1. Rate of COVID-19 spread in India, world

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1. Rate of COVID-19 spread in India, world

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology

Transmission of COVID-19 in India has increased to an extent over the past week, yet the

rate remains significantly lower than that the global rate.

Persons infected by each person

On March 19, every positive case in India was transmitting the virus to 1.7 people on

average. By March 26, that number had risen to 1.81, but remained significantly lower than

in countries such as Iran or Italy, according to Institute of Mathematical Sciences in

Chennai scientist Sitabhra Sinha.

For comparison, a study in The Lancet estimates the global transmission rate of COVID-19 — the number of persons infected by every positive case — to be between 2 and 3.

30 days, six countries With this low growth rate, it took one month for India’s COVID-19 case numbers to climb

from three to one thousand. Comparing this month’s case growth to South Korea’s first month of cases shows that India’s curve has recently become flatter than that of the other country at a corresponding stage. The death rate has remained flatter as well.

In fact, a comparison of the first 30 days of six different countries’ case counts shows that India has had a lower growth than South Korea, Spain, Iran, and Italy, but not Singapore.

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*India’s case count is for Day 29 and death count for Day 18, both based on WHO situation

report for March 30. These reports often reflect the counts reported on the previous day

(May 29 in this case).

It is important to note, however, that due to testing discrepancies, these country-reported

numbers taken from the World Health Organization are dependent on the amount of

conducted tests. Also, these numbers are subject to change depending on a variety of factors, such as the effectiveness of India’s 21-day quarantine.

Source: The Indian Express

2. Tablighi Jamaat: its purpose, how it runs

Relevant for GS Prelims & GS Mains Paper I; Social Issues

Over 200 have tested positive for COVID-19 from among 4,000-odd who had gathered in Delhi’s Markaz Nizamuddin, the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat. A look at what the movement is about:





https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/04/virus.jpg





Tablighi Jamaat, which literally means a society for spreading the faith, is a Sunni Islamic

missionary movement. The proselytising movement aims to reach out to ordinary Muslims

and revive their faith, particularly in matters of ritual, dress, and personal behaviour.

How did the movement begin?

Its roots lie in the Deobandi version of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. It was launched

by Deoband cleric and prominet Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandhalaw in

1927 in Mewat. Its emergence also coincided with Hindu proselytising movements.

How wide is its reach?

In two decades after its launch, the Tablighi Jamaat had spread beyond the Mewat region.

In the first Tablighi conference held in 1941, approximately 25,000 people from across

North India attended.

After Partition in 1947, a Pakistan chapter was started in the town of Raiwind, Lahore.

Currently, Bangladesh has one of the largest chapters. The Tablighi Jamaat also has a

significant base in the United States and Britian, which has a large Indian subcontinent

diaspora. It also has a presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

How does it promote Islam?

The Tablighi Jamaat is based on six principles. The first is the kalimah, an article of faith in

which the Tabligh accepts that there is no God but Allah and that Prophet Muhammad is his

messenger. The second is salaat, or prayer five times daily. The third is ilm and dhikr, the

knowledge and remembrance of Allah conducted in sessions in which the congregation

listens to preaching by the imam, performs prayers, recites the Quran and reads the Hadith;

the congregation also uses these sessions to dine together, thus fostering a sense of

community and identity. The fourth principle is ikram-i-Muslim, the treatment of fellow

Muslims with honour. The fifth is ikhlas-i-niyat, or sincerity of intention. And the sixth is

dawat-o-tabligh, or proselytisaton.

What happens at the gatherings?

Between 8 and 11 am, the gathering is divided into groups of roughly 10 people each, and

each group chooses a leader, preferably an elderly person. The group is given a destination,

the distance depending on how much money the individuals have brought for this purpose.

Between 3 and 5 pm, there is a talk on Islam for newcomers. After sunset, there is a

recitation from the Quran, and on the life of the Prophet, with explanations.

What is the structure of the Tablighi Jamaat, as an organisation?

There is no defined structure, but there exists a hierarchic network of elders and mosques.

Originally, it used to be headed by the Ameer, who would preside over the shura (council),

the core of the organisation, and deal with important matters including international

congregations known as Aalmi Ijtama.









After the death of Maulana Inamul Hasan Kandhlawi, the third Ameer (1965-95), the post

of Ameer was abolished, and Aalmi Shura (international advisory council) was appointed. After the death of Maulana Kandhlawi’s son Zubair ul Hasan Kandhlawi in 2015, the movement has been marked by factionalism.

What are these factions? There are camps in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The “Nizamuddin camp” is headed by Maulana Saad Kandhalwi, great-grandson of Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, while a rival

faction is based in Raiwind, Pakistan. Bangladesh, which hosts the biggest annual Aalmi

Ijtama in Tongi, with around two million people attending, is another faction. In the Ijtama

this year, the first phase was held on January 12 with the Tongi faction and the second

phase on January 17 with the Nizamuddin faction.


3. How does alcohol in sanitisers (and soap) kill the coronavirus?

Relevant for GS Prelims & Mains Paper III; Science & Technology

The last few weeks have seen hand sanitisers go off the shelves, to the extent that there is

now a government order to ensure availability and to prevent profiteering. How do these protect you against the novel coronavirus? Alcohol’s function in killing the virus is much the same as that of the common soap, which has emerged the greatest weapon against

COVID-19 with the limited availability of sanitisers. Handwashing for 20 seconds at least

kills the virus. When using a sanitiser, it should ideally have an alcohol content of 60% or

more.

How do soap and sanitizer work against virus?

Dr Shobha Broor, former professor of microbiology at AIIMS, explained: “The novel coronavirus has a lipid envelope. Soap being a detergent destroys the envelope. The same

is true for alcohol. You see even when the virus comes out through droplets when an

infected person coughs, it is still within a cell. Even if it isn’t, it can stay alive in surfaces for some time. It replicates only when within the cell. That is how soap or alcohol attacks the virus.”

Structure of coronavirus

The US National Institutes of Health explains the structure of the virus: “Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 particles are spherical and have proteins called spikes

protruding from their surface. These spikes latch onto human cells, then undergo a

structural change that allows the viral membrane to fuse with the cell membrane. The viral

genes can then enter the host cell to be copied, producing more viruses. Recent work shows

that, like the virus that caused the 2002 SARS outbreak, SARS-CoV-2 spikes bind to

receptors on the human cell surface called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).”









All of this is held together by a fatty layer, called an envelope. That is the layer that is

disrupted when it comes into contact with soap or a hand sanitiser with more than 60%

alcohol, as Dr Broor explained. Disruption of the envelope causes the virus to come undone,

and kills it.

That is why experts and public health institutes across the world agree that handwashing

for at least 20 second is the most failsafe prevention of COVID-19.







Documents

1. Rate of COVID-19 spread in India, world