News Analysis India

Tag: Pandemic

  • COVID underreporting: SBI economists say death reporting shortfall not a new phenomenon

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Amid the debate over underreporting of COVID fatalities, economists at SBI on Wednesday said that shortfall in reporting deaths is not a new phenomenon in India.

    One of the prime reasons for the underreporting is because many of the demises happen without any medical attention and hence, ramping up the health infrastructure is the key to manage the jigsaw, they said.

    The SBI report comes amidst a debate over underreporting of COVID deaths in the country especially after happenings like bodies floating in the Ganga river or just thrown from bridges, with some estimates suggesting the actual fatalities can be as high as 10 times the reported number.

    ALSO READ: India records 50,040 new COVID-19 cases, 1,258 deaths in a day

    Over 81 per cent of the births were ‘institutional’ in 2019 as against 56 per cent in 2009, while 34.5 per cent of the deaths did not receive any medical attention which leads to the probability of getting them registered is very less.

    “It also goes on to show that it is quite possible that no diagnosis was undertaken and disease and death underreporting is not a new phenomenon in India. This is important in the context of the recent debate on measuring the Covid deaths in India through the civil registration system,” it said.

    “Only better medical attention can lead to even better disease profiling and saving of lives in India. Ramping up public health infrastructure and increasing number of public health care professionals is the key to such jigsaw,” they recommended.

    “It seems obvious” that the impact of the COVID-19 devastation ‘must be worse’ in lower-income countries like India, the note said.

    Dwelling on the issue of birth and death registrations, the note said that the government had made it mandatory to register both through an Act in 1969.

    It said Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand had a death registration rate of below 75 per cent as per 2019 data from Civil Registration System.

    A total of 11 states have achieved 100 per cent birth registration, while 15 states achieved 100 per cent death registration in 2019, it said.

    Meanwhile, the note also warned of potential imbalances in the demographics, pointing out that in 2019, one-third of the total births were registered in only UP and Bihar while a third of the deaths were in UP, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

    “The uneven trend in birth and death in some of the states does not augur well for their demographic profile in the coming years,” it said.

  • Need global approach for key challenges like pandemics: External Affairs minister S Jaishankar

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: One of the paradoxes of current times has been that though climate change, terrorism and pandemics are global problems, the response to them tends to be national, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.

    Jaishankar also noted that there was a need to effectively utilise the capabilities spread across the world to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The external affairs minister was speaking at a virtual interactive session with former British prime minister Tony Blair at the India Global Forum. “The reality is that nobody can make vaccines by themselves. If the world comes together, we are going to scale up production of vaccines,” Jaishankar said.

    India has been consistently calling for adopting a united global approach in dealing with major challenges facing the world like terrorism, climate change and pandemics. “One of the paradoxes of our era is that the real problems are all global. Climate change is global, terrorism is global, pandemics are global. But our response tends to be national. Just look back at the last year-and-half,” he said.

    “Which country has not thought nationally? Unless we are able to overcome that and look at international coordination and collaboration, we are not going to be able to get on top of this,” Jaishankar said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic.

    In his remarks, Jaishankar also mentioned the adverse impact of the pandemic including job losses on a huge scale, economic stress and how it forced people to change lifestyles. “Our lives have come, in a sense, to a halt. People lost lives on a huge scale, the stress level has increased, there have been changes in lifestyle. It is huge and still continuing,” he said.

    Jaishankar said that there have been indications from the beginning of 2021 by the world community on working together to address the problem. “I am optimistic about much more international collaboration on the response system,” he said.

    Jaishankar said the pandemic has taken health right up the priority list as well as accelerated the digital side of people’s lives. “A new global agenda is in the making. The new global agenda is much greener, is much more health conscious much more digital. It looks at a lot of other insecurities which were magnified by the pandemic,” he said.

    Blair said the G20 can play a crucial role in uniting global efforts to deal with the challenge. He said India will be a very important player in the production of COVID-19 vaccines. In his comments, Jaishankar also underlined the need for reforms in multilateral institutions to effectively deal with challenges facing the world.

  • Saline water instead of vaccine doses: Mumbai police form special team to probe vaccination camp fraud

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Mumbai police has formed a special investigation team to probe a fake COVID-19 vaccination camp racket that took place in several places in the metropolis, leading to the arrest of ten persons, a senior official said on Friday.

    The police investigation has also found that the so-called COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to the victims contained saline water, he added.

    A total of Rs 12.40 lakh, which was taken as vaccine cost and camp fees by the organisers, has been recovered along with a car, the official added.

    “Prima facie, the probe has found the accused gave doses containing saline water. Some of the victims had complained about vaccine vials used in the camps having broken seals.

    Considering the danger in which the accused put people at these camps, we have slapped section 308, which is for attempt to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, apart from other IPC provisions,” said Vishwas Nangre Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order).

    The Joint CP, addressing a press conference, said at least nine such camps were held in Mumbai between May 25 and June 6, and seven cases have been registered at various police stations here so far.

    He said the police had received information about a camp that was held for over 500 people on April 24, adding that all such inoculation events where the beneficiaries did not receive certificates will be checked starting from April 24.

    “So far, the police has recorded the statement of at least 200 people, and have recovered 114 duplicate certificates which were uploaded on CoWin app. The accounts of main accused Mahendra Pratap Singh, who owns an event management firm, and Manish Tripathi, who has a nursing institute, have been frozen. Singh’s firm was actively involved in organizing such camps and it was manned by students from Tripathi’s institute,” the Joint CP informed.

    He said the vaccine vials were provided by Shivam Hospital in Charkop in Kandivali, and Dr Shivraj Pataria and Neeta Pataria have been arrested in this connection.

  • Ladakh records 22 new COVID-19 cases, no fresh death

    By PTI
    LEH: Ladakh recorded 22 new COVID-19 cases that took the infection tally to 19,903, with no fresh death due to the disease taking place in the Union territory, officials said on Friday.

    So far, 202 people, including 144 in Leh district and 58 in Kargil district, have succumbed to the viral disease in Ladakh, they said.

    Forty-six people were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the disease, pushing the total number of recoveries to 19,387, they said.

    Of the new 22 cases, all were reported from Leh, officials said.

    A total of 3,432 sample reports in Ladakh, including 2,465 from Leh and 967 from Kargil, were found negative for Covid on Thursday.

    While 36 Covid patients were discharged after recovery in Leh, 10 were discharged in Kargil, they said.

    The total number of active coronavirus cases in the Union territory (UT) has come down to 314, including 236 in Leh and 78 in Kargil district, they said.

  • Haryana announces Rs 5,000 one-time aid for labourers, shopkeepers hit by pandemic

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Thursday announced a one-time payment of Rs 5,000 each to small shopkeepers, construction workers, auto-rickshaw drivers and unorganised labourers who have faced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

    BPL families who have lost a family member in the 18-50 age group to COVID-19 will be given an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced at a media briefing here on the occasion of his government completing 600 days in office.

    The chief minister also announced a host of other benefits, including waiver of property tax and reduction in electricity bill in the first quarter of 2021-22.

    Altogether, these announcements entail a financial package of over Rs 1,100 crore.

    Giving details, Khattar said a financial aid of Rs 5,000 each will be given to 12 lakh families who are engaged in the unorganised sector such as construction workers and auto-rickshaw drivers.

    This package is worth Rs 600 crore.

    The chief minister said to ensure that the labourers of the unorganised sector have easy access to the scheme a portal has been designed and the registrations on the portal will start from June 18.

    The CM also announced Rs 5,000 each for ASHA workers and those engaged in the National Health Mission.

    It would entail an expenditure of Rs 11 crore, he said.

    Similarly, a package of Rs 150 crore was announced for small shopkeepers, he stated.

    Khattar further said that the government had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the BPL families whose members in the age group of 18 years and 50 years died due to COVID-19.

    The CM said that the state government is steadfast to provide relief to consumers of electricity during the COVID-19 crisis and the electricity department has decided that surcharge will not be levied on electricity bills till June 30.

    Apart from this, the state government announced relief to the traders as their business activities are affected due to COVID-19 pandemic.

    He said the consumers whose average electricity bill for the months of April, May and June is 50 per cent less than the average electricity bill for the months of January, February and March, their fixed charge of Rs 10,000 will be completely waived.

    Those consumers whose fixed charge ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000, they will get a rebate of up to Rs 10,000 and a rebate of 25 per cent will be given on electricity bills having fixed charges of more than Rs 40,000.

    Khattar also said that it has been decided to waive the entire property tax for the first quarter of the year 2021-22.

    With this, a financial burden of about Rs 150 crore will be borne by the Urban Local Bodies Department.

    In another decision, he said that the government has also given permission for registration of the fourth floor of buildings in big cities.

    The CM said that motor vehicle tax for the first quarter of the year 2021-22 will not be levied on non-goods transport vehicles.

    Due to this, the financial burden of about Rs 72 crore will be borne by the government.

    Apart from this, the fitness date of vehicles has also been extended till June 30.

    He also announced a discount of 25 per cent on purchase of e-tractors.

    He said that the special offer on the e-tractors will benefit 600 farmers.

    The farmers who book e-tractor by September 30, 2021 will be eligible to get the benefit of this offer.

    If the number of applicants seeking this offer is less than 600 then every applicant will get the benefit of this offer and if the number of applicants is more than 600, then the decision will be taken through a draw of lots, he said.

    Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Home and Health Minister Anil Vij, Education Minister Kanwar Pal, Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma, Power Minister Ranjit Singh, Agriculture Minister J P Dalal and others were present at the briefing.

  • Economy likely contracted 12 per cent in Q1: Report

    This is despite the indicator rebounded to 88.7 in the week to June 13, up 3 per cent week-on-week after many states eased localised mobility restrictions from the last week of May.

  • Social media posts twisted facts, final product doesn’t have newborn calf serum: Centre on Covaxin

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Contesting social media claims on Covaxin, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday that facts were ‘twisted and misrepresented’ in the posts. Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech said in a clarification that newborn calf serum was used in manufacturing of viral vaccines, but not in the final formulation. 

    “There have been some social media posts regarding composition of the COVAXIN vaccine where it has been suggested that COVAXIN vaccine contains newborn calf serum,” said the ministry. “Newborn calf serum is used only for preparation/ growth of vero cells. Different kinds of bovine and other animal serum are standard enrichment ingredient used globally for vero cell growth. Vero cells are used to establish cell lines which help in production of vaccines. This technique has been used for decades in polio, rabies, and influenza vaccines,” the ministry said.

    “These vero cells, after the growth, are washed with water, with chemicals (also technically known as buffer), many times to make it free from the newborn calf serum. These vero cells are infected with corona virus for viral growth.

    “The vero cells are completely destroyed in the process of viral growth. Thereafter this grown virus is also killed (inactivated) and purified. This killed virus is then used to make the final vaccine, and in the final vaccine formulation no calf serum is used. Hence, the final vaccine does not contain newborn calf serum at all and the calf serum is not an ingredient of the final vaccine product,” the statement said.

    “Bovine serum is widely used in the manufacture of vaccines globally for decades. The usage of new born calf serum was transparently documented in the following publications since the last nine months,” said the statement.

    This comes after the Congress party’s national coordination for digital communication and social media, Gaurav Pandhi tweeted an RTI response to one Vikas Patni from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on the contents of Covaxin. It accused the Centre of betraying the ‘faith and belief’ of people.

    Congress leader shows RTI document to support claim Congress leader Gaurav Pandhi has claimed that Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech contains serum of newborn calf. He shared an RTI document on Twitter, which was the response from the Central Drugs Controller General to RTI applicant Vikas Patni. “In an RTI response, the Modi Govt has admitted that Covaxin consists newborn calf serum …..which is a portion of clotted blood obtained from less than 20 days young calves, after slaughtering them. This is heinous! This information should have been made public before.”

  • Uttar Pradesh reports 310 new COVID-19 cases, 50 deaths

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: With 50 fresh COVID-19 fatalities in the state, the death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 21,963, while the tally climbed to 17,03,458 with 310 fresh cases, according to a health department bulletin on Wednesday.

    Of the 50 fresh deaths, 10 have been reported from Lucknow, four from Shahjahanpur, three each from Lakhimpur Kheri, Jhansi, Ghazipur, two each in Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sonbhadra, Ayodhya, Sant Kabirnagar, Basti, one each in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Kanpur Nagar, Saharanpur, Bulandshahr, Pilibhit, Mathura, Pratapgarh, Hardoi, Gonda, Etawah, Aligarh, Amroha, Kannauj and Banda, it said.

    Of the 310 new COVID-19 cases, 29 have been reported from Lucknow, 22 from Meerut, 17 from Ghaziabad, 16 each from Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar, Prayagraj, 14 from Gorakhpur, among others, the bulletin said.

    In the past 24 hours, 927 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the total number of those recovered to 16,74,999. The recovery rate in the state now stands at 98.3 per cent. The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 6,496 of which 3,921 are in home isolation.

    In the past 24 hours, more than 2.86 lakh samples have been tested in the state, while over 5.41 crore samples have been tested in the state so far, the bulletin added.

  • Covaxin recipient students being considered as unvaccinated by foreign varsities: ABVP tells Vardhan

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has submitted a memorandum to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan drawing his attention to the fact that those students who have been inoculated with Covaxin are being treated as ‘unvaccinated’ by foreign universities.

    They also drew his attention towards those students below the age of 18 years who have got admission in foreign varsities but do not fall within the vaccination bracket.

    Many countries, including the US and European countries, are treating Indian students vaccinated with Covaxin as ‘unvaccinated’, the memorandum said.

    “Such treatment is a source of grave inconvenience and academic loss to the Indian students,” it said. Apart from this, many higher secondary students apply for admissions to foreign universities.

    Students aged below 18 who have passed SAT for admissions to American or British Universities have not yet been covered under the vaccination policy, which makes them prone to academic loss, it added.

    ABVP National Secretary Sushri Nidhi Tripathi said, “Looking at the uncertainty and the gravity of the situation, the ABVP has requested the Union minister of Health and Family Welfare to look into and resolve the issues faced by the students who wish to study abroad.”

    “We have also requested the minister to issue a statement with regards to the same at the earliest, so that the concerns of students and their parents are addressed. We have also requested the government to try and end the impasse with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organisations,” he said.

  • Centre rejects reports of dissent by experts about increasing gap between Covishield doses

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday dismissed media reports claiming there was dissent from technical experts about increasing the gap between two Covishield doses and said the decision was based on scientific reason about the behaviour of adenovector vaccines.

    The Centre on May 13 had approved extending the gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine from six to eight weeks to 12 to 16 weeks following a recommendation from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). The 22nd meeting of COVID-19 Working Group of NTAGI was held on May 10.

    There, a proposal for a change in dose interval for Covishield, used under the National Vaccination Policy, was considered.

    Based on the real-life evidence, particularly from the United Kingdom, the COVID-19 Working Group agreed to increase the interval between two doses of Covishield Vaccine to 12 to 16 weeks, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

    This recommendation was taken up for discussion at the meeting of the Standing Technical Sub-Committee (STSC) of NTAGI held on May 13 under the joint chairpersonship of the secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, the secretary of Department of Health Resources and the DG of the Indian Council of Medical Research, it said.

    “The STSC of NTAGI gave the following recommendation: ‘as per the COVID-19 Working Group recommendation, a dosing interval of minimum three months between two doses of Covishield vaccine was recommended’,” the statement said.

    “It may be noted that the decision of increasing the gap is based on scientific reason regarding behaviour of adenovector vaccines and has been discussed thoroughly in meetings of COVID-19 Working Group and STSC of NTAGI with no dissent from any member,” it said.

    In both the meetings — of the COVID-19 Working Group and of the STSC — no dissent was given by any of the three members who have been quoted in the news report, namely Dr Mathew Varghese, Dr M D Gupte and Dr J P Muliyil, the statement said.

    It also said that Dr Varghese has denied talking to the reporter on the issue of his alleged dissent.