Demographic breakdown by Age for India and Italy, and Death Rate by Age for #COVID19.

#CoVID19

Global Case Fatality Rate (CFR): 3.5%
[(3800 deaths / 110,000 confirmed cases) X 100]

1. CFR will come down as more people are tested.
2. Unlike flu, CoVID19 has to be tested. Millions may have it but recover without having gotten tested, i.e. CFR may be inflated.

As PM @narendramodi said: "Say no to panic, say yes to precaution".

My views on #CoronavirusPandemic, on @TimesNow with @PadmajaJoshi. Please do watch. #IndiaQuarantinesCorona

South Korea is just a league apart. In addition to containment and health measures, the more testing you do, the more confirmed cases you will find, the lower would be your death ratio (defined as deaths by confirmed cases). Lower death ratio means less panic. #COVIDー19

The UK Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick [ex R&D Chief GSK] wants 36 million Brits to get infected with CoVID-19. This 'Herd Immunity' plan - to stave off subsequent CoVID waves - is opposite to what every other exposed nation is pursuing and is fraught with danger. RETHINK.

Fantastic breakthrough by German scientists, just published in Cell ( https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674%2820%2930229-4) and today corroborated in PNASc ( https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/2020/03/11/2002589117.full.pdf) that CoVID19 employs human TMPRSS2 protein for entry.

Existing anti-TMPRSS2 drug Camostat (+E-64d) blocked CoVID19 infection.

Camostat Mesylate, the drug shown by German scientists to effectively block corona virus CoVID-19 infection of lung cells, is apparently made by Sun Pharma in India and sold as Camopan. It is approved for human use in Japan but is not FDA-approved. https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/1239263724487069696

Update on approved drugs that effectively block Corona virus entry into human cells:

1. Excellent study showing entry of SARS corona virus is blocked by combination of two drugs: Camostat + Bafilomycin A1. This was 8 years before the current German study. https://jvi.asm.org/content/jvi/86/12/6537.full.pdf

2. A 2016 study showing the FDA-approved drug Nafamostat able to block MERS-Corona virus entry into host cells ten times more effectively than Camostat.

#CoVID19, as shown by the Germans, uses the same mechanisms as SARS & MERS for host cell-entry. https://aac.asm.org/content/aac/60/11/6532.full.pdf

3. A 2016 study showing FDA-approved drug Teicoplanin able to block MERS-and SARS- Corona virus entry into human cells.

Given its low toxicity, the scientists proposed its use in the clinic for MERS- and SARS-CoV infections in an emergency. https://www.jbc.org/content/291/17/9218.full.pdf

4. A 2015 study showing a combination of drug K11777*/SMDC256160 (currently undergoing clinical trials against hookworm disease), and Camostat blocks Corona virus entry in a lethal SARS-CoV animal model.

Both serine- and cysteine proteases were targeted. https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0166354215000248?token=B85971A41532209FA430B83D70E28A30E00B45828B73076375C92525B0319CF8CA98E970DF73C181FB1709048A026372

5. Summary: Drugs already in use, that block entry of SARS-, MERS-, and #CoVID19 in human cells (in vitro + 1 animal study), and whose combinations inhibit TMPRSS2 & Cathepsin-mediated pathways, crucial for Corona entry.

A. Camostat
B. Bafilomycin A1
C. Nafamostat
D. Teicoplanin

Note: Although these drugs are approved for human use, none of them have been tried for their potency in Corona-infected humans. But given the choice doctors are having to make in Italy - who to save: young or the elderly - their use could be an option. https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/1239487251702145024

EXCELLENT advice. Even though the PSV23 vaccine is ineffective against virus, it will help protect the elderly against 23 pneumococcal bacterial strains, so that when they do get CoVID19, their bodies will not succumb to opportunistic bacterial infections. https://twitter.com/TimesNow/status/1239859483062333442