This is

a largely a great help to control the speed of an outbreak occurrence. Flattening the curve

means the cases per day slows down to the point our health care system can handle the

pandemic and it will only be effective if the implementation of the quarantine will be followed

by the citizens. There are no vaccines available for this virus, the only we can do is reduced

the number of cases gradually until it comes to point where it will nearly hit zero cases and

this will happen if all of us will stay at home for now.

 WHAT ARE THE 5 ESSENTIAL OR IMPORTANT

INDUSTRIES THAT SHOULD BE OPEN DURING THE

PANDEMIC CRISIS? PREPLANNING IN COMMUNITY

ENGAGEMENT AS YOUR COMPONENT ANALYSIS.

SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER IN GRAPH ANALYSIS.

Essential service industries are the service industries that are absolutely necessary

even during a pandemic crisis. They maintain the health and welfare of the municipality or city.

Without these services, sickness, poverty, violence, and chaos would probably result.

Here are the 5 essential or important industries that should be open during the

pandemic crisis:

1. Executive Governance Industry

2. Healthcare Industry

3. Military and Police Protection Industry

4. Banking Industry

5. Food Industry

The pie chart below is my illustration for the preplanning or readiness in community

engagement when a pandemic happens.

 Essential Service Industries PREPLANNING/Readiness in
Pandemic Crisis
Executi
ve
Govern
Food ance
19% 18% Executive Governance
Healthcare
Military and Police Protection
Healthc Banking
Banking are Food
23% 19%

Military
and
Police
Protec
tion
22%

Pandemic crisis can happen anytime and anywhere. Once a pandemic will happen,

there are things to consider in different aspects of human life. Our life would be in danger if

there is no avoidance of a viral transmittable disease like COVID-19 that is happening

nowadays.

While we’re avoiding the COVID-19 pandemic, the government and other related

essential service industries are in-charge to be the frontline in the community. That is why

Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) is implemented to lessen the number of people

having a virus. But while we’re quarantined, we should be still essential in our lives in order for

us to survive and with that, how essential service industries are ready for this pandemic. How

the government, healthcare, military/police, bank and food industries should take responsibility

with the community engagement.

For me, executive governance is not much ready of this pandemic, because first thing

first is there is no approved law that there should be preparedness for this kind of crisis.

Healthcare and food industries, for me, they have the same percentage because they are

related and they are slightly prepared because even if there is no vaccine for these virus, still
they have pursued to cure and recovered many patients. Military and police protection

industries are much prepared because even if there is no pandemic they are the hope of

those people who’s in danger. Lastly is the banking industry, since they are the supplier of

financial needs of human being the bank or money is always present even if they are

controlled by the government.

COVID-19 pandemic is deadly but if we stay in our homes and follow all the rules and

guideline the government was implemented, there will be no deaths and harm can happen to

us. Be safe, stay at home and pray continually.

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE FLATTENING OF

COVID-19 CURVE AS A COMPUTER ENGINEER

 The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new strain

of coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in

Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

On the 30th of January 2020, the Philippine Department of Health reported the first

case of COVID-19 in the country with a 38-year-old female Chinese national. On 7 March, the

first local transmission of COVID-19 was confirmed. WHO is working closely with the

Department of Health in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.

As of April 25, 2020, there have been 7,294 confirmed cases of the disease in the

country. Out of these cases, 792 recoveries and 494 deaths were recorded. The Philippines

has conducted 76,956 tests as of April 23, including repeat tests, and have tested over 68,765

people.

The Philippines has the third most number of cases in Southeast Asia, after Singapore

and Indonesia. The largest single-day increase in the number of confirmed cases was on

March 31, when 538 new cases were announced. Meanwhile, the smallest single-day

increase since the last week of March was on April 4, when only 76 new cases were

announced. All of the country's 17 regions have recorded at least a case. High income and

low subsidence incidence are associated with significant reductions in COVID-2019 cases

across the 17 regions of the Philippines.

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, is

the medical facility where suspected cases are being tested for COVID-19 since January 30,

2020. Before that date, confirmatory tests were made abroad. Currently, sixteen sub-national
laboratories (in Metro Manila, Baguio, Bicol, Cebu, Davao, and Iloilo) are also conducting

COVID-19 tests while several laboratories are still undergoing proficiency testing before use.

Enumerated below is the latest update on the Coronavirus cases in the Philippines as

of April 25, 2020.

Figure 1. Total Coronavirus Cases in the Philippines (as of April 25, 2020)
Figure 2. Daily New Cases in the Philippines (as of April 25, 2020)

Figure 3. Active Cases in the Philippines (as of April 25, 2020)

 Figure 4. Total Coronavirus Deaths in the Philippines (as of April 25, 2020)

Figure 5. Daily New Deaths in the Philippines (as of April 25, 2020)

An equally important challenge, however, is designing and implementing interventions

necessary to effectively subdue the spread of the disease without imposing strains on society
that are greater than the potential negative effects of the outbreak. As shown by the

experiences in other countries, responses to epidemics may have unintended consequences,

including on food security, child nutrition, and delivery of non-epidemic related health services,

as resources are diverted towards programs to control the epidemic. Local interventions need

to recognize that more than half of Filipinos have limited capacity to subsist beyond one

month if left without additional support.

The ideal goal in fighting an epidemic or pandemic is to completely halt the spread. But

merely slowing it — mitigation — is critical. This reduces the number of cases that are active

at any given time, which in turn gives doctors, hospitals, police, schools and vaccine-

manufacturers time to prepare and respond, without becoming overwhelmed.

Diseases spread when one person gives it to one or more others, who go on to give it

to more people, and so on. How fast this occurs depends on many factors, including how

contagious the disease is, how many people are vulnerable and how quickly they get sick.

The difference between seasonal flu and coronavirus is that many people have full or

partial immunity to the flu virus because they have had it before or were vaccinated against it.

Far more people are vulnerable to coronavirus, so it has many more targets of opportunity to

spread. Keeping people apart in time and space with social distancing measures, self-isolation

and actual quarantine decreases opportunities for transmission.

As a Computer Engineering student what I could mostly do is to utilize the technology I

have to spread awareness to fight and prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. I could create

Infographics about the Coronavirus disease— its symptoms, how it spreads, home self-
quarantine instructions, what should one do when they feel a symptom, how one can protect

himself and his family from the Coronavirus disease, and provide necessary contact

information of public health units for questions and concerns. I could be of help by offering my

assistance in informing the public with vital information from trusted sources only and avoid

posting fake news and unnecessary information that could possibly cause panic. I could also

introduce my family, friends, and social media connections to Yani, the COVID Chatbot made

by the UP Resilience Institute. Yani is the newest AI member of the UP COVID-19 Pandemic

Response Team! Yani, short for baYANIhan and named in honor of our heroes in the fight

against COVID-19, helps find the information one needs regarding the government policies in

relation to health, education, transportation, and economic support. I could also use my time

to research for possible technologies that could help the community prevent the spread and

fight against the virus.

6 Steps to Sustainably Flatten the Coronavirus Curve as

Perspective of Computer Engineer

 1. Social distancing. Government can implement number of ICT measures to enhance

social distancing. Transmit emergency alert text messages on natural or manmade disasters

to cell phones through mobile telecom carriers. It is an effective tool that could help disaster

response. Since the coronavirus outbreak, government can open a website to provide

information about companies providing solutions for remote working and education and their

products. In addition, the government can temporarily permit doctors to perform telemedicine

as part of preventive measures to avoid group contagion in vulnerable facilities including

medical institutions and nursing homes.

2. Locate COVID-19 with speedy testing. The test-kits for COVID-19 quickly became

widely available and played a major role in eliminating uncertainties in the early stages of the

viral spread. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a significant role in supporting researchers and

healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and screening of patients with severe symptoms, as

well as developing appropriate responses based on a thorough analysis of the situation on the

COVID-19 spread.

3. Quickly traces COVID-19. Government can utilize a mobile application for self-

diagnosis to monitor symptoms of inbound travelers while also providing them prompt medical

advice. Government can also develop a mobile app to effectively support the monitoring of

those under self-quarantine allowing the users to monitor their conditions and conduct self-

diagnosis.

4. Facilitate COVID-19 treatment. The use of AI is expected to reduce the time required

to develop medicine, as AI can learn and make deductions based on the virus and other

medical data. In other countries, they developed new medicine and relevant platforms through
the use of AI, used deep learning algorithms to predict the interaction of drug and protein, and

propose candidate medicine for the coronavirus.

5. Proper Information. Key information such as the accumulated count by region and

number of tests performed is summarized and provided as visualization data on the main

page of the website. People need clear information about what it means to travel and work

safely, as well as how to engage in more careful social interactions and how to support at-risk

populations who are still socially distanced, starting with our elderly.

6. Stabilize the economy. We should be able to create risk stratification methodologies

to allow lower risk individuals to get back to work while responsibly decreasing the risk to

themselves and society. This strategy will not be easy to implement, but it’s an essential part

of restarting the economy without ramping up the infection curve beyond health system

capacity. It will allow us, over time, to build more herd immunity across the broader population

and enable much of society and the economy to be operating at a reasonable level.

We should together make best efforts to turn the crisis into opportunity and make the

best use of the cutting- edge technologies in forefront of fight against COVID-19. We should

also work together by making every information gathered on COVID-19 readily available to all.

Any information on fight against COVID-19 is a public good, and it should be provided quickly

to everyone in need and in their fight against COVID-19. In this pandemic we are all

connected, any wisdom and experience must be also shared quickly and fairly.

Define

The Novel Coronavirus 2019, or officially known as Coronavirus Infectious Disease

2019 (COVID-19), is a global pandemic that devastated the whole world As of April 27, 2020,
2.97 million people worldwide were infected, 863,000 of them have recovered from the

disease, while unfortunately 206,000 of them died because of the said disease. The

coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the

greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two. Since its emergence in Asia late last

year, the virus has spread to every continent except Antarctica. Cases are rising daily in Africa

the Americas, and Europe.

Countries are racing to slow the spread of the virus by testing and treating patients,

carrying out contact tracing, limiting travel, quarantining citizens, and cancelling large

gatherings such as sporting events, concerts, and schools. But COVID-19 is much more than

a health crisis. By stressing every one of the countries it touches, it has the potential to create

devastating social, economic and political crises that will leave deep scars.

As the Philippine Government responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic, a lot of

problems have risen due to lack of funding, and the blatant incompetence of the government.

The list below are the problems that the Philippines and the Filipinos are currently facing right

now:

• Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) of frontline workers such as

doctors, nurses, volunteers, police, military, and local government staffs.

• Lack of Testing Kits for early detection and treatment

• Insufficient funding for critical fields, like research, food reliefs, frontline worker’s

allowance and provisions, and among many others.

• Blatant incompetence of the national government and having no decisive plans

against the COVID-19 pandemic.

 • Lack of supply of food for those in the areas wherein the Enhanced Community

Quarantine is currently implemented.

• Delayed Travel Ban Declaration against Chinese citizens entering the country even

during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evaluation

The cases in the Philippines is gradually increasing as time passes by, the country

encountered problems in responding to the pandemic since the country didn’t seem to be

ready in these kind of situations.

1. Lack of Testing Kits for early detection and treatment

2. Insufficient funding for critical fields, like research, food reliefs, frontline worker’s

allowance and provisions, and among many others.

3. Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) of frontline workers such as doctors,

nurses, volunteers, police, military, and local government staffs.

4. National government and having no decisive plans against the COVID-19 pandemic.

5. Lack of supply of food for those in the areas wherein the Enhanced Community

Quarantine is currently implemented.

Proposed Solutions/Changes
 Countries like America created drones that can detect if someone on the streets has

fever. This is one of the innovations or technologies that help us identify which person are

possible to have the virus. This is an example of a Computer Engineering or Information

solution. There might not be a direct solution in solving the pandemic by using computer

engineering related projects but there are ways that it can help.

- Create a tracker that monitors a person who is possible to have the virus since

he/she has shown symptoms or PUI’s.

- Engineer a device that can easily detect if someone has the virus by analyzing

DNA from the subject without having to further involve our front liners to avoid

transmission of disease.

- Program a system that can detect which locations have denser population since

they are more prone into having contact with each other that can cause the spread

of virus.

- Research of ways to create more accurate PPE’s for the front liners to avoid the

transmission to them while they are serving the country.

By creating or modifying these kind of solutions, lessening the spread of virus will happen.

It will be a big help for the country and it can also be distributed to other countries that have

the same problem since the corona virus is a pandemic.

I. Define the problem

 The Novel Coronavirus 2019, or officially known as Coronavirus Infectious Disease

2019 (COVID-19), is a global pandemic that devastated the whole world As of April 27, 2020,

2.97 million people worldwide were infected, 863,000 of them have recovered from the

disease, while unfortunately 206,000 of them died because of the said disease. The

coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the

greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two. Since its emergence in Asia late last

year, the virus has spread to every continent except Antarctica. Cases are rising daily in Africa

the Americas, and Europe.

Countries are racing to slow the spread of the virus by testing and treating patients,

carrying out contact tracing, limiting travel, quarantining citizens, and cancelling large

gatherings such as sporting events, concerts, and schools. But COVID-19 is much more than

a health crisis. By stressing every one of the countries it touches, it has the potential to create

devastating social, economic and political crises that will leave deep scars.

As the Philippine Government responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic, a lot of

problems have risen due to lack of funding, and the blatant incompetence of the government.

The list below are the problems that the Philippines and the Filipinos are currently facing right

now:

• Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) of frontline workers such as

doctors, nurses, volunteers, police, military, and local government staffs.

• Lack of Testing Kits for early detection and treatment

• Insufficient funding for critical fields, like research, food reliefs, frontline worker’s

allowance and provisions, and among many others.

• Blatant incompetence of the national government and having no decisive plans

against the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Lack of supply of food for those in the areas wherein the Enhanced Community

Quarantine is currently implemented.

• Delayed Travel Ban Declaration against Chinese citizens entering the country even

during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

 II. Define the matrix

The Ansoff matrix model is essential for strategic marketing planning where it can be

applied to look at opportunities to grow revenue for a business through developing new

products and services or "tapping into" new markets.

In their case, they did not focus on growth means that it's one of the most widely used

marketing models. It is used to evaluate opportunities for companies to increase their sales

through showing alternative combinations for new markets (i.e. customer segments and

geographical locations) against products and services offering four strategies as shown.

III. Analyzing the problem

As the Philippine Government responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic, a lot of problems

have risen due to lack of funding, and the blatant incompetence of the government. The list

below are the problems that the Philippines and the Filipinos are currently facing right now:
 1. Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) of frontline workers such as

doctors, nurses, volunteers, police, military, and local government staffs.

2. Lack of Testing Kits for early detection and treatment

3. Insufficient funding for critical fields, like research, food reliefs, frontline

worker’s allowance and provisions, and among many others.

4. Blatant incompetence of the national government and having no decisive

plans against the COVID-19 pandemic.

5. Lack of supply of food for those in the areas wherein the Enhanced

Community Quarantine is currently implemented.

6. Delayed Travel Ban Declaration against Chinese citizens entering the

country even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IV. Testing Ideas

 As we all know, our target in defeating the COVID-19 pandemic is to flatten the curve of

the infection rate. As a computer engineer, we are greatly accustomed to different

technologies and ideas. We can innovate software and hardware technologies to provide

suitable results and products as to what is the needs and wants of the industry. Computer

engineering can greatly innovate different technologies that will help in defeating and

flattening the COVID-19 infection rate. Automation and artificial intelligence assistance are

some of the greatest product the computer engineering can offer to the society in combatting

the said pandemic. Robotics, software, and other products can help our citizens in easing up

the hardships created by Coronavirus.

Here are some steps on how to test ideas for comprehensive innovation in defeating a

pandemic:

Step 1: Think and Hypothesize.

Innovations are distinguished from inventions, technology and research, but may

arise from any of the three. A variety of models of the innovation process are described,

for they are useful in developing public policies for encouraging innovations as well as for

managing their creation. The more advanced of these models include consideration of

complementary assets and social capital, which helps explain the differences in innovative

capacity in different societies. Innovation is a primary source of competitive advantage for

companies in essentially all industries and environments, and drives forward efficiency,

higher productivity, and differentiation to fill a wide variety of needs. One particular

perspective on economics isolates innovation as a core driving force, alongside

knowledge, technology, and entrepreneurship. This theory of innovation economics notes

that the neoclassical approach (monetary accumulation driving growth) overlooks the

critical aspect of the appropriate knowledge and technological capabilities.

 As Computer Engineers in the computer engineering field, we should create,

remodel, and/or innovate future or current technologies that will greatly help people

especially in defeating the virus, lowering rate of infection, and giving people an easier life

during the pandemic crisis using the products made from computer and technological

engineering.

Step 2: Build.

Emerging technologies are being deployed across Asia to help combat the COVID-

19 pandemic. From Singapore to South Korea to China, technology is being used by

governments around the world to track and contain the coronavirus outbreak – some more

than others.

"Sometimes the pace of innovation in emerging digital technologies can be held

back by infrastructure, financing and bureaucratic constraints," said Jonathan Tanner, a

digital consultant at the Overseas Development Institute, a think tank.

"When faced with a challenge like responding to the coronavirus outbreak, there

are strong incentives to overcome these constraints quickly and put new technology to the

test," he added.

In Singapore, the government there has launched an app called TraceTogether.

This app uses Bluetooth signals between smartphones to see if potential carriers of the

coronavirus have been in close contact with other people. This is yet another effective tool
used by the government to track potential carriers in addition to contact tracing teams on

the ground. The use of applications paired with increased surveillance have attributed to

the country's slow rate of infection compared to many other countries.

A similar tech approach was used in Hong Kong, where some residents were

required to wear a wristband which linked to a smartphone app and could alert authorities

if a person suspected or infected with coronavirus left their place of quarantine.

Step 3: Measure

The OnePoll survey of 2,000 people found that only half of people think the

tech in their lives is properly tested before being sold, despite 98% stating that the

reliability of the tech they use is important.

 With technology at the heart of many businesses, when asked what the most

important reason for technology needing to be reliable is, 61% of people identify safety

or security as their main concern, with the next most important reason being ease of

use (11%).

And for businesses using, developing or selling technology, 95% of people say

that having it properly tested by industry experts is important – much more than those

who stress the importance of the brand behind the tech (73%), where it was purchased

(70%), or where it was made (61%).

The study also found that people prefer to use tested technology that is proven

to work over tech that is completely new. 52% of people say that using the latest and

newest forms of technology is important to them, while 95% of people say that

technology that’s proven to work is important.

Nuno Silva, CRITICAL Software’s Chief Test Engineer, says: “For all the awe-

inspiring developments, people still seem to have concerns about the reliability of the

technology we use in our lives. The pressure to release new technologies can

sometimes come at a cost to reliability. The problem with this is that more and more

technologies are becoming critical to our day-to-day lives, impacting things like safety

and security, and the consequences of getting these things wrong can be

catastrophic.”
Step 4: Learn

In this step, you analyze the data and gain insights. You systematically connect

the evidence and data from experiments back to the initial hypotheses, how you tested

them, and what you learned. You must have to learn the proper way of managing your

innovations especially in the time of a pandemic crisis. Is the technological innovation

you are working with will give benefits to your target society or it will be beneficial in

slowing the spread and defeating the COVID-19? Also, this is where you identify if

your initial hypotheses were right, wrong or still unclear. You might learn that you have

to reshape your idea, to pivot, to create new hypotheses, to continue testing, or you

might prove with evidence that your idea has legs and you’re on the right track. As we

start in creating new technologies, we will have tasks we can work through. Testers

are always learning but we cannot always quantify it. We learn about the product we

are testing. We learn and develop relationships with developers, managers and
 testers. This makes us great at what we do. We change based on the environment we

are in or the product we have to test. We have to continue to educate ourselves about

the tools we need to test each product. At the center of all testing, it should always be

a deep understanding of the critical hypotheses underlying how you intend to create

value for the society and how will it help it flattening the curve in Coronavirus infection

rate.

V. Reducing Customer Complaints

1. Deploying New Technologies

Improving the software in your call center can help create better experiences

for both agents and customers. The easier it is for customer service agents to do their

job, the better they can handle customers. For example, implementing a call-back

solution can help smooth out call volume when you’re faced with a spike in calls

causing longer than normal hold-times.

2. Open Up New Channels of Communications

If your business isn’t already using social media to communicate, there’s no

better time than the present. In the 2013 National Customer Rage Study they found

that more than a third of customers use social networks to complain. You can use

social media to monitor interactions between you and your customers, and predict

problems before they escalate to complaints. If you’re already using social media to

communicate with your customers it might be time to explore new ways of interacting

with them, such as using Twitter Polls to get their feedback periodically.

3. Provide Seamless User Experience

 If you saw a surge in complaints from customers about the ease and efficiency

of your website or mobile platforms, it might be wise to step up your game in 2016.

Along with making improvements to the user experience (UX), you can also integrate

customer service widgets to support your product and curb user complaints.

4. Find Creative Ways to Ask for Feedback

As mentioned in the previous two tips, new communications makes it’s easier

than ever to creatively uncover what your customers think of you. It’s never easy to

ask for criticism but it’s the best method of resolving complaints and finding solutions.

If your customers complained about your website’s UX – incentivize them with a

discount code they can only use for web and ask them for feedback after completing

the transaction.

5. Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep

When Comcast launched a media campaign telling its customers that they

were going to “stop being the worst company” there was a fair amount of skepticism

swirling around this promise – and rightfully so. After a year, they still remain high on

our Top 10 OnHoldWith offenders list and customers regularly mock their twitter

handle @ComcastCares.

6. Improve Internal Communications

Communicate often and thoroughly within and across all departments. This

way you can catch problems and create solutions before your customers can.

Facebook recently reported that Mark Zuckerberg is still hands on with product

development, and catches errors well before users do. No matter what level you are in

an organization it’s important to keep your ear to the ground and play a role in making

improvements, not only in your field of expertise but as an unbiased third party in other

departments.
 7. Log customer complaints

By tracking and logging complaints no one in your organization can use the

excuse “I didn’t know that was a problem” or “I didn’t know how to resolve the

problem”. Every complaint your company hears should have a case file and potential

problem solving options to help eliminate further complaints. Plus, the more you’re

reminded, the more you’ll never want to deal with that complaint again.

VI. Finding root cause of COVID-19

 People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. The disease spreads

primarily from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, which are

expelled when a person with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes, or speaks. These droplets are

relatively heavy, do not travel far and quickly sink to the ground. People can catch COVID-19

if they breathe in these droplets from a person infected with the virus. This is why it is

important to stay at least 1 metre (3 feet) away from others. These droplets can land on

objects and surfaces around the person such as tables, doorknobs and handrails. People can

become infected by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or

mouth. This is why it is important to wash your hands regularly with soap and water or clean

with alcohol-based hand rub.

 The new COVID-19 is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The most likely ecological

reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2 are bats, but it is believed that the virus jumped the species barrier

to humans from another intermediate animal host. This intermediate animal host could be a

domestic food animal, a wild animal, or a domesticated wild animal which has not yet been

identified.

WHO continues to collaborate with experts, Member States and other partners to

identify gaps and research priorities for the control of COVID-19, and provide advice to

countries and individuals on prevention measures. National food safety authorities have been

following this event with the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN)

Secretariat to seek more information on the potential for persistence of the virus on

foods traded internationally and the potential role of food in the transmission of the virus.

Experiences from previous outbreaks of related coronaviruses, such as the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome

coronavirus (MERS-CoV) show that transmission through food consumption did not occur. To

date, there have not been any reports of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus through food.

However, concerns were expressed about the potential for these viruses to persist on raw

foods of animal origin.

Currently, there are investigations conducted to evaluate the viability and survival time

of SARS-CoV-2. In general, coronaviruses are very stable in a frozen state according to

studies of other coronaviruses, which have shown survival for up to two years at -20°C.

Studies conducted on SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV indicate that these viruses can persist on

different surfaces for up to a few days depending on a combination of parameters such as

temperature, humidity and light. For example, at refrigeration temperature (4°C), MERS-CoV

can remain viable for up to 72 hours. Current evidence on other coronavirus strains shows

that while coronaviruses appear to be stable at low and freezing temperatures for a certain

period, food hygiene and good food safety practices can prevent their transmission through

food. Specifically, coronaviruses are thermolabile, which means that they are susceptible to

normal cooking temperatures (70°C). Therefore, as a general rule, the consumption of raw or

undercooked animal products should be avoided. Raw meat, raw milk or raw animal organs

should be handled with care to avoid cross-contamination with uncooked foods.

SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are susceptible to the most common cleaning and

disinfection protocols and there is no indication so far that SARS-Cov-2 behaves differently.
 VII. Summary of Findings

As IT pros around the world go all-out to support a workforce that's suddenly fully remote,

many technology workers and companies are also joining efforts to alleviate the COVID-19

crisis in various ways, including developing products to combat the virus, tracking and

predicting its spread, and protecting hospitals from cyberattacks.

In an era of widespread 3D printing and high-tech software – and at a time when many

large-scale manufacturers, including Dyson and Ford, are shifting their attentions to

manufacturing medical hardware – small-scale producers are leading the way like never

before.

And not every design needs to go to market. Welshman Wyn Griffiths devised a hands-

free door opener – which clips onto door handles and can be operated using the forearm –

after his wife visited a hospital and saw the difficulties staff were facing. Griffiths has since

distributed the 3D design online for free and is asking people to print and distribute the

handles wherever possible.

Other recent patents that could genuinely save lives include a snood mask with an antiviral

coating - from Virustatic Shield, which plans to scale up production to a million a week and

reserve part of their stock for the UK's National Health Service.

Meanwhile, Dr Rhys Thomas of Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen in Wales went straight to

the heart of global health concerns when he devised a “simple and robust” basic ventilator

designed to help patients breathe – and which also kills COVID-19.

 “Although it won't replace an ICU ventilator, the majority of patients won't need intensive

care if they are treated with this ventilator first,” he said.

“The machine will [also] clean the room of viral particles and only supply purified air to the

patient. The patient can self-care, releasing specialist nurses for other duties.”

While Asian countries have been quicker to use data-centric apps to respond to the crisis,

countries like the United States (US) have yet to adopt a universal app to create a central

channel for a nationwide tracking system.

“It makes me feel like I’m living in a farce,” said Dr Ritu Thamman, a cardiologist and

clinical assistant professor at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine. Even hospital

staff who may have been exposed can’t get a test, she said. “We are a rich country but we

don’t have these kinds of things?”

Malaysia is also taking strides in technology and innovation amidst the outbreak. The

World Health Organisation (WHO) quickly picked up on a community-based website called

CoronaTracker developed through the expertise of 2,000 people including data scientists,

medical professionals, IT developers, graphic designers as well as residents from around the

world.

CoronaTracker was created to prevent the spread of misinformation as well as centralising

available data for research purpose. The website has been recognised as a valuable tool in

predicting and forecasting infections, deaths, and recoveries that can be used on a global

scale.
 POSSIBLE COMMUNITY MITIGATION IN PREVENTING

COVID-19 PANDEMIC DISEASES

PROBLEM

What are the possible community mitigation to in prevent covid19 or pandemic

diseases in order to solve and flattening the curve? Support your answer by graph and

analysis interpretation.

INTRODUCTION

In this paper, created as a remedial supplemental assignment for Comp-

Technopreneurship, we will explore the possible courses of action that may be undertaken by

communities to solve prevent further spread of pandemics in the Philippines, COVID-19

particular.

The most common current response our National Government, led by Rodrigo Duterte,

is a Nationwide lockdown for all communities. This step was taken to prevent the transmission

of the said virus by lessening social interactions between the citizens, and in effect, lessening

also, physical contact.

It is now up to local communities to battle the spread of the virus in their respective

districts. These communities in particular are led by Local Government Units (LGUs). To

counter the disastrous pitfalls of the pandemic, these LGUs have the ability to enforce certain

laws during these special times.

POSSIBLE COURSES OF ACTION:

To flatten the curve here in the Philippines, both the Local Government Unit, and

National Government may work together and take.

The most common current response our National Government, led by Rodrigo Duterte,

is a Nationwide lockdown for all communities. This step was taken to prevent the transmission

of the said virus by lessening social interactions between the citizens, and in effect, lessening

also, physical contact.

It is now up to local communities to battle the spread of the virus in their respective

districts. These communities in particular are led by Local Government Units (LGUs). To

counter the disastrous pitfalls of the pandemic, these LGUs have the ability to enforce certain

laws during these special times.

There are a total of four courses of action that can be implemented towards the

community to flatten the curve of infection, each with a different impact to Filipino communities

and the spread of the pandemic.

1. Exponential Curve
 This is when the Filipino LGU and Nat’l government does not practice the use of

“social distancing”. It is the worst possible response to the pandemic and would result in the

entire population being infected.

In addition to this, there would be people who would eventually recover labeled as

purple. In this simulation of 200 people, here is how the curve looks when the whole

population is infected

2. Attempted Quarantine

To slow the spread of the virus, LGUs can implement a forced quarantine. This is

when the spread of the virus has already begun to infect a majority of the population.

This will be the result if all people stay home, regardless of their jobs. In a similar

manner, this is the type of quarantine implemented by the Chinese Government on Hubei.

3. Moderate Distancing

In this example, only essential workers and officials are allowed to go out, making up

about 1/4th of the population, this is the current course of action undertaken by the Philippine

Government and general Filipino Public.

4. Extensive Distancing

In an ideal situation, only 1 in every 8 people would be allowed to move or go outside, taking

care to follow all safety procedures regarding the pandemic.

Flattening the curve is an utmost importance today as the whole world face its battle

against the coronavirus pandemic. Flattening the curve means reducing the number of cases

on a certain pandemic to the number in which the healthcare system of a country is able to

attend to. This would greatly help a community to not only reduce the number of infected

person but also reduce the mortality rate of the pandemic as the hospitals are able to care for

those who are infected with the disease. The graph below shows the graphic representation

on what flattening the curve is able to do for the majority of infected.

As we can

see

protective
measures against the pandemic is the most important thing after the outbreak. As a computer

engineer where social media is very readily available, misinformation is mainly the reason that

a community isn’t able to implement proper solutions that needs cooperation from everyone.

People are getting their news mainly on news organizations and social media, by

controlling these means to provide factual and recent developments and founding on the

pandemic, we can influence the people watching by having them informed on what helps in

combatting the pandemic.

Having people informed then we can have them know the importance of social

distancing in order to not only flatten the curve but also smash it. A university in Texas has

recorded the number of cases they have and showed a graph in which it shows that reducing

the amount of activities that require social affair would help in flattening the curve completely.
 Since the Philippines is a third-world country, we lack the capacity of rich countries to

produce basic health care equipment that we need for our front liners in combatting a

pandemic. Therefore, cooperation from everyone is necessary to achieve a flatten curve. The

solution that I see as a computer engineer is to develop a much profound source of

information by the local government to be then distributed freely to everyone to give everyone

a heads up that would start about the reducing the number of infected person.

How will ECQ Extension Flatten the Curve

5.8
NUMBER OF CASES 1:10

4.5
4
3.5
3 3 2.8
2.6 2.5

1.5

0.5 0.3
MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST
CALENDAR
Scenario 1: NO INTERVENTION
Scenario 2: MODIFIED COMMUNITY QUARANTINE
 Lockdown is the most effective method in flattening the curve. The lockdown,

described by government officials as an "enhanced community quarantine," will set in motion

efforts to limit the movement of people going in and out of the island region, home to at least

57 million. These measures were recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on

coronavirus. The first level is called a “general community quarantine.” This means that the

movement of people is largely limited to “accessing basic necessities and work” while

uniformed personnel and quarantine officers are present at border checkpoints.

The second is an “enhanced community quarantine,” more akin to a total lockdown

with hard borders.

In calling for self-quarantines and social distancing measures, epidemiologists have

touted the strategy of trying to control the speed of an outbreak occurrence. This is largely to

help spread out the number of infections over time so as to cushion the impact on hospitals

and medical workers dealing with the disease first-hand.

A now viral image on the internet dubbed as “flattening the curve” illustrates this in a

simple graphic above:

Now for analyzing the graph, based in UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team

Scenario 1: No Intervention

As the cases of Covid-19 constantly increasing Too many cases, will translate to more

hospitals being overwhelmed and increasing the possibility of more deaths.

Here, the blue line shows a spike that could manifest if the government decides not to

implement any new guidelines after the ECQ. You can see that the red line (a.k.a. the do-
nothing scenario) curves above the brown dotted line, which signifies the capacity of our

healthcare system in managing the pandemic. This what will probably happen when the ECQ

will end by the month of April.

Scenario 2: Modified Community Quarantine

As for modified Community Quarantine, some of the implemented guidelines are

modified such as lifted extended lockdown in some areas affected by the current quarantine.

Also, LGUs based the modified guidelines in their data gathered on how community

quarantine effective is in the 1st month since the ECQ lifted. So analyzing the graph with

orange line, the modified community quarantine is more effective since they have to modify

some of the implemented guidelines for the ECQ to be more effective.

Scenario 3: Extension of ECQ

Fortunately, the government was quick to heed the task force's advice and has

extended the quarantine. Hence, it is safe to assume that the gray line after the 1st month of

ECQ, here in the graph is a more probable scenario that we'll face in the coming months.

This signifies that the virus will be contain easily since the ECQ in 1st month is effective and

will cut the consistent increasing number of the COVID-19 cases.

Study concludes that by extending the community quarantine, it will help us in the following

ways: 1st, the ECQ "buys us time to beef up our healthcare system’s capacity" and; 2nd, this

can "[limit] the reach of the disease."

BENEFITS OF USING LAGUNDI AND VIRGIN COCONUT OIL

AGAINST COVID-19

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is looking into the benefits of

using local herbal medicine against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). According to a

24 Oras report by Joseph Morong on Monday, the DOST is leading the study of virgin coconut

oil, lagundi, and tawatawa as possible supplements to the diet of COVID-19 patients. The

Department of Health earlier announced that the DOST has launched a study on the effects of

virgin coconut oil on COVID-19 cases.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday said the DOST will also look into

lagundi and tawatawa.

“Meron na po tayong apat na gamot na sinasubject po natin sa clinical trial… [Ang]

pang-apat na pag-aaral ay may kinalaman po sa herbal drugs. Isa sa tinitingnan ay ang

lagundi po,” he said.

“Pinag-aaralan din po ng DOST kung makakatulong yung tawatawa na tinatawag para

po isang supplement sa dengue,” he added. “Ito po ay titingnan nila kung epektibo nga laban

sa COVID-19.” -- Julia Mari Ornedo/BAP, GMA News

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is set to hold clinical trials to test

the efficacy of virgin coconut oil to improve the condition of confirmed and probable COVID-19

patients.
 This was disclosed by President Rodrigo Duterte in his fifth weekly report to Congress

as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. Duterte’s report however did not state a

specific date for the start of the clinical trials.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said last week that the DOST was

studying the use of virgin coconut oil as a supplement to the diets of people who have tested

positive for the deadly virus.

The President also said the DOST approved and allocated funds for the project that

would allow University of the Philippines Manila and 22 hospitals to participate in a

“multicenter trial” that will provide data on the efficacy of candidate anti-viral drugs to Filipinos

infected with COVID-19.

Last Saturday, the Department of Health reported that Philippines and Japan have

started initial arrangements for the potential testing of Japanese flu drug Avigan to treat

COVID-19 patients.

Duterte earlier said the Philippines is ready to participate in clinical trials and medical

studies of potential vaccines and medicines such as Avigan.

He said that the DOST also funded two clinical trials of Virgin Coconut Oil that are

being conducted by the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). DOST Secretary Fortunato dela

Pena has mentioned that VCO will serve as a supplement to the daily treatment regimen of

the COVID-19 positive patients. The study aims to assess the possible benefits of VCO if

given to patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 in addition to the drugs being assessed

in the clinical trials.

 The second study is being implemented by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute

of DOST which will evaluate the effect of VCO in alleviating the symptoms of COVID-19 such

as difficulty in breathing and coughing.

This study is in partnership with Dr. Fabian Dayrit of the Ateneo De Manila University

and the Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS). The study will determine whether

certain coconut oil components can diminish or prevent the infectivity of SARS-CoV2, the

causative virus of COVID-19.

According to Roque, the country has also joined World Health Organization solidarity

trial. “Ito po ay bunsod sa kagustuhan ng ating Presidente na makipagtulungan ayo sa lahat

ng mga dalubhasa sa buong mundo upang magkaroon na po tayo ng vaccine o ‘di naman

kaya ay gamot para dito sa COVID-19 (This is due to the desire of the President to collaborate

with experts around the world so we can develop a vaccine or a cure for COVID-19),” he said.

The DOST has already initiated contact for possible collaboration with its bilateral

partners to aid the COVID-19 situation in the country. It said that it has specifically expressed

its willingness to collaborate with other countries on clinical trials on COVID-19 vaccine

development, that will help not just the country, but also all countries affected by this

pandemic.

Roque disclosed that there are four drugs that are being subjected to clinical trials

involving Filipino patients. These are chloroquine or hydrochloroquine [hydroxychloroquine],

remdesivir, liponavir, ritonavir, and interferon.

 He also revealed that there is a study of a COVID-19 treatment by a biotech group in

collaboration with PGH that is also being subjected to clinical trials at the hospital. “Ito pong

posibleng gamot na ito ay nagnanais na ma-alleviate po ang mga active infections at

magbigay po ng short-term immunity or prophylaxis laban sa virus (This drug aims to alleviate

the active infections and give short-term immunity or prophylaxis against the virus),” Roque

said.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is set to hold clinical trials to test

the efficacy of virgin coconut oil to improve the condition of confirmed and probable COVID-19

patients. This was disclosed by President Rodrigo Duterte in his fifth weekly report to

Congress as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. Duterte’s report however did

not state a specific date for the start of the clinical trials. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario

Vergeire said last week that the DOST was studying the use of virgin coconut oil as a

supplement to the diets of people who have tested positive for the deadly virus.

The President also said the DOST approved and allocated funds for the project that

would allow University of the Philippines Manila and 22 hospitals to participate in a

“multicenter trial” that will provide data on the efficacy of candidate anti-viral drugs to Filipinos

infected with COVID-19.

In conclusion, it is great to think that we have this kind of resources and we can get

benefits from these herbs. I am interested on how these herbs will affect and fight COVID-19

in the future and I hope that this can at least relief the symptoms of the COVID-19 patients.
 THE EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON RELIGIOUS

GROUPS, EDUCATION, AND ENTERTAINMENT SECTORS

The pandemic, caused by the COVID-19 virus, brought about great changes towards

the different sectors of our society. As the pandemic duration passes, these changes become

more and more transparent. These changes are slowly becoming what is normal in the

pandemic situation. Now, let us discuss the effects of pandemic on three different sectors,

namely, religious groups, education, and entertainment.

EDUCATION

As seen from the figure above, the pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the worldwide

education systems, as almost all the schools worldwide are now closed. This is to prevent the

spread of the virus and keeps the students safe from being infected.
 The effects on education has been drastic as the operation of most of the schools and

universities all around the globe has been stopped. So far, the decisions on what to do

remains different. Some decided to do online learning for their students, such as live teaching,

or sending modules online. On the other hand, others decided to cancel the school year for

they deemed that some of the students will not be able to comply on the alternatives due to

various reasons, such as lack of internet connectivity.

Different methods for a more efficient education for emergencies like these are still

getting discussed. In the meantime, it is advised for the students in their homes to take free

courses online, which are generously made free for times like these, if they can, and most

importantly, stay safe and make their free time productive as much as possible.

ENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment sector has also been greatly impacted by the pandemic. The

restrictions imposed on the people caused great impacts on the entertainment business. The

following figure shows the concept on how the entertainment sector would change depending

on the infection rate of the COVID-19 virus.

 The figure above depicts the phases that the entertainment sector would go through

depending on the situation on the infectivity rate of the COVID-19 virus. During the rising

phase of the infectivity, entertainment industries that relies people going outside are halted.

Bars, malls, and other establishments that requires people to go to them would completely

close as lockdowns and quarantines would be in effect. Live shows also would be cancelled,

but some are continuing by doing alternatives such as doing it in a livestream online instead.

The critical phase of the virus, the phase in which the infectivity rate of the virus is at its climax

or peak, has a phase called cocooning. In this phase, demands for livestream, online videos,

radio, television, and other entertainment options that can be viewed whilst staying indoors

would be in demand. This is what is currently happening as people are getting increasingly

bored as they have nothing better to do.

RELIGIOUS GROUPS

The pandemic dealt quite a blow to the services of different religious groups. As most

of the religious groups have populous events, which is very risky as the virus is highly

infectious in crowds, it is essential and a must for these religious groups to cancel their weekly

or daily events.

As the pandemic goes on, these religious groups came up with alternative ways to do

what they need to do. These methods they came up is safe from the risk of getting infected by

the virus as these methods can all be done without going out of the house. If one has a

television, radio, mobile phone, laptop or other devices, coupled with an internet connection,

one can still access the services their respective religion group is streaming or hosting.

Of course, these religious groups also helped in the fight against the pandemic. Some

donated equipment for the front liners and the infected, also, some donated food to the

affected areas. Moreover, some offered free COVID-19 testing to the public. Above all, they

pray for the betterment of the situation. Praying for those infected to be fine and recover

quickly, for the general public to be safe from the infection, for the front-liners to be kept away

from harm, and last but not the least, for those who died doing what is necessary or died from

the virus so that they can rest in peace.

Overall, the impact of the pandemic in these three sectors is huge. The changes are

going increasingly noticeable as the world faces this global pandemic. Different cases are

arising around the world every day that this pandemic is still going on. Therefore, adjustments

and adaptation are a must for these changes would linger on or more effects would be added

as the pandemic goes on.

 A RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT ON STUDY OF TOTAL

QUALITY MANAGEMENT AT COVID-19

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe

acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in

December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, and has since spread

globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. As of 30 April 2020, more

than 3.19 million cases have been reported across 185 countries and territories, resulting in

more than 227,000 deaths. More than 972,000 people have recovered.

Common symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, and loss of

smell. While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms, some progress to viral pneumonia,

multi-organ failure, or cytokine storm. The time from exposure to onset of symptoms is

typically around five days but may range from two to fourteen days. The virus is primarily

spread between people during close contact, often via small droplets produced by coughing,

sneezing, or talking.

Recommended measures to prevent infection include frequent hand washing,

maintaining physical distance from others (especially from those with symptoms), covering

coughs, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face.

 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly

discovered coronavirus. It has been spread worldwide and thousands of deaths have been

attributed to COVID-19. On March 16,2020, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared the

entire Luzon area in the Philippines under "enhanced community quarantine" (ECQ) which is

effectively a total lockdown, restricting the movement of the population but with exceptions, in

response to the growing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country.

Additional lockdown restrictions mandated the temporary closure of non-essential shops and

businesses. This quarantine came two days after the implementation of the community

quarantine of Metro Manila.

Enhanced community quarantine is by far the most aggressively effective and most

countries are just forced to take it to flatten the infection curve. ECQ does not only helps to

flatten the curve but also helps to protect our healthcare capacity. However, enhanced

community quarantine is economically costly. People out of job in an ECQ disrupts the circular

flow of income and spending as earning members of millions of families have to stay out of

work, and this slows down, if not reverses, economic growth. Also, not everyone under ECQ

follows the rule because not all people have the means to survive. Before this crisis, most

people in the Philippines had nothing but themselves to keep their stomachs full. Yes, we can

follow the rules because we can. We have the means to survive and while doing so we can

also be critical in times like this and have a little compassion for those who have nothing. The

biggest problems right now under ECQ are mass testing, social amelioration, the economic

slowdown and the assaults on human right.

 Mass testing is also one of the best solution to lessen the number of infected and to

flatten the curve. The only sustainable way we currently have of managing the coronavirus

disease is consistent mass testing. We really can’t stop the spread of the disease without an

accurate data. The main benefit of testing is life-saving. If an asymptomatic carrier tests

positive, isolating that person before they can infect others could save so many lives. Testing

even with its risk of false positives and false negatives is all upside.

ECQ and mass testing are the best possible way to flatten the curve only if our

government have concrete plans for this. But above all this, everyone in it must also do their

parts. Everyone should also take precautionary actions to ensure our own safety. Let us be

the one to take the first steps to save ourselves.

I. Define the Problem

We are facing a global health crisis — one that is killing people, spreading human

suffering, and upending people’s lives. But this is much more than a health crisis. It is a

human, economic and social crisis. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has been

characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), is attacking societies

at their core. The COVID-19 outbreak affects all segments of the population and is particularly

detrimental to members of those social groups in the most vulnerable situations, continues to

affect populations, including people living in poverty situations, older persons, persons with

disabilities, youth, and indigenous peoples.

 The coronavirus disease 19 is a highly transmittable and pathogenic viral infection

caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged

in Wuhan, China and spread around the world. Genomic analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2

is phylogenetically related to severe acute respiratory syndrome-like (SARS-like) bat viruses,

therefore bats could be the possible primary reservoir. The intermediate source of origin and

transfer to humans is not known, however, the rapid human to human transfer has been

confirmed widely. There is no clinically approved antiviral drug or vaccine available to be used

against COVID-19. However, few broad-spectrum antiviral drugs have been evaluated against

COVID-19 in clinical trials, resulted in clinical recovery.

II. Analyzing the Problem

Early evidence indicates that that the health and economic impacts of the virus are

being borne excessively by poor people. For example, homeless people, because they may

be unable to safely shelter in place, are highly exposed to the danger of the virus. People

without access to running water, refugees, migrants, or displaced persons also stand to suffer

disproportionately both from the pandemic and its aftermath – whether due to limited

movement, fewer employment opportunities, increased xenophobia etc.

If not properly addressed through policy the social crisis created by the COVID-19

pandemic may also increase inequality, exclusion, discrimination and global unemployment in

the medium and long term. Comprehensive, universal social protection systems, when in

place, play a much durable role in protecting workers and in reducing the prevalence of

poverty, since they act as automatic stabilizers. That is, they provide basic income security at

all times, thereby enhancing people’s capacity to manage and overcome shocks.
III. Testing the Ideas

The Department of Social Welfare and Development will take the lead in the

distribution of cash aid to the most financially-hit households nationwide during the quarantine.

The emergency subsidy program is in line with the newly signed law, Republic Act 11469 or

the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which gives President Rodrigo Duterte new powers in

handling the current health crisis, including realigning funds in the 2020 national budget.

Nograles also said the subsidy would be in the form of P5,000 to P8,000 in cash. Earlier this

week, the government said the relief includes cash and food. Families covered include the

homeless, those with at least one member who is on a no-work-no pay situation, a senior

citizen, a solo parent, a person with disability or a pregnant and lactating woman.

Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto said Wednesday lifting strict quarantine measures in his city

might be “premature” until ramped-up mass testing is completed to give authorities a clearer

picture of the extent of the coronavirus infection there. The steady number of new cases

reported daily may suggest a flattening of the infection curve, but can also be “because we

haven’t tested enough,” he said. The city government has introduced a mass testing program

covering all suspected cases of COVID-19, those who came in close contact with them, and

medical front liners.

IV. Reducing Customer Complaints

The Philippines government started announcing local lock-downs (home quarantine)

following the increase in global coronavirus cases. The entire Luzon island is locked-down

affecting more than 50 million people. The lock-down prohibits people from going outside their

homes except for getting basic necessities.

 During the lock-down, domestic transportation of all modes including land, air, and sea

are suspended. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes unless for emergencies. Large

gatherings, parties and concerts are banned. Thousands of police officers and military

personnel have been deployed to ensure that citizens comply with the lock-down. Checkpoints

have been placed at all entry points to Manila to check people for temperatures with thermal

scanners.

The Philippines witnessed a surge in demand for face masks as fears over the

coronavirus infection increased, despite assurance from the government that there is no need

to wear face masks yet. The government reiterated that healthcare workers and patients with

symptoms of the disease should be given priority for masks. The Philippines International

Trading Corporation (PITC), meanwhile, identified two face mask suppliers from India and

Thailand to meet the demand for face masks. The suppliers are expected to take more than

30 days to supply the masks. The India-based supplier is expected to supply one million units,

while the exact number of face masks that the Thailand-based supplier can supply is yet to be

determined.

V. Finding the Root Cause

The first case of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, now COVID-19) in the Philippines was

confirmed on 30 January 2020, in a 38-year old woman who arrived from Wuhan. Two days

later, the Philippines recorded the first death outside China on 01 February 2020. The

Philippines government declared a health emergency on 09 March, following a spike in new

confirmed cases and local transmission. The move will release funds to local governments

and healthcare officials to handle any further surge in cases. The COVID-19 Code Alert

system was revised upwards to Red Sublevel 2 on 12 March.

VI. Diagram

VII. Summary of Findings

Critics warn that the Philippine government's heavy-handed approach to the public

health emergency is criminalizing the poor for violating quarantine protocols that are

impossible for them to follow, quashing their legitimate pleas for food and economic aid, and

putting them at risk of infection in cramped detention centers. Experts say that from a security

and logistical standpoint, the use of law enforcement during a pandemic may be warranted.
"The military has the largest, most capable, most flexible assets for the transport of much-

needed supplies throughout the country," said defense analyst Jose Antonio Custodio.

However, the appointment of former high-ranking military officers to lead the national

taskforce for COVID-19 has meant the Philippines is taking a largely punitive approach to

address a public health emergency. The government has maintained that quarantine

measures and their extension are necessary to increase testing capacity and prepare

quarantine facilities. "Our lockdown has been effective in pushing down the curve [of

infections] toward a one-month delay. It gave us time to improve our medical services,"

Secretary Carlito Galvez said in a news briefing.

However, aid has not come fast enough to buy time for the estimated 15.6 million

workers in the informal economy for whom survival is a daily struggle. And then there are the

homeless - an estimated 4.5 million Filipinos who might also be working in the grey economy.

Close to 70 percent of the homeless population are in Metro Manila and survive by begging,

or collecting and reselling plastic and metal scraps.

Conclusion

The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the Philippines breached the

8,000 mark on Wednesday, April 29, as the government reported 254 new cases. The country

is only 16 days away from the scheduled end of new quarantine

measures – including lockdowns (termed enhanced community quarantine or ECQ) in Metro

Manila, other parts of Luzon, Cebu City, Iloilo City, and Davao City. These lockdowns,
however, may either be extended after May 15, or relaxed to give way to the less restrictive

general community quarantine or GCQ. Malacañang has said that the decision to extend or lift

the lockdowns will be based on minimum health standards to be finalized by the DOH –

standards which will likely factor in the chances of continued coronavirus spread and the

capacity of healthcare systems to handle cases.

Earlier on Wednesday, the DOH said it may miss its target of conducting 8,000 daily

coronavirus tests by April 30, but expressed confidence that it can meet this later on, as more

test kits arrive in the country. The country's current testing capacity is at 4,900 tests a day as

of Tuesday, April 28 – just over half the target. Experts and lawmakers have lamented the

lack of testing, saying the weeks of strict quarantine measures should have been dedicated to

ramped up testing and contact-tracing. But coronavirus government response chief

implementer Carlito Galvez Jr vowed more aggressing testing, aiming to test all probable and

suspected COVID-19 cases and frontliners by May 15. The Philippines, with a population of

over 100 million, has 19 operational COVID-19 testing centers.

WHAT IS THE NEW NORMAL? WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS

TO THE FILIPINOS? HOW WE CAN COPE UP TO THIS KIND

OF METHOD AFTER THE PANDEMIC?

 The new normal in the Philippines that are seen on the news and as the government

speakers announced will involve mandatory wearing of face mask in public places and

observing physical distancing and many more protocols that will be discussed later.

The government house speakers proposed the “New Normal for the Workplace and Public

Spaces Act,” or the House Bill 6623. Which will be the "new normal" during this 2019 corona

virus disease pandemic.

Protocols that are being practised to prevent the further growth of number in COVID-

19 cases such as social distancing, mandatory wearing of masks, street sanitations,

temperature checking and putting up handwash or sanitation staions in public, physical

distance of atleast 1 meter in public places will be enforced. Also, the operation of motorcycle

taxis will remain suspended. While other forms of public transportations should impose a one

seat apart and “contact-less” mode of payment. Sports and other extracurricular activities in

schools and other learning institutions will also remain suspended subject to consultation with

the DepEd and CHEd. Online classes should also be implemented in both public and private

schools to allow students to learn online. Once on-site classes may resume, there will be still

a physical distance the should be observed within the classrooms. Meanwhile, restaurants

and other food service places may resume under the new normal according to the measure,

but only for take-out and delivery initially. However, there will be some restrictions like buffets

and salad bars.

Under the bill, it is said that failure to wear face mask in public places will be made to

pay a fine of P1,000 or render a one-day mandatory community service. Private businesses

are also required to come up with their management plan for the new normal.
 This new normal house bill didn’t have any effects in this time since it didn’t start yet.

But as we can see in this house bill, the protocols are the same with little additions. So we can

conclude that the effect might be the same as what its effect in this period that these protocols

are being implemented.

As the new speech from our very own President Duterte said, the ECQ won’t be

extended anymore but there will be a new community quarantine that will be applied, called

General Community Quarantine. Selected workers in non-essential services are allowed to go

to work. Half of employees work from home; 50 percent are working on site for some

businesses. Schools, Amusement centers, Leisure facilities, Gaming and Tourism services

will remain closed. Some people who are listed in the age restriction won’t be allowed to go

leave the house. ONLY shops catering to NECESSITIES will be allowed to re-open in malls.

Malls will limit entry of shoppers. Air-conditioning will be limited in malls. WIFI will not be

provided. NO loitering allowed. Priority construction projects can resume. Nonworkers are

allowed to buy food and go out to avail of essential services. Public transport can operate at

reduced capacity. Local government units shall ENFORCE CURFEW for nonworkers. Airports

and ports can only operate for the unhampered DELIVERY OF GOODS. Plans of going out or

reunions after May 15 are still not entirely possible. You are REQUIRED to bring an I.D. that

specifies your AGE and ADDRESS wherever you go. Checkpoints will still be in place. You

will still be questioned if you defy the rules.

The Filipinos are facing a huge crisis in this pandemic. Since there is a lockdown, lots

of Filipino workers are forced to stay at home without any money in their pockets. The cries of

the poor, although it exists from the start, was more visible now. Families that are dependent
on their small salary are now starving. Meanwhile those corrupted people are trying to gain a

fortune by underhanded methods.

Although there are quite bad cases that are happening, there are still positive progress

that changed amidst this pandemic. There is a visible change in air quality in the Philippines.

The air that was somehow polluted is starting to be clean again since there are less vehicles

in the roads.

We can still go back the way we use to live once the scholars and scientist have found

the cure to the pandemic disease. But as of today, that the cure is still in progress, the only

thing we can do is abide by the rules that are set by health experts for us to defend ourselves

from the said virus.

Filipinos are also known to be hardworking and can easily adapt to any situations and I

know that adjusting to the new lifestyle that is caused by the pandemic virus, will be easy. For

the mean time our programmers can develop a new mode of payment that will require a

contact-less form of transaction. Sanitation stations will be everywhere and that will be a good

sign on how the government focuses on good hygiene. The biggest problem that I can think is

the public transportation. Even without at the time where there is no pandemic, the Filipinos,

especially in the city, are having a bad day caused by our public transportation. So I think the

government must focus on this area after the pandemic. With the physical distancing the

person who can ride a bus on the same time most probably will be halved, thus making the

horrible public transportation experience into a more horrific experience.

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF 1ST, 2ND, AND 3RD CYCLE

OF PANDEMIC? GIVE YOUR POINT OF VIEW OR

ASSESSMENT.
 Cycle 1 is when a new type of virus is identified and investigated—in animals or

humans anywhere in the world—that is thought to have implications for human health. Or

simply, this is when we recognize a potential threat to our health but still investigating if they

are can really harm our lives. We can use the current pandemic for example. Wherein on

December China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan wherein the Novel

Coronavirus is identified. At this time, they are still investigating and monitoring the situation.

But on January WHO (World Health Org.) they declared the first outbreak of this virus.

When it’s declared by then, our countrymen are struck by fear due to the virus. Who

wouldn’t? It’s a new one and does not even have a cure to it and China is suffering a huge

setback due to the outbreak.

Cycle 2 is having an increased cases or clusters of cases, are identified, along with an

increased potential for person-to-person transmission. Due to numerous cases in China it

spiked the curve of people having this virus kept on increasing. That’s why it created a

hypothesis that it can be transmitted person-to-person and an airborne but still not having a

concrete evidence on this theory. As a precautionary measure everyone in China is required

to wear a facemask and the epicenter of the virus (Wuhan) is under a lockdown.

Consequently, due to an alarming rate of people having this virus every country is on guard

and getting ready. The facemask is starting to have a high demand.

Cycle 3, the virus is confirmed to have a person-to-person transmission and a large

number of people is being infected day by day. When the infections have reached thousands

in China and some people is having it too on other places. It really gave the people of the

Philippines a fright. That’s why they are suggesting to ban the flights from China. It also
encourages the country to have physical distancing, have ethics when coughing, and wear

facemask when going out. In addition to these it also encourages the government to instruct

the people to have place lockdowns to contain the virus that is what we are experiencing right

now.

The effects of the 1st cycle of pandemic for me, is huge, but not for my health but for

my studies, this 1st cycle suspends all of the classes in metro manila from March 14 to April

11, and we haven’t finish our studies in the school since the 2nd semester is still on-going.

Well it does not affect only me now, but all the students, because it is the first time, we

experience a pandemic during an academic year, so all of us don’t know how to do or how to

proceed this pandemic. So, there are tons of problem for the students, but not only the

students, the teachers, the admins, and it is only the academic part of life. Now, the academic

part is done, we proceed to the personal life of all people in the Philippines, in our household

the first cycle was not bad for us, but for the other people it isn’t that bad also but only for the

first week. Some people cannot go back to their home because there stuck in their work no

one can go home because there is no mode of transport. Now 2nd week of the 1st cycle,

where people are panic buying, almost all the foods in the market are gone, some of it are the

one every people need. Like alcohol, some of the supermarkets only allow people to buy 2 per

customer/transaction. So, people like them cannot hoard and give other people a chance to

buy too.

Now we move for the 2nd cycle of the pandemic, this is the first extension made by the

Philippine government. We experienced the greatest clash between national government and

the local government. Also, we experienced the lacking ability of competitiveness on some of

the mayors, some are misguided, and some do not know how to do after they tap their
emergency funds. So, it means that there lacking ability cause the people to do what they

have to do, to cause a rally against them, even they know that they can be thrown into jail

after doing it because they will die of hunger, people can’t go to work because there is no

transportation available, because there is no work to go to because they are close due to the

pandemic covid-19, and because of it they don’t have money to buy foods. Now the 2nd week

of the 2nd cycle has started, some of the things get easier, because the mayors are having

the ability to compete, and knowing that they have a city to give their needs, like giving reliefs

to all the people.

Now for the 3rd cycle, well no much for it yet because it just started, but we can only

hope that this will be the last of it, and people can go to their work and treasure all the things

we have learned in this pandemic.

When the news broke about this pandemic, I’ve seen a lot of articles online saying that

this pandemic is not even that alarming, that people should not panic, but there was this posts

on facebook about the screenshots captured in a certain youtube video saying that thousands

of people were already affected by this pandemic and that this should not be taken lightly.

One of the frontliners in Wuhan China, where this pandemic started, bravely told every bits of

information he knew about this pandemic. I came across one the youtube videos related to

this pandemic, a video of a brave Wuhan netizen putting his life on the line to tell us that this
pandemic had greatly affected many people’s lives. He was telling all the viewers about the

things that were happening in Wuhan even though the government told them not to. According

to the news in China, the first stage of this pandemic is curable so that’s why they are telling

people not to panic but, at first, they hid the fact that, there’s a second stage or phase to this

pandemic and there is no current cure or vaccine for this. I’m not sure if they were hiding it so

people will not panic or they just don’t want the truth to be revealed to public for the

government’s benefits or what but all I know is that, their people deserve to know about these

things. While watching the video, I was wondering why they were denied the access to almost

all of the resources like gas, and such, they were not allowed to use internet, not allowed to

contact people from outside or from other country, he said that before the news broke, people

there especially the officials were outside, doing their vices, but now, the city became a ghost

town. They can’t even go outside, sick people can’t come to the hospital because they were

denied access to gas, etc., transportations were nowhere, hospital wards are limited,

frontliners cannot accommodate all of the patients, traditional medicines don’t work at all, he

said that people have to fall in line in the hospital and that the government is hiding the truth

behind this pandemic. These were before the pandemic made its way to the other countries.

Philippines is one of the countries that became an evacuation of the Chinese people. This

pandemic will not spread like wildfire if only the government took early precautionary

measures like what the other countries did, like banning tourists from entering the country.

People were already suggesting things to the government for the better. Sure, the first cycle of

this pandemic is not really that alarming since there is cure/vaccine, but there were cases that

shows no symptoms at all, and how would a person know that he is already positive from the

virus? Especially those people who can’t even afford medicines or hospital bills that they will

only let the illness pass because they think that it will go away soon and will not really affect

their health. The second phase of this pandemic is really scary, hundreds of people are dying
in the country, thousands from other countries like Italy, or more? Because I came across

some news, a front liner informing us that we should not believe what the news is saying

because it is as if, most of it were fabricated, like the deaths of the victims, every day, 10

patients die, some corpses were in the hallway of the hospital. People deserve to know the

truth about this pandemic, we have the right to know because even if you tell people to calm

down, some just doesn’t and won’t calm down unless they know what’s really happening, they

will worry about their safety.

If in the second cycle of this pandemic became really alarming to everyone, since

there were higher cases and deaths in a single day, the third cycle now can be considered as

a good progress. Implemented lockdowns and protocols that need to be followed are good

and all, but of course there are also disadvantages to these protocols, bayanihan helps a lot

too with the recoveries and for the everyday necessities of many families. The biggest

disadvantages of these lockdown and protocols are, the lifestyle of everyone, the income of

the workers especially those who are doing blue collar jobs, the country’s economy, students

‘studies and graduations, people not getting help from the government or their barangays,

starvation of the poor, people rallying and risking more lives amidst the pandemic, and such. It

is understandable that even though we are amidst this pandemic, some people will not just

stay still and starve to death, they are willing to break the rules because they have a family to

support and feed because not people are born rich, not people are well-educated. But we

should keep our composure and help one another instead of beating the nuts out of someone

who’s only intention is to feed his/her family that’s why they are breaking the rules. We should

be patient and understand the situation of others. Because this pandemic is seriously not a

joke. Coronaviruses that commonly circulate among humans that causes mild illness and cold

are not the same as COVID-19. The diagnosis may vary depending on the virus circulating.
The second phase of this virus that has not been previously identified poses more threat to

our lives, the diagnosis with the previous corona viruses, 229E, NL63, OC43, or HKU1 is not

the same as COVID-19. Patients that suffer from COVID-19 is most like to be evaluated,

cared for and treated differently than those with the common corona virus diagnosis. However,

looking at the brighter side of this, the rate of the reported cases is still alarming but is now

slowing down. It is good to hear that there are more recoveries from day to day. We just have

to be more patient, cooperative, help each other, and most importantly, pray, pray that this

pandemic will come to an end soon, pray for the safety of those people who are risking their

lives to save us from this pandemic and pray for the souls of those who have died, pray for the

souls of those people who still choose to benefit from all of this pandemic instead of helping

one another. We’ll get through these things, soon. I hope that there are more realizations that

have come to mind, more important things like the time we spend with our families. I hope that

this will become a lesson to all of us.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS

DUE TO THE EFFECT OF COVID-19? HOW CAN WE SHIFT

TO THE NEW NORMAL IN DIGITAL ASPECT OR IT?

1. What is the possible digital transformation due to the effect of covid19?

Digital Transformations because of COVID19

 The significant weaknesses the IT industry is facing now is due to the fall in the

economy, as a lot of companies are forced to ask their employees to work from home

(remotely) keeping in the account of the public health concerns. Due to this, there is a

massive loss in opportunity for many companies who have international dealers. For

example, Apple Inc. is estimated to have at least 10% fall in its shares because of the

lack of availability of iPhones in the market. The parts that are required to build the

iPhones are supposed to come from China, and it is facing a major lockdown.

The spread of this deadly virus has caused a lot of tech conferences to get

cancelled, which could have been a great partnership opportunity for many companies

to expand their horizons. A few of the meetings were shifter to teleconferences, but

this won’t have the same reach, and the conference attendees will not be able to have

the networking opportunity as they would be attending the actual conference. Due to

the cancellation of these major tech conferences, there is an estimated loss of US$ 1

Billion.

2. How we can handle the new normal in digital aspect?

Circumvention of daily lives through digital technology

With the current restriction in every country to mitigate the spread of the

pandemic. Every aspects of daily life from work, education and day-to-day interaction

is significantly affected with the effect of “Social Distancing”. But that does not

necessarily mean that daily life stops.

 With the help of digital technologies, citizens who have access has a more

commodities and services such as food deliveries or to be able to work at home. But

that does not mean it improves the life of everyone, especially the ones who does not

have enough access to technology, especially internet. Some are still struggling and

forced to do daily transaction outside and risking themselves and the community.

3. How the IT ethics is affected?

With the sudden increase of online traffic, especially on communication

applications, there is also an increase in malicious hacking activities from hijacking

conversations and selling user information on the black market. These companies now

have the Ethical obligation to prioritize the security of their end-users instead of

capitalizing and profiteering of the traffic.

Also, as people stay inside, increase in social media is on the rise as well. Ever

since, misinformation or “fake news” has been a controversial topic, especially in

governments. With people seeking information, it is important to only share information

with reliable sources.

Since we are now living in a society where we are greatly inclined to technology, I think

businesses and organizations will have a massive change in how they will operate and deliver

their services to their customers - by integrating digital technologies in all the areas of their

services.

Like for example, in marketing, it will have to shift from analog to digital services.

They'll have to find more customers while spending less money. Digital transformation will
make its services generally cheaper to produce and distribute than analog media and it will

open the door to marketing automation, analytics tracking, and dialogue with customers in

ways that analog services never could.

I think slowly integrating the digital technologies to every service provided can help us

shift to the new normal. Because we cannot learn or adjust to technology in an instance.

People, especially the non-IT literate, will have to figure out first how the services work for

them to get used to the transformation that was integrated into their system.

In my own opinion, due to the current pandemic, new norms will be implemented to

protect the daily lives of people especially in terms of technology. Schools can be the most

affected in this case. Classes can’t be conducted because the government is implementing

whole wide community quarantine. It is also an order to practice social distancing and as we

all know, classes are composed of students and that case alone is a factor to consider.

Nowadays, some schools & universities practice online learning by using school management

system and e-learning services that can be accessed online. Some of the teachers and

professors agree to this method of teaching because education is still important and they are

passionate in teaching that none can stop them. This is a good initiative and we commend all

the teachers and professors that participate in this kind of teaching but unfortunately, not all

students do have access to internet and some don’t even own a cellphone or laptop for

accessing online class. In this case, we might consider encouraging students to study in their

own while quarantine is ongoing.

Communication is another case that this pandemic may change. Physical meeting of

the company for example is the normal way of handling meetings and sharing idea between
employers and head of the company. Nowadays, online meeting or conference is now taking

place. Zoom app, Messenger call and Skype are some ways we can meet our constituents

online.

These methods in communicating and studying can become the new norm if the

pandemic still progresses in the future. Changing norm is alright but we must remember that

we must exercise privacy and security when accessing our online accounts.

• Most of us hope that the COVID-19 pandemic will end within months, and things

will go back to normal. In fact, many aspects of our society may never return to normal. In an

effort to control the spread of the coronavirus, governments have taken extreme measures

reserved for global wartime situations and the use of military-grade surveillance technology to

enforce social distancing. With millions of people in complete or partial lockdown, the

pandemic has forced societies to quickly and dramatically change how we work,

communicate, socialize and consume products and services.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already accelerated a number of consumer trends like

online learning, working from home, streaming services, video communication and consumer

goods and service deliveries in what some are calling the Shut-in economy. Once a critical

mass of consumers gets used to these behaviors, they will likely remain embedded in our

daily lives for years to come. Some companies that provide and deliver vital goods like

personal care, paper and pharmaceutical are struggling to meet demand driven by panic

buying. Others are experiencing dramatic drops in demand and extreme pressure to cut

operational costs. Every major manufacturer is now experiencing disruptions across their
supply chains of parts and raw materials, driven by what may now become recurring volatility

of supply from South Asia. Social distancing and employee safety measures put an additional

level of pressure on manufacturers, as 40%-50% of their workforce will be unavailable to

perform their functions on-site. While office employees and knowledge workers are able to

shift to remote work as the default operating mode, most factories are simply not designed to

be managed remotely and lack the digital tools and infrastructure needed to support such

activities.

• As the Covid-19 pandemic disrupts nearly every aspect of life, enterprises are

turning to digital technology and analytics to help them weather the crisis and prepare for new

ways of operating and serving customers once we reach the other side. People are shutting in

and businesses are shutting off in response to the pandemic. That has sparked a sudden

economic shift from physical to digital. This is true both for interactions with consumers (online

marketing and sales channels, digital products) and the way companies operate (remote

working). In Italy, for instance, the lockdown has significantly boosted online shopping, with

many people making digital purchases for the first time. Meanwhile, app-enabled food and

grocery delivery services across Asia are experiencing an unprecedented surge in demand,

and some ride-hailing companies and taxi services have pivoted drivers to deliver food and

other items. Beyond the immediate fallout of the crisis, it has become clear that some of these

shifts are here to stay: Covid-19 is radically accelerating the digital future.

With many people quarantined in their homes, digital experiences matter more than ever.

Leading companies will identify the ones that matter most and improve upon them to build

new and stronger customer relationships. In other words: Follow your customers during the

pandemic, then lead them out of it.

 This requires understanding the massive shift to online marketing, sales and

communication channels, not only in retail, but also in sectors such as insurance, banking and

healthcare. Leaders will make rapid improvements to their digital channels, starting with

eliminating bottlenecks and prioritizing increasingly important customer “episodes,” such as

late payments, cancellations and moves to online service.

Data should underpin all of this. Effective use of it can help companies gather

customer feedback and insights so they can quickly test ideas, learn from them and form

stronger bonds with customers.

The urgent health crisis that is COVID-19, a pandemic, has created deprivation and

unemployment, creating a human crisis that is hitting the poorest the hardest. With the

pandemic going on, online sales have increased across the globe, with new digital activities—

from ordering groceries online to telemedicine—becoming standard behavior. Class and work-

related businesses were also shifted to online processes. Almost every transaction that was

made personally were now into the online processes, becoming the new normal this pandemic

season.

Changes with the transactions that were held personally before this pandemic should

be managed efficiently to avoid burnouts and such. Launching QR payments or building

contactless product-delivery capabilities to serve customers in a manner that safeguards their

health. Providing help transition for customers from offline to online channels, such as creating

incentives and support infrastructure (for example, scaling up help desks). Identifying back-

office tasks that can be digitized and automated to support employees working from home,

such as code tests and expense approvals. Identifying what infrastructure needs to be in

place to support the development of new digital channels and customer experiences, such as
using micro services or migrating particular capabilities to the cloud to enable rapid

provisioning and load balancing.

With regards to the educational aspect of the ‘new norm’ after this crisis, the

government is now considering every possibility with regards to resuming of classes.

Department of Education is preparing a Learning Continuity Plan on how t deliver education to

learners is being prepared in case the opening of classes gets pushed back. They should also

think about those who cannot afford to have online classes due to unavailability of internet

connection. Not everyone in our country can afford an internet connection and they’re still a

big number of families that are living in remote areas.

The coronavirus outbreak is first and foremost a human tragedy, affecting hundreds of

thousands of people. It is also having a growing impact on the global economy. There are

many possible digital transformations due to the pandemic. It can be positive or negative. In

the short-term, some existing digital transformation projects – namely, large-scale initiatives –

will likely slow down, while smaller changes that can improve efficiency and business

continuity will speed up.

It’s only natural that overarching strategies are going to shift as a result of COVID-19.

Businesses are now in survival mode. They know that it’s going to be hard to navigate the

economic challenges which lie ahead and will want to press pause on expensive, riskier

innovation in place of technology which will increase productivity, deliver a competitive edge

and help drive the procurement of business.

Security priorities are also changing. They will need to be able to check access and

paths from remote workers and their home networks all the way down to corporate data
centers and cloud services. There has never been a greater need for network visibility.

Organizations are going to need to ensure they can continuously collect and efficiently

analyze relevant data to keep the business running smoothly and securely.

In terms of shifting to the new normal or adjusting to the new digital aspect of work or

industries. Maintaining the implementation of work from home not only can help the well-being

of the employee, it also benefits the problem in our mass transportation by reducing the

amount of commuters. It also lessens the pollution, which for me has been proven during the

duration of our ECQ.

“Necessity is the mother of invention”, this is a once saying of the Greek Philosopher

Plato. Due to the rapid spreading of Covid – 19 around the world, the practice of preventing

mass – gathering, social distancing is strictly implemented through the use of imposing

national lockdowns. Businesses, as well as the global economy received a massive impact

due to the interruption of production, distribution and sales of the following products and

services. However, this situation causes a digital transformation in terms of different sectors

such as Education, Healthcare, Business and others.

 According to the figure shown, countries base which measures to implement in terms

of the progression of spread of the disease. As you can see, aside from the implementation of

testing and maintaining the social distancing, contract tracing is important to contain the

possible carriers of the disease in order to prevent the possible spreading of the disease.

Countries such as South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong prevented the initial

containment. According to the following articles, the use of communication through information

systems, mobile phone technology data greatly helped the contact tracing of the infected

person as well as the possible infected persons. This also encourages the infected person
and the persons with possible contact to get the testing. According to the ITUNews article

entitled “COVID-19: How Korea is using innovative technology and AI to flatten the curve”,

“We still need to learn more about [COVID-19’s] characteristics – although we do know

now that it is very contagious,” said Seon Kui Lee, Director of the Division of Risk Assessment

and International Cooperation at the Republic of Korea’s Center for Disease Control and

Prevention (KCDC). “Information and communication technologies are required to enhance

traditional control measures and response measures, as well as for the development of

innovative solutions.”

The article stated the following reasons as to how the South Korea successfully

contains the disease:

1. Fast – Developing testing kit

- The life sciences company Seegene uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop

testing kits under three weeks and was approved in less than a week of its application, and

certified by the European Union.

2. Smart Quarantine Information Systems

- The use of information systems for inbound travelers helps the frontline health

workers to identify and isolate or treat the suspected coronavirus patient in a timely manner.

3. Mobile phone technology data for contact tracing

- The use location data from mobile phones, credit card transaction records and

CCTV footage to trace and test the people who might have recently contacted with an infected

person.
4. AI for improving diagnosis efficiency and patient classification

- The use of AIs for diagnosis efficiency and patient classification. For example,

• VUNO‘s Chest X-Ray AI Image Support Decision Tool – an algorithm

for identifying abnormal findings on chest x-rays – classifies intensive care patients by

using X-ray images and can examine the lung within just three seconds.

• JLK inspection, though numerous studies have developed an all-in-one

medical platform called AiHub for disease diagnosis, which, it says, uses world class

AI and big data technology from various imaging devices. It can examine lung disease

within seconds using an AI technique that is being used in hospitals.

• The company has also produced an AI-based, hand-held chest X-ray

camera which can scan the chest in just three seconds and give a heatmap

visualization of abnormal lesion.

5. Mobile apps for information sharing

- The use of mobile apps proved useful for sharing the advice and information to

the public. Many mobile apps were developed to help not only the public but also the frontline

health workers to monitor, trace those who are experiencing the symptoms to get tested at the

nearest testing centers as well as to inform the public on the following symptoms of the

coronavirus.

6. Daegu: Making use of a smart city hub

- The conversion of Daegu as a smart city due to the city of Daegu having the

majority of Covid – 19 cases will be used as a data hub for tracing the patient’s routes. This

would also help the health sectors to further study the disease I order to create a new

medicine as quickly as possible.

 Despite the fact that there is no vaccine developed for Covid – 19 yet, the technology

of using AI as well as other technologies greatly helps the authorities and health sectors to

reduce the contagion of the disease. The figure below shows that countries with the testing

tends to have the fewest cases per 1000 people. This also proves that the method of using

the AIs for developing the test kits in the South Korea provides broad testing for Covid – 19

which in turns reduces the number of cases.

 This figure shows the data of the following Covid – 19 cases on different countries.

Notice that country of South Korea maintains a flat line between 0 and 20. This means that

they are successful in maintaining the spread of Covid – 19. Digital Transformation of the

following technology such AIs, mobile apps and other technologies to monitor the public

health, information gathering and sharing, development of testing kits as well as patient

diagnosis and classification tools reduces the effect of Covid – 19 and flatten the curve of

Covid – 19 cases.

 
1. What are the possible digital transformation due to the effect of Covid19?

• Telecommuting - The most disruptive transition to occur as a result of COVID-19

outbreak is the widespread adoption of telecommuting. Although remote work is now more

common than it was ten years ago, a recent survey showed that 49% of employees have

never worked from home. Some objections companies had to telecommuting beforehand.

COVID-19 may be the moment that takes it into the mainstream and shows leaders that

workers can be just as successful and effective from home with the right technology,

culture and expectations. Both in-office and from-home work has its benefits, and it will be

worth it for businesses to figure out how to bring the best of the two together. Flexible,

shifted, or shortened in-office days could help minimize office sizes and reduce commute

hours, and online collaboration practices will accelerate work cycles to offset those shorter

hours.

• Virtual Events - One of the COVID-19 outbreak's largest and most immediate

casualties was the event industry, as well as the travel and hospitality industries that

sustain it. Globally, to minimize the spread of the disease, conventions, trade shows and

even the Olympics were cancelled or postponed. Any of these events are respawned as

virtual events, which could eventually not only be a trend in 2020 but the new standard for

experiences. It's unclear if the style lasts. For trade shows, the measure of success is in

the value of the revenues they produce and peer to peer connections they create, and it

remains to be seen if virtual events will drive business with the same impact as physical

ones. But if they do, then maybe their appeal can last. With less attendant and promoter

costs and greater versatility in service formats, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some events

remain virtual in the future.

2. How we can shift to the new normal in digital aspect/IT?

• Build new relations with customers through effective digital experiences - Digital

experiences matter more than ever, with many people quarantined in their homes. Leading

organizations should recognize the ones that matter most to create new and deeper

consumer relationships, and strengthen them. In other words: during the pandemic, follow

your clients, then lead them out of it. This involves recognizing the significant change to

networks of online marketing, sales and communication, not just in retail but also in

sectors such as insurance, banking and healthcare. Leaders will make rapid

improvements to their digital channels, starting with eliminating bottlenecks and prioritizing

ever more important "episodes" of customers, such as late payments, cancellations and

moves to online service. All this should be underpinned by data. Efficient use of it can help

businesses collect input and perspectives from consumers so they can easily test ideas,

learn from them and build stronger customer bonds.

• Create a war room which is digitally activated - The Covid-19 war rooms of

companies will benefit from technology which increases transparency and responsiveness,

and better, near-real-time data to support successful decision-making. Examples may

include the introduction of digital tools to closely track consumer sentiment and behavior,

improve accountability and responsiveness in the supply chain and replace traditional

methods of planning with advanced scenario- and trigger-based planning. These tools will

outlast the pandemic and provide the capabilities necessary for companies to accelerate

out of it.
 • Investing in technology with a view to the future - Many businesses have taken

steps to ensure that IT systems are stable, allowing remote work and organizational

flexibility. Some have also begun to protect themselves against new cyber-threats that

arose during the crisis. Both are critical priorities. But leading companies will go a step

further, investing in their technology infrastructure to drive their digital transformation and

putting themselves in a better position from the pandemic that comes out.

Digital transformation is the use of new, fast and frequently changing digital technology

to solve problems, it is the process of using digital technologies to create new — or modify

existing — business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing

business and market requirements.

Currently we are experience a pandemic on a world wide scale, and due to the

pandemic, COVID-19, the world economy is quickly declining and many productions of

products is grinding to a halt. The IT related companies and products are very much affected

by the pandemic. Overall, worldwide IT spending is now projected to decline by 2.7% in 2020

as a result of the pandemic, IDC estimates, as late as January, the consultancy predicted

5.1% growth in technology spending this year. Because of these occurrences, organizations

are now pushed deeper into digital transformation.

The graph below shows how the COVID-19 greatly affects the world as the MSCI

index on stocks have greatly declined relative on the increase of COVID-19 cases.
 Already, 70% of companies had a digital transformation in place or were working on

one, but it seems most companies were not far enough along to make Covid-19 a non-issue.

There a few reasons why the Coronavirus, or COVID-19 have forced companies to visit a

digital transformation faster. One Forbes contributor Andrew Filev in his column “COVID-19 Is

A Before and After Moment in The Digital Transformation” sees the most drastic change in

four areas: Telecommuting, On-Demand food services, Virtual Events, and the cloud.
Telecommuting

Many people in industries - that formerly prohibited it - are now working from home.

From bankers, aerospace engineers, to almost every teacher in America - work-life has

changed for most of us. Additionally, we are telecommuting to our friends, spending time with

friends and family on video calls as well, in order to not completely isolate.

On-Demand Food and Services.

Grocery and Food delivery is now the norm for many people who wouldn’t bother in

the past. Insurance companies who made it difficult for patients to be reimbursed for

telehealth or remote services, will now need to change their tune and reimburse for things like

remote therapy. Today most of the world are under strict shelter-in-place orders. If you can’t

alter the way your products and services are delivered, you are dead in the water.

Virtual Events

With no one flying, and gatherings prohibited, the events industry took a big hit this

spring. But many companies have simply shifted their budgets to digital events or digital

content. Only time will tell if the fall will be a very busy events season, or companies will

decide they prefer online events over in-person events. From an internal corporate

perspective, every day I see people posting photos of their large online meetings with their

coworkers, and fun stories from teams that are learning to enjoy this new way of working.
The Cloud

Without the cloud during the Coronavirus pandemic, companies would struggle to

share and co-edit documents securely, access analytics and much more. Even short physical

distances would present a challenge for collaboration between coworkers without the cloud.

Real-time wouldn’t be as easy, streaming would be a problem, smart phones wouldn’t be

smart, and rapid data a challenge - to name a few.

Conclusion

Due to these Digital Transformations taking place, it can greatly help the world on

flattening the curve on COVID-19 case. These transformations can help mitigate contacts on

people and can help reduce the transmission of the virus. By implementing these

transformations, an organization can also help on ending and finally defeating the pandemic

that is attacking the world.

 WHAT WERE THE METHODS EXECUTED BY VIETNAM TO

FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

The reason why Vietnam, a developing country that has a large land border with China

and a population of 97 million people, has manage to have zero casualty despite of the

dangerous pandemic that we are facing right now is a three effective strategy of their

government. As of April 21, they had reported 268 cases of COVID-19 with more than 140

recoveries. In this scenario, we can say that their strategies are effective.

First of their strategies is the temperature screening and testing. In February, anyone

who arrive in their airport or entering their cities had to go through compulsory body

temperature screening and fill in a health self-declaration, stating their contact details and

travel and health history. These measures are now mandatory for everyone entering major

cities and some provinces by land too, and for everyone entering a government building or

hospital.

Anyone with a body temperature of over 38C is taken to the nearest medical facility for

more thorough testing. Those who are proven to have lied in their self-declaration, or who

resist declaring altogether, can be criminally charged. Businesses including banks,

restaurants and apartment complexes have also implemented their own screening

procedures.
 There has also been intensive testing across the country. Testing stations have been

set up across cities, which all citizens can attend. Communities who live near confirmed cases

– sometimes an entire street or village – are swiftly tested and placed in lockdown. And they

have testing kits that is showing result within 90 minutes and very reliable.

Second is the targeted lockdown in which anyone who are arriving to their country

must quarantine themselves for about 14 days. They are very strict about the lockdown. In

March, Vietnam started to lock down whole cities and specific areas in a city. Travelling

between cities is now highly restricted. In Danang in central Vietnam, anyone who is not a

registered resident of the city but wishes to enter has to submit to a 14-day quarantine at a

government-approved facility which they must finance themselves. Also, all the businesses

are close.

Lastly is the constant communication. As early as January, their government is

constantly communicating with their citizens about how serious this pandemic is. The

communication between high rank people and the citizens are very intact so the result is very

well.

These strategies that the Vietnam government are implementing is very useful and

helpful. It resulted to a zero casualty so we can say that it works and it can be implemented to

other countries with proper discipline.

 Today we face a pandemic that caused the whole world to stop all of daily routines and

greatly affect our everyday life. The biggest and most successful countries is striving to fight

this crisis and what most suffers is the poor countries who is not capable to support and cure

its people. But how did Vietnam react and fight Covid-19 despite being a developing country?

Swift action, as early as the 1st of February Vietnam reportedly suspended all flights

from China. They also suspended school and after 2 weeks they already issued a quarantine.

Unlike to what happened in countries like Italy and South Korea, the country and its people

took this problem very seriously.

All people that will go inside Vietnam will have to go in a 14-day quarantine and if it is

infected they track those who had a contact with that person. This act prevents spreading of

virus all throughout the nation because not all of the person with the virus know that they had

it. Also, people from the neighborhood reports if ever there’s one infected in the neighborhood.

It was also reported that Vietnamese has reported not only potential infected people but also

those who spreads fake news in the neighborhood. Even though Vietnam has a close

relationship with China, they were not afraid to do what is best for their country. That’s why

even though Vietnam is one of the country with improving Health care system, they have less

cases of the virus than those who is leading. Still Vietnam has no death report up until today.

Vietnam prepared before the 1st case of virus in country was even announced. This is

because, Vietnam wouldn’t afford a mass testing unlike what its neighbor countries do so they

used proactive prevention. The success of Vietnam was all due to its proactive prevention,

before anything happens they were prepared.

 Our world is suffering in COVID-19, how could a country like Vietnam government can

provide quality health service if they have lack of health facilities? Vietnam is not as wealthy

compared to other Asian country like South Korea and China to conduct mass testing for

Coronavirus, so how they maintain the small number of cases in their country?

Vietnam has the fast actioned government, imagine the Vietnam Prime Minister

suspended all the flights to and from China as soon as they knew the risk of the virus for the

citizens. Anyone arriving to Vietnam from foreign country will undergo a mandatory 14-day

quarantine, meaning they will be isolated to prevent the spread of the virus. It has also

isolated infected people and then set about tracking down anyone they might have come into

contact with.

Neighborhood Watch, an act of government to monitor each and every home on any

symptoms that may occur in a citizen. As a single-party state, with large and well-organized

military and security services, Vietnam has been able to make decisions quickly and enact

them promptly. There is also a strong culture of surveillance, with people expected to inform
on their neighbors if they suspect any wrong-doing. Anyone found sharing fake news and

misinformation about the coronavirus risks a visit from the police, and around 800 people have

been fined so far.

Vietnam is one of the world’s poorer and developing nation and yet they are making

the fastest action that they can to fight this pandemic. Vietnam has stood out as a beacon of

how to do more with less, they might not be as wealthy as other Asian country to do a mass

testing but they have the fastest actioned government to deal with this pandemic. The country

is so much prepared even though the facilities are not enough, the citizens are doing their part

to stay at home to stop the spread of the virus. Try to imagine, if this country can make this

such good control on the virus why other countries cannot. They don’t have so much facilities

but they have the fastest actioned government and well-disciplined citizens to limit the spread

of the virus. Let put this in our mind, if everyone is doing what they have to do to prevent the

spread of the virus there will no problem, but if they be still do what is right to prevent it the

virus will spread like it is not supposed to spread. Let us be like Vietnam, do what is right to

prevent the spread of the virus so there will be a wonderful world that will wait for us.

Vietnam, a country of nearly 100 million people bordering China, has reported no

coronavirus case for almost two weeks now. As per government figures, 270 cases have been

confirmed in Vietnam, with no deaths, and nearly 213,000 people have been tested since the

first cases emerged in January. A total of 222 patients have recovered, while eight others

tested positive again after initial recovery.

 The success of Vietnam’s fight against COVID-19 can be credited to its early

preventive measures, particularly strict implementation of social distancing guidelines.

These are the methods that Vietnam did in order to managed ang keep patients from

death’s door:

• After the first cases were confirmed in Ho Chi Minh City on Jan. 23, authorities

wasted no time in banning public gatherings of more than 20 people and closing

down businesses such as bars and massage parlors.

• In the capitol Hanoi, non-essential services were barred from opening earlier than

9 a.m. local time (0200GMT) to reduce morning traffic and commuter density.

• However, restaurants, pharmacies, petrol stations, and grocery stores have been

allowed to maintain normal operations.

• International arrivals have been barred and those allowed to enter undergo a

mandatory quarantine period.

• Academic activities, which were halted in early February, are now slowly resuming,

with high schools reopening in 30 of 57 provinces earlier this week.

• Swift action. It suspended all flights to and from China. It also decided to keep

schools closed after the lunar New Year break. Two weeks later, a 21-day

quarantine was imposed in Vinh Phuc province, north of Hanoi.

• Its anti-coronavirus measures have gone on to include mandatory 14-day

quarantines for anyone arriving in Viet Nam and the cancellation of all foreign

flights. It has also isolated infected people and then set about tracking down

anyone they might have come into contact with.

 • Neighborhood watch. As a single-party state, with large and well-organized military

and security services, Viet Nam has been able to make decisions quickly and

enact them promptly. There is also a strong culture of surveillance, with people

expected to inform on their neighbors if they suspect any wrong-doing. Anyone

found sharing fake news and misinformation about the coronavirus risks a visit

from the police, and around 800 people have been fined so far.

• It’s not the kind of approach that is likely to work in more open societies. But with

limited clinical resources at its disposal, Viet Nam has seemingly managed to get

the outbreak under control.

Vietnam’s experience can offer valuable lessons to hundreds of countries around the

world fighting the pandemic.

The Vietnam country has 194 confirmed COVID-19 coronavirus cases, and no fatalities.

Unlike other, wealthier Asian countries, Viet Nam isn’t in a position to conduct mass testing

programs unlike other country like South Korea. But by focusing on measures that are within

its control, the country has won praise from the international community.

Swift actions:

• On 1 February, Vietnam kicked off a series of initiatives to tackle the spread of

COVID-19. It suspended all flights to and from China. It also decided to keep

schools closed after the lunar New Year break. Two weeks later, a 21-day

quarantine was imposed in Vinh Phuc province, north of Hanoi. That decision was

sparked by concerns over the health status of migrant workers returning from

Wuhan, China, where the virus originated.

• In March, Vietnam started to lock down whole cities and specific areas in a city.

Travelling between cities is now highly restricted. In Danang in central Vietnam,

anyone who is not a registered resident of the city but wishes to enter has to

submit to a 14-day quarantine at a government-approved facility which they must

finance themselves.

• Vietnam’s government tightened border controls and set hospitals and local health

departments on high alert for the new pneumonia cases

• Vietnam’s strict contact-tracing measures. Mass testing has been the strategy for

many countries in their response to combatting the pandemic. However, in

Vietnam, the country has focused more on isolating infected people and tracing

their second and third-hand contacts. Contact-tracing process has three of the

following steps: contact identification, contact listing and contact follow-up.

• Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has also introduced a

mobile app called NCOVI to allow the public to declare their state of health on a

daily basis. Hanoi has also launched a mobile app, SmartCity, to track infected,

quarantined, and recovered cases. Patients are required to install the app in their

phones, which raises an alarm and sends notifications to the heads of residential

districts if they move 20-to-30 meters away from quarantine areas, or houses for

self-isolated cases. Accurate and real-time data collected through these two apps

has proven very useful to the government in shaping its response to the outbreak.
• As of 31 March, 21 medical facilities across Vietnam have been approved to

administer COVID-19 testing. Other than that, it was reported that the country has

also successfully produced its own test kits which could help diagnose the virus

infection in just an hour.

• Vietnamese government’s success is the mobilization of nationalism. The

government has framed the virus as a common foreign enemy and called on the

unity of the population to defeat it, echoing the enduring history of a nation always

threatened by foreign invaders. Since “day one,” the Communist Party of Vietnam

(CPV) and the state have led the fight with the motto “fighting the epidemic is like

fighting against the enemy.”

• The government has positioned itself as an effective source of leadership during

the pandemic by providing information with transparency. The Ministry of Health

took the initiative to launch a website and a mobile application not only to ease the

medical process but also to disseminate accurate information quickly.

 WHAT WERE THE METHODS EXECUTED BY SINGAPORE

TO FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Singapore has won praise for its ‘gold standard’

response. Still, Singaporean medical leaders caution that several critical issues must first be

addressed to quell the ongoing epidemic.

1. Map COVID-19’s transmission routes.

Conventional wisdom also holds that respiratory viruses are most infectious when

patients are at the peak of their illness. But as the authors state, confirmed cases in

Singapore were observed to have higher numbers of viral particles, or viral load, in the

early parts of their illnesses. More research is therefore needed to confirm if the viral load

correlates to how infectious a person is, especially in light of anecdotal evidence that

COVID-19 can be spread by affected but asymptomatic individuals.

2. Develop rapid and reliable diagnostics

Many cases were discovered only when patients presented themselves at hospital

emergency departments, triggered by a worsening of symptoms. Given this, the authors

highlight the urgent need for a rapid, sensitive and affordable screening test that can be

deployed in primary care settings to quickly identify suspected cases as early as possible

and reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading into the community. To their credit, scientists

from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) were able to develop a

COVID-19 diagnostic kit as early as February 9. However, production still needs to be

scaled up so that the kits can be deployed nationwide.

3. Establish clinical criteria to classify patients

Though no deaths have been reported in Singapore so far, COVID-19 deaths in

other afflicted countries have been linked to either old age or pre-existing medical

conditions. However, the authors share that in Singapore, even relatively healthy patients

have progressed to severe illness. Due to the wide spectrum of symptoms, ranging from

none at all to requiring mechanical ventilation for breathing, the authors stress that clinical

criteria and biomarkers are needed to help identify the patients most likely to later become

severe cases.

4. Clarify clinical treatments

In China, randomized clinical trials of drugs repurposed for COVID-19 are currently

ongoing. Drugs being assessed at these trials include a cocktail of HIV drugs lopinavir and

ritonavir, which target enzymes crucial for COVID-19 replication, as well as Gilead

Sciences’ remdesivir, which was originally meant to treat Ebola. While more time is

needed to assess the effectiveness of these drugs, the authors state that the patients who

will benefit the most from the drugs must be identified and the optimal timing of treatment

—whether early on or only upon deterioration—clearly defined.

5. Communicate proactively on social media

Since the first imported case was identified in Singapore, official updates and

advisories have been disseminated through traditional channels, in addition to newer

social media platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter and Facebook. Recognizing the

importance of engaging beyond the screen, town hall meetings have also taken place with

various professional and civic society groups.

 6. Extend a helping hand to healthcare workers

The need to care for affected colleagues can also add to the stress, as well as the

stigma they may face from the community due to fears of transmitting the infection.

Therefore, the Singaporean government is actively reaching out and offering support to

those on the frontlines.

7. Get started on developing a vaccine

As the virus continues its relentless spread, it is now more important than ever to

rely on tried-and-tested public health containment measures and redouble efforts to

address the aforementioned issues. Clearly, COVID-19 is an outbreak unlike any other;

overcoming it therefore requires an extraordinary response and collective effort, in the

spirit of global health.

Reason why the virus spread all over the world.

It seems simple: Stop travel, stop the virus from spreading around the world to stop an

outbreak in human history haven’t been enough. Many of the first known cases clustered

around a seafood market in Wuhan, China, a city of 11 million and a transportation hub. Four

cases grew to dozens by the end of December. Doctors knew only that the sick people had

viral pneumonia that did not respond to the usual treatments. The true size of the outbreak

was much larger even then — an invisible network of nearly 1,000 cases, or perhaps several

times more. With each patient infecting two or three others on average, even a perfect

response may not have contained the spread. But Chinese officials did not alert the public to

the risks in December. It wasn’t until Dec. 31 that they alerted the World Health Organization

and released a statement — and a reassurance. “The disease is preventable and

controllable,” the government said. The timing of the outbreak could not have been worse.
Hundreds of millions of people were about to travel back to their hometowns for the Lunar

New Year. The departures from Wuhan accelerated over the next three weeks. About 7

million people left in January, before travel was restricted. By the time Chinese officials

acknowledged the risk of human-to-human transmission on Jan. 21, local outbreaks were

already seeded in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities. Two days later, the authorities

locked down Wuhan, and many cities followed in the next few weeks. Travel across China

nearly stopped. It was too late. Outbreaks were already growing in over 30 cities across 26

countries, most seeded by travelers from Wuhan.

 WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT POSSIBLE CURING

PROCESSES OR POSSIBLE STUDIES THAT MIGHT HELP

TO PREVENT THE EPIDEMIC COVID19? (PLEASE INCLUDE

THE VIRGIN COCONUT OIL IN YOUR RESEARCH ANSWER.)

Medicinal Herbs

The Philippines is also joining the Solidarity clinical trials and according to Presidential

Spokesperson Harry Roque, there are four drugs to be subjected for testing into Filipino

patients and these are hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, liponavir, ritonavir and interferon and

these studies have connections with herbal drugs.

1. Virgin Coconut Oil

According to the study of Professor Emeritus, Dr. Fabian Antonio Dayrit and Dr.

Mary Newport on the potential use of coconut oil as a safe antiviral agent against the

novel coronavirus, the coconut oil contains Lauric acid (C12) and monolaurin, and

derivative like sodium lauryl sulfate (which is also known as sodium dodecyl sulfate),

that have been known for many years and used in a wide range of products for their

significant antiviral properties.

Lauric acid is a medium-chain fatty acid which makes up about 50% of coconut

oil; and monolaurin is a metabolite that is naturally produced by the body’s own

enzymes upon ingestion of coconut oil and is also available in pure form as a
supplement. While sodium lauryl sulfate, is a common surfactant that is made from

lauric acid, and has been shown to have potent antiviral properties.

Also, in Dr. Dayrit’s research there are three mechanisms that have been

proposed to explain the antiviral activity of lauric acid and monolaurin:

1. First, they cause disintegration of the virus envelope;

2. Second, they can inhibit late maturation stage in the virus replicative cycle;

3. Third, they can prevent the binding of viral proteins to the host cell membrane.

Capric acid (C10) and monocaprin have also shown promising activity against

other viruses, such as HIV-1 (Kristmundsdottir et al., 1999). Capric acid accounts for

about 7% of coconut oil. Thus, at least two fatty acids in coconut oil, and their

monoglycerides, have antiviral properties. Hilarsson and co-workers (2007) tested

virucidal activities of fatty acids, monoglycerides and fatty alcohols against respiratory

syncytial virus (RSV) and human parainfluenza virus type 2 (HPIV2) at different

concentrations, times and pH levels. They reported the most active compound tested

was monocaprin (C10), which also showed activity against influenza A virus and

significant virucidal activities even at a concentration as low as 0.06-0.12%.

Dr. Dayrit is proposing for a more definitive study to be seriously considered as

there is considerable scientific evidence for the antiviral activity of coconut oil, lauric

acid, and its derivatives and their general safety. In addition to that, he proposes that

clinical studies should be conducted as the treatment is affordable and virtually risk-

free, and the potential benefits are enormous.

 DOST is also supporting and funding other virgin coconut oil studies like the

hospital-based study by the University of the Philippines- Philippine General Hospital

on “Virgin Coconut Oil and Omega-3a Adjunctive Therapy for Hospitalized Patients

with COVID-19” that is headed by Dr. Marissa Alejandria, president of the Philippine

Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. The study aims to assess the

possible benefits of the virgin coconut oil if given to patients with moderate to severe

COVID-19 in addition to the drugs being assessed in the clinical trials. This study will

run for at least 4 weeks.

The second study on the virgin coconut oil is being implemented by the Food

and Nutrition Research Institute of DOST which will evaluate the symptoms of COVID-

19 such as difficulty in breathing and coughing.

Similar to the Malunggay plant, coconut oil is another extraordinary food that is

packed with nutrients and ingredients that can help boost immunity. Not only that,

coconut oil is also known to have anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties.

2. Lagundi

The Lagundi herb will also be subjected for a study to fight the COVID-19 as it

cures flu and researchers in the Philippines believe in its potential to help in treating

the COVID-19 patients.

3. Tawa tawa Plant

 The researchers also consider tawa-tawa plant as a possible cure because it

can be a cure for dengue and in other countries, there are several tests conducted

regarding the drugs used for malaria cure and it might be a way in treating the COVID-

19 patients. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque also revealed that there is a

study of a COVID-19 treatment by a biotech group in collaboration with the Philippine

Government Hospital (PGH) that is also being subjected to clinical trials at the hospital

and this possible medicine aims to alleviate the active infections and give short-term

immunity or prophylaxis against the virus.

Repurposing drugs designed to treat other diseases (Malaria, Flu, and Cancer)

1. Drug for Ebola

The Remdesivir had shown glimmers of hope in controlling the virus in the lab

and also showed promise as a tool to treat coronaviruses like those that caused SARS

and MERS. According to the article, an unapproved drug that was originally developed

to fight Ebola, helped 68% of the patients with severe breathing problems to improve

and 60% of those who were using ventilators improved after 18 days.

2. Hydroxychloroquine

Researchers at Vanderbilt University were taking an in-depth study of

hydroxychloroquine. It was already approved to treat malaria and certain autoimmune

disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. This has been brought to a study after

first Chinese doctors, and then President Trump touted its potential in treating COVID-

19.
 According to a survey of 5000 physicians in 30 countries conducted by a

healthcare data company Sermo, 44% prescribed hydroxychloroquine for their COVID-

19 patients, and 38% believed it was helping.

Researchers learned that hydroxychloroquine in the lab can block viruses,

including coronaviruses, from infecting cells. In the lab studies, when the infected

human cells with different viruses and then bathed them in hydroxychloroquine, those

cells could generally stop viruses like influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and the original SARS

virus, another type of coronavirus, from infecting the cells. However, according to Dr.

Otto Yang, from the department of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics

at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, the

problem is that what happens in the lab often doesn’t predict what happens in a

patient. That’s why doctors are approaching hydroxychloroquine with healthy

skepticism when it comes to COVID-19 and are only using it on the sickest patients

with no other options.

3. Favipiravir

This is a flu treatment from Toyama Chemical, a pharmaceutical division of the

Japanese conglomerate Fujifilm, and Chinese researchers used to treat patients with

COVID-19. More rigorous studies of both remdesivir and favipiravir against SARS-

CoV-2 are ongoing.

 4. Cancer Drugs

Cancer drugs are showing promise as COVID-19 treatments, not by

neutralizing the virus but by healing the damage infection does to the immune system.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, for example, has ruxolitinib, which was

approved by the FDA in 2011 to treat a number of different cancers and is designed to

tamp down an exaggerated immune response- which can be caused by both tumor

cells and a virus. In theory, ruxolitinib could suppress this virus-caused cytokine storm

(breathing problems that require extra oxygen therapy or mechanical ventilators).

5. Anti-inflammatory drugs

Eli Lilly is also testing one of its anti-inflammatory drugs, baricitinib, in severe

COVID-19 patients. Similar to ruxolitinib, baricitinib interferes with the revved up

signalling among immune cells that can trigger the inflammatory cytokine storm.

According to president of Lilly Bio-MEdicines Patrik Jonsson, there are even early hints

from case studies of doctors treating COVID-19 patients that the drug may target the

virus too, which means that it helps to lower the viral load in infected patients.

Plasma, Antibodies and More

1. Plasma from Human

Researchers have been trying to find a possible cure for the COVID-19, and

one of the possible ways they are trying involves this old-school approach wherein

they make use of the plasma from recovered patients- technically called “convalescent

plasma” - as a treatment.
 The main concept of this method is to use immune cells extracted from the

blood of people who have recovered from COVID-19 and infuse them into those who

are infected, giving them passive immunity to the disease, which could at least

minimize some of its more severe symptoms. In late March, New York Blood Center

was the first U.S. facility to start collecting blood from recovered COVID-19 patients.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is allowing doctors to try the passive

immunity treatment in the sickest patients on a case by case basis, as long as they

apply for permission to use or study the plasma as an investigational new drug. Here

in the Philippines, people who have recovered from the virus are donating their blood

for plasma extraction to help other patients who are currently battling with the virus.

However, the biggest drawback of this approach is the limited supply of

antibodies. According to the article, each recovered donor has different levels of

antibodies that target SARS-CoV-2, so collecting enough can be a problem, especially

if the need continues to surge during an ongoing pandemic.

2. Plasma from Horses

At the Maryland-based pharmaceutical company Emergent BioSolutions,

scientists are trying to overcome this challenge by turning to a unique source of

plasma donors: horses. According to Laura Saward, head of the company’s

therapeutic business unit, the size makes them ideal donors. Scientists already use

plasma from horses to produce treatments for botulism (bacterial infection), and have

found that the volume of plasma the animals can donate means each unit can treat

more than one patient (with human donors, at this point, one unit of plasma from a
donor can treat one patient). Horse plasma may also have higher concentrations of

antibody, so “the thought is that a smaller dose of equine plasma would be effective in

people because there would be higher levels of antibody in smaller doses,” says

Saward.

3. Plasma from Mice bred with Human-like immune systems

At Regeneron, a biotechnology firm based in New York, researchers are

turning to mice bred with human-like immune systems and infected with SARS-CoV-2.

According to the article, they are searching hundreds of antibodies these animals

produce for the ones that can most effectively neutralize the virus.

4. Plasma from molecular copying machines

Scientists now have the technology to build what are essentially molecular

copying machines that can theoretically churn out large volumes of the antibodies

found in recovered patients. At Gigagen, a San Francisco-based biotech startup

founded by Stanford University Professor Dr. Everett Meyer, scientists are identifying

the right antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients and hoping to use them as a

template for synthesizing new ones, in a more consistent and efficient way so a

handful of donors could potentially produce enough antibodies to treat millions of

patients. “What GigaGen’s technology does is almost Xerox copy a big swath of the

human repertoire of antibodies, and then takes those copies and grows it in cells [in

the lab] to manufacture more antibodies outside of the human body,” says Meyer. “So

we can essentially keep up with the virus.” If all goes well and the FDA approves, the

company intends to start testing their antibody concoctions in COVID-19 patients early

next year.
5. LY6E Protein

Researchers at Rockefeller University discovered in 2017 that human cells

make LY6E protein that can block a virus’s ability to make copies of itself. While

working with other scientists, they found out that mice genetically engineered to not

produce the protein became sicker, and were more likely to die after infection with

mouse-specific coronaviruses, compared to mice that were able to make the protein.

According to them, if the mice have the protein, they will pretty much survive and if the

mice does not have it, the mice would not survive because their immune system can’t

control the virus. These studies haven’t yet been done on SARS-CoV-2, given its

similarity to the original SARS virus, there’s hope a therapy based on LY6e might be

useful.

6. Immune-system changes triggered by stress

Some companies are looking at broader immune-system changes triggered by

stress-during cancer, for example, or infection with a new virus like SARS-CoV-2- that

end up making it easier for a virus to infect cells. Drugs that inhibit these stress-related

changes would act like molecular gates slamming shut on the cells that viruses are

trying to infect.
Familiar Gas: Nitric Oxide

Because SARS-CoV-2 preferentially attacks lung tissue and causes cells in the

respiratory tract to launch a hyperactive immune response, researchers are exploring ways to

tame that aggressive response by dousing those cells with nitric oxide. It is often used to relax

blood vessels and open up blood flow in hospital patients on ventilators. While working on a

new, portable system for delivering nitric oxide developed by Bellerophon Therapeutics to

treat a breathing disorder in newborns, Dr. Roger Alvarez, an assistant professor of medicine

at University of Miami, thought the gas might be helpful for COVID-19 patients as well. One of

the symptoms of the viral infection is low oxygen levels in the lungs, and nitric oxide is ideally

designed to grab more oxygen molecules from the air with each breath and feed it to the

lungs. Also, he believed that with the help of the system, patients don’t need to be in the

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and patients can be placed in a regular hospital or even in a bed at

home. Dr. Alvarez has received emergency use authorization from the FDA to test a version

of his system on one COVID-19 patient at the University of Miami Health System and that

patient improved and is ready to go home.

Placental Cell Treatment

On April 1, researchers at New Jersey received FDA clearance for its placental cell

treatment, based on a group of immune cells called “natural killer cells” that circulate in the

placenta, and are designed to protect the developing fetus from infection.
The Solidarity Trial

According to the article written by Austin Salameda on April 21, 2020 in DNX News,

the World Health Organization (WHO) together with their partners made a multinational

initiative to compare untested treatments for hospitalized people with severe COVID-19

illness. The trials aim to give rapid insights on key clinical questions: Do any of the drugs

reduce mortality? Do any of the drugs reduce the time a patient is hospitalized? Do the

treatments affect the need for people with COVID-19-induced pneumonia to be ventilated or

maintained in intensive care? And could such drugs be used to minimize the illness of COVID-

19 infection in healthcare staff and people at high risk of developing severe illness?

The solidarity trial hopes to “dramatically cut down the time needed to generate robust

evidence about what drugs work”. The drugs in question are remdesivir, lopinavir + ritonavir

combination, lopinavir + ritonavir + interferon-beta combination, and Hydroxychloroquine /

Chloroquine. Remdesevir was created and developed by Gilead Sciences as a treatment for

Ebola virus and Marburg virus infections and it has an antiviral activity in vitro against multiple

virus families including coronavirus. Lopinavir/ritonavir is used in SARS-CoV-1 and its data

are promising, however for COVID-19, it is still unclear and the drug did not work well because

they are designed to inhibit HIV and that is why a team of researchers in University of

Colorado is hoping to modify it to find a compound that will bind with the protease of SARS-

CoV-2. Similar to remdesevir, Interferon Beta also has antiviral activity that is involved mainly

in innate immune response and is currently in development to become an inhaled drug for

chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

Social Distancing, Cleaning, Proper Etiquette and Hygiene (hand washing, avoiding

touching of faces, coughing in elbows, etc.)

Social distancing and proper etiquette and hygiene is one the ways people can do to

prevent the spread of COVID-19. The virus can spread through coughing, sneezing and close

contact. By minimizing the amount of close contact people have with others, the chances of

catching the virus and spreading it loved ones and community is reduced. People who are at

high risk of complications include elderly and people who have serious chronic medical

conditions like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease. Also, through the proper etiquette

and hygiene, one can avoid catching the disease and spreading it to others. Cleaning and

disinfecting high-touch surfaces regularly is also an important precaution to lower the risk of

infection. When it comes to handling food, it is important to clean the vegetables properly, the

canned goods that came from the supermarket to avoid transmission.

Several studies have suggested that patients infected with the virus causing

COVID-19, and the related coronavirus infections (SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV) had

good clinical outcomes, with almost all cases recovering fully. In some cases, patients

were given an antiretroviral drug: lopinavir boosted with ritonavir (LPV/r). These

studies were mostly carried out in HIV-negative individuals. It is important to note that

these studies using LPV/r had important limitations. The studies were small, timing,

duration and dosing for treatment were varied and most patients received co-

interventions/co-treatments which may have contributed to the reported outcomes.

 While the evidence of benefit of using antiretrovirals to treat coronavirus

infections is of very low certainty, serious side effects were rare. Among people living

with HIV, the routine use of LPV/r as treatment for HIV is associated with several side

effects of moderate severity. However, as the duration of treatment in patients with

coronavirus infections was generally limited to a few weeks, these occurrences can be

expected to be low or less than that reported from routine use.

No pharmaceutical products have yet been shown to be safe and effective for

the treatment of COVID-19. However, a number of medicines have been suggested as

potential investigational therapies, many of which are now being or will soon be

studied in clinical trials, including the SOLIDARITY trial co-sponsored by WHO and

participating countries. In many countries, doctors are giving COVID-19 patients

medicines that have not been approved for this disease. The use of licensed

medicines for indications that have not been approved by a national medicines

regulatory authority is considered “off-label” use. The prescription of medicines for off-

label use by doctors may be subject to national laws and regulations.

Most people who become ill with COVID-19 will be able to recover at home. No

specific treatments for COVID-19 exist right now. But some of the same things you do

to feel better if you have the flu — getting enough rest, staying well hydrated, and

taking medications to relieve fever and aches and pains — also help with COVID-

19.vIn the meantime, scientists are working hard to develop effective treatments.

Therapies that are under investigation include drugs that have been used to treat
malaria and autoimmune diseases; antiviral drugs that were developed for other

viruses, and antibodies from people who have recovered from COVID-19.

When people recover from COVID-19, their blood contains antibodies that their

bodies produced to fight the coronavirus and help them get well. Antibodies are found

in plasma, a component of blood.

Convalescent plasma — literally plasma from recovered patients — has been

used for more than 100 years to treat a variety of illnesses from measles to polio,

chickenpox, and SARS. In the current situation, antibody-containing plasma from a

recovered patient is given by transfusion to a patient who is suffering from COVID-19.

The donor antibodies help the patient fight the illness, possibly shortening the length

or reducing the severity of the disease. Though convalescent plasma has been used

for many years, and with varying success, not much is known about how effective it is

for treating COVID-19. There have been reports of success from China, but no

randomized, controlled studies (the gold standard for research studies) have been

done. Experts also don't yet know the best time during the course of the illness to give

plasma.

In order to donate plasma, a person must meet several criteria. They have to

have tested positive for COVID-19, recovered, have no symptoms for 14 days,

currently test negative for COVID-19, and have high enough antibody levels in their

plasma. A donor and patient must also have compatible blood types. Once plasma is
donated, it is screened for other infectious diseases, such as HIV. Each donor

produces enough plasma to treat one to three patients. Donating plasma should not

weaken the donor's immune system nor make the donor more susceptible to getting

re-infected with the virus.

Currently there is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. However, drugs

previously developed to treat other viral infections are being tested to see if they might

also be effective against the virus that causes COVID-19. An antiviral drug must be

able to target the specific part of a virus's life cycle that is necessary for it to

reproduce. In addition, an antiviral drug must be able to kill a virus without killing the

human cell it occupies. And viruses are highly adaptive. Because they reproduce so

rapidly, they have plenty of opportunity to mutate (change their genetic information)

with each new generation, potentially developing resistance to whatever drugs or

vaccines we develop.

Currently there is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. However, similar

to treatment of any viral infection, these measures can help:

● While you don't need to stay in bed, you should get plenty of rest.

● Stay well hydrated.

● To reduce fever and ease aches and pains, take acetaminophen. Be sure to

follow directions.
● If you are taking any combination cold or flu medicine, keep track of all the

ingredients and the doses. For acetaminophen, the total daily dose from all products

should not exceed 3,000 milligrams.

The WHO initially recommended using acetaminophen instead of ibuprofen to

help reduce fever and aches and pains related to this coronavirus infection, but now

states that either acetaminophen or ibuprofen can be used. Rapid changes in

recommendations create uncertainty. Since some doctors remain concerned about

NSAIDs, it still seems prudent to choose acetaminophen first, with a total dose not

exceeding 3,000 milligrams per day.

Early reports from China and France suggested that patients with severe

symptoms of COVID-19 improved more quickly when given chloroquine or

hydroxychloroquine. Some doctors were using a combination of hydroxychloroquine

and azithromycin with some positive effects.

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are primarily used to treat malaria and

several inflammatory diseases, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Azithromycin

is a commonly prescribed antibiotic for strep throat and bacterial pneumonia. Both

drugs are inexpensive and readily available. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine

have been shown to kill the COVID-19 virus in the laboratory dish. The drugs appear

to work through two mechanisms. First, they make it harder for the virus to attach itself
to the cell, inhibiting the virus from entering the cell and multiplying within it. Second, if

the virus does manage to get inside the cell, the drugs kill it before it can multiply.

Azithromycin is never used for viral infections. However, this antibiotic does

have some anti-inflammatory action. There has been speculation, though never

proven, that azithromycin may help to dampen an overactive immune response to the

COVID-19 infection. However, the most recent human studies suggest no benefit —

and possibly a higher risk of death due to lethal heart rhythm abnormalities — with

both hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin used alone. The drugs are especially

dangerous when used in combination. Based on these new reports, the FDA now

formally recommends against taking chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

infection unless it is being prescribed in the hospital or as part of a clinical trial. Three

days earlier a National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel released a similar strong

statement advising against the use of the combination of hydroxychloroquine and

azithromycin.

Scientists all over the world are testing whether drugs previously developed to

treat other viral infections might also be effective against the new coronavirus that

causes COVID-19.
 One drug that has received a lot of attention is the antiviral drug remdesivir.

That's because the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is similar to the coronaviruses

that caused the diseases SARS and MERS — and evidence from laboratory and

animal studies suggests that remdesivir may help limit the reproduction and spread of

these viruses in the body. In particular, there is a critical part of all three viruses that

can be targeted by drugs. That critical part, which makes an important enzyme that

the virus needs to reproduce, is virtually identical in all three coronaviruses; drugs like

remdesivir that successfully hit that target in the viruses that cause SARS and MERS

are likely to work against the COVID-19 virus.

Remdesivir was developed to treat several other severe viral diseases,

including the disease caused by Ebola virus (not a coronavirus). It works by inhibiting

the ability of the coronavirus to reproduce and make copies of itself: if it can't

reproduce, it can't make copies that spread and infect other cells and other parts of

the body. Remdesivir inhibited the ability of the coronaviruses that cause SARS and

MERS to infect cells in a laboratory dish. The drug also was effective in treating these

coronaviruses in animals: there was a reduction in the amount of virus in the body,

and also an improvement in lung disease caused by the virus.

The drug appears to be effective in the laboratory dish, in protecting cells

against infection by the COVID virus (as is true of the SARS and MERS

coronaviruses), but more studies are underway to confirm that this is true. Remdesivir

was used in the first case of COVID-19 that occurred in Washington state, in January
2020. The patient was severely ill, but survived. Of course, experience in one patient

does not prove the drug is effective.

Two large randomized clinical trials are underway in China. The two trials will

enroll over 700 patients, and are likely to definitively answer the question of whether

the drug is effective in treating COVID-19. The results of those studies are expected in

April or May 2020. Studies also are underway in the United States, including at

several Harvard-affiliated hospitals. It is hard to predict when the drug could be

approved for use and produced in large amounts, assuming the clinical trials indicate

that it is effective and safe.

Some critically ill patients with COVID-19 have been treated with high doses of

intravenous (IV) vitamin C in the hope that it will hasten recovery. However, there is no

clear or convincing scientific evidence that it works for COVID-19 infections, and it is

not a standard part of treatment for this new infection. A study is underway in China to

determine if this treatment is useful for patients with severe COVID-19; results are

expected in the fall. Regarding prevention, there is no evidence that taking vitamin C

will help prevent infection with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. While standard

doses of vitamin C are generally harmless, high doses can cause a number of side

effects, including nausea, cramps, and an increased risk of kidney stones.

What are the testing medicines to fight coronavirus?

A serologic test is a blood test that looks for antibodies created by your immune

system. There are many reasons you might make antibodies, the most important of

which is to help fight infections. The serologic test for COVID-19 specifically looks for

antibodies against the COVID-19 virus. Your body takes at least five to 10 days after

you have acquired the infection to develop antibodies to this virus. For this reason,

serologic tests are not sensitive enough to accurately diagnose an active COVID-19

infection, even in people with symptoms.

However, serologic tests can help identify anyone who has recovered from

coronavirus. This may include people who were not initially identified as having

COVID-19 because they had no symptoms, had mild symptoms, chose not to get

tested, had a false-negative test, or could not get tested for any reason. Serologic

tests will provide a more accurate picture of how many people have been infected

with, and recovered from, coronavirus, as well as the true fatality rate. Serologic tests

may also provide information about whether people become immune to coronavirus

once they've recovered and, if so, how long that immunity lasts. In time, these tests

may be used to determine who can safely go back out into the community.

Scientists can also study coronavirus antibodies to learn which parts of the

coronavirus the immune system responds to, in turn giving them clues about which

part of the virus to target in vaccines they are developing. Serological tests are starting
to become available and are being developed by many private companies worldwide.

However, the accuracy of these tests needs to be validated before widespread use in

the US.

A drug developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical in Japan is showing promising

outcomes in treating at least mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, Live Science

previously reported. The antiviral drug, called favipiravir or Avigan, has been used in

Japan to treat influenza, and last month, the drug was approved as an experimental

treatment for COVID-19 infections, Pharmaceutical Technology reported.

So far, reports suggest the drug has been tested in 340 individuals in Wuhan

and Shenzhen. "It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,"

Zhang Xinmin, of China's science and technology ministry, said March 17, The

Guardian reported. The drug, which works by preventing certain viruses from

replicating, seemed to shorten the duration of the virus as well as improve lung

conditions (as seen in X-rays) in tested patients, though the research has yet to be

published in a peer-reviewed science journal.

To prevent transmission of coronavirus, you must follow the social distancing

protocol given by the government, sanitize your area, and stay at home.
 WHAT ARE THE BEST PRACTICES OF BHUTAN AND

YEMEN TO HANDLE COVID19 PATIENTS FOR WHICH

RESULTED TO LOW DEATH RATE CASES?

Yemen

Since the first corona virus 2019 outbreak first occurred in the southern province of

Yemen, they’ve already feared that it brings the catastrophic consequences in their own

healthcare system that was already broken by 5-year war.

The first case of covid-19 has been reported in Hadhramaut province, working in the

port of al-Shihr. The Yemen president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi already said that the infected

patient was already in stable condition and receiving good care inside the treatment facility.

Upon knowing the first case, Yemen already performed the necessary things which is

Isolation and treatment of the person who has the covid-19. They also deploy their workers to

perform the tracing and tracking of all know contacts of the subject and later put them all into

quarantined also authorities have since sealed off the port where the man worked and told

other employees to self-isolate for two weeks.

Hadhramaut province has seen some of the worst pockets of malnutrition and disease

in the war-torn country although the committee said medical teams and concerned authorities

had taken all necessary precautions and promised to coordinate with regards to their cases.
Bhutan

Bhutan recorded its first covid-19 case, it is a 76-year-old US male who travelled to the

country from India. They’ve already performed the contact tracing and found out the around

90 people had directly in contact with him, including his 59-year-old partner, driver, and guide

were quarantined.

The 59-year-old partner of the first case was tested positive and already undergoes

treatment and isolation has been released because after 2 weeks they’ve performed a test

and it shows that the partner was already negative to the virus.

After those cases was being negative Bhutan already has the least case of covid-19 in

the world, why? As you can see their Prime Minister Dr. Lotay Tshering perform what is

necessary and go beyond the standard, he managed to extend the quarantine up to 21 days

for them to be sure if the person under quarantine was less harm to their environment

especially the healthy ones.

Another thing is that Bhutan already traced the person in contact with the ones who

has the virus after that they imposed them to be quarantine into the facilities which was

provided by the government or undergo on their own and have a home quarantine. They also

said that even though you’re in a home quarantine, government will still have obliged to take

care of your health and track what was happening into it.
How the virus spread all over the world?

Since china reported its first covid-19 patient which was the 61-year-old man who was

from the market where everyone believed to be the birthplace of the virus.

After that, many countries started to ban travelling and also added some preemptive

measures to tackle the virus before it can find another host to carry it.

While the virus continues to multiply, many countries believed that it will just go away

after a few days or weeks, those countries who have been hit drastically by the virus are

United States, Spain, and Italy etc.

At first they didn’t believe about the capacity of the virus to quickly change its host and

transfer to another human but then after sometime they finally figured out that it is indeed a

deadly virus after it killed almost 200+ thousands of people and many more.

Some countries who didn’t imposed the travel ban, believing that it may go away

recorded high cases and deaths because they simple are not prepared for this virus.

People who came from Wuhan china without undergoing quarantine and socializes

with other people helps the virus to spread rapidly during that time.

The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the

nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

 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 being well informed about the

COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from

infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching

your face.
 DO YOU THINK THE BAYANIHAN ACT OF THE FILIPINOS

ARE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE WAY IN ORDER TO

SOLVE THE PANDEMIC CRISIS IN FLATTENING THE

CURVE? WHAT IS THE COMPUTER ENGINEER’S

PERSPECTIVE? SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER IN GRAPH AND

ANALYSIS.

On March 25,2020, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Republic Act 11469 or

"Bayanihan to Heal as One Act" into law. The law gives him the power to adopt temporary

emergency measures to respond to the COVID-19 national health crisis. It has been a month

since the Bayanihan Act was implemented and the goal of flattening the curve isn’t nearly

happening.
 As we see from the graph of daily reported new cases, the cases only grew larger after

the Bayanihan act was signed. Meanwhile, there are also many factors that affects the growth

of the curve such as contract tracing of the people who were tested positive and the mass

testing of the Persons Under Investigation or PUIs and Persons Under Monitoring or PUMs.

Which means to say that the growth of reported cases does not determine the failure of the

law.

The Bayanihan Act also gives authority to the President to realign about 275 billion

pesos of the national budget to address COVID-19 which was questioned on the first few

weeks of the implementation of the law. The Filipinos requested for the breakdown on where

the budget was allocated to and the major allotment was allotted to the Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program (4Ps) or the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

275-Billion Pesos National Budget Breakdown
 The SAP provides 18 million families from low-income households shall receive an

emergency subsidy of a minimum of P5,000 to a maximum of P8,000 for the next two (2)

months based on the prevailing regional minimum wage rate. Through this program, the

people were expected to prevent going out to look for means of livelihood since the

government will be the one to provide financial aid for them. Unfortunately, the logistics and

distribution to households are quite slow, many people are getting hungry and some of the

households who are greatly in need were not on the list. The government aims to finish the

distribution of the first wave of SAPs by April 30 since the second wave of the financial

assistance will be distributed by the start of May. As of this writing, the total amount of

disbursed SAP funds is just 61.5 percent therefore, we can say that this section of the

Bayanihan Act is not efficient.

The law also provides benefits for both private and public health workers to encourage

the them in helping to fight this pandemic such as:

1. COVID-19 Special Risk Allowance will be given to all public health workers on top of

their usual hazard pay granted under the Magna Carta of Public health Workers

(Republic Act No. 7305).

2. PhilHealth coverage for medical expenses of private and public health workers who

are diagnosed to have COVID-19.

3. P100,000 compensation for health workers who contracted severe COVID-19 infection

while in the line of duty.

4. P1,000.000 compensation to those who died fighting the COVID-19 infection.

 These benefits and compensations show appreciation to our frontline health workers

who sacrifices their lives in fighting this virus. Many volunteer nurses have come forward to

help since hospitals ran out of manpower when the number of health workers who contracted

the virus started to grow.

On the other hand, the Bayanihan Act provides penalization for punishable acts with

imprisonment of 2 months or a fine of P10,000.00 to P1,000,000.00 or both. These

punishable acts are mainly directed to LGU officials, business owners, and citizens on social

media who spread false information regarding the COVID-19 crisis. So far, I have only heard a

few who have been summoned by the NBI for violating the law.

The Bayanihan Act only supports the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)

implemented here in the Philippines. The ECQ helped in containing the transmissions or

infection rate and the law has been a great help for the Filipinos in surviving the ECQ, one can

say that it is effective but it also has some flaws. Let’s also do our part as citizens to help

flatten the curve by following the quarantine protocols in your community, observe social

distancing, reaching out to people who are in self-isolation through online platforms, maintain

cleanliness everywhere and practice proper hand washing. Be a responsible citizen and

prevent the spread of fake news that can cause panic. Let us give appreciation and support to

our health workers and frontliners.

 WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT WAYS OR STRATEGIES ON

HOW TO MANAGE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

IN THE PHILIPPINES AND WHAT ARE THE OTHER

PROCESSES TO STERILIZING THE PPE’S BY LOCAL AND

FOREIGN STRATEGIES?

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an equipment worn to minimize exposure to

hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These injuries and illnesses may

result from contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, mechanical, or other

workplace hazards. Personal protective equipment may include items such as gloves, safety

glasses and shoes, earplugs or muffs, hard hats, respirators, or coveralls, vests and full body

suits.

All personal protective equipment should be safely designed and constructed, and

should be maintained in a clean and reliable fashion. It should fit comfortably, encouraging

worker use. If the personal protective equipment does not fit properly, it can make the

difference between being safely covered or dangerously exposed. When engineering, work

practice, and administrative controls are not feasible or do not provide sufficient protection,

employers must provide personal protective equipment to their workers and ensure its proper

use.

 
Management of Personal Protective Equipment in the Philippines

Nowadays, our country is currently suffering and fighting against the pandemic that

struck also other countries around the world, the COVID-19. Since the entry of the said virus

in our country, the government has responded immediately and find ways on how to slow

down and stop the spread through quarantines and PPE’s not only for ordinary citizens but

also for our frontliners throughout the country.

Source: University of the Philippines-

DOH is currently studying ways to manage and optimize the use of PPE amid the

shortage of supplies in the market. The PPE that hospital workers wear depends on the work

they intend to do and the area where they work. They are using threat and exposure levels

method to determine what PPE the health worker must use to avoid wasting of PPE’s. At the

University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (PGH), one of the country’s referral

hospitals for coronavirus patients, there are 4 levels of PPE protection.

Level 4 – This applies to all personnel in the areas where confirmed cases of COVID-19 are

admitted. They include healthcare workers who have to stay in these areas for at least 4 hours

and anesthesiologists who intubate patients and stay for an entire operation. This level of PPE

protection consists of:

 Goggles/face shield  Surgical cap

 Double gloves  N-95 mask

 Dedicated shoes  Scrub suits

 Coveralls  Shoe covers

Level 3 - for the triage and areas where patients under investigation (PUIs) are admitted.

PPE protection consists of:

 Cap and goggles or face shield

 N-95 mask

 Gloves

 Gown or coveralls

Level 2 - for areas with bathrooms where healthcare workers can bathe after duty. They

require the same amount of protection, as Level 3, but do not need face shields.

Level 1 – for low-risk areas like the outpatient clinic and non-COVID-19 wards that require

staff to wear surgical masks and goggles or face shields. Those working in administrative

offices and the pharmacy, which are the lowest risk areas, are required to wear surgical

masks at all times inside the hospital.

 Through this strategy, Personal Protective Equipment were being utilized efficiently

and lowering the risk of PPE shortage in the hospitals and even in the quarantine facilities

where workers are vulnerable to COVID-19.

The World Health Organization has released some guidelines regarding PPE usage

and management. PPE should be used based on the risk of exposure (e.g. type of activity)

and the transmission dynamics of the pathogen (e.g. contact, droplet or aerosol). The overuse

of PPE will have a further impact on supply shortages. The following recommendations will

ensure rational use of PPE.

• The type of PPE used when caring for COVID-19 patients will vary according to the setting

and type of personnel and activity.

• Health care workers involved in the direct care of patients should use the following PPE:

gowns, gloves, medical mask, and eye protection (goggles or face shield).

• Specifically, for aerosol-generating procedures, health care workers should use respirators,

eye protection, gloves and gowns; aprons should also be used if gowns are not fluid resistant.

• Respirators have been used for an extended time during previous public health emergencies

involving acute respiratory illness when PPE was in short supply. This refers to wearing the

same respirator while caring for multiple patients who have the same diagnosis without

removing it, and evidence indicates that respirators maintain their protection when used for

extended periods. However, using one respirator for longer than 4 hours can lead to

discomfort and should be avoided.

• Among the general public, persons with respiratory symptoms or those caring for COVID-19

patients at home should receive medical masks. For additional information, see Home care for

patients with COVID-19 presenting with mild symptoms and management of their contacts.

• For persons without symptoms, wearing a mask of any type is not recommended. Wearing

medical masks when they are not indicated may cause unnecessary cost and a procurement

burden and create a false sense of security that can lead to the neglect of other essential

preventive measures.

Decontamination and Sterilization of Personal Protective Equipment

There many ways and techniques in decontaminating and sanitizing PPE’s in this time

of COVID-19 where there is a shortage of supply of PPE’s around the world. One of the

techniques is the use of Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor to decontaminate N95 respirators.

Using Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor is a proven method of decontamination. Previous

studies have shown that N95 respirators retain their filtering capability even after 50 cycles in

a laboratory environment. They have taken this one step further to show it can be done in the

real-world environment using commercially available equipment and performing fit testing on

humans rather than “human forms.” N95 sparing and reuse practices are important but not

sufficient given the current situation and thus will begin reuse after decontamination on a large

scale. While this alone will not solve the problem, it will allow to process and reuse a

significant number of N95 respirators or other critical items. As healthcare facilities operate in

uncharted territories while dealing with a plethora of unanticipated day‐to‐day issues, solving

issues that directly impact the health and safety of our healthcare workers is of utmost

importance. Healthcare workers must be equipped with the appropriate personal protective

equipment (PPE) that they need to do their jobs with confidence. In times of global shortages,
we have to improvise and adapt existing technologies for new uses. Decontamination of N95

respirators with Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor is one such solution that affords us better ability to

protect our healthcare workers as we continue to tackle this monumental issue.

In our country, there are many projects and initiative for the sterilization and

decontamination of PPE’s. The faculty of the University of the Philippines Diliman's College of

Engineering is also developing a prototype cleaning chamber, based on ultraviolet light

exposure, which will be used to disinfect PPE. The UV Cleaning Chamber Project is

fabricating a prototype that is based on ultraviolet (UV-C) light exposure to be used for

disinfecting used personal protective equipment (PPE).

The process allows previously used PPEs to be safely re-used by medical personnel caring

for COVID-19 patients and helps address the problem of the scarce supply of PPEs. The

cleaning chamber is going to use a germicidal ultraviolet system that would emit a specific

wavelength that can destroy viral microbes. It makes the virus lose its ability to reproduce by

breaking their DNA rendering them harmless. The chamber will also pass the PPEs through

black light. If bodily fluids are still present in hospital gowns, it indicates the presence of

bacteria and the potential coronavirus.

Source: www.pnri.dost.gov.ph
 Meanwhile, The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute also has the capability and

resources to sterilize and decontaminate PPEs using radioactive materials.

Foreign Recommendations for Cleaning and Sterilizing PPE and Biohazard Equipment

The CDC recommends that you should treat any PPE that may be contaminated as if it

were. This means wearing heavy puncture resistant gloves, a face mask, eye protection, a

gown or a jacket. This is due to the potential of splashing that might occur during the cleaning

process. Once the cleaning process ends, remove the clean items immediately. This will

ensure that items are not contaminated and will avoid getting any extra moisture into the PPE.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in United States, any

items that have been contaminated must be cleaned and sterilized before being used again

with a patient. If PPE and other devices are not cleaned properly, then there is a chance of

compromising the sterilization process and potentially spreading the virus or infection. Before

the sterilization process, all dirt, debris, and microorganisms must be removed from the items.

The two methods that they mention are to use good old soap, water and a scrub brush, or to

use an ultrasonic cleaner. In order to increase the time from soiled to reusable, the CDC

recommends automated processes such as ultrasonic cleaning be used over more traditional

methods. Ultrasonic cleaners also improve the effectiveness of the cleaning. It will also

decrease the chances that workers performing the cleaning will be exposed to the virus or

other contamination present.

 N95 respirators, face shields, and goggles are sturdy enough to reprocess after use

with COVID-19 patients or patients suspected of coronavirus infection. Reprocessing requires

a room designated for disinfection of PPE and other equipment. For N95 respirators, face

shields, and goggles, two disinfection methods are currently being used across the country:

hydrogen peroxide mist and/or ultraviolet light.

N95 respirators go through a four-step disinfection process:

• After use, the respirators are placed in a container

• The respirators are carefully transported to the disinfection room

• Inspectors make sure the respirators are intact and not visibly soiled

• The respirators are suspended on "basically a clothesline," then they go through a

disinfection process with either hydrogen peroxide mist or UV light, or both

The options for conserving gloves and gowns in COVID-19 treatment are limited, with

gloves only appropriate for single use. Plastic gowns also are single-use PPE in COVID-19

treatment, but some cloth gowns can be reused.

Recommended Equipment for Decontamination of Personnel and Personal Protective

Clothing and Equipment:

 Drop cloths of plastic or other suitable materials on which heavily contaminated

equipment and outer protective clothing may be deposited.

 Collection containers, such as drums or suitably lined trash cans, for storing

disposable clothing and heavily contaminated personal protective clothing or

equipment that must be discarded.

 Lined box with absorbents for wiping or rinsing off gross contaminants and liquid

contaminants.

 Large galvanized tubs, stock tanks, or children's wading pools to hold wash and rinse

solutions. These should be at least large enough for a worker to place a booted foot in,

and should have either no drain or a drain connected to a collection tank or

appropriate treatment system.

 Wash solutions selected to wash off and reduce the hazards associated with the

contaminants.

 Rinse solutions selected to wash off and reduce the hazards associated with the

contaminants.

 Long-handled, soft-bristled brushes to help wash and rinse off contaminants.

 Paper or cloth towels for drying protective clothing and equipment

 Lockers and cabinets for storage of decontaminated clothing and equipment.

 Metal or plastic cans or drums for contaminated wash and rinse solutions.

 Plastic sheeting, sealed pads with drains, or other appropriate methods for containing

and -collecting contaminated wash and rinse solutions spilled during decontamination.

 Shower facilities for full body wash or, at a minimum, personal wash sinks (with drains

connected to a collection tank or appropriate treatment system).

 Soap or wash solution, wash cloths, and towels for personnel.

 Lockers or closets for clean clothing and personal item storage.

 STAY AT HOME METHOD AND PHYSICAL DISTANCE ARE

THE EFFECTIVE WAY TO FLATTEN THE CURVE OF

COVID-19. WHAT ARE THE OTHER NORMS OF FOREIGN

COUNTRIES TO FLATTEN THE CURVE OF THIS

PANDEMIC?

Philippines (Summary):

In the Philippines, the approach to flatten the curve is to stay at home and impose

Enhanced Community Quarantine. Also Philippines started to conduct mass testing. Social

Distancing is also enforced along with checkpoints.

China:

 Social Distancing:
 Without a vaccine or specific treatment available against SARS-CoV2, social

distancing is about the only thing available to slow the spread of this nasty virus. Social

distancing includes different ways to keep people physically apart from each other, such

as shutting down “high-mixing” places such as schools and workplaces and having people

stay at home as much as possible. It makes sense that maintaining physical separation

will prevent the virus from transmitting from one person to another because the virus

doesn’t have little legs to run or a little Tesla to drive after you. Nonetheless, seeing

scientific evidence that social distancing works can be encouraging.

For this study, a team of researchers analyzed data on the movement of people

and the reported COVID-19 cases over time in China. The human mobility data came from

Baidu Inc., a Beijing-headquartered tech company that produces all kinds of Internet-

related services and products. The new coronavirus outbreak first started in Wuhan,

China, sometime in the middle of December 2019.

Taiwan:

Taiwan recorded its first case of the coronavirus on Jan. 21, but it has managed to

keep its number of confirmed cases to just 329 with five deaths as of April 1. The country is

effectively locked out of the World Health Organization (WHO), since membership is usually

only accorded to countries that are members of the United Nations, which does not recognize

Taiwan. But as Hilton Yip wrote on March 16, the government sprang into action as soon as

news broke about a mysterious illness in Wuhan. Taiwan, which sits just 100 miles from

mainland China, began inspecting travelers coming from the city on Dec. 31, set up a system

to track those in self-quarantine, and ramped up production of medical equipment in January.

(Taiwan has not yet resumed exports of the supplies, including surgical face masks.)
 Yip attributed Taiwan’s early and effective response to past experience. “Given that

Taiwan has faced everything from its giant neighbor—the spreading of fake news, military

threats, the withholding of vital medical information during the SARS outbreak in 2003—the

country knows it must be on its fullest guard whenever any major problem emerges in China,”

he wrote.

South Korea:

South Korea, which had one of the largest initial outbreaks outside China, also

managed to slow the spread of new coronavirus cases without instituting any lockdowns. Devi

Sridhar argued on March 23 that the country’s exemplary model for mass diagnostic testing

was the only way to contain the outbreak—and that other countries should look to East Asia

for lessons. South Korea, which has a population of 51 million, tests more than 20,000 people

daily at designated testing sites and uses isolation and widespread contact tracing to break

chains of transmission—as recommended by WHO. “South Korea is showing how this model

ultimately pays off in reducing spread, taking pressure off health services, and keeping its

death rate one of the lowest in the world,” Sridhar wrote.

Canada:

In the West, Canada managed to roll out more expansive testing than the neighboring

United States, as Justin Ling wrote on March 13. In January and February, Canada began

setting up the infrastructure to conduct tests and contact tracing. The early response in part

came from the country’s experience during the SARS outbreak in 2003. (Then, Canada was

the only country outside Asia to report deaths from the virus.) Canada has a well-funded

public health care system, and its criteria for who can be tested for COVID-19 is not as limited

as in the United States. “Canada has spent the past two decades preparing for this moment,”
Ling wrote. “By catching cases early, and investigating their origins, Canada has blunted the

impact of the virus thus far.”

Georgia:

Some success stories are unexpected. On the Don’t Touch Your Face podcast,

Foreign Policy’s Amy Mackinnon singled out the early response of the country of Georgia.

Despite its small size and struggling economy, the country began taking serious measures at

the end of February, including closing schools and conducting widespread diagnostic tests.

Georgia has so far confirmed 117 cases and no deaths from COVID-19. “I think the fact that

the government took it seriously from the very start has helped,” the Georgian journalist

Natalia Antelava told Mackinnon. So has Georgia’s mindset. “This is a country that is used to

crisis, and it is a country that has lived through civil wars and the Russian invasion in 2008

and a very dark period through the ’90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Antelava said.

Iceland:

Mackinnon also interviewed Jelena Ciric, a journalist in Iceland, which has one of the

highest per capita rates of confirmed coronavirus cases. That’s because it has also tested

more people per capita than anywhere else in the world—an effort led by a private medical

research company based in Reykjavik. The research will be used to inform the global

response to the pandemic. “What that gives us in Iceland is somewhat of a clearer picture of

how the virus is spreading through the general population,” Ciric said. “Our growth has not
actually become exponential due to these early measures of quarantining people who have

likely been exposed to the virus.”

European Region (Sweden):

Throughout Europe, many countries are under lockdown—but not Sweden, which has

remained stoic amid its high-risk outbreak. The country has reported 4,947 cases, but its

government is betting that its distinctive high trust culture means that individuals will act

responsibly without being ordered to do so (DISCIPLINED CITIZENS), wrote Nathalie

Rothschild on March 24, reporting from Stockholm. “[T]here is an expectation that citizens will

conform, that they will take personal responsibility and avoid crowds, work from home, keep a

distance on public transport, and so on, without being strong-armed into doing so,” she wrote.

The next two weeks could reveal whether that is a precarious calculation.
Global Changes (New Normal):
“Can we still live the lives we left behind?”

As the world wait for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) developments to unfold,

we grapple for answers. What we know for certain is that we have to change our behaviors

and live with the new norms.

In the Philippines, Sen. Manny Pacquiao is pushing for a New Normal Law that will

establish social distancing and health and hygiene protocols.

Earlier in March, he also filed the Anti-Spitting Act of 2020, which seeks to ban and

penalize spitting, coughing and sneezing in public.

Meanwhile, Dr. Edsel Salvana, director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and

Biotechnology at the National Institutes of Health – University of the Philippines Manila,

stresses the importance of precautionary measures after the Luzon-wide enhanced

community quarantine (ECQ).

“If the ECQ is going to be modified, it needs to be modified slowly and allow for the

data to catch up so we know what is truly going on. Social distancing and universal mask

wearing need to continue. Schools should remain closed,” he said.

Different Changes in different fields:
 Despite the growing number of recoveries and medical discoveries — and until we find

the vaccine — the battle against COVID-19 is far from over. But it doesn’t mean that we have
to stop ourselves from moving forward. By accepting proper habits and health-conscious

norms, we can halt present and future pandemics.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ADJUSTMENTS

Public transportation is a must in a normal day but during a global pandemic is a

complicated matter. Covid19 necessitates social distancing to prevent further spread. Social

distancing and public transportation do not really sit well together. According to the data

collected by moovit, there has been a widespread reduction in public transport: according to

recent estimates between January 2020- April 2020, passenger numbers in cities around the

world are down 70 to 90%. If the enhanced community quarantine will be lifted especially here

in Metro Manila, public transportation will be worrying because it is one of the most congested

places in the world. Emergency measures aim to minimize risk of contagion are the following:

• Disinfection: Public transit providers have adopted potent and frequent cleaning

routines to disinfect their rolling stock and premises, from offices to depots, stops,

and stations. Many are also providing hand sanitizer and portable hand washers,

for both users and workers.

 • Physical distancing: This includes practical steps to limit bottlenecks at turnstiles

and boarding platforms, as well as protecting drivers and station workers with

screens or shields.

• Communications: Operators have, for example, posted signs across their networks

to discourage unnecessary travel, put down floor stickers to mark adequate

spacing, and displayed information on how to access medical help.

• Contract tracing technology: Some transport systems are relying on digital

platforms to help locate potentially contagious individuals and those in contact with

them. Beijing’s subway has set up a system of online pre-trip reservations and

voluntary on-board check-ins with QR codes, providing an interesting example of

how to improve traceability and reduce passenger density while cities reopen.

The second category of measures is intended to adjust transport operation themselves:

• Service adjustments: Plummeting ridership requires quickly adjusting service

schedules (frequencies, operating times, number of routes) to ensure service

supply can be trimmed where less critical while reinforcing critical services to

minimize overcrowding.

• Improved connectivity for health care providers and other essential workers:

Several systems have added or changed services to connect health workers to

medical centers expeditiously (e.g., dedicated shuttle buses between transit

stations and hospitals).

• Shifting passenger traffic from public transport to other modes: In a bid to limit

public transport use during the pandemic, some cities have developed safe and

affordable alternatives such as emergency bike lanes and free bike-share or

rideshare services for health care staff and other essential workers.
 These measures are suggested measures by the World bank organization. For me I think

the DOTr social distancing guidelines for the public transport will continue after the ECQ lifted.

The DOTr social-distancing guidelines for the road and rail sectors are the following:

1. For the road sector, in any public utility vehicle (PUV), passengers must maintain a

distance of one seat apart from each other. For this to be possible, taxis and TNVS

units may only load up to four occupants, and UV Express vehicles may have no

more than six occupants at a time—both head counts include passengers and the

driver.

2. Jeepneys may not exceed half of their regular seating capacities.

3. Public utility buses may only load up to 25 passengers, including the driver and the

conductor, and no standing passengers will be allowed.

4. Drivers and conductors of PUVs entering and exiting Metro Manila must remind

passengers to present a company ID showing their place of work and a

government ID showing place of residence.

5. Trains will operate at reduced capacity—down to 25% of their respective

passenger capacities, to be exact. There will be a dedicated subsection for senior

citizens on each train. Passengers going into stations and trains must be regulated

—personnel on the front line must wear face masks and use non-contact thermal

scanners. Anyone exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms or with a body temperature of

38 degrees and above will be refused entry, and personnel must properly abide by

the Department of Health’s (DOH) protocols in responding to such cases.

6. The Philippine National Railway’s (PNR) Alabang to Calamba trips will be put on

hold for the meantime.

 HEALTH CARE ADJUSTMENTS

Health care is also a must to the public for non-covid and covid patients so if the

outbreak period is prolonged the WHO (World Health Organization) has a whole document

guideline for this. According to them authorities will need to regularly reconsider the status of

outpatient services that are time dependent and lifesaving, but not time sensitive on the order

of hours to days. Decisions about when to initiate cancer treatments, for example, may need

to be integrated with an analysis of the benefits of early treatment, the risk of immuno-

compromise during an outbreak, and the estimated duration of service limitations. And the

priority for surgical procedures initially deemed elective may change over time. Strategies for

the restoration of comprehensive and elective services should be revisited and revised

periodically as the outbreak evolves.

Countries should identify essential services that will be prioritized in their efforts to

maintain continuity of service delivery. High-priority categories include:

• Essential prevention for communicable diseases, particularly vaccination;

• Services related to reproductive health, including care during pregnancy and

childbirth;
 • Care of vulnerable populations, such as young infants and older adults;

• Provision of medications and supplies for the ongoing management of chronic

diseases, including mental health conditions;

• Continuity of critical inpatient therapies;

• Management of emergency health conditions and common acute presentations

that require time-sensitive intervention;

• Auxiliary services, such as basic diagnostic imaging, laboratory services, and blood

bank services.

Some key actions to take are:

• Generate a country-specific list of essential services (based on context and

supported by WHO guidance and tools).

• Identify routine and elective services that can be delayed or relocated to non-

affected areas.

• Create a roadmap for progressive phased reduction of services (see also

governance above).

Optimize service delivery settings and platforms

The settings where specific essential services are delivered may need to be modified for many

reasons, including:

• Existing service locations may be unavailable because they have been designated

for the exclusive care of people affected by COVID-19;

 • Routine health service delivery may need to be adapted (e.g. vaccinations

delivered by targeted approaches; postnatal care delivered at home);

• Need to limit the number of provider encounters due to increased demand and

decreased staff;

• The primary venue for maintaining acute care services may be shifted to first-level

hospital emergency units in order to concentrate services in a setting suited to

high-volume high-acuity care available 24 hours per day.

Some key actions that need to be taken:

• Conduct a functional mapping of health facilities, including those in public, private,

and military systems (this is a shared action with Operational planning guidelines to

support country preparedness and response, Pillar 7: Case management).

• Taking into account re-purposed facilities, concentrate 24-hour acute care services

at designated firstlevel hospital emergency units (or similar) and ensure public

awareness.

• Redirect chronic disease management to focus on maintaining supply chains for

medications and needed supplies, with a reduction in provider encounters.

• Establish outreach mechanisms as needed to ensure delivery of essential services.

Establish effective patient flow (screening, triage, and targeted referral) at all levels

People with and without COVID-19 will initially access the health system in the same

way. Since people present prior to having a diagnosis, there is overlap in patient flow for

services directed to COVID-19 and for other essential services. Basic infection-prevention

measures (hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, physical distancing) should be promoted

universally. In some settings, promotion of self-initiated isolation of those with mild respiratory
symptoms may be indicated to limit facility crowding. Frontline care sites—including primary

health centres, clinics, and hospital emergency units, as well as ad-hoc community settings

(schools, etc) that have been designated as care sites—will need to expand their capacity for

screening, isolation and triage, including with designated physical areas and appropriate

security. All frontline sites will need to be ready to assess and refer patients appropriately and

safely to reduce transmission and ensure rational use of scarce advanced care resources. In

some settings, specific facilities may be designated for the care of patients affected by

COVID-19. In other settings, there may only be one hospital. Instituting targeted referral and

counter-referral criteria and processes will be crucial to keep the system from becoming

overwhelmed.

Some Key actions:

• Disseminate information to prepare the public and guide safe care-seeking

behavior.

• Establish screening of all patients on arrival at all sites using the most up-to-date

COVID-19 guidance and case definitions.

• Establish mechanisms for isolation of patients in all care sites using the most up-to-

date COVID-19 guidance

• Ensure acuity-based triage at all sites providing acute care.

• Establish clear criteria and protocols for targeted referral (and counter-referral)

pathways.

• Rapidly re-distribute health workforce capacity, including by re-assignment and

task sharing
 Many countries face existing health workforce challenges, including shortages,

misdistribution, and misalignment between population health needs and health worker

competencies. Additional factors may limit the availability of health workers to deliver essential

services during the outbreak, including re-assignment of staff to treat increasing numbers of

patients with COVID-19, and loss of staff who may be quarantined, infected, or required to

care for infected friends and family. The combination of increased workload and reduced

number of health workers is expected to pose a severe strain on the capacity to maintain

essential services. These predictable challenges should be offset through a combination of

strategies.

Critical support measures include ensuring appropriate working hours and enforced rest

periods; providing guidance, training and supplies to limit health worker exposures; providing

physical security and psychosocial support; monitoring for illness, stress and burnout; and

ensuring timely payment of salaries, sick leave, and overtime (including for temporary staff to

eliminate perverse incentives for staff to report to work while ill). Health workers in high-risk

categories for complications of COVID-19 may need to be reassigned to tasks that reduce risk

of exposure. Offering accommodation arrangements to reduce staff travel time and protect

health workers’ families from exposure may be appropriate.

Mechanisms to identify additional health workforce capacity include:

• Request part-time staff to expand hours and full-time staff to work remunerated

overtime;

• Re-assign staff from non-affected areas (ensuring alignment of clinical indemnity

arrangements where necessary);

 • Utilize registration and certification records to identify additional qualified workers,

including licensed retirees and trainees for appropriate supervised roles; • Mobilize

non-governmental, military, Red Cross/Crescent, and private sector health

workforce capacity, including through temporary deployment to the public sector

where relevant;

• Where appropriate, consider establishing pathways for accelerated training and

early certification of medical, nursing, and other key trainee groups, ensuring

supportive supervision;

• Identify high-impact clinical interventions for which rapid training would facilitate

safe task sharing, and consider expansion of scopes of practice where possible; •

Utilize web-based platforms to provide key trainings (e.g., on management of time-

sensitive conditions and common undifferentiated presentations in frontline care),

clinical decision support and direct clinical services where appropriate.

• Formalize organized lay provider systems (such as Community First Aid

Responders, Red Cross/Crescent volunteers);

• Train and repurpose government and other workers from non-health sectors to

support functions in health facilities (administration, maintenance, catering, etc.); •

Increase home-based service support by appropriately trained, remunerated and

supplied community health workers;

• Increase capacity of informal care givers for home care support such as family,

friends, and neighbors.

Identify mechanisms to maintain availability of essential medications, equipment, and supplies

 The need to redirect supplies to the treatment of patients with COVID-19, compounded

by general supply chain disruptions due to the effects of the outbreak on other sectors, is

likely to lead to stockouts of resources needed to maintain essential services. Priority resource

lists should be developed (or adapted from existing lists), and planning should be executed in

coordination with the overall outbreak response. Suppliers and pharmacies (public and

private) can be networked to allow dynamic inventory assessment and coordinated re-

distribution.

Dental Care

A study in Saudi Dental Journal aims to create guideline for patients and dentists

amidst this Corona virus pandemic.

Patients screening and categorization

Whenever possible, tele-screening of the patients is strongly advised, and at the first

point of contact, patients should be screened for any COVID-19 symptoms and any recent

contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients and/or recent travel to recent disease epicentres.

For active and recently recovered confirmed cases, dental treatment should only be

considered after coordination with primary physician. Disease history, and current stage

should be meticulously evaluated. Any suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients’ treatment

should be postponed if possible or performed in an airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIRs)

or negative pressure rooms ideally at a hospital setting.

For these guidelines’ development, after the screening, patients are proposed to be

divided into five groups:

  Asymptomatic and unsuspected, unconfirmed COVID-19 case.

 Symptomatic and/or suspected, unconfirmed COVID-19 case.

 Stable confirmed COVID-19 case.

 Unstable confirmed COVID-19 case.

 Recovered confirmed COVID-19 case.

Treatment categorization

For these guidelines’ development, dental procedures are proposed to be divided into five

categories:

• Emergency management of life-threatening conditions.

• Urgent conditions that can be managed with minimally invasive procedures and

without aerosol generation.

• Urgent conditions that need to be managed with invasive and/or aerosol-

generating procedures.

• Non-urgent procedures.

• Elective procedures.

Treatment considerations

Intraoral imaging should be restricted and extraoral radiographs should be utilised to

reduce the excessive salivation and gag reflex associated with intraoral radiographs.

1. Using 0.23% povidone-iodine mouthwash for at least 15 s before the procedure can

reduce the viral load in the patient’s saliva.

2. Disposable and single-use instruments and devices should be used whenever possible

to reduce the cross-infection risks.

3. Rubber dam should be used whenever possible as this will significantly reduce the

spread of microorganisms.

4. The dental treatment should be as minimally invasive as possible.

5. Aerosol-generating procedures should be avoided whenever possible.

6. Whenever pharmacologic management of pain is required, Ibuprofen should be

avoided in suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases.

 WHAT ARE THE WORST PANDEMICS IN HISTORY? WHAT

IS YOUR ASSESSMENT IN DIFFERENT PANDEMIC EVENT?

HOW CAN WE FIGHT THIS KIND OF BATTLE IF MIGHT BE

HAPPEN AGAIN?

There are several pandemics that happened in our history and killed millions of people.

These kinds of pandemics should not be taken lightly just like the pandemic that is happening

at present. Here are some worst pandemics happened in our history.

1.) Plague of Justinian

Three of the deadliest pandemics in recorded history were caused by a single

bacterium, Yersinia pestis, a fatal infection otherwise known as the plague.

The Plague of Justinian arrived in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in 541

CE. It was carried over the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt, a recently conquered land paying

tribute to Emperor Justinian in grain. Plague-ridden fleas hitched a ride on the black rats that

snacked on the grain.

The plague decimated Constantinople and spread like wildfire across Europe, Asia,

North Africa and Arabia killing an estimated 30 to 50 million people, perhaps half of the world’s

population.
2.) Black Death

The plague never really went away, and when it returned 800 years later, it killed with

reckless abandon. The Black Death, which hit Europe in 1347, claimed an astonishing 200

million lives in just four years.

As for how to stop the disease, people still had no scientific understanding of

contagion, says Mockaitis, but they knew that it had something to do with proximity. That’s

why forward-thinking officials in Venetian-controlled port city of Ragusa decided to keep newly

arrived sailors in isolation until they could prove they weren’t sick.

At first, sailors were held on their ships for 30 days, which became known in Venetian

law as a trentino. As time went on, the Venetians increased the forced isolation to 40 days or

a quarantino, the origin of the word quarantine and the start of its practice in the Western

world.

3.) The Great Plague of London

London never really caught a break after the Black Death. The plague resurfaced

roughly every 20 years from 1348 to 1665—40 outbreaks in 300 years. And with each new

plague epidemic, 20 percent of the men, women and children living in the British capital were

killed.

By the early 1500s, England imposed the first laws to separate and isolate the sick.

Homes stricken by plague were marked with a bale of hay strung to a pole outside. If you had

infected family members, you had to carry a white pole when you went out in public. Cats and
dogs were believed to carry the disease, so there was a wholesale massacre of hundreds of

thousands of animals.

The Great Plague of 1665 was the last and one of the worst of the centuries-long

outbreaks, killing 100,000 Londoners in just seven months. All public entertainment was

banned and victims were forcibly shut into their homes to prevent the spread of the disease.

Red crosses were painted on their doors along with a plea for forgiveness: “Lord have mercy

upon us.”

As cruel as it was to shut up the sick in their homes and bury the dead in mass graves,

it may have been the only way to bring the last great plague outbreak to an end.

4.) Smallpox

Smallpox was endemic to Europe, Asia and Arabia for centuries, a persistent menace

that killed three out of ten people it infected and left the rest with pockmarked scars. But the

death rate in the Old World paled in comparison to the devastation wrought on native

populations in the New World when the smallpox virus arrived in the 15th century with the first

European explorers.

The indigenous peoples of modern-day Mexico and the United States had zero natural

immunity to smallpox and the virus cut them down by the tens of millions.

Centuries later, smallpox became the first virus epidemic to be ended by a vaccine. In the late

18th-century, a British doctor named Edward Jenner discovered that milkmaids infected with a

milder virus called cowpox seemed immune to smallpox. Jenner famously inoculated his

gardener’s 9-year-old son with cowpox and then exposed him to the smallpox virus with no ill

effect.
5.) Cholera

In the early- to mid-19th century, cholera tore through England, killing tens of

thousands. The prevailing scientific theory of the day said that the disease was spread by foul

air known as a “miasma.” But a British doctor named John Snow suspected that the

mysterious disease, which killed its victims within days of the first symptoms, lurked in

London’s drinking water.

Snow acted like a scientific Sherlock Holmes, investigating hospital records and

morgue reports to track the precise locations of deadly outbreaks. He created a geographic

chart of cholera deaths over a 10-day period and found a cluster of 500 fatal infections

surrounding the Broad Street pump, a popular city well for drinking water.

“As soon as I became acquainted with the situation and extent of this irruption (sic) of

cholera, I suspected some contamination of the water of the much-frequented street-pump in

Broad Street,” wrote Snow.

With dogged effort, Snow convinced local officials to remove the pump handle on the

Broad Street drinking well, rendering it unusable, and like magic the infections dried up.

Snow’s work didn’t cure cholera overnight, but it eventually led to a global effort to improve

urban sanitation and protect drinking water from contamination.

While cholera has largely been eradicated in developed countries, it’s still a persistent

killer in third-world countries lacking adequate sewage treatment and access to clean drinking

water.
 Every pandemic has their own cause, symptoms and where they originated, how they

spread across the country or across the world. Depending on their cause, there is also an

appropriate way to prevent these kinds of pandemics. Just like the saying goes “Prevention is

better than cure”. Knowing the symptoms and how these pandemic spread can help prevent

to diminish the number of cases. Every pandemic is different from each other, not all of them

are the same. They may have the same symptoms but because of time, these diseases might

mutate and become stronger than the last time they appeared.

In general, having a strong immune system and a healthier lifestyle can help increase

the chance of not having these kinds of diseases. Having a strong immune system can

prevent us from being sick. That’s why we need to take care of our health. Refrain from eating

junk foods that can harm our health. We all have one life to live, let’s live life to the fullest. Let

us not waste it by destroying our body and die because of the sickness. Let’s treasure life,

don’t waste it.

 WHAT ARE THE CURRENT INFORMATION ON THE

CLINICAL TRIALS OF REDEMSIVIR AS EXPERIMENTAL

TREATMENT ON COVID- 19?

The redemsivir is an experimental drug and one of the world’s best hopes for treating

COVID-19. This drug could shorten the time recovery from coronavirus infection. It interferes

with the replication of some viruses, including SARS- CoV-2, which is responsible for the

current pandemic.

The current update regarding redemsivir is last April 29, 2020 by Gilead Science, Inc.

They announced some results from the open- label, Phase 3 SIMPLE trial evaluating 5-day

and 10-day dosing durations of the investigational antiviral remdesivir in hospitalized patients

with severe manifestations of COVID-19 disease. The study demonstrated that patients

receiving a 10-day treatment course of remdesivir achieved similar improvement in clinical

status compared with those taking a 5-day treatment course (Odds Ratio: 0.75 [95% CI 0.51 –

1.12] on Day 14). No new safety signals were identified with remdesivir across either

treatment group. Gilead plans to submit the full data for publication in a peer-reviewed journal

in the coming weeks.

According to Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Gilead Sciences that

unlike traditional drug development, they are attempting to evaluate an investigational agent
alongside an evolving global pandemic. He also said that the study results complement the

data form the placebo-contolled study of remdesivir conducted by the National Institute for

Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The study demonstrates the potential for some patients to be

treated with a 5-day regimen which could significantly expand the number of patients who

could be treated.

Remdesivir is not yet licensed or approved anywhere globally and has not yet been

demonstrated to be safe or effective for the treatment of COVID-19. This study sought to

determine whether a shorter, 5-day course of remdesivir would achieve similar efficacy results

as the 10-day treatment regimen used in multiple ongoing studies of remdesivir. Secondary

objectives included rates of adverse events and additional measures of clinical response in

both treatment groups. Patients were required to have evidence of pneumonia and reduced

oxygen levels that did not require mechanical ventilation at the time of study entry. Clinical

improvement was defined as an improvement of two or more points from baseline on a

predefined seven-point scale, ranging from hospital discharge to increasing levels of oxygen

support to death. Patients achieved clinical recovery if they no longer required oxygen support

and medical care or were discharged from the hospital.

In this study, the time to clinical improvement for 50 percent of patients was 10 days in the 5-

day treatment group and 11 days in the 10-day treatment group. More than half of patients in

both treatment groups were discharged from the hospital by Day 14 (5-day: 60.0%, n=120/200

vs.10-day: 52.3% n=103/197; p=0.14). At Day 14, 64.5 percent (n=129/200) of patients in the

5-day treatment group and 53.8 percent (n=106/197) of patients in the 10-day treatment group

achieved clinical recovery.

 Clinical outcomes varied by geography. Outside of Italy, the overall mortality rate at

Day 14 was 7 percent (n=23/320) across both treatment groups, with 64 percent (n=205/320)

of patients experiencing clinical improvement at Day 14 and 61 percent (n=196/320) of

patients discharged from the hospital.

What is the current information in recovered patients in the world?

The coronavirus or COVID-19 is affecting 212 countries and territories around the

world. The data shown below are extracted from worldometer “COVID-19 CONRONAVIRUS

PANDEMIC”. According to the data, there are 3, 483, 935 cases that has been confirmed

around the world. 244, 773 deaths and 1,121, 499 recoveries.
What are the best practices on the infected patients in the hospital?

For Healthcare facility management in preparing for COVID- 19:

• Have a triage station at the healthcare facility entrance, prior to any waiting area, to

screen patients for COVID-19. This limits potential infection throughout the health

care center.

• Post information, like posters and flyers, that remind patients and visitors to

practice good respiratory and hand hygiene.

• Prepare a well-defined and separate waiting area for suspected cases.

• Have alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water handwashing stations readily

available for the use of healthcare workers, patients and visitors.

• Be alert for anyone that may have symptoms such as cough, fever, shortness of

breath, and difficulty breathing.

For Healthcare facility management in managing patients with suspected or confirmed cases:

• Managing the placement

 Immediately isolate suspected and confirmed cases

 To reduce stress and anxiety, explain to patients what you do and why you do it

 If possible, place patients in single rooms • Suspected and confirmed cases should be

kept separate

 Maintain at least 1-metre distance between all patients

 Do not put more than one patient in a single hospital bed

 • Managing the Environment

 Limit the movement of patients within the health center to reduce potential infection

throughout the healthcare facility

 If a patient needs to be moved, plan the move ahead: all staff and visitors who come

into direct contact with the patient should wear personal protective equipment

 Perform regular environmental cleaning and disinfection

 Maintain good ventilation – if possible open doors and windows

• Managing Visitors

 Limit the number of visitors per patient

 All visitors should wear the required personal protective equipment and their visits

should be recorded

For Healthcare workers’ protection:

• Follow the guidance of your healthcare facility management and talk to your

colleagues about agreed COVID-19 safety procedures

• When entering a room with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patient, put on:

 disposable gloves

 a clean, long-sleeve gown

 medical mask that covers your mouth and nose

 eye protection such as goggles

 Remember Personal protective equipment should be changed between use and for each

different patient. If utilizing single-use personal protective equipment (e.g. single-use masks,

gloves, face shields) dispose in a waste bin with a lid and wash your hands thoroughly.

Anything single-use cannot be reused or sterilized!

• Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth with gloves or bare hands until proper hand

hygiene has been performed

• If you start coughing, sneezing or develop fever after you have provided care,

report your illness immediately to the concerned authority and follow their advice

• My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene

 Use alcohol-based hand rub or wash hands with soap and water:

1. Before touching a patient

2. Before engaging in clean/aseptic procedures

3. After body fluid exposure risk

4. After touching a patient

5. After touching patient surroundings

Communicating with patients with suspected or confirmed cases:

• Be respectful, polite and empathetic

• Be aware that suspected and confirmed cases, and any visitors accompanying

them, may be stressed or afraid § The most important thing you can do is to listen

carefully to questions and concerns

• Use local language and speak slowly

• Answer any questions and provide correct information about COVID-19 § You may

not have an answer for every question: a lot is still unknown about COVID19 and it

is okay to admit that § If available, share information pamphlets or handouts with

your patients § It is okay to touch, or comfort suspected and confirmed patients

when wearing PPE Gather accurate information from the patient: their name, date

of birth, travel history, list of symptoms

• Explain the healthcare facility’s procedure for COVID-19, such as isolation and

limited visitors, and the next steps

• If the patient is a child, admit a family member or guardian to accompany them –

the guardian should be provided and use appropriate personal protective

equipment

• Provide updates to visitors and family when possible

 Ano ang pinagkaiba ng RT-PCR at Rapid Antibody-based

Diagnostic Test (RDTs)?

Para maintindihan ito ay kinakailangan munang malaman kung ano bang nangyayari kung

nagkakasakit ng viral infection ang isang tao:

1. Asymptomatic Phase: Dito nagsisimula ang impeksyon. Ngunit hindi pa lalabas ang

mga sintomas dahil kakaunti pa lamang ang mga virus na umaatake sa cells ng

katawan.

2. Symptomatic Phase: Dumami na ng husto ang virus at inaaatake na mismo ang

madaming cells ng katawan. Dito ay lumalabas na ang mga sintomas.

3. Acute Phase: Sa unang parte ng karamdaman, ay lumalabas muna ang IgM

antibodies (5 araw pagkatapos lumabas ang sintomas).

4. Convalescent Phase: Sa huling parte ng karamdaman, at kung pagaling na ang tao,

ay lumalabas naman ang IgG antibodies (21 na araw pagkatapos lumabas ang

sintomas).

Tinutukoy mismo ng RT-PCR ang presensya ng virus sa anu mang yugto ng

karamdaman. Ang RT-PCR ang ginagamit para mag-confirm ng COVID-19 infection.

Ang RDTs naman ay tinutukoy lamang ang presenya ng antibodies, kaya ito ay maaring

gamitin lamang pag may sintomas na ang pasyente. Hindi ito pwedeng gamiting upang mag-

confirm ng COVID-19.
 Sapat na kaalaman ay kailangan upang maiwasan ang sakit na COVID-19. Maging

responsable sa lahat ng pagkakataon kahit sa pagkuha ng impormasyon. Tayo ang sagot sa

pagpuksa ng pandemya!

Sa iba pang impormasyon tungkol sa RT-PCR at RDTs ay basahin ang mga Social Media

Card na nasa ibaba.1

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