332
U. Abiha et al.
14.3.4 Medical Waste as Another Havoc
The mass breakout of coronavirus has also caused certain serious environmental
concerns. One such concern is an uncharted and unmanaged medical waste as the
repercussion of the increased clinical and precautionary activities. The very first
epicenter of the pandemic was China where there was the production of nearly 200
tons of clinical waste each day. Each day with the on-spread of pandemic medically
generated waste became the major issue globally. The movement of “Seas without
Plastic” was conceptualized in Hong Kong, which stated that wearing masks based
on plastic for fabrication is a part of environmental concern [19]. Plastics are a very
vital section of the materials that are available and are inexpensive. Mismanagement
of the widely used Personal protection equipments (PPE) during the pandemic, has
been anticipated to generate 129 billion face masks and 65 gloves globally. As a
repercussion it is a risk for the community, it is seen that the SARS-Cov-2 virus
can survive for up to three days on the surface of the plastic and also has a broader
impact on the health of organisms. Thus concerns over the reusable masks as the
contagious vectors for the SARS-Cov-2 are placed. In several parts of the world the
single used plastic manufacturing was prohibited which has been reversed to meet
the demand of plastic masks and gloves and others. This has also underlined a need
to look for the possible alternative for the use of plastic. Also, proper awareness
regarding the disposal of this waste is also needed [20]. This unmapped need for the
use of plastic has created the need for the strict plastic reduction policies compelled
reinforcement. There is a need for a dynamic responsive waste management system
and is the perspective for novel research for environmental policies. The concept of
Plastic Waste Footprint (PWF) is formulated to capture the environmental impact of
plastic made products on the environment. This is another bilateral problem along
with the clinical crisis of the Pandemic (Fig. 14.6).
14.4 Traditional Health and Immune System
The unprecedented outbreak of the pandemic of COVID-19 that created a menace
worldwide has no prophylactic measures. The unabated chain of cases of the epidemic
has been enormous along with extensive fundamental research. Despite experimental
isolation of potential chemical and herbal antiviral targets and prior experience with
SARS respiratory syndrome, the knowledge seems to be insufficient and therefore calls for conventional medicinal approaches. The study of Ayurveda, Unani,
Naturopathy, Siddha, and Homeopathy can serve suitable interactions to answer
the public health discourse as well as develop strategies and bring concern toward
adopting available traditional knowledge and practices in today’s time to help curb
the problem. There are historical shreds of evidence of traditional knowledge for
managing epidemics and they have also been listed by AYUSH, Government of
India for COVID-19 management discussed in Table 14.1. Although the central
U. Abiha et al.
14.3.4 Medical Waste as Another Havoc
The mass breakout of coronavirus has also caused certain serious environmental
concerns. One such concern is an uncharted and unmanaged medical waste as the
repercussion of the increased clinical and precautionary activities. The very first
epicenter of the pandemic was China where there was the production of nearly 200
tons of clinical waste each day. Each day with the on-spread of pandemic medically
generated waste became the major issue globally. The movement of “Seas without
Plastic” was conceptualized in Hong Kong, which stated that wearing masks based
on plastic for fabrication is a part of environmental concern [19]. Plastics are a very
vital section of the materials that are available and are inexpensive. Mismanagement
of the widely used Personal protection equipments (PPE) during the pandemic, has
been anticipated to generate 129 billion face masks and 65 gloves globally. As a
repercussion it is a risk for the community, it is seen that the SARS-Cov-2 virus
can survive for up to three days on the surface of the plastic and also has a broader
impact on the health of organisms. Thus concerns over the reusable masks as the
contagious vectors for the SARS-Cov-2 are placed. In several parts of the world the
single used plastic manufacturing was prohibited which has been reversed to meet
the demand of plastic masks and gloves and others. This has also underlined a need
to look for the possible alternative for the use of plastic. Also, proper awareness
regarding the disposal of this waste is also needed [20]. This unmapped need for the
use of plastic has created the need for the strict plastic reduction policies compelled
reinforcement. There is a need for a dynamic responsive waste management system
and is the perspective for novel research for environmental policies. The concept of
Plastic Waste Footprint (PWF) is formulated to capture the environmental impact of
plastic made products on the environment. This is another bilateral problem along
with the clinical crisis of the Pandemic (Fig. 14.6).
14.4 Traditional Health and Immune System
The unprecedented outbreak of the pandemic of COVID-19 that created a menace
worldwide has no prophylactic measures. The unabated chain of cases of the epidemic
has been enormous along with extensive fundamental research. Despite experimental
isolation of potential chemical and herbal antiviral targets and prior experience with
SARS respiratory syndrome, the knowledge seems to be insufficient and therefore calls for conventional medicinal approaches. The study of Ayurveda, Unani,
Naturopathy, Siddha, and Homeopathy can serve suitable interactions to answer
the public health discourse as well as develop strategies and bring concern toward
adopting available traditional knowledge and practices in today’s time to help curb
the problem. There are historical shreds of evidence of traditional knowledge for
managing epidemics and they have also been listed by AYUSH, Government of
India for COVID-19 management discussed in Table 14.1. Although the central