News Analysis India

Tag: COVID19

  • Opposition triggering panic among people on COVID situation: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW/ MUZAFFARNAGAR: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the opposition of mischievously trying to create an atmosphere of fear instead of increasing the confidence of people and health workers since the onset of the current second wave of COVID-19.

    Adityanath made the allegation while reviewing the COVID situation in Muzaffarnagar district and inspecting an Integrated COVID Control Room there.

    Without naming any political party, Adityanath said, “When the need was to increase the confidence of the people and health workers, some people intentionally and mischievously tried to lower their morale and create an atmosphere of fear.”

    ALSO READ| Amid downward trend in COVID cases, Yogi government prepares for third wave, black fungus infection

    This led to a panic situation, he said, adding, “Due to this, every person ran for oxygen and remdesivir. And, at one point of time, a situation of chaos prevailed. But, thanks to God, with everybody’s co-operation, the situation has been controlled and it is in complete control now.”

    There is a continuous decline in active COVID-19 cases in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government said in an official statement from Lucknow, quoting the chief minister after his Muzaffarnagar’s visit. The chief minister said that till now, nearly 4.50 crore samples for COVID-19 have been tested, while 1.50 crore people in the state have been administered vaccines. Vaccination for the people in the age group of 18-44 too has been started, he added.

    During his visit to Muzaffarnagar, Adityanath also referred to the apprehension of an impending third wave of covid and black fungus infection among the cured COVID-patents and said the government is making an all effort to tackle the twin challenge.

    Amid the fears of a third wave of the infection hitting the country which the health experts say may afflict children more, the chief minister said the government is making efforts to set up paediatric intensive care units (ICU) in every district and every medical college of the state.

    Accompanied by Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan and state minister and local MLA Kapil Dev Aggarwal, the chief minister earlier visited the Rampur village in the district and urged villagers to take utmost care against the infection.

    The chief minister visited the village amid the rising cases of coronavirus infection in rural areas of the state and appealed to the people to report to the district health authorities at the slightest hint of the contamination.

    He made a fervent plea to the villagers to get themselves inoculated against the disease besides getting tested for the infection and start treatment in time if they find themselves afflicted with the slightest symptoms of the COVID.

    While chief minister also announced the government’s decision to set up six more medical oxygen plants in Muzaffarnagar. Adityanath visited Muzaffarnagar on Monday, a day after visiting Noida during which he reviewed the Covid situation in the Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Meerut districts.

  • COVID-19 pace slowing down in Madhya Pradesh: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to PM Modi

    Official sources said that Chouhan had a telephonic conversation with the PM during which he informed him about the COVID-19 situation in the state.

  • COVID-19: ‘Faulty ventilators not a topic for politics’, says ex-Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

    By PTI
    AURANGABAD: Maharashtra has received a large number of ventilators under the PM CARES fund and the ones that are faulty must be replaced without any politics being played on it, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.

    He was speaking to reporters after attending a review meeting with divisional commissioner Sunil Kendrekar. “Maharashtra has got nearly 5,000 ventilators through PM CARES fund. Many of them were kept packed for nearly four months, so the faulty ones must be replaced quickly. This is not a topic to play politics on,” the former chief minister said.

    A PIB release of May 14 of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had said media reports of some ‘Made in India” ventilators not functioning properly in Aurangabad were “baseless and incorrect, and not supported by full information on the matter”.

    Speaking on the COVID-19 situation in the region, Fadnavis said, “The number of cases had come down in Latur and Aurangabad but the positivity rate was still high at 21 per cent. The situation in Beed needs attention.”

    Fadnavis said the setting up of oxygen storage tanks in large numbers was a good a sign and would help in the future, adding that preparing for a possible third wave was important. He said that Mucormycosis was first reported in Maharashtra which allowed the state to procure injections for its treatment in time, while other areas in the country are facing a shortage.

    Fadnavis said he had spoken to firms manufacturing medicines for the black fungus infection and the latter had ramped up production.

  • WHO donates 100 oxygen concentrators to Rajasthan government

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: The Jaipur unit of the World Health Organisation (WHO) donated 100 oxygen concentrators to the Rajasthan government here on Monday. The concentrators were handed over to state Health Minister Raghu Sharma who thanked the WHO for its cooperation in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Sharma said that every possible effort is being made by the state government to overcome the lack of oxygen in the state. The oxygen concentrators being provided through corporate social responsibility (CSR) are supporting the government’s efforts to tackle the pandemic, he added.

    WHO representative Rakesh Srivastava said these contractors, worth about Rs 15 crore, were manufactured in Germany. He said that the concentrators have the capacity to produce 8 litres of oxygen per minute which can be increased to 10 litres per minute as per the requirement.

  • Congress MP Rajeev Satav’s last rites performed at native place in Maharashtra

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The mortal remains of Congress MP Rajeev Satav, who died after recovering from COVID-19, were consigned to flames with state honours at his native place Kalamnuri in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district on Monday.

    Several key Congress leaders, including AICC in-charge of Maharashtra HK Patil, party’s Maharashtra unit chief Nana Patole and state ministers Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat, Vijay Wadettiwar, Aslam Shaikh, Nitin Raut, Varsha Gaikwad, Satej Patil, Vishwajeet Kadam and other party workers were present at the funeral.

    Satav (46), considered as a close associate of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, died at a hospital in Pune on Sunday, days after recovering from the coronavirus infection. The late Rajya Sabha member’s family members bid him an emotional farewell as his mortal remains were consigned to flames at his native place on Monday.

    Paying tributes to the late leader, Shaikh said, “…he would always talk about the issues concerning the people of Maharashtra…the farmers have lost their leader. He is not among us. I am speechless.” Kadam described Satav as his “big brother and mentor”. Satav was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Pune after testing coronavirus positive last month and was on ventilator support.

    A media release by the Jehangir Hospital in Pune had said Satav succumbed to “secondary pneumonia with multi-organ dysfunction syndrome”. He had become “RT-PCR swab negative” on May 9, it said.

  • Over two crore COVID-19 vaccine doses available with states: Union Health Ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: More than two crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and Union territories, while nearly three lakh doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

    The Centre has so far provided over 20 crore (20,76,10,230) vaccine doses to the states and Union territories for free. Of this, the total consumption, calculated on the basis of average figures, up to May 16, including wastage, is 18,71,13,705 doses (according to data available at 8 am on Monday), it added.

    “More than two crore COVID-19 vaccine doses (2,04,96,525) are still available with the states and UTs to be administered,” the ministry said. Furthermore, 2,94,660 vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by the states within the next three days, it said.

    As part of the nationwide vaccination drive against the viral disease, the Government of India has been supporting the states by providing them vaccine doses for free, in addition to several efforts to ramp up the production and supply of the vaccines.

    Vaccination is an integral pillar of the comprehensive strategy of the government for the containment and management of the pandemic, along with “Test, Track, Treat” and COVID-appropriate behaviour, the ministry said.

    The implementation of the Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination has started from May 1. Under the Strategy, every month, 50 per cent of the vaccine doses cleared by the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) of any manufacturer would be procured by the government.

    It would continue to make these doses available to the states for free, the ministry added.

  • Over 11,000 concentrators, 19 oxygen generation plants among other global aid sent to states: Centre

    An official press release stated that India has been receiving international donations and aid of COVID-19 relief medical supplies and equipment since April 27 this year.

  • COVID vaccine export: Congress slams Centre, leaders change profile photos after arrest over posters

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Several leaders of the Congress party, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Sunday took to the social media to hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for exporting COVID-19 vaccines earlier this year amid the coronavirus crisis in the country.

    This comes days after the Delhi Police arrested at least 21 people in the national capital under sections of the Defacement of Public Property Act for putting up the same poster in different parts of the city. The profile picture of the party’s Twitter handle too was replaced by the poster. “Modi ji, Why did you send our children’s vaccines abroad?,” the poster said in Hindi.

    #ArrestMeToo….We are eagerly waiting .@narendramodi Sahab ji.. pic.twitter.com/45NLOAHnTT
    — WB Youth Congress (@IYCWestBengal) May 16, 2021

    Rahul Gandhi tweeted a photo of the poster on Sunday, along with the caption – “Arrest me too”.

    At a virtual press conference earlier in the day, Congress leaders Pawan Khera said, “On behalf of the lakhs and lakhs of people who died.. we ask you (Centre) Where is my vaccine? Why did you sell my vaccine, the vaccine that belongs to me, my family and my children abroad?”

    “On behalf of every single India, Mr Modi, I dare you to arrest me,” he added.

    The country is currently in the middle of a devastating second COVID-19 wave and is facing a massive shortage of vaccines. Over the last few days, inoculation centres across states have closed and state governments have floated global tenders to meet the shortages.

    Leaders of the opposition have repeatedly hit out at the Centre’s management of COVID-19 vaccination in the country, with many insisting that the Centre’s new ‘liberated’ vaccination policy be revised.

    Last week, twelve opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and others slammed the government over its handling of the COVID-19 situation and demanded free, universal mass vaccination campaign across the country.

    India reported 3,11,170 new COVID-19 cases, 3,62,437 recoveries and 4,077 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Sunday. A total of 18,22,20,164 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the country so far.

  • Bhima Koregaon case: Accused professor Hany Babu tests positive for COVID-19

    By Express News Service
    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hany Babu, the jailed Delhi University professor, has been tested positive for COVID-19.  The professor was already suffering from an acute eye infection and his health condition has worsened with the COVID infection, according to his wife Jenny Rowena.

    Hany Babu is being treated at the JJ Hospital, Mumbai, now. His wife has appealed to the authorities to shift him to a multi-speciality hospital where treatment for both his ailments can be given. Hany Babu is an undertrial prisoner in the Bhima Koregaon case. He was arrested in July 2020 and has been housed at the Taloja jail in Mumbai since then.

    “Hany has little or no vision in his left eye due to the swelling, which has spread to the cheek, ear and forehead compromising other vital organs as well. It poses a significant risk to his life if it spreads to the brain,” said a press statement issued by his wife.

    It was only after persistent efforts by Hany’s lawyer Payoshi Roy that Hany was taken to JJ Hospital on May 12. On May 13, Jenny Rowena received a phone call from Taloja Prison and was informed that Hany had been admitted at JJ Hospital.

  • DRDO develops system to reduce COVID-19 risk for health workers

    By Express News Service
    BENGALURU : The Defence Research and Development Organisation has developed a system that is said to reduce the workload of healthcare providers as well as their exposure to COVID patients by eliminating the need to routinely measure and manually adjust oxygen flow to patients.

    Called Oxycare System, the government is looking at procuring 1.5 lakh of these units through the PM-CARES fund at Rs 322.5 crore. DRDO has transferred the technology to multiple industries.

    It has been developed in two configurations. The basic version consists of a 10-litre oxygen cylinder, a pressure regulator-cum-flow controller, a humidifier and a nasal cannula. The oxygen flow is regulated manually based on the SpO2 readings.

    The intelligent configuration includes a system for automatic regulation of oxygen through a low-pressure regulator, electronic control system and an SpO2 probe in addition to the basic version. The system regulates oxygen to patients based on SpO2 levels.

    Also, Non-Rebreather Masks are integrated with the oxycare systems for efficient use of oxygen which results in savings of up to 30-40 per cent.Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar visited the DRDO campus on Friday.

    Also, the 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug, developed by DRDO, is considered to be a game-changer in the battle against COVID, offering the potential of faster recovery for hospitalised patients.