Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Science, Health, and Healthcare

COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan City in December 2019 and spread throughout Hubei Province and other parts of China. After causing significant morbidity and mortality in China, by February 2020, it had spread to numerous other countries, infecting millions of people and causing a large number of deaths across the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a burden on almost all areas of the world including healthcare systems, education, industry, travel, etc. The pandemic revealed the vulnerability of the world?s healthcare systems and affected healthcare personnel significantly. The virus is able to attack not only the respiratory tract, but almost all the organs including the brain. Impacts on gut biota have also been noticed. The virus has caused both morbidity and mortality in humans without any geographical, cultural, or religious barriers. The emergence of new variants due to mutations in the virus has aggravated the problem. While the delta variant brought a second wave and killed a large number of people due to various factors such as lowering of saturated oxygen in blood and other physiological emergencies, the omicron variant proved to be less lethal. Though the pandemic has subsided, the emergence of the subvariants BA1 and BA2 and now their hybrids has started to increase the number of cases at exponential levels and has forced new lockdown measures in places such as China. As the conditions laid down to combat the pandemic have been relaxed, the virus may reach other countries and cause additional countries to resort to lockdown again.

COVID-19 became the focus of the scientific community with the aim of developing new drugs, repurposing available drugs to be used against the virus, and developing a series of vaccines in a short time. The mild effect of omicron might have been due to the extensive vaccination programmes carried out in various countries. However, there is genuine fear that newly emerging variants may evade the immune system and cause damage to the body.

This book highlights the impact of COVID-19 on science, industry, and healthcare systems. The chapters included in the volume come from dedicated experts belonging to basic sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceutical sciences, and other fields of sciences. These include discussions on how the virus evolves and attacks various organs in the body. A separate chapter explains the emergence of various strains of virus. The preparedness of hospitals and healthcare workers as well as different agencies such as DRDO to face the challenges posed by virus is also discussed. The way scientists and technologists developed new techniques to detect and control the virus have also been highlighted including a chapter on the development of vaccines to control the pandemic.

This book is a key resource for students, teachers, medical personnel, administrators, and the public as a whole.

Preface. Author Biography. 1. Corona Virus (COVID-19) Pandemics And Its Multiple Impacts On Health, Education And Economy 2. Lessons Learnt From COVID 19- Health, Education And Environment 3. Science And Research During Pandemic: COVID-19 4. Molecular Biology Lessons Learnt From The Spiky Intruder 5. The Mystery Virus, Sars-cov-2 And Its Dynamics 6. The Molecular Biology Of Sars-cov-2 And Its Evolving Variants 7. COVID 19: Pathology, Clinical Implications And Prevention 8. COVID-19 And Comorbidities 9. Immunology Of COVID-19 10. Extrapulmonary Manifestations: 'After-effects' Of COVID-19 Post Recovery 11. Update Of COVID 19 Treatments 12. Combating Corona Virus Sars-cov-2: Vaccination Strategies 13. Preclinical Safety Assessment Of Vaccines Developed Against Sars-cov-2 Or COVID-19: Recent Updates 14. Mucormycosis In COVID-19 Patients 15. Mucormycosis - An Emerging Opportunistic Infection In The Post-COVID Era 16.COVID-19: Role Of DRDO In Its Containment Through Technology 17. Food And Nutrition Security As Preventive And Therapeutic Healthcare: Now And Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic 18. Potential Role Of Natural Essential Oils In The Management Of Respiratory Distress In Patients Infected With Sars- Cov 2: An Overview 19. Focusing On Traditional Herbal Medicines To Accelerate Research In Biomedical Sciences In The Era Of COVID-19 20. Role Of Physiotherapy In COVID-19 Pandemic 21. India’s Healthcare Scenario During Year 2020 22. Healthcare In COVID-19 Era Healthcare In COVID-19 Era 23. Role Of The World Health Organisation In Combating The COVID-19 Pandemic 24. Environmental Safeguards In Running A Level 3 COVID 19 Facility: The SGPGIMS Way.

Ranbir Chander Sobti is a Former Education Consultant Governor of Bihar, Senior Scientist (Indian National Science Academy), Former Vice Chancellor, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow (UP) and Panjab University, Chandigarh. Professor R.C. Sobti starting his career as an Animal (including human) Cytogeneticist characterized the karyotypes of animals of groups from protozoa to human. He also looked into the mutagenicity /carcinogenicity of environment pollutants both in in vivo and in vitro settings. He then moved on to explore the developments in the molecular biology of diseases. He has proactively been involved in cancer biology and focused on finding out novel tumour markers for cancer detection. He has evaluated the role of gene polymorphisms and their expression in the genesis of various cancers and also in COPD, AIDS and metabolic syndrome. He has identified disease susceptible /protective novel genotypes and determined the crucial role of SACS-1 and STAT genes in the genesis of cervical and prostate cancers.

His immense contribution to science includes, inter alia, 350 plus high impact research publications with more than 50 books and 23 Sponsored Research Projects. He has also tried to develop whole organ by tissue/organ culture through custom designed de-cellularization protocol. He has demonstrated that the regulation of stem cell character under in vitro conditions is a function of morphological assortment of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNC)- an observation that has marked significance in the field of stem cell research. At the moment he is involved in meta data analysis for organ dysfunctioning to investigate underlining molecular mechanism: ML approach.

Professor Sobti is a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, National Academies of Medical Sciences and Agricultural Sciences and of the Canadian Academy of Cardiovascular Diseases