News Analysis India

Tag: Pandemic

  • Declining trend in Covid cases, but surge cannot be ruled out as virus continuously evolving: Government

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: There has been a declining trend in COVID-19 cases in the country for the past few months, but a surge in infections cannot be ruled out as the virus is continuously evolving and may have an impact on disease transmission, the government told Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

    The Government of India continues to keep a close watch on the COVID-19 situation in the country as well as across the globe, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in written response to a question.

    Responding to a question on whether the government has taken note of the warnings of the health authorities about a third wave of COVID-19 in the country, she said, “Presently, as reported by states, a declining trend in cases is noted since last few months. However, as the causative virus is continuously evolving, the same may have an impact on COVID-19 transmission and surge in cases cannot be ruled out.” Health is a state subject and the central government is supporting states in their endeavour to manage COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, she said.

    Requisite support is being provided states and union territories to enhance preparedness and response capacities against COVID-19 and other public health emergencies, the minister said, listing steps taken by the government with regard to proper health infrastructure and medicines to combat the intensity of a third wave.

    It has worked towards strengthening healthcare infrastructure, equipping of health facilities with requisite logistic including drugs, oxygen and equipment, strengthening of disease surveillance at points of entry and in the community, enhancement of laboratory capacities, telemedicine and enhancement of human resource capacities.

    Listing some of the interventions, Pawar said that the Ministry of Health continues to provide technical guidance for managing various aspects of COVID-19 and so far more than 150 guidelines/advisories/SoPs/plans have been provided to states and UTs.

    Guidelines on clinical management of COVID-19 continues to be updated with emerging scientific evidence and the treatment protocol for adults was last updated on May 24 , 2021 and has been widely circulated while the guidelines for management of COVID-19 in children was issued on June 18, 2021.

    The guideline covers guidance on management of acute presentation of COVID-19 as well as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) in children and adolescents found temporally related to COVID-19.

    Guidelines and checklists on prevention and clinical management of Mucormycosis was disseminated to all states and UTs, Pawar said.

    Also, a comprehensive Guidelines for Management of Post-Covid Sequelae was issued by the ministry on October 21, 2021 after expert consultations to guide doctors on post-COVID-19 complications and their management.

    To further provide on-field assistance to the states and UTs, a total of 170 central multidisciplinary teams comprising epidemiologists, clinicians, microbiologists and senior officials from the ministry have been deployed to 33 states and districts reporting increased trajectory of cases.

    All states have been advised rational use of oxygen and to prohibit its wasteful usage by strict monitoring and to undertake oxygen consumption audit in hospitals, including private hospitals.

    Pawar said COVID-19 vaccine is made available free of cost for all citizens of the country aged 18 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status, at all government vaccination centres.

    Provisions have been made to improve access for the elderly, specially-abled citizens, vaccination of persons in mental health institutions, destitute and vagabonds.

    Under the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign for improving COVID-19 vaccination rate, various initiatives, including community awareness campaigning in collaboration with local religious and community leaders and NGOs, are being taken to ensure mobilisation and counselling of the eligible population.

    Funding support is also being provided to states and UTs through various avenues. During the financial year 2019-20. funds to the tune of Rs 1,113.21 crore was released to the states and UTs under the National Health Mission (NHM) towards management and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pawar stated.

    Since September 2020, the central government has allowed use of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for various COVID-19-related activities. During 2020-21, funds to the tune of Rs 8,257.88 crore have been released to the states and UTs towards the India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package.

    This provided support to states for health infrastructure strengthening, expansion of laboratory network, surveillance and contact tracing, procurement of PPEs, N-95 masks, ventilators, etc., she said.

    In addition, India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II has been approved by the Cabinet with Rs 23,123 crore — Rs 15,000 crore as central component and Rs 8,123 crore as state component — and is being implemented from July 1 this year.

    The PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over six years envisages increased investments in public health and other health reforms to safeguard against future resurgences of COVID-19, if any, and future public health emergencies, she said.

    It involves strengthening of health and wellness centres in villages and cities for early detection of diseases, addition of critical care-related beds at district level hospitals, and operationalisation of regional National Centres for Disease Control (NCDC).

    It also involves strengthening of existing Viral Diagnostic and Research Labs (VRDLs), creation of new National institutes of Virology (NIVs) and a National Institute for One Health through the Indian Council of Medical Research, and strengthening of public health units at international points of entry, Pawar said.

  • Assam reports 140 new COVID-19 cases, six deaths

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Assam reported six deaths due to COVID-19 on Monday, while 140 more persons tested positive for the infection, pushing the tally to 6,16,708, the National Health Mission (NHM) said.

    One person had succumbed to the disease and 133 fresh infections were registered on Sunday. With two fatalities in Nalbari, and one each in Golaghat, Jorhat, Nagaon, and Sivasagar districts, the death toll rose to 6,098 persons.

    NHM said 1,347 more COVID-19 patients have died till now, but the government’s Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the COVID-19 virus as they had other ailments too.

    With the detection of 140 patients against the testing of 35,539 samples on Monday, Assam has reported a positivity rate of 0.39 per cent for the day, the NHM bulletin said.

    The state had tested 20,870 samples for COVID-19 on Sunday. Currently, the state has a total of 1,248 active cases. Of the new cases, the highest 54 were detected in Kamrup Metropolitan, followed by 16 in Jorhat, and eight each in Barpeta and Kamrup.

    With 6,16,708 total COVID-19 positive cases in Assam, the overall positivity rate stands at 2.40 per cent against total testing of 2,57,09,342 samples so far.

    During the day, the state reported more recoveries than the number of new infections at 230, the NHM said. In Assam, 6,08,015 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered from COVID-19. The NHM further said a total of 3,29,51,330 doses of vaccines have been administered.

  • One more foreigner tests positive for COVID-19 in Vrindavan, total now 4

    By PTI

    MATHURA: A 41-year-old woman from Austria on a visit to the holy town of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh has tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of infected foreigners in Mathura district to four, officials said on Monday.

    “In RT-PCR test one more foreign national was found to be coronavirus positive on Monday,” said Dr. Bhudeo Singh, the incharge of the Rapid Response Team.

    Three foreigners hailing from Spain, Switzerland and Austria had tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday and Sunday.

    All the four were on a fortnight visit to Vrindavan and underwent COVID-19 test before their return journey, officials said.

    They have been kept under isolation. Since all the infected foreign nationals were staying at Giridhar Ashram in Sheetal Chhaya in Vrindavan, the area has been marked as a containment zone, the officials said.

    On Sunday, Mathura District Magistrate Navneet Singh Chahal had said an alert has been sounded in the district after the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in South Africa and a few other countries.

    A close watch is being maintained in Vrindavan which attracts a large number of foreigners, he had said.

  • Omicron variant patients in Delhi to be isolated, treated at Lok Nayak Hospital

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Health Department has designated Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital as the dedicated facility to treat patients testing positive for the new COVID-19 variant Omicron.

    The hospital has been asked to earmark wards for isolating and treating such patients. The department also said that no patient with the new variant will be denied admission to hospitals on any ground.

    The Union Health Ministry had Sunday issued new guidelines for international travellers for reporting of Omicron, which has been classified as ‘variant of concern’ by the World Health Organization (WHO).

    According to the guidelines, a separate isolation unit has to be set up for the patients indicating the presence of Omicron.

    “Accordingly, Lok Nayak Hospital is hereby designated as the dedicated hospital which will treat the patients detected with the new variant of SARS-CoV-2. Lok Nayak Hospital will designate one or more separate wards (as per need) for isolating and treating such patients,” the order read.

    Omicron is the fifth WHO-designated variant of concern first identified in South Africa. The other four are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.

    The WHO has said it is “not yet clear” if the newly-detected variant is more transmissible or causes more severe disease, but authorities across states in India ramped up efforts to deal with the evolving situation.

    Earlier in the day, authorities in the national capital ordered RT-PCR testing for all people arriving from ‘high-risk’ countries, genome sequencing of the positive cases and mandatory isolation.

  • Over 123 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India so far: Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 123 crore on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said. On Monday, more than 70 lakh (70,85,126) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm.

    The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of final reports for the day by late night, the ministry said. The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

    The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

    The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

  • No Omicron in India yet, but concerns mount; Karnatka says sample of SA returnee ‘different from Delta’

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India has not reported any case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus yet but the Karnataka health minister Monday said the sample of one of the two recent South Africa returnees appears “different from the Delta variant”, even as experts stressed vaccines remain a critical tool.

    The WHO said it is “not yet clear” if the newly-detected variant is more transmissible or causes more severe disease, but authorities across states in India ramped up efforts to deal with the evolving situation.

    Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the situation is being closely monitored in consultation with other ministries regarding “any further decision” on resuming scheduled international passenger services.

    ALSO READ: ‘Situation precarious,’ says WHO bats for legally-binding global accord to fight Omicron Covid variant

    A senior Central government official said in Delhi no case of the new variant has been detected in the country, but results of genomic analysis of positive samples of international travellers are being expedited.

    In Maharashtra’s Thane, a 32-year-old Merchant Navy engineer who tested positive for coronavirus after returning from South Africa has been kept in isolation and his sample sent for genome sequencing.

    The result will be known after seven days, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s (KDMC) epidemic control officer Dr Pratibha Panpatil said.

    Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, “Information on passengers coming from abroad should be received regularly so that they can be monitored and the infection can be prevented in time.

    ALSO READ: New Covid variant stokes concern but vaccines still most important tool, say experts

    ” In Delhi, authorities ordered RT-PCR testing for all people arriving from ‘high-risk’ countries, genome sequencing of the positive cases and mandatory isolation.

    Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told the media the new ‘Omicron’ variant was discussed by experts in the meeting and it was stressed that there should be no relaxation in preparation to deal with Covid infections and in monitoring the situation.

    In Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, health authorities have launched a search for a woman from Bostwana, named Khuno Oremeet Selyn, who visited the city on November 18.

    “An official from the Bostwana Embassy told us over phone that she is in isolation at a military organisation in Jabalpur.

    We have asked him to share her mobile phone number and her local contact,” Jabalpur Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Ratnesh Kurariya said. “The woman came to Jabalpur from Delhi, as per the record shared with us by the central government.”

    ALSO READ: COVID test mandatory at airport for travellers landing in India from ‘countries at risk’ 

    Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar, meanwhile, said the sample of one of the two persons who arrived in Bengaluru recently from South Africa appears “different from the Delta variant”, the currently dominant strain.

    “There is a 63-year-old man whose name I should not disclose. His report is a bit different. It appears different from the delta variant. We will discuss with the ICMR officials and will let people know by the evening what it is,” the minister said.

    Experts Monday said the Omicron variant carries “concerning” mutations that may make it more transmissible and allow it to evade immunity, but stressed vaccines are still a critical tool.

    The B.1.1.529 Covid variant, first detected in South Africa last week, was designated by the World Health Organisation as a Variant of Concern (VOC). Public policy expert Chandrakant Lahariya noted that Omicron has around 50 mutations.

    Of these, 32 are in spike proteins, which the virus uses to enter the human cells, and 10 are mutations of high relevance.

    ALSO READ: Wary, weary world slams doors shut in face of new variant omicron

    “These include H655Y, N679K and P681H mutations which potentially increase the transmissibility. The mutations R203K and G204R are being considered to be associated with higher infectivity. Similarly, there are deletions at NSP6, which could result in immune escape,” Lahariya, also a physician and epidemiologist, told PTI.

    Immunologist Satyajit Rath added that the emergence of the new variant suggests that “we need to stop treating the Covid pandemic as a short-term crisis that needed short-term measures but has already passed”.

    “I would guess that it will probably turn out to be very good at spreading, it will likely not cause more severe disease, current vaccines will probably show some reduction in their potency against it but will not be ‘ineffective’, and current drugs will quite likely work well against it,” Rath told PTI.

    Upasana Ray, a senior scientist at Kolkata’s CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), agreed.

    “The most important tool against this variant is to follow COVID-19 appropriate health guidelines and getting vaccinated. Vaccines should provide at least partial protection against progression of the infection to severe COVID,” Ray told PTI.

    ALSO READ: UK set to expand COVID vaccine boosters amid omicron fears

    In Chandigarh, a 39-year-old resident who returned from South Africa has been home quarantined even as the authorities dismissed as “rumours” anyone having tested positive for the new variant.

    “He was RT-PCR negative on his arrival at the airport. He was quarantined at home on his arrival in Chandigarh,” an official statement said. It further said another RT-PCR test has been conducted on the person on November 29.

  • COVID-19: 1 more people die in Assam, 133 persons test positive

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Assam reported one death due to COVID-19 on Sunday, while 133 more persons tested positive, pushing the total number of infections to 6,16,568, the National Health Mission (NHM) said. With one person in Kamrup district losing his life, the total number of deaths rose to 6,092 persons.

    The NHM said 1,347 more COVID-19 patients have died till now, but the government’s Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by COVID-19 as they had other ailments too.

    With detection of 133 patients against testing of 20,870 samples on Sunday, Assam reported a positivity rate of 0.64 per cent, the NHM’s daily bulletin said. The state had reported 123 cases on Saturday against testing of 27,202 samples.

    At present, the state has a total of 1,344 active cases and they are being treated at different hospitals and Covid Care Centres (CCCs) along with some being in home isolation.

    Of the new cases, the highest 110 were detected in Kamrup Metropolitan, followed by seven in Jorhat, four in Nagaon and three in Dibrugarh.

    During the day, the state reported more recoveries than the number of new infections at 161, the NHM said. In Assam, 6,07,785 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered.

  • COVID-19: Assam reports one fresh death, 133 persons test positive

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Assam reported one death due to COVID-19 on Sunday, while 133 more persons tested positive, pushing the total number of infections to 6,16,568, the National Health Mission (NHM) said. With one person in Kamrup district losing his life, the total number of deaths rose to 6,092 persons.

    The NHM said 1,347 more COVID-19 patients have died till now, but the government’s Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by COVID-19 as they had other ailments too.

    With detection of 133 patients against testing of 20,870 samples on Sunday, Assam reported a positivity rate of 0.64 per cent, the NHM’s daily bulletin said. The state had reported 123 cases on Saturday against testing of 27,202 samples.

    At present, the state has a total of 1,344 active cases and they are being treated at different hospitals and Covid Care Centres (CCCs) along with some being in home isolation.

    Of the new cases, the highest 110 were detected in Kamrup Metropolitan, followed by seven in Jorhat, four in Nagaon and three in Dibrugarh. During the day, the state reported more recoveries than the number of new infections at 161, the NHM said. In Assam, 6,07,785 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered.

  • Renowned dance choreographer Shiva Shankar passes away at 72

    By PTI

    HYDERABAD: Renowned dance choreographer Shiva Shankar died at a private hospital here on Sunday due to COVID-19 related complications, hospital sources said.

    The 72-year-old National Award-winning artiste had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital here for the past few days, after he tested positive for the virus.

    “He breathed his last on Sunday,” hospital sources said. His eldest son is also undergoing treatment for the viral infection. Shiva Shankar has acted in Telugu and Tamil films.

    Noted Dance Choreographer #Sivasankar Master Passes Away !He got affected by covid. He had choreographed for more than 800 movies and won national award for #Magadheera movie …#RIP pic.twitter.com/9W19dYWMXw
    — Karthigaichelvan S (@karthickselvaa) November 28, 2021
    Director SS Rajamouli, actor Sonu Sood were among those who offered their condolences over the passing away of Shiva Shankar.

    In a tweet, Rajamouli said, “Sad to know that renowned choreographer Shiva Shankar Master garu has passed away. Working with him for Magadheera was a memorable experience. May his soul rest in peace. Condolences to his family.” Actor Sonu Sood also tweeted: “Heartbroken to hear about the demise of Shiv Shankar masterji.

    Tried our best to save him but God had different plans. Will always miss you masterji. May almighty give strength to the family to bear this loss. Cinema will always miss u sir”.

  • Centre should learn from its mistakes in previous COVID-19 waves, impose travel curbs: Baghel

    '3 major public meetings of Priyanka ji were held recently in UP. There is enthusiasm among people and they want change.'