Many of us are often suffering from fever, cough, chills, body aches, etc. almost several times a year.  In most of the cases these symptoms are caused by common colds and flues. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has affected millions of human population around the world. Some symptoms of this deadly disease also match with colds and flues. If some of those common symptoms are found in a human body, it becomes quite difficult for even health professionals to understand whether that individual has caught cold or flu or COVID-19 without any blood test. However, in the current situation, the health service has been experiencing huge pressure in many countries including Bangladesh. Read this article to better understand the signs, and symptoms of COVID-19, cold, and flue.

Symptoms of COVID-19

COVID-19 or Coronavirus 2019 is spreading rapidly worldwide. This new strain of corona virus hasn’t been found in humans ever before the last months of 2019. There are four other strains of coronavirus. But those infections are nearly common causing mild symptoms like the common cold. However, the newly discovered strain COVID-19 is capable of causing severe sickness in certain human groups. For instance, people with history of heart disease, diabetes, Pneumonia, lung disease, etc, or other kinds of severe health conditions appear to be at higher risk of getting seriously ill by COVID-19 disease. The older people are the worst victim of Corona Virus 2019 in different countries around the world.

Symptoms of COVID-19 can include:

- Fever

- Chills

- Tiredness (occasionally)

- Sore throat (occasionally)

- Cough (generally dry)

- Headaches (occasionally)

- Difficulty in breathing or Shortness of breath 

- Body pains and Aches (occasionally)

The symptoms of corona virus (COVID-19) usually range from mild to severe. Remember that an individual affected by COVID-19 rarely experiences the upper respiratory symptoms, such as runny nose and/or sinus congestion.

Read: How to Know Whether You Are Infected by Coronavirus?

Individuals who have recently traveled abroad where COVID-19 outbreak has occurred need to consult health professionals, if they experience the above mentioned symptoms. People who have got at close contact with any COVID-19 patient should also become concerned about COVID-19, if they have those symptoms. Check your symptoms through Bangladesh COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool.

Symptoms of Cold

During the season change periods, many people tend to catch cold. The symptoms of common colds are usually mild compared to viral flues. You can check the following symptoms to understand whether you are suffering from a typical cold.

- Runny Nose

- Stuffy nose

- Sore throat

- Cough (mild)

- Sneezing

- Fatigue (occasionally)

- Watery eyes

- Headaches (seldom)

- Body pains and/or Aches

Most of these symptoms are actually caused due to the preventive actions of the immune system of human body against the invader infection. The immune system of a human body is the greatest defense against the cold virus. If you are facing the above mentioned symptoms, just be patient and help your our body to fight back. Then the common cold will eventually go away. Generally, normal colds last from seven to ten days depending on the immune of a human body. The doctor prescribed medications can affect moderately to reduce the cold symptoms.

Symptoms of Flu

Flu is also known as seasonal influenza.  It is a common respiratory viral infection which mostly affects the nasal area, throat area, and lungs area. Check out some common symptoms of flu:

- Fever

- Fatigue

- Chills

- Body pains and Aches

- Runny nose(occasionally)

- Sore throat (occasionally)

- Stuffy nose (occasionally)

- Cough (generally dry)

- Diarrhea (occasionally in children)

A viral flue can last from five to seven days. Unlike colds or COVID-19, medical treatment can successfully cure the seasonal influenza. In most of the cases, people affected by viral flu get well without taking any vaccination. If you are experiencing Flu symptoms, stay home and drink plenty of fluids, take adequate rest. Consult with your doctor for medication to handle the fever. 

Comparison of Symptoms: COVID-19 vs. Cold vs. Flu

 

What can you do to stay safe from COVID-19?

- Corona virus spreads through sneezing, cough, breathing and touch. Therefore it is advised to stay at home unless you have any emergency.

- Clean your hands with soap and running water (warm or cold) to wash your hands properly for at least 20 seconds. If not possible, use an alcohol based (60%) hand sanitizer to disinfect your hands.

- After returning home, dispose your clothes for washing or leave them for drying under the sun as soon as possible.

- While staying outside home maintain minimum 6-feet of social distancing from other people.

- Try not to touch any part of your face or eyes before cleaning hands.

- Use a tissue while sneezing or coughing. And dispose the tissue properly.

- And don’t forget to wear mask while you step outside home.

These practices will also save you from common colds and viral flues.

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Read: Essential Hygiene Practices to Prevent Coronavirus Contamination.

Also Read: Coronavirus Vs Dengue: Which Can Kill You

Chhayanaut announced that it will not organise the annual Pahela Baishakh cultural festivity to welcome the Bengali new year at Ramna Park due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Since 1967, Chhayanaut has been regularly arranging the traditional cultural festivity under the banyan tree at city’s Ramna Park to welcome the Bengali new year. The only exception was in 1971 and we have decided to postpone this year’s festivity amid the global coronavirus outbreak,” Chhayanaut General Secretary Laisa Ahmed Lisa said in a press release.
 
Its organisers and performers have postponed their activities and started helping out the helpless and poor since the Independence Day.

Chhayanaut requested everyone to maintain good hygiene and follow proper health guidelines to take care of each other and stop the spread of coronavirus.  

Earlier, the Cabinet Division instructed the authorities concerned to postpone all programmes of Pohela Baishakh to avoid mass gatherings.

Chhayanaut, founded in 1961, has earned global appraisal for organising the traditional, extravagant cultural festivity of Pahela Baishakh at Ramna Park every year. One of the most awaited festivities in Bangladesh, the traditional cultural presentation of Chhayanaut marking the Pahela Baishakh has earned its fame as one of the grandest regular cultural celebrations in the world.

If you're not sick with the new coronavirus, should you wear a mask in public? Global health authorities say no. Amid a shortage of masks, the U.S. is sticking with that advice but Tuesday, President Donald Trump suggested people who are worried wear a scarf.

That shortage is so severe that the  Joint Commission, which accredits U.S. hospitals, said Tuesday that if facilities can't provide proper masks, health workers are allowed to bring their own from home.

Front-line health workers have the greatest need for masks. And when people are sick, wearing a mask helps lessen the chances of infecting others. In places where relatives care for the sick at home, the World Health Organization also has recommended they wear a mask.

But "there is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any particular benefit," Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO's epidemics chief, told reporters Monday.

"In fact, there's some evidence to suggest the opposite," he added, noting risks from an improperly fitted mask or touching the face while taking it off or putting it on.

For months as the COVID-19 crisis grew and masks disappeared from store shelves, U.S. health officials have agreed. The virus is believed to spread mostly through droplets from coughs or sneezes, and thus the main advice has been to keep your distance — staying 6 feet away — in addition to frequent hand-washing and not touching your face. Health workers who may be doing procedures that generate tinier particles are supposed to get high priority for tight-fitting filtering masks.

"Seriously people - STOP BUYING MASKS!" Surgeon General Jerome Adams wrote in a February 29 tweet. "They are not effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk."

But mask-wearing has long been common in some countries during respiratory outbreaks, especially in parts of Asia. As questions grow about whether people sometimes can spread the virus before realizing they're sick -- which social distancing is supposed to address — increasingly people ask what it would hurt to wear some form of mask in public.

Trump said Tuesday that his scientific advisers made clear the general public shouldn't be competing with hospitals and health workers for scarce masks of any type.

His solution: "Use a scarf if you want," Trump said at the daily White House briefing. "It doesn't have to be a mask. It's not a bad idea at least for a period of time."

Earlier in the day, Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, had told CNN that once there are enough masks, there might be "some very serious consideration" about broadening the mask recommendations.

For now, the advice posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website: "If you are NOT sick: You do not need to wear a face mask unless you are caring for someone who is sick (and they are not able to wear a face mask)."

Some pregnant women fear giving birth with no loved ones by their side. Others worry about getting sick with COVID-19 and not being able to hold their newborns. The coronavirus pandemic has injected anxiety and uncertainty to an already stressful time and while science about risks is mostly reassuring, doctors want clearer answers too.

"There is very limited information available," said Dr. Leana Wen, a George Washington University public health specialist. She wants answers as a physician and as a patient — Wen is pregnant and due to give birth to her second child any day.

Her greatest fear is developing a COVID-19 infection or symptoms that would force her to be separated from her newborn for days or weeks.

"I would only be able to see my baby through a glass window," said Wen, former Baltimore health commissioner. "That's the one that gives me nightmares."

To help provide answers, the University of California, San Francisco last week started the first U.S. registry of COVID-19 infected or exposed pregnant women. At least 60 women have enrolled so far.

Not all have confirmed cases. Women who turn out not to be infected will remain in the registry as a comparison group.

The more women in the registry "the more quickly we can provide the answers," said Dr. Vanessa Jacoby, who heads the effort.

The big questions include: Are pregnant women more likely than others to become infected and to develop complications? Preliminary evidence suggests no.

There is also no definitive evidence that the virus can be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy, although three small and preliminary studies from China published last week raised that possibility. One paper in JAMA Pediatrics included 33 infants born to infected women; only three babies tested positive, two days after birth, and developed symptoms including pneumonia. All three recovered.

It's likely their mothers transmitted the disease during or after birth, not during pregnancy, said Dr. David Kimberlin, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

 "The numbers are too small to make any conclusions" about how often infants become infected or how sick they become, Kimberlin said.

Guidance  from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine says pregnant women with COVID-19 should be considered high-risk patients. That's because pregnant women who develop flu or other respiratory infections caused by related viruses face increased risks for complications from those illnesses, including premature births and certain birth defects. There a few reports of babies born prematurely but there is no evidence that the coronavirus was the cause.

To limit the risk of infection, some doctors are doing prenatal checkups by phone or video conference. Some are implementing or considering limits on visitors in the delivery room. At some New York City hospitals, that meant no spouses or partners either, until the state said one person was allowed.

Federal recommendations say hospitals should consider separating infected mothers from newborns until the mother tests negative for the virus, but that is not a mandate, said Dr. Brenna Hughes, a Duke University specialist who helped write the obstetric groups' guidance.

Some pregnant women are seeking to have labor induced early to avoid hospitals during a possible surge of COVID-19 cases, and others are suddenly deciding to give birth at home. Mainstream medical groups advise against both.

"We believe that planned hospital birth is the safest option for pregnant women," Hughes said.

She added that for women who are planning to become pregnant, there's no specific advice against it during the pandemic.

Some hospitals are seeing pregnant women from out-of-state virus hotspots, who are seeking to give birth in a safer environment. These include Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, 35 miles from New York City, and Tufts Medical Center, 200 miles away, in Boston.

Tufts is not accepting any routine OB/GYN transfers from any COVID-19 surge areas that advise against travel, said spokesman Jeremy Lechan. "If a pregnant patient from one of these areas shows up in the clinic, they will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days before receiving care." Women in labor will accepted but without anyone else.

Maureen Nicol, a single Columbia University doctoral student in early childhood education, will be giving birth to her first child out of state, not as planned. She expected to give birth in April at a Manhattan hospital with the assistance of a doula. But during a visit in March to her family's Maryland home, New York became the nation's coronavirus epicenter. She canceled plans to return.

Now she's racing to find a new doctor and hospital, buy new baby supplies, and considering the possibility of giving birth with her doula on the phone.

"I'm just wishing for a healthy and safe delivery," Nicol said. "And feeling I have some control in a time and situation where I feel like no one feels like they have control."

Do you need some emergency medicines or health product, but worried to get out of home due to the coronavirus emergency? The Government of Bangladesh has imposed quarantine over the whole nation with a notion to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19 disease originated from the new coronavirus 2019. Even if you dare to leave home for a short period to visit local pharmacy, you can’t evade the risk of getting contaminated by coronavirus on your way. Now what’s the way out? Don’t panic! In this article we are going to focus on some online pharmacies in Bangladesh where you can order medicine online and get quick home delivery within Dhaka city.

• Ousud.com

Ousud.com is a licensed online pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh. Their physical pharmacy store and office are located at Dhanmondi, in Dhaka. This online Pharmacy supplies medicine, baby care products, feminine hygiene products, birth control products, and cleanliness hygiene products. You can order products within 10am to 10pm.

This only pharmacy may request you to submit prescriptions for buying non-OTC medicine to assure your safety. They offer home delivery service within Dhaka for a nominal fee of TK 75. Ousud.com can send your products through courier service, if your product-delivery-address is loacted outside Dhaka.

• BanglaMeds.com.bd

BanglaMeds aims to make the ordering process and delivery system of medicines much easier and customer-friendly. This online pharmacy has a wide variety of products including baby milk, baby food, baby care products, child care products, dental medicines, diabetic kits and accessories, eye medicines, sanitary products, hygiene products, mother’s care products, birth control products, surgical items, etc. To purchase particular medicines on a regular basis customers can upload and save prescription in this website, which is certainly a great benefit for senior citizens.

BanglaMeds has cash on delivery option for any location within Dhaka. The delivery charge is TK 30 only. To avail this service, you have to order for minimum TK 200 value products. This online pharmacy delivers product from 8am to 10pm every day. BanglaMeds can deliver products within one to three hours and take orders up to 7.0 pm for the same day delivery.  

• Pharmacy.com.bd

Pharmacy.com.bd is a great medicine based e-commerce site who works to supply medicine and other health products in any place within Bangladesh. This online medicine shop can deliver diverse kind of medicines including vaccines, drops, tablets, syrups, sprays, injections, capsules, gel, suppository, powder, ointment, cream, vitamin supplement, insulin, pills, etc. according to your medical prescription.

Here you can also buy necessary medical tools and equipments, like knee support, maternal care kit, test strips, glucose monitoring device, sanitary napkins, dental and oral care products, etc. what is more? Pharcy.com.bd steps ahead to other online pharmacies by offering home based physiotherapy services.

• OsdhudhWala.com

OshudhWala is a well planned e-commerce pharmaceutical venture in Bangladesh. In this online pharmacy store, users can buy medicines and health care products online. Besides serving as a retail online pharmacy, OshudhWala sells pharmaceutical products to other pharma companies in Bangladesh. This professional online medicine service company has direct link to pharmaceutical suppliers so they can supply medicines and health care products in a wide range of categories.

OshudhWala delivers particular medicines – that require cold storage – in their specially designed delivery box. This online shop promises to deliver products inside Dhaka city within two to eight hours. They also provide cash on delivery service within Dhaka city for TK 60 delivery charge.

• ePharma.com.bd

If you want to buy baby products like diaper, baby milk, baby wipes, etc., you can check out the ePharma online pharmacy shop. They also have a rich collection for diabetic care products including insulin, test kits, glucose meter, etc.

Besides medicine, here you can also find other health care products like food supplements, birth control products, hair care products, skin care products, beauty products, etc. You can order products within 9am to 9pm. However, you need to place the order before 1pm, if you wish to get delivery of your products within Dhaka city on the same day.  

Bottom Line

So far we have mentioned several popular online pharmacy shops in Bangladesh. You can upload or send your prescription to your chosen online pharmacy to buy correct medicines. However, due to the current lockdown situation within Dhaka city and other places of the country, the delivery might be delayed. So, it would be wise to consult with respective customer care operators before your order any medicine or health care product. Stay Safe!

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Read: Coronavirus Home Quarantine: Where to buy online grocery in Dhaka during quarantine?