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Bengaluru,  Jul 18: Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadananda Gowda on Friday said that Government of India headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been extending all possible assistance to state government in their endeavour to combat the deadly coronavirus.

In a statement released after participating in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa in Bengaluru today, Gowda said he shared his views with the state government on how to control the spread of COVID-19 in the state in general and Bengaluru in particular.

He said the Centre was in constant touch with the state government on the issue. The centre is more than happy to extend any help further if Karnataka requires so.

"Being a Union Minister handling the Pharmaceutical Department also, I am closely monitoring the medicine demand and supply situation across the country on a day-to-day basis. The availability of required medicines including HCQ and Paracetamol is satisfactory in all states including Karnataka. Also, there has been enough lifesaving drugs in our Jan Aushadhi Kendras all over India. Over 600 such outlets exist in Karnataka alone," he said.

"If there is any issue related to medicine shortage or overpricing, one can bring it to my knowledge or call PMBJP tollfree number 18001808080 or NPPA number 18001112550 / 011-23345118 / 011-23345122. The grievances will surely be resolved to everybody's satisfaction" added the minister.

With related to state governments or private agencies seeking to import emergency medicines, medical equipment etc., Gowda assured, we would facilitate required licences without any delay.

"I strongly feel that it is our collective responsibility to use everything in our armour to defeat the pandemic. We also seek public support in this mission. Together, we will win," he said.

Bengaluru, Mar 31: Bengaluru Central Crime Branch on Tuesday seized as many as 1,000 fake N95 masks amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

However, the police are yet to make arrests in the case.

Investigation in the case is underway and more details in this regard are awaited.

Recently, Noida Sub-Divisional Magistrate with a team from the Health department busted a fake sanitiser and mask factory.

Notably, the Central government recently had brought masks and hand sanitisers under the Essential Commodities Act up to June 30 as the novel coronavirus pandemic led to shortages and black marketing of these items.

Any person found guilty under the Act may be punished with imprisonment up to seven years or fine or both and can be detained for a maximum of six months.

The current physical distancing guidelines provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may not be adequate to curb the coronavirus spread, according to a research which says the gas cloud from a cough or sneeze may help virus particles travel up to 8 metres. The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, noted that the the current guidelines issued by the WHO and CDC are based on outdated models from the 1930s of how gas clouds from a cough, sneeze, or exhalation spread.

Study author, MIT associate professor Lydia Bourouiba, warned that droplets of all sizes can travel 23 to 27 feet, or 7-8 metres, carrying the pathogen.

According to Bourouiba, the current guidelines are based on "arbitrary" assumptions of droplet size, "overly simplified", and "may limit the effectiveness of the proposed interventions" against the deadly pandemic.

 She explained that the old guidelines assume droplets to be one of two categories, small or large, taking short-range semi-ballistic trajectories when a person exhales, coughs, or sneezes.

However based on more recent discoveries, the MIT scientist said, sneezes and coughs are made of a puff cloud that carries ambient air, transporting within it clusters of droplets of a wide range of sizes.

Bourouiba warned that this puff cloud, with ambient air entrapped in it, can offer the droplets moisture and warmth that can prevent it from evaporation in the outer environment.

"The locally moist and warm atmosphere within the turbulent gas cloud allows the contained droplets to evade evaporation for much longer than occurs with isolated droplets," she said.

"Under these conditions, the lifetime of a droplet could be considerably extended by a factor of up to 1000, from a fraction of a second to minutes," the researcher explained in the study.

The MIT scientist, who has researched the dynamics of coughs and sneezes for years, added that these droplets settle along the trajectory of a cough or sneeze contaminating surfaces, with their residues staying suspended in the air for hours.

"Even when maximum containment policies were enforced, the rapid international spread of COVID-19 suggests that using arbitrary droplet size cutoffs may not accurately reflect what actually occurs with respiratory emissions, possibly contributing to the ineffectiveness of some procedures used to limit the spread of respiratory disease," Bourouiba wrote in the study