What is Coronavirus phase three and how should we stop it from spreading?

• India is believed to be in the second stage of the Coronavirus outbreak.
  
• The Indian Council for Medical Research data showed that India now has 396 infected people; out of which 24 recovered and seven died.
  
• Stage three is said to be one of the most critical stages, where the pandemic starts spreading in the community.

Although India is believed to be in the second stage of the Coronavirus outbreak. It might enter the third phase soon, according to experts. The Indian Council for Medical Research data showed that India now has 396 infected people; out of which 24 recovered and seven died.

However experts believe that the reason behind India's comparatively low positive cases is because of the limited scope of testing facilities in the country. Last week, ICMR said that it was testing random samples of flu-like illness and severe acute respiratory-like illness to look for signs of community transmission of the pandemic.

What are the different stages of the pandemic?

The pandemic is divided into four stages, depending on the source of spread of the disease.

Stage 1- Stage one is when the pandemic is mostly cases that are imported from largely affected nations.

Stage 2- Stage two is when the pandemic starts spreading from those infected locally. In India, it began four weeks back when a Delhi citizen with a travel history from Italy infected six others in his family.

Stage 3- Stage three is said to be one of the most critical stages, where the pandemic starts spreading in the community.

At this stage, a disease spreads to individuals in a particular geographic location who have no known contact with other infected individuals or who have not recently travelled to an area where the disease has any documented cases.

The United States is in the third stage of the disease. According to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the Coronavirus seems to be spreading quickly and sustainably in the community (“community spread”) in affected geographic areas in the US.

Stage 4- Stage four is the last stage, where the disease takes the shape of a pandemic with no clear endpoint. Italy and China are at this stage of the outbreak.

Italy is the epicentre of the global crisis at the moment. It exceeded China’s death toll last week, despite a far smaller population than China. Almost 5,500 Italians are testing positive every day, the official data showed.

The Italian Prime Minister told Italians that the country was facing the gravest moment since the second world war and that all businesses that were not “strictly necessary, crucial or indispensable” would close until 3 April.

How to stop it from further spreading?

Quarantine: It is not necessary to quarantine only if you have travelled from foreign but one should self-quarantine and isolate from others

1. If you have come in contact with someone who travelled from Coronavirus impacted nations like Italy or China.
2. If you came in contact with someone who showed symptoms of common flu and cold or if you experience any symptoms yourself.

Contact tracing: Contact tracing is essential to find people who may have been exposed to an infectious disease by coming in contact with people suffering from it. There are two types of ‘contacts’ – close contacts and casual contacts.

The WHO says if a person has been found positive, everyone he or she may have come in contact with should be put under surveillance and on showing symptoms, they should be quarantined after testing.

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