News Analysis India

Tag: Coronavirus

  • India records 13,216 fresh COVID-19 cases

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s COVID-19 tally increased to 4,32,83,793 on Saturday as 13,216 more people tested positive for the viral disease and the active caseload climbed to 68,108, according to Union health ministry data.

    This is the first time in 113 days that India has recorded over 13,000 cases. The death toll increased to 5,24,840 with 23 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

    The active cases comprise 0.16 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.63 per cent, the ministry said.

    An increase of 5,045 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.73 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.47 per cent, the ministry said.

    The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,26,90,845. The case fatality rate stood at 1.21 per cent, it said. The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide inoculation drive have exceeded 196 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.

    India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4, 3 crore on June 23 and 4 crore on January 25 this year.

  • 25 per cent rise in mental disorders in 1st Covid year, says WHO

    Express News Service

    BENGALURU:  Depression and anxiety went up by more than 25 per cent globally in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, says WHO in the latest mental health report released on Friday. In its largest review of global mental health since the turn of the century, the World Health Organization termed the Covid-19 pandemic as “one of the biggest global crises in generations that has had severe and far-reaching repercussions for health systems, economies and societies”.

    “Depression and anxiety went up by more than 25 per cent in the first year of the pandemic alone. Young people, women and people already suffering mental health issues were harder hit by the pandemic and the restrictions that followed,” the report says.

    The world health body has called upon all nations to destigmatise and invest more in mental health, stating that the pandemic had caused a “sharp rise in issues across the world”. The findings are an eye-opener for all stakeholders with the world body emphasising that there is no health without mental health. 

    “Nearly a billion people or one in 8 people worldwide, were living with mental health problems in 2019. Those living in conflict zones were affected even more, with one in five suffering from mental health issues. These included 14 per cent of the world’s adolescents.  Suicide accounted for more than 1 in 100 deaths and 58 per cent of suicides occurred before age 50,” the report says. 

    It further says childhood sexual abuse and bullying victimisation are major causes of depression. “Social and economic inequalities, public health emergencies, war, and the climate crisis are among the global, structural threats to mental health.”

    While the awareness on mental health has increased, government spending has not. “Only 2 per cent of national health budgets and less than 1 per cent of all international health aid goes to mental health,” the report says.

    Mark van Ommeren of the WHO’s mental health unit says interest in mental health right now is at an all-time high. “But the investment in mental health has not gone up. This report gives countries information on how to invest their mental health money better.” The report has given country-specific case studies on conventional/non-conventional and community interventions in mental health issues.

    Emphasising that ‘no health without mental health’The world health body has called on all nations to destigmatise and invest more in mental health.  The findings are an eye-opener for all stakeholders with the world body emphasising that there is no health without mental health

  • Covaxin booster improves efficacy against Delta, Omicron variants: ICMR study

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: A booster dose of Covaxin enhances vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant and gives protection against Omicron variants BA.1.1 and BA.2, a study by ICMR and Bharat Biotech said. 

    The protective efficacy of Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin following two and three-dose immunisations against the Delta variant and the efficacy of the Covaxin against Omicron variants were studied in a Syrian hamster model (animal model to study human-associated diseases), the study said.

    The findings of the study have been published on June 14 on bioRxiv, a pre-print server and have not been peer reviewed.

    The anti-Covid vaccine Covaxin is one of two anti-Covid vaccinations used in the national coronavirus immunisation programme, which began in January 2021.

    The antibody response, clinical observations, viral load reduction and lung disease severity after virus challenge were observed, said the study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research – National Institute of Virology, Pune and the pharma company.

    “In the Delta infection study, where we compared the protective response between the two and three-dose regimens, we could observe the advantage of the booster dose vaccination in the protection. Although the neutralising antibody levels were comparable among the groups, lung disease severity was found more reduced after the three-dose vaccination,” said Dr Pragya Yadav, one of the authors of the study, who was recently awarded for her contribution to developing vaccines against Covid-19 in India.

    “The virus shedding and viral organ load were considerably reduced in both the two dose and three-dose immunised animals indicating the vaccine efficacy against Delta variant,” the study added.

    In the second study in which the protective response was assessed against Omicron variants — BA.1 and BA.2, following three-dose vaccinations, lesser virus shedding, lung viral load and lung disease severity were observed in the immunised groups in comparison to the placebo groups.

    “The evidence from the present study shows that Covaxin booster immunisation tends to broaden the protective immune response and reduces disease severity against the Delta and Omicron variant infection,” it added.

  • Covaxin booster dose enhances vaccine effectiveness against Delta, Omicron variants, says ICMR study

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The administration of Covaxin as a booster dose enhances vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19’s Delta variant and gives protection against Omicron variants BA.

    1.1 and BA.2, a study by ICMR and Bharat Biotech has found. The protective efficacy of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin following two and three-dose immuniszations against the Delta variant and the efficacy of the Covaxin against Omicron variants were studied in a Syrian hamster model (animal model to study human-associated diseases), it said.

    The antibody response, clinical observations, viral load reduction and lung disease severity after virus challenge were observed, it added.

    The findings of the study have been published on Tuesday on bioRxiv, a pre-print server and have not been peer reviewed.

    “In the Delta infection study, where we compared the protective response between the two and three-dose regimens, we could observe the advantage of the booster dose vaccination in the protection.

    Although the neutralising antibody levels were comparable among the groups, lung disease severity was found more reduced after the three dose vaccination.

    “The virus shedding and viral organ load were considerably reduced in both the two dose and three-dose immunised animals indicating the vaccine efficacy against Delta variant,” the study by Indian Council of Medical Research and Bharat Biotech said.

    In the second study in which the protective response was assessed against Omicron variants i.e. BA.1 and BA.2, following three-dose vaccinations, lesser virus shedding, lung viral load and lung disease severity were observed in the immunised groups in comparison to the placebo groups.

    “The evidence from the present study shows that Covaxin booster immunisation tends to broaden the protective immune response and reduces disease severity against the Delta and Omicron variant infection,” it further said.

  • Covid spike: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya stresses on vaccination

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: As the Covid-19 cases are rising in some states, especially in Maharashtra and Kerala, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday warned states and Union Territories that the pandemic is not over yet and the protocol must be observed and vaccination should speed up.

    Highlighting the need to be alert and not to forget Covid-appropriate behaviour, Mandaviya told health ministers of states and UTs in a meeting to review the status and progress of the door-to-door vaccination drive ‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ launched on June 1 that there was a need to be cautious and to strengthen the genome sequencing.

    “The Covid-19 is not over yet. With rising Covid-19 cases in some states, it is important to be alert and not to forget Covid-appropriate behaviour,” Mandaviya said. Stressing the importance of vaccination among vulnerable age groups, he urged the state health ministers to personally review the status and progress of the particular month-long drive.

    “Let us accelerate our efforts to identify all beneficiaries in the 12-17 age groups for the 1st and 2nd doses so that they can attend schools with the protection of the vaccine,” he added. He said there was a need to widen vaccination coverage for schoolchildren as well as giving precautionary doses to the elderly.

    India has been registering a continued surge in daily new Covid-19 cases since June 1. On Monday, the country recorded 8,084 fresh Covid-19 cases and ten deaths. This is the third day India’s daily new cases crossed the 8,000 mark. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) will be reviewing the data of genomic surveillance of variants to detect whether any new variant is causing the spike, officials added.

  • From security to uncertainty: Post Covid, many elderly return to workforce

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: This, too, is a Covid effect.

    Pushed out of their comfort zones by a pandemic that took away their financial security, many people in the twilight of their lives or recently retired are returning to the workforce, be it taking tuitions, applying for office assistant posts or setting up a hawker cart.

    The reasons for seeking financial independence are varied as is the income bracket.

    It could be somebody whose son lost his job, another whose savings dwindled in the long months of lockdown or an elderly person who may have seen an earning child die of Covid and is forced to again support the family.

    “Many elderly no longer have the concept of tomorrow and this is creating many uncertainties in the minds of people,” said Himanshu Rath, founder and chairperson of Agewell Foundation.

    The number of job applications received at the Foundation’s employment exchange portal, which provides employment opportunities to the elderly, has jumped since the pandemic.

    “We would receive about 400 to 450 applications every month before the pandemic. In the last couple of months, the numbers have jumped to almost 550. The number of enquiries on phone either from new job seekers or those who have already applied has gone up from five to six a day to over 10 calls per day. So there is an increase of at least 30-35 per cent,” Rath told PTI.

    According to a recent Agewell Foundation survey based on interactions with 5,000 older persons, more than 61 per cent retired older persons (81.5 per cent in the 60-75 age group) are in search of gainful work.

    Among those seeking employment is 79-year-old Gunn Shivdasani.

    It has been nearly 20 years since he retired from his job in the garment industry but the vicissitudes of the lockdown have left him with little option but to look for work.

    “My son lost his job in this pandemic and now he is earning much less than before. I want to help him so I am thinking of working again,” the Delhi-based Shivdasani told PTI.

    He has one son, one daughter, a daughter-in-law and four grandchildren.

    Shvidsasani is willing to do anything but would prefer taking tuitions.

    “My grasp on English is good and it can help students. Any amount of money would actually help,” he said.

    At 62, Sattar Khan is 17 years younger and in the same predicament.

    After his retirement as an office assistant at a private firm, he was looking forward to spending time with his family.

    But that was not to be.

    “I worked as an office assistant at a private firm all my life. When I retired I thought I would spend some time with my family but now there is so much uncertainty that I want to earn money. It should be enough for my needs so I am not dependent on my sons for anything,” Khan, who also lives in Delhi, said.

    His wife died some years ago and even Rs 15,000 a month would be enough, he said.

    Besides the insecurity that stemmed from the lockdown, there is also fear of what will happen if there is another one down the line.

    “They want to earn as much as possible and as quickly as possible and get out of their dependence on their children. A lot of friction was also witnessed between families during the pandemic which has again made the elderly very insecure,” Rath said.

    Most are looking for jobs in the informal sector as big corporations and industries don’t have any space for the elderly.

    Older people also need to be given digital training so they can be involved in the mainstream and lead a more comfortable and dignified life in today’s internet-dominated world, Rath said.

    About 90 per cent elders in India have to work in order to survive, added Anupama Datta, head, policy research and development, HelpAge India.

    Families, including elders, have started coming back from their towns and cities from Bihar, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh to the Delhi-NCR region looking for work with the pandemic subsiding.

    “Most elders from the unorganised sector are left with no choice but to continue working in their later years. Covid hit them the hardest. Besides their own vulnerability to the virus, many lost their livelihoods or their working children whom they were dependent on,” she said.

    “We now see many elders going back to work on the streets and opening their roadside ‘redhi-patri’ shops (street vendors or hawkers). The extreme weather conditions and the economic slowdown, are making conditions hard and unbearable for them,” she added.

    Several hiring platforms that PTI contacted also said they have been witnessing a spike in job applications from the elderly.

    Industry surveys show that over 55-60 per cent of individuals have expressed their interest in continuing to work post-retirement for financial independence and to keep themselves productive, said Sanjay Shetty, director at international recruiting agency Randstad India.

    Senior citizens in the country have started looking for jobs as freelance and work-from-home options have increased considerably in the last two years, he said.

    The trend of senior citizens wanting to come back or wanting to continue after retirement is increasing, agreed Mahesh Bhatt, chief business officer at staffing firm TeamLease Services.

    “In fact, many of them want to be part of the staffing talent pool as it offers them a diversity of jobs and flexible timings. Manufacturing and industrial sectors are two of the key sectors wherein the trend is significant. From a profile point of view, most of them get deployed in administration, procurement, legal and compliance and security supervision,” he said.

    According to Bhatt, the trend is not restricted to the private sector.

    The government, too, is warming up.

    It has started an exclusive virtual Employment Exchange connecting senior citizens with corporate houses and industry bodies.

    “In certain cases, families or senior couples had to pivot and rethink their money source due to the unprecedented global event (the Covid pandemic),” added Raj Das, global co-founder and CEO of online job application platform Hirect India.

  • COVID surge not harbinger of ‘new wave’ but ‘expected fluctuation’: Experts

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The current rise in COVID-19 cases is not a harbinger of a “new wave” but an “expected fluctuation” during endemic prevalence, experts have said, emphasising that lack of mask-wearing and low intake of booster shots may be reasons behind the surge.

    They also said the recent surge is due to increased travel, social gathering and economic activities resulting in a greater possibility of the transmission of the virus.

    Seventeen districts in India, including seven from Kerala and five from Mizoram, are reporting a weekly COVID-19 positivity rate of more than 10 percent.

    In 24 districts, including seven from Kerala and four each from Maharashtra and Mizoram, the weekly positivity is between 5 to 10 per cent, an official source said.

    Noted virologist T Jacob John said the present increase in cases is not like a surge but a gradual increase that is not steady or uniformly distributed.

    “A few states lead, others are not involved. In those states, the phenomenon is mainly a big city picture, not widely spreading. This pattern is not a harbinger of a new wave but expected fluctuations during endemic prevalence,” he said.

    “A wave must have more numbers than the previous day consistently — that is not the case for us now,” he told PTI.

    He said not wearing and not taking booster shots can be two main reasons for the surge.

    “Who gave the orders that people need not wear masks any longer. Who advised that people should continue wearing masks in places where people assemble indoors? That one behaviour alone is sufficient to explain the gradual increase in cities,” John said.

    The second obstacle, he said, is people not taking booster doses.

    “The higher the booster dose coverage, the lower will the number of infections; lower the number of infections, lower the number of cases,” he said.

    John, a former director of the ICMR’s Centre of Advanced Research in Virology, said less than five per cent of those who had a second dose had taken their boosters.

    “Who is responsible for this low coverage? I understand people are not trusting the government regarding vaccine safety — and the government is not bothered either.”

    ”When the threat of epidemic is no longer urging people to opt for a complete immunisation schedule, people will not accept the risk of severe adverse reactions,” he said.

    He refuted claims that new variants are responsible for the surge.

    “Currently the popular feeling is that BA.5 and BA.4 are causing the increase. On the other hand, when viruses are encouraged to spread, the faster-spreading ones will show up,” he said.

    Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, physician-epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist, said India’s situation is of hybrid immunity through natural infection (three national waves) and acquired immunity as nearly 88 per cent of the adult population has received two shots of COVID-19 vaccines.

    “Then, Omicron is the predominant variant and even though two new sub-lineage of Omicron, BA.4 and BA.5 have been reported to be slightly more transmissible, those sub-lineage are barely present in India and not enough to fuel a major spike.”

    “There is no evidence of the emergence of a new variant of concern. Putting all of these together, it is fair to conclude that the current localised surge is not a start of a new national wave,” he said.

    To put the surge in context, he said there are two things to remember.

    “One, neither an earlier SARS CoV2 infection nor the COVID-19 vaccination (at least not the ones which are being used in India) are known to prevent subsequent infection.”

    “Second, now SARS CoV2 is present in all settings and is likely to stay around for long. Alongside, COVID-19 being an infectious disease, the rise and fall in the cases is going to be a routine process. What we are seeing in select Indian cities and states in terms of a spike in COVID-19 cases is on expected lines,” he told PTI.

    A rise may be seen in additional cities and states in months to follow but with every rise “we should not jump to the conclusion that it is a fresh wave”, he said.

    Giridhar R. Babu, who also heads Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Indian Institute of Public Health in Bengaluru, said there is a need to stop numbering waves, especially when the UK has seen three waves within six months.

    “Waves result from myriad factors, including testing levels, case definition, etc. Instead, each outbreak should be promptly identified and controlled.”

    “Given an uptick in new deaths attributed to COVID-19 observed in a few countries (in European Union, the US, Portugal, Taiwan, New Zealand, and England.), it is important to continually track data from epidemiological assessment and correlate with genomic sequencing,” he said.

    He said the plausible reason behind the surge in cases is mostly due to the newer sub-lineages, as seen in the rest of the world.

    “After a prolonged period of Delta dominance and subsequent omicron variant, BA.2 is overtaken by a combination of several sub-lineages (BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.12.1, etc.), it is very unlikely that this is not the same reason in India as well,” he said.

    The proportion of persons covered with booster doses, especially among the vulnerable, and appropriate ventilation to ease crowds in congested spaces are key determinants of overall control of the wave, he stressed.

  • Active COVID-19 cases increase to 44,513

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India logged 8,582 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,32,22,017, while the active cases increased to 44,513, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

    The death toll climbed to 5,24,761 with four fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprises 0.10 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.66 per cent, the ministry said.

    An increase of 4,143 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.71 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 2.02 per cent, according to the ministry.

    The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,26,52,743, while the case fatality rate was 1.21 per cent.

    The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 195.07 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 last year.

  • MP: Unvaccinated 90-year-old woman dies of COVID-19 in Indore

    By PTI

    INDORE: A 90-year-old woman, who had not been inoculated against COVID-19, died of the infection at a hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, a health official said on Friday.

    The nonagenarian was suffering from high blood pressure and other ailments for a long time, said Dr B S Saitya, the chief medical and health officer (CMHO).

    “The woman was admitted to a hospital, where she tested positive for COVID-19.

    She died of the infection on Thursday,” the official said.

    The patient had not been able to walk for the last seven years and her family members did not get her vaccinated against the disease, he said.

    Earlier, an 80-year-old woman, who had taken both the doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, succumbed to the infection on May 23.

    She was also suffering from high blood pressure and heart ailments for a long time, Dr Saitya said.

    As per the official bulletin, Indore had recorded 10 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, that raised the tally to 2,08,132, which includes 1,463 casualties.

  • India logs 7,584 Covid cases, 24 more deaths in a day

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 7,584 in a day to reach 4,32,05,106 while the number of active cases has increased to 36,267, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

    The death toll has climbed to 5,24,747 with 24 more fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. Active case tally increased by 3,769 and now comprise 0.08 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.70 per cent, the health ministry said.

    The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.26 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.50 per cent.

    The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,26,44,092, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent. The total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far has exceeded 194.76 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. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, 2021, and three crore on June 23.