Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Social Relations And Mental Health

The aim of this study is to understand the effects of covid-19 on docile relationships and mental health. The pandemic was an unacceptable development in people's lives throughout the globe. The pandemic had a major impact on the social behavior of the people. This study explores the social relationship and mental health domain of individuals and how it changed after the pandemic. The impact of being isolated from the world. And social interactions will also be explored in this paper. The study shows that the world will never be the same after the pandemic and that the lockdown has changed people emotionally and mentally. Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.

Analysing research trends in the Indian hospitality and tourism sector: a bibliometric analysis for the period 2000-21

The purpose of the study was to have an overview of the popular themes studied by Indian researchers from 2000 to 2021. The paper helped to identify the trends and development in the research area in the context of the Indian hospitality and tourism sector. The study selected 1821 research papers of Indian origin from the Scopus database published in 22 years (2000-2021). The selected publications were analysed using different bibliometric methods of analysis using biblioshiny and VOS viewer within the scope of several parameters. The entire period was divided into three distinct timeframes to study the research trends during that time frame. The maximum number of articles have been published in recent years, i.e., 2020, while the minimum number of article publications was observed in 2001.1241 citations were received in 2019 and received only 110 citations were seen in 2005. "Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes" and "International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management" have been reported to be the most productive journals. At the same time, 'Singh S.' is the most effective author with a maximum number of articles, while 'Jauhari V' has the most citations for the work. Sustainability and Conservation are the themes of common interest irrespective of timeframe, while the role of social media, covid 19, are recent trending topics for researchers. Despite contributing significantly to the hospitality and tourism literature in the Indian context, the study has a few limitations. The present study did not include publications other than articles like conference proceedings, book chapters, dissertations, etc. Selection of tools used and the keywords chosen for the study also limit the outcome. The findings of the analysis are helpful in better understanding the direction of research themes in the hotel and tourism sector. Evaluation of prominent authors and their work helps to focus on the trending themes in the sector among researchers. Additionally, it aids future researchers in determining the trends in the hospitality and tourism sector. To the best of the author's knowledge, the sample used for this study was the most extensive group of publications published in India's hospitality and tourism sector. By outlining the current research orientations and trends in hospitality and tourism, this study significantly contributes to the existing literature.

Estimation of Short-Time Forecast for Covid-19 Outbreak in India: State-Wise Prediction and Analysis

Covid-19 pandemic is of major concern that largely impacts the human and growth of respective countries. Countries like India also tried their best to manage this Covid outbreak situation through lockdown and handle its growth through strict relaxation using zonal distribution strategy. An urge of proper estimation for this outbreak is required, which can be beneficial in arrangement of proper healthcare facilities in different states of the country. India has wide diversity between its states. The effect of temperature and dense population have been two key parameters that have been poorly studied with respect to each state. In this paper, we tried to forecast the number of Covid-19 cases (8 Jan 2020 to 25 April 2020) using Kalman filter at state and national levels to generate various trends and patterns. Our analysis has been evaluated on four classification of states: most affected, moderate affected, least affected and pandemic free states. The results have been collected on vulnerable temperature parameters (historical and forecast data) of each state. The national level estimates are further compared with other countries like United States of America, Spain, France, Italy and Germany through confirmed, recovered and death cases. In the current lockdown situation our estimation shows that India should expect as many as 60,140 cases by May 24, 2020. The trends achieved shows that India has been found to be one of the beneficiaries of lockdown decisions but failed at some places in its regions due to social activities, huge dense population and temperature variation. This study will be beneficial for different state level bodies to manage various health care resources between its states or can support intra-state and can start their administrative functionality accordingly. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A Retrospective Hospital Based Assessment of D Dimer – Prognostic Indicator for Disease Severity in Patients Hospitalized with COVID 19

Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of D-Dimer levels in blood to correlate with disease severity in COVID 19 patients. Material & Methods: The present retrospective study includes 50 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 during a period of 6 months in Government Medical College, Bettiah, Bihar, India. D-dimer evaluation was performed using an immunoturbidimetric assay on Erba Mannheim ECL 105 machine. Results: The study was conducted on 50 COVID 19 positive patients admitted to the hospital. Of the total patients, 34 were male and 16 were female. In mild cases D Dimer varies from 52 ng/ml to 192 ng/ml with mean 98.3 and median 99. In moderate cases D Dimer varies from 262 ng/ml to 998 ng/ml with mean 664.8 and median 812. Conclusion: D dimer helps in identifying severe disease and can be used as an essential biomarker in developing the management protocol for COVID 19 patients.

Role of artificial-intelligence powered digital-health in reducing strain on health-care-system: First of its kind experience in COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The second wave of COVID19-Pandemic was associated with massive case surge causing overwhelming of health-care-system. Early monitoring and identification of at-risk patients through digital mode, can reduce mortality and judicious use of hospitalresources. Objectives: To study the efficacy of CareShare®- application in predicting hospital-admission for homeisolated- mild-COVID19-patients (HIMCP). Methods: CareShare® an android-application, designed in collaboration, to follow-up HIMCP. A baseline-profile is entered on first contact and includes demography, comorbidities, and current symptoms. Application generated a baseline-symptom-score for follow-up. Subjects were automatically reminded to refill their symptom-severities on daily basis. Change in symptoms-score led to one of the three-flags: Red (critical), Orange (review) and Green (Safe). Results: Over 2 months, 550 patients were screened and 485 were enrolled on the application-platform with 2511 entries. Most-common reason for missing out was lack of an android-phone. The mean age was 35.1±12 years with 40.8% being females and 82.1% from urban background. Average number of entries/ patients were 5.18±4.9 (1 to 22). 1072 daily entries were given orange-flag, 298 were reviewed on call and remaining were reclassified as falsewarnings. Out-of-298, 16 were called in hospital and 6 were admitted. 690 entries were given a red-flag, leading to urgent-review, and calling of 108. 86 cases were called for in-person review, leading to admission of 27 patients. Out of 33, 27 required ICU admission. There was no mortality in the study population. Conclusion: CareShare® is a reliable method of symptommonitoring of HIMCP taking pressure off overwhelmed health care system.

Learnings from COVID-19 Forced Lockdown on Regional Air Quality and Mitigation Potential for South Asia

South Asia is a hotspot of air pollution with limited resilience and hence, understanding the mitigation potential of different sources is critically important. In this context the country lockdown initiated to combat the COVID-19 pandemic (during March and April 2020 that is the pre-monsoon season) provides an unique opportunity for studying the relative impacts of different emission sources in the region. Here, we analyze changes in levels of air quality species across the region during selected lockdown periods using satellite and in-situ datasets. This analysis compares air quality levels during the lockdown against pre-lockdown conditions as well as against regional long-term mean. Satellite derived AOD, NO2, and CO data indicates an increase of 9.5%, 2%, and 2.6%, respectively, during the 2020 lockdown period compared to pre-lockdown over the South Asia domain. However, individual country statistics, urban site data, and industrial grid analysis within the region indicate a more varied picture. Cities with high traffic loads reported a reduction of 12–39% in columnar NO2 during lockdown, in-situ PM2.5 measurements indicate a 23–56% percent reduction over the country capitals and columnar SO2 has an approximate reduction of 50% over industrial areas. In contrast, pollutant emissions from natural sources e.g., from biomass burning were observed to be adversely affecting the air quality in this period potentially masking expected lockdown related air quality improvements. This study demonstrates the need for a more nuanced and situation specific understanding of sources of air pollutants (anthropogenic and natural) and for these sources to be better understood from the local to the regional scale. Without this deeper understanding, mitigation strategies cannot be effectively targeted, wasting limited resources as well as risking unintended consequences both for the atmosphere and how mitigation action is perceived by the wider public. © The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Utility of serum Galactomannan in diagnosing COVID-19 patients with suspected IPA: an observational study in resource limited settings.

OBJECTIVE: To study the utility of Galactomannan (GM) antigen as a screening marker for diagnosing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The serum samples from patients with severe COVID-19 diseases admitted to the Critical Care Unit were collected on the 5th day of admission for GM screening. The samples were analysed by enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and GM index of more than 1 was considered as positive. All GM positive patients were serially followed until discharge or death. RESULTS: The GM was raised in serum of 12 out of 38 patients, indicating an incidence of possible COVID-19 associated IPA (CAPA) in 31.57% of patients. The median age of these CAPA patients was 56.5 years, males were significantly more affected than females. The inflammatory marker serum ferritin was raised in all 12 patients (median value of 713.74 ng/ml), while IL-6 was raised in 9 patients (median value of 54.13 ng/ml). None of these patients received antifungals. Their median length of hospital stay was 20 days (IQR: 12, 34 days). All these patients succumbed to the illness. CONCLUSIONS: The serum GM appears to be sensitive diagnostic tool to identify early IPA in COVID-19 patients and pre-emptive antifungal therapy could play a role in salvaging these patients.

Human Resource Practices in Indian Hotels: A Comparative Study of Employees’ Perception during COVID and Pre COVID ERA

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the employee perception on different HRM practices followed in hotels prior and during COVID pandemic and identify the changes in their perception level. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study initiated as an independent research work before the outbreak of COVID-19 to India and covered the responses of 127 hotel employees to study their perception about Human Resource Practices in Indian Hotels. Further, the breakdown of pandemic COVID -19 impacted the hotel sector along with others largely, thus in present study same hotel employees were contacted and their responses were recorded during the COVID pandemic through a structured questionnaire. The instrument used 28 variables on different aspects of HR practices. The data collected were analysed by mean, standard deviation and independent sample T test to study the difference in perceptions. Findings: The study clearly showed that although overall there is no significant difference in employee perception on different HR practices, significant difference was recorded for the 7 HR practices related to recruitment, training on new protocols and specifically with the variables related to pay and benefits of employees. The result shows that due to the salary cuts and layoffs that was offered to employees of many hotels during COVID has created a major dent on their perception level. Practical Implication: The Study provides the insight of employees’ perception level, and provide a view to the HR managers to look into the areas like pay and benefits to retain the quality employees during this pandemic. Theoretical Implication: The finding of the study will add significant contribution to the miniscule existing data related to the Hotel’s HR ractices and Em lo ee erce tion durin the COVID era © 2021 Publishing India Group. All rights reserved.

Use of Open Access Resources during the Covid-19 Lockdown by the Research Students of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (India)

During the Covid-19 period electronic resources particularly open access resources were the only source of information for the research students in order to complete their work timely. This present study enquires awareness and use of open access resources during the Covid-19 lockdown period in the years 2020 and 2021. Questionnaire method was adopted to collect the desired data. A total of 180 valid samples were collected and used for data analysis. The result of the study indicates that majority of the respondents were aware and used open access journals, Institutional repositories, consortium based resources, etc. during the lockdown period. Majority of them accepted that open access would lead to easier accessibility of electronic documents. The research students were availed and used all the academic resources, which were within their reach and they suggested to enhancing library services for them to avoid such crisis in future. © 2021

Modeling and forecasting of COVID-19 from the context of Ghana

Developing countries have had their share regarding the spread and effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Ghana is no exception. We have used the data on new deaths, total deaths, total cases, new cases, collected on a daily basis from 13th March 2020 to 30th September 2020, obtained from the Ghana Health Services. We then considered appropriate time series models. This has provided robust results to help make an informed decision towards the future. The forecasted results (from the best fitted models) reveals adecrease in an amount of 174-88 in the daily new cases by flowing a linear trend, which also leads to decrease in total cases by following the same trend (from 46600 to 44942 in numbers) during the period 1-10-2020 to 10-10-2020. The government of Ghana should strictly enforce protocols established to curb COVID-19 in Ghana, encourage social distancing and other COVID-19 prevention protocols to reduce the spread of COVID-19 new cases and deaths.

Impact of pandemic on development and demography in different continents and nations

This study has collected information of 145 countries to predict the effect of cases per million (CPM), tests per million (TPM), and proportion of people aged 65 and above (PAO) on the number of deaths per million DPM at the country and continent level. In addition, it evaluates the economic cost of tests, deaths, COVID-19 cases in terms of reduction in GDP growth rate across the countries. This paper uses a different econometrics model, including analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression, and multinomial regression model. The robust regression model with M and MM-estimation was also used due to leverage and residuals in country wise GDP database. A significant difference was found in deaths per million (DPM), TPM, number of COVID-19 cases (CPM), and percentage of people aged 65 and above (PAO) across continents. The DPM is negatively associated with TPM, and it was relatively more effective in reducing DPM in Africa (0.32%) as compared to Asia (0.25%) and Europe (0.28). The results show that a 1% increase in the elderly population causes a 0.62% increase in DPM in Africa, while it caused a 2.31% increase in Europe. The study will be helpful in ascertaining the impact of these indicators in this pandemic and help in policy formation and decision-making strategies to fight the COVID19 pandemic.

Factors influencing IgG response against SARS-CoV-2: a quantitative serological survey among healthcare workers of a COVID-19 dedicated health facility in India

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to explore the factors influencing serum IgG response against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) among healthcare workers (HCWs) of a tertiary healthcare facility in India. Material and Methods: It was a monocentric, observational study during the month of September 2020. In the study, a cross-sectional quantitative serological assessment of IgG response against SARS-CoV-2 among HCWs of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna, Bihar, was done using a chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) platform named "ADVIA Centaur COV2G." Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 22.0) was used for data analysis.

Germs we carry home. Study to assess the risk of self contamination due to improper doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE)

Background: When the world is running away from everyone with possible COVID disease, healthcare staff wade their way towards such patients. Clad in a protective wear they follow all rules hoping not to carry the germs home. Despite taking all precautions during his shift, if a worker fails to doff the protective equipment properly, he carries significant risks of carrying the germs on his person. This study assesses this risk of self-contamination due to improper doffing of PPEs. Methods: An analytical study involving 154 healthcare staff was conducted. Colourless lotion which glows with a greenish fluorescent hue under uv light was applied on the PPEs to simulate germ contamination. Objectives were to note what percentage of workers have contamination on their person after improper doffing. Which portions of the health care worker gets maximally contaminated after doffing, and to assess infestation of which portion of the PPE causes maximum contamination. Results: 27.92% of healthcare workers were carrying germs on them simply because of improper doffing. Almost 15% of these workers had more than one area of contamination. Commonest areas on the body for carrying these germs were the arms (33%), clothing on the abdomen (24%), areas in the lower limb (23%). Germ infestation on the upper parts of a PPE is 2.39 times more likely to cause contamination after doffing, compared to lower suit area infestation. Conclusion: Improper doffing carries a significant risk of contaminating oneself. Risk of carrying germs home is more when the germs are nested in the upper portions of the suit. Proper and regular training regarding doffing, presence of a doffing mate and post doffing showers could reduce this risk.

Prediction of BRIC stock price using ARIMA, SutteARIMA, and holt-winters

The novel coronavirus has played a disastrous role in many countries worldwide. The outbreak became a major epidemic, engulfing the entire world in lockdown and it is now speculated that its economic impact might be worse than economic deceleration and decline. This paper identifies two different models to capture the trend of closing stock prices in Brazil (BVSP), Russia (IMOEX.ME), India (BSESN), and China (SSE), i.e., (BRIC) countries. We predict the stock prices for three daily time periods, so appropriate preparations can be undertaken to solve these issues. First, we compared the ARIMA, SutteARIMA and Holt-Winters (H-W) methods to determine the most effective model for predicting data. The stock closing price of BRIC country data was obtained from Yahoo Finance. That data dates from 01 November 2019 to 11 December 2020, then divided into two categories-training data and test data. Training data covers 01 November 2019 to 02 December 2020. Seven days (03 December 2020 to 11 December 2020) of data was tested to determine the accuracy of the models using training data as a reference. To measure the accuracy of the models, we obtained the means absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean square error (MSE). Prediction model Holt-Winters was found to be the most suitable for forecasting the Brazil stock price (BVSP) while MAPE (0.50) and MSE (579272.65) with Holt-Winters (smaller than ARIMA and SutteARIMA), model SutteARIMA was found most appropriate to predict the stock prices of Russia (IMOEX.ME), India (BSESN), and China (SSE) when compared to ARIMA and Holt-Winters. MAPE and MSE with SutteARIMA: Russia (MAPE:0.7;MSE:940.20), India (MAPE:0.90;MSE:207271.16), and China (MAPE: 0.72;MSE: 786.28). Finally, Holt-Winters predicted the daily forecast values for the Brazil stock price (BVSP) (12 December to 14 December 2020 i.e., 115757.6, 116150.9 and 116544.1), while SutteARIMA predicted the daily forecast values of Russia stock prices (IMOEX.ME) (12 December to 14 December 2020 i.e., 3238.06, 3241.54 and 3245.01), India stock price (BSESN) (12 December to 14 December 2020 i.e.,. 45709.38, 45828.71 and 45948.05), and China stock price (SSE) (11 December to 13 December 2020 i.e., 3397.56, 3390.59 and 3383.61) for the three time periods. © 2021 Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.

Preventing COVID-19 Spread Using Information and Communication Technology

Without an effective vaccine, treatment, or therapy, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading like fire and claiming lives. Countries began to adopt various strategies such as lockdown, mass testing, tracing, quarantine, sanitization, isolation, and treatment to contain COVID-19. However, it was soon realized that we need to take the help of powerful technologies to combat the spread of deadly COVID-19 until a vaccine or a drug is discovered. In this article, we discuss how the use of cutting edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big data, artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)/drones, blockchain, robotics, autonomous ground vehicles, communication technologies in screening, testing, contact tracing, spread analysis, sanitization, and protocol enforcements can help prevent the COVID-19 spread.

Epidemiological and Clinical factors associated with mortality of confirmed COVID-19 cases admitted and treated in a tertiary care hospital of Patna, Bihar

Background: A significant proportion of the individuals having the illness of moderate to severe nature due to COVID-19 infection require immediate critical care. High incidence of mortality among elderly population or those with comorbid conditions were reported. Objectives: The study was carried out with objectives to assess the epidemiological and clinical factors associated with mortality among the COVID-19 cases admitted and treated in AIIMS, Patna. Methods: This was a hospital -based cross-sectional analytical study of epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19-positive patients admitted and treated during the outbreak from March 20, to August 31, 2020. Results: The median age of COVID-19 cases was 51.5 years (IQR : 37-62 years) which was significantly higher (p-value = 0.001) as compared to females. Male-female ratio of cases was 2.88:1. Out of 1696 cases, the case fatality rate was 309 (18.22%). The mean age of cases who died due to COVID-19 was significantly higher (pvalue=0.001) as compared to those who survived. The odds of mortality was significantly higher in males as compared to females (Adjusted OR = 1.534, 95% CI = 1.10 - 2.13, p=0.011). The odds of mortality showed a significant increasing trend with increasing age (Mantel-Hanszel p-value for trend = 0.015). The covariates like gender, age groups 45-59, 60-74 and 75>=, breathlessness and CKD were found to be significantly associated with mortality after controlling for the confounders. Conclusions: Factors like gender, higher age, lower oxygen saturation causing breathlessness and chronic kidney diseases could be attributed to high risk of mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Seroprevalence of IgG against SARS-CoV-2 and its determinants among healthcare workers of a COVID-19 dedicated hospital of India

Healthcare workers (HCWs) due to their job profile are at utmost risk of contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Serological survey is an useful tool for vulnerability mapping in an infectious disease pandemic. The aim of the current study was to assess seroprevalence of IgG against SARS-CoV-2 and its determinants among HCWs of a tertiary healthcare facility of India. It was an observational study, cross-sectional in design conducted among 919 HCWs of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar, India during September, 2020. In results, IgG seroprevalence for SARS-CoV-2 among the study subjects was 13.3% [95% confidence interval (CI): 11.2-15.6%]. In univariate logistic regression analysis;gender, occupation, place of posting, use of full personal protective equipment (PPE), prior corona virus disease (COVID)-19 infection, influenza like illness (ILI), use of steam inhalation, consumption of azithromycin, zinc and vitamin C were the significant attributes which affected the IgG seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2. In the multivariable logistic regression model;occupation, place of posting, prior COVID-19 infection and ILI were significant determinants of IgG seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2. To conclude, majority of the HCWs were found to be IgG seronegative for SARS-CoV-2. Till availability of effective vaccine all of the HCWs should abide by infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to keep themselves and their contacts protected from SARS-CoV-2.

Socio-economic inequality in national incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 in India: An Ecological Study

Background: There are sufficient evidences on the association of epidemiological and clinical features of the patients with COVID-19 but still there are paucity of evidences on socio-economic aspects of this disease. An ecological study has been carried out with aim to assess the associations of the Human Development Index (HDI) and its components of each states and Union territories in India with incidence and mortality from COVID-19. Methods: Information on confirmed cases and deaths have been extracted from the data on the website of Covid India Organization and the data on HDI and its components have been extracted from various national and international agencies. Regression analysis was performed which showed a direct significant association (p-values<0.05) of incidence and mortality rates with HDI and its components at the national level. Concentration index was estimated to measure socio-economic inequality in COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates with 95% confidence interval (CI), which were 0.41 (0.27-0.54) and 0.42 (0.26-0.58) for incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 respectively. Results: The high incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 in states and union territories of India with high HDI and its components warrant priority for interventions by the national health policy-makers. Cases detection and screening facilities need to be scaled up in states and UTs with low incidence and mortality rates to minimize the under-reporting of the cases.