News Analysis India

Tag: Coronavirus

  • Big breakthrough? IIT Mandi researchers elucidate molecular structure of spike protein of COVID virus

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi have unravelled the molecular structure of a functional protein region of the COVID-19 virus which can help the scientific community in the exploration of drugs.

    The team has established the structure of one section of an important spike protein responsible for the virus’ infectivity.

    The research was recently published in the journal ‘Virology’.

    According to officials, the SARS coronavirus 2, the cause of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, is so-called because of the spikes on its surface that give it the appearance of a crown (or corona).

    The proteins that make up the spikes are responsible for the penetration of these viruses into the host cells of the infected lifeform.

    Given the importance of the spike protein in the virus’ infectivity, considerable research work is being carried out all over the world on characterising their molecular structure, the officials said.

    It is now known that the spike protein comprises a section that is outside the main virus body (the extravirion) known as ectodomain; a section that crosses the viral membrane (transmembrane); and a section that is inside the viral structure (theintravirion), known as endodomain, they said.

    “Our team has deciphered the shape of the endodomain of spike protein, in isolation, as a reductionist approach.

    We found that there is no order or structure, and this is an intrinsically disordered region,” said Rajanish Giri, Associate Professor, School of Basic Sciences, IIT Mandi.

    “The endodomainis an important part of spike protein as it contains transporting signals that help in movement of protein inside host cells and thus play a crucial role in infection,” Giri said.

    “Due to the absence of specific order or structure, this is the part of Dark Proteome of the virus. It also suggests that endodomain can adopt a fully disordered or partially disordered structure under different conditions,” he said.

    “For studying the SARS-CoV-2 spike endodomain, we have used advanced computational algorithms and laboratory techniques. We have also proved, what have only remained speculations so far, the structural flexibilities of the C-terminal region or endodomain,” he added.

    The team claimed that most studies only focus on the extravirion, and there is much less information available on the transmembrane and intravirion parts of the spike protein.

    “We used CD spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the shape or conformation of the spike glycoprotein’s intravirion region, also known as the C-terminal region or endodomain,” said Prateek Kumar, PhD scholar, IIT Mandi.

    “Our findings provide direction to the scientific community for the exploration of drugs that can target this region of the spike protein, keeping in mind, its structural flexibility,” Kumar said.

    The researchers have validated the simulation results with experimental studies and have shown that the structure of the intravirion region of the spike protein is an intrinsically disordered region in isolation.

    Also, solvent dependent studies suggest the conformational or shape-changing capabilities of this endodomain.

  • India logs 795 new COVID-19 cases; active cases dip to 12,054: Union Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: With 795 new coronavirus infections reported in a day, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,29,839, while the active cases dipped to 12,054, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

    The death toll climbed to 5,21,416 with 58 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate remained at 98.76 per cent, the ministry said.

    A reduction of 543 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.17 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was at 0.22 per cent, according to the ministry.

    The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,24,96,369, while the case fatality rate was recorded as 1.21 per cent. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 184.87 crore.

    India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

    It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

  • Link children orphaned due to COVID, their family members to various schemes: SC to states

    Supreme Court directed state governments and UTs to take steps to complete the process of preparation of social investigation reports in respect of such children.

  • Thane district logs six new coronavirus positive cases

    By PTI

    THANE: With the addition of six new coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 7,08,796, an official said on Sunday.

    These new cases were reported on Saturday. With no fresh fatality, the COVID-19 death toll in the district remained 11,883. The mortality rate is 1.67 per cent, the official added.

    In neighboring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count is 1,63,591 while the death toll is 3,407, an official from Palghar said.

  • COVID-19: Wearing masks in public not mandatory in Haryana

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Saturday decided to do away with imposing a fine for not wearing masks in public places but said that wearing it and observing Covid-appropriate behaviour was desirable.

    The decision came amid a significant dip in Covid cases in the state.

    The government has, however, advised the public to wear face masks, follow hand hygiene, use sanitisers frequently frequent and maintain social distancing.

    “State government notification dated 27.5.2020 vide which wearing of face mask by each person while being in public places and workplace was made mandatory, is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect,” the order issued by the additional chief secretary (health) stated.

    “No penalty or fine of Rs 500 shall be imposed for not wearing face masks in public/workplaces,” it said.

  • Fine dining restaurants welcome Bengal government decision to relax Covid curbs

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Fine dining restaurants in the city on Friday welcomed the decision of the West Bengal government to relax covid restrictions including lifting the 12 midnight to 5 am night curfew saying it would enable both the patrons and the staff to space out the dine out hours and allow the eateries to extend the closing hours if they want.

    The Director of iconic Peter Cat and Mocambo, Nitin Kothari told PTI “with all the restrictions related to curfew hours and three-fourth seating capacity being waived we hope things will be like pre-covid days.”

    He said while earlier the closing time would have been 11:20 pm for his two heritage restaurants, when the night curfew duration was changed from 11 pm-5 am to 12 midnight-5 am slot, following the withdrawal in night curfew hours “we would be able to keep the facilities open on certain days including festivals when the crowd swells till midnight.”

    Kothari, however, emphasised the covid protocol like wearing face shield by staff, donning gloves and sanitizing the place regularly will be strictly followed and patrons will be asked to put up mask while entering.

    Kabir Azhar, Director, Aminia Restaurants said “Yes, we are aware that the covid curbs are lifted from today. While this is good news, we would still like to maintain hand hygiene, daily sanitization and strictly conduct temperature checks on a daily basis.”

    “Besides, masks are still required, and we would definitely keep an eye on that. We believe it is a good practice, as we are very particular about maintaining hygiene and safety while preparing food,” he said.

    Azhar added the lifting of night curfew would end the worry of the staff to reach home by 12 midnight and help them to serve the customers in a better way.

    Same holds true for customers, he added.

    Debaditya Chaudhury, Managing Director of Chowman, Oudh 1590 and Chapter 2 said “it is indeed a great news for us.”

    “Months back when the deadline was till 10 pm it was very difficult for us to fetch proper footfall in our dine-in because those were crucially the peak hours. But with the later extension, till 12 midnight, we got a huge crowd,” he said.

    “However, it was still a little difficult for us to balance it all at a limited time line during festival days. With the night curfew being lifted, we would definitely get back to our pre-covid process of delivering and keeping dine-in services open late night on significant days like Pujo and Christmas,” he added.

    Sudesh Poddar, President of Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Eastern India said this will certainly help the hospitality sector to return back to the pre-Covid days of 2019.

    “Our eatery will be now open till 12 midnight. Earlier the closing hour used to be around 11 pm,” Poddar, who owns two restaurants, said.

    “Sales had reached 80 per cent of the pre-pandemic level. With the deferring of closing time we look forward to sales reaching the pre-pandemic level now,” he said.

  • Too early to do away with COVID face masks, but onus on public: Experts

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Even though some states have decided to stop penalising people for not wearing masks as COVID-19 cases continue to drop, healthcare experts are of the opinon that it is too early to completely do away with the restriction.

    They have advised people to voluntarily mask up in order to also stay protected from infections such as influenza and swine-flu, apart from coronavirus.

    The Maharashtra and Delhi governments recently decided to ease the restriction on the compulsory wearing of face masks in public, a norm that was in place for two years and its violation attracted a fine of Rs 2,000.

    Reacting to the development, renowned virologist T Jacob John said since the pandemic is “over” in India, the use of mask is no longer needed to reduce the SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The mask mandate has lived its time and there is no longer justification for its continuation as “mandate”.

    But it is a good idea to promote the voluntary wearing of masks in public places to reduce inhalation of dust and other respiratory transmitted agents, including TB bacilli, flu virus, other respiratory viruses like syncytial virus, adenovirus, common cold viruses etc, he said.

    “It is a habit that will reduce diseases. Currently, we see kidney transplant patients wearing masks; everyone will benefit — in buses, trains, aeroplanes etc,” John, the former director of the Indian Council for Medical Research’s Centre of Advanced Research in Virology, told PTI.

    ALSO READ| India sailed through Omicron wave because of vaccination: Mansukh Mandaviya

    “My personal opinion is that there ought to be active promotion of mask-wearing in all hospital premises, in outpatient clinics and all queues and waiting areas. There I am not averse to even a mandate. For staff and patients, relatives, visitors etc,” John added.

    Dr Ravi Shekhar Jha, Additional Director and Head of the Department – Pulmonology, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad, said mask should continue to be mandatory and it is premature to give up this habit completely.

    “The disastrous second wave, that took many young lives across the world, was something that the modern world had not seen before. People had become a little complacent after the first wave and that probably lead to an unchecked rise in fatal cases. Though it is true that majority of susceptible Indians are vaccinated, what we must keep in mind is that vaccine doesn’t protect us against infection. Even if the infection is not fatal, it keeps you weak for many months,” he said.

    “We all know about the long COVID. Therefore, it is best to not get infected. So far, science has proved that masks are the only major contributors to preventing infection,” Jha told PTI.

    Another important consideration here is that though COVID-19 has probably weakened, the country saw a reduction in the number of swine flu cases due to masks and sanitation practices. “Swine flu is more fatal than Covid and the combination called flurona can also be prevented by this. Therefore, in my opinion, masks must not be taken out of fashion…too early,” he noted.

    Dr Akshay Budhraja, senior pulmonologist, Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, said it is time to stop swinging between restriction and normalcy. “We must learn to live with coronavirus like the same way we live with other viruses such as influenza and adenovirus among others. Masks should not be mandatory for the general population, but recommended for those who are sick or who have any kind of immunosuppressive illness, visiting crowded closed places with poor ventilation or when visiting a healthcare facility like hospitals or clinics,” he said.

    ALSO READ| Nagaland government lifts all COVID restrictions, face masks rule to continue

    “At the same time, we need to stay cautious and follow the latest recommendations which may change from time to time in the coming months, as per the statistics. Now that everyone is aware enough on when to wear a mask, we must take responsibility ourselves in coming times,” he said.

    Dr Arunesh Kumar, HOD & Senior Consultant, Pulmonology, Paras Hospitals, Gurugram, said there has been a rise in COVID-19 cases in west as well as in China.

    “Masking is the second-most effective intervention after vaccination when it comes to preventing new COVID infection. We are still not there with our double vaccine recipient numbers where herd immunity will be attained. New infections invite virus mutation. With a population as large as ours, it may prove a costly move as people will definitely find a reason not to put a mask on as a major deterrent has been removed,” he said.

    Advocating for unlocking but not unmasking, Kumar said the mask has also proved useful in preventing other infections like tuberculosis as well as allergic problems from dust and pollen, “which is a big problem in Delhi-National Capital Region”.

    “I urge people to consider masking up on a voluntary basis when out and about to help the country fight COVID infection effectively,” he added.

  • Nagaland government lifts all COVID-19 restrictions, face masks rule to continue

    By PTI

    KOHIMA: In view of the weekly COVID test positivity remaining below two per cent for the past one month in Nagaland and the advisory issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the state government has announced that all COVID-19 restrictions stand withdrawn from Friday.

    There will be no restriction on the number of people who can attend any event, Nagaland Chief Secretary J Alam said. The COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for travellers or tourists entering Nagaland will also stand withdrawn, he said.

    The curbs were lifted two years after they were imposed for preventing the spread of coronavirus.

    However, people have been advised to continue adhering to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour like wearing of face masks in public places, following hand hygiene and maintaining physical distancing at all times, he said.

    Nagaland had first detected the COVID-19 infection among three Chennai returnees on May 25, 2020.

    Those above 12 years of age have been advised to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and people whose precautionary dose is due, have been asked to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest, a circular said.

    In another circular, the state government said the average number of daily new hospital admissions due to coronavirus has remained below five for the last three weeks. The number of active cases has also declined steeply and remained only at 15 as on March 31, it said.

    In view of the developments, the state government has decided that there will not be any further extension of the order imposing restrictions for containment of COVID-19 in the state under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 beyond March 31, the circular issued by Home Commissioner Abhijit Sinha said.

    However, the Health and Family Welfare Department will continue focusing on five-fold strategy of Test-Tract-Treat-Vaccination and adherence to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, and will closely monitor the situation and shall take prompt and necessary action at the local level, whenever any upsurge of cases is noticed in any part of the state, Sinha said.

    Nagaland has detected a total of 35,476 COVID-19 cases, of which 33,217 people have recovered, 759 have died, and 1,484 patients have migrated to other states. In view of the continuous dip in coronavirus cases, the Union Home Ministry had decided to end all COVID-19 containment measures from March 31.

    The Central Government had on March 24, 2020 issued for the first time orders and guidelines, under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, for the containment of COVID-19 in the country which were modified from time to time.

  • Right time to lift mask mandate, but vulnerable groups must take precaution: Experts

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government’s decision to lift all coronavirus-related restrictions including the mask mandate from April 2 was supported by experts on Thursday, but with a caveat that vulnerable groups must continue to take precaution.

    State health minister Rajesh Tope earlier in the day announced that all restrictions will be lifted from Saturday, and wearing mask will not be compulsory.

    Dr Anurag Agrawal, Director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, said there was no point in wearing masks outdoors now when the infection rate is low.

    “It is a good time to do away with masks,” Dr Agrawal told PTI.

    He, however, added that wearing masks indoors should still be practiced, especially by the vulnerable population.

    The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has also announced that there will be no fine for not wearing masks in public places in the national capital.

    Dr Raman Gangakhedekar, former head scientist of the Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Division at the Indian Council of Medical Research, said, “I will not say that this is an improper decision (to make masks voluntary).”

    Dr Gangakhedekar, who was the face of the ICMR when the first wave of coronavirus hit the country in 2020, said currently the rate of infection is very low and the decision has been taken in that context.

    He too stressed that masks are still necessary for people whose immunity is low.

    This group comprises senior citizens, people with comorbidities and those who have not taken both the doses of coronavirus vaccine, he said.

    Dr Dileep Mavlankar, Director of the Ahemdabad-based Public Health Foundation of India, said the time is right to withdraw the mask mandate as infection rate is low and people have developed immunity due to infections and vaccination.

    “But people with symptoms must continue to wear masks,” he cautioned.

    Dr Trupti Gilada, Infectious Diseases Specialist, Masina Hospital said the vaccination status of Maharashtra is high with over 90 per cent of the population having COVID-19 antibodies either due to previous infection or immunisation.

    “There have been no repercussions in the form of rising cases over the last few weeks despite festivities, opening up of all public spaces, weddings and elections. We will continue to see a few cases here and there, most of which will be mild,” Gilada said.

    This is exactly what it means for a disease to become endemic, like other diseases like influenza, she said.

    “It was just about time to return to normalcy and removing compulsory masking is the last leg in that direction, a step that has been well calculated and deliberated upon,” she said.

    But Dr Harish Chafle, Senior Consultant – Pulmonology and Critical Care at Global Hospitals in Parel, Mumbai, had a different take.

    Mumbai was and will be the hotspot of COVID-19, simply because it hosts a large number of people from different cities and countries, he said.

    Despite the fact that wearing a mask was always mandatory, not many followed the regulation strictly.

    This was the situation when rules were absolutely compulsory, he pointed out.

    “Now, imagine what would happen if the government decides to completely lift the rules. There will be chaos among people,” he said.

    “With overcrowded local trains and other modes of transportation, going mask-free in Mumbai so soon will be a bad decision, especially when we haven’t achieved 100 per cent vaccination,” he said.

    As many as 1,225 new coronavirus cases were reported in the country during the day.

    The active case tally in the country dipped to 14,307.

    The country’s daily positivity rate stood at 0.20 per cent.

  • Covid: Around 83 per cent of adult population fully vaccinated in UP, says government

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Around 83 per cent of the adult population in Uttar Pradesh has received two doses of the covid vaccine while “over 100 per cent” have got one dose, a state government statement said on Thursday.

    In the age group of 15-17, around 93 per cent children have received at least one dose. Calling it a milestone, the statement said according to the CoWin portal, around 30 crore doses have been administered in the state till 2 pm on Thursday.

    Uttar Pradesh became the first state in the country to have administered more than 30 crore doses, the government said.

    About 83 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated while “over 100 per cent” has received one dose, the statement said.

    So far, 2,05,03,327 children in the age group of 15-17 and 9,60,066 aged between 12 and 14 have been administered the vaccine in the state, it added.

    Over 24.25 lakh “precautionary doses” have been administered in the state so far. To speed up the vaccination drive for children, CM Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to ensure adequate availability of vaccine doses in Uttar Pradesh, the statement said.