As A social sector professional, it is painful to see people suffering due to misinformation over a newly discovered illness. It is more painful to see that lack of state preparedness and response contributes to the ease with which such panic spreads and sustains. With Coronavirus, this is epitomised in the state-aided messaging to keep offices/campuses closed, leading people to believe that the best protection from infection is to stay home.

Many people – including, sadly, in our own sector – are too scared to travel, as if stepping out from our 'known' spaces will automatically render us immediately and certainly vulnerable to death. A tiny bit of reading, and resort to what we surprisingly still know as 'common' sense will show this is a fallacy.

The Coronavirus does not reside only in the 'other' space/body. It is now almost as common as the common cold, apparently. What is uncommon is that in specific conditions, the infection can grow from 'mild' to 'severe' very, very quickly, especially when the infection (not the virus) enters the lower respiratory tract.

What then happens to the severely infected person depends on the healthcare response the patient receives. Where there is good healthcare response – like in Kerala or Thailand, which saw the first person to be completely cured – through a regulated public health system that ensures high standards of hygiene, sanitation and nutrition, a person having severe or even critical infection can be completely cured and return 'home'.