News Analysis India

Tag: Pandemic

  • Covid’s 2nd wave deadly, causing mental ailments: Ashok Gehlot

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Dubbing the second wave of coronavirus infection as “deadly”, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said various mental health problems are being seen among people due to this.

    “The state government is cautious about this and directions have been issued to make arrangements for providing treatment and counselling to such patients and their families,” Gehlot said in a statement.

    The chief minister made the remarks while chairing a meeting to review the Covid situation in the state on Saturday.

    “Post-Covid side effects in people after prolonged treatment is a matter of concern for us,” he said.

    “It is our endeavour that such patients and families get proper treatment and counselling so that they can recover from these health problems at the earliest,” an official statement quoted Gehlot as saying.

    The chief minister said from June 21, the Centre would start free vaccination to citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 years.

    Administrative officers and the team of the Health Department should prepare an effective plan for this and make it a campaign so that the maximum number of people in the state can be vaccinated, he said.

  • Goa government extends COVID-19 curfew till June 21

    By PTI
    PANAJI: The Goa government on Saturday announced extension of the coronavirus-induced “curfew” in the state till June 21 with some more relaxations. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the curfew will be extended upto 7 am on June 21.

    “Shops, including in panchayat and municipal markets, may open between 7 am to 3 pm. Marriage function with upto 50 persons have been permitted,” he said on Twitter late in the evening.

    “Detailed order will be issued by District Collectors,” he said. Goa recorded 472 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the caseload to 1,62,048. With 15 patients succumbing during the day, the death toll in the state reached 2,914.

  • Reduction of GST on some items related to Covid ‘lip service’: Congress

    Just as #39;justice delayed is justice denied, relief delayed is also relief denied #39;, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.

  • Gujarat crosses 2-crore mark in administering COVID-19 vaccine doses: Government

    #39;The two-crore vaccine dose milestone was crossed with 2,94,583 beneficiaries getting inoculated in a single day on Saturday, #39; the department said in a release.

  • Extrapolation sans epidemiological evidence: Government trashes report on higher Covid deaths

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India Saturday refuted a report which claimed that its Covid deaths could be “five to seven times” higher than the official number, saying the assessment is based on extrapolation of data without any epidemiological evidence.

    In a statement, the Union Health Ministry also slammed the publication, without naming it, for the article which claimed: “India has suffered perhaps five to seven times ‘excess deaths’ than the official number of Covid-19 fatalities”.

    The ministry termed the article, published by The Economist, speculative, without any basis and misinformed.

    “The unsound analysis of the said article is based on the extrapolation of data without any epidemiological evidence,” the ministry said, adding the studies used by the magazine to estimate the mortality are not validated tools for determining the death rate of any country or region. 

    The ministry then went on to list the reasons why the studies used by the publication cannot be trusted. An internet search of research studies in scientific databases such as Pubmed, Research Gate, etc., did not locate this study and its detailed methodology has not been provided by the magazine either, the ministry said.

    “Another evidence given is the study done in Telangana based on insurance claims. Again, there is no peer-reviewed scientific data available on such a study,” the statement said.

    “Two other studies relied upon are those done by Psephology groups namely ‘Prashnam’ and ‘C-Voter’ who are well versed in conducting, predicting and analyzing poll results.

    They were never ever associated with public health research. Even in their own area of work of psephology, their methodologies for predicting poll results have been wide off the mark many times,” it said.

    By their own submission, the magazine states that “such estimates have been extrapolated from patchy and often unreliable local government data, from company records and from analyses of such things as obituaries”, the statement said It said the government has been transparent in its approach to Covid data management.

    In order to avoid any inconsistency in the number of deaths being reported, the ministry said, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued guidelines as early as in May 2020.

    It said that for correct recording of all deaths, the ICD-10 codes recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO) was followed.

    States and Union Territories have been urged through formal communications, multiple video conferences and through the deployment of Central teams for correct recording of deaths in accordance with laid down guidelines, it said.

    The Health Ministry said that it has also regularly emphasised the need for a robust reporting mechanism for monitoring district-wise cases and deaths on a daily basis “States consistently reporting a lower number of daily deaths was told to re-check their data.

    A case in point is the Union Government writing to the State of Bihar to provide detailed date and district wise break-up of the reconciled number of deaths to Union Health Ministry,” it said.

    The statement said there shall always be the difference in mortality recorded during a profound and prolonged public health crisis such as the COVID pandemic and well-conducted research studies on excess mortalities, usually done after the event when data on mortalities are available from reliable sources.

    The methodologies for such studies are well established, the data sources are defined as also the valid assumptions for computing mortality, the statement said.

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  • Gujarat sees 490 new COVID-19 cases; six more casualties

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: With the addition of 490 new cases of COVID-19, the tally of infections in Gujarat rose to 8,19,866 on Saturday, an official from the state health department said.

    At least 1,278 patients were discharged from hospitals, while six died of the infection, taking the count of recoveries to 7,99,012 and toll to 9,991, the official said.

    With this, the recovery rate has risen to 97.46 per cent, leaving the state with 10,863 active cases, of which 272 patients are in a critical condition, he said.

    Surat reported the highest number of 100 new cases, followed by Vadodara with 77 cases, Ahmedabad with 64, Rajkot with 38 and Jamnagar with 18, it was stated.

    Of the latest casualties, two were reported in Ahmedabad city and one each in Junagadh, Bharuch, Aravalli and Jamnagar, the health department stated.

    In the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, the total number of COVID-19 cases rose to 10,432 with six new infections.

    The number of recovered cases in the UT rose to 10,336, after 16 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day. This leaves the region with 92 active cases.

    Meanwhile, Gujarat crossed the milestone of administering 2 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccination. The state’s vaccination tally rose to 2,00,30,392, after 2,94,583 doses were administered during the day, it said.

    At least 2,09,171 beneficiaries in the 18-44 age category took the jab on Saturday, taking the total doses administered so far to this group to 36,02,832.

    Gujarat’s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 8,19,866, new cases 490, death toll 9,991, discharged 7,99,012, active cases 10,863, people tested so far – figures not released.

  • Maharashtra reports 10,697 COVID-19 cases, 360 deaths

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Saturday reported 10,697 new coronavirus infections, taking the case tally to 58,98,550, the health department said.

    As many as 360 deaths were recorded during the day, taking the death toll to 1,08,333. As many as 14,910 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the recovery count to 56,31,767. The state’s recovery rate is 95.48 percent and the case fatality rate is 1.84 percent.

    With 2,23,049 new coronavirus tests during the day, the tally of tests done so far rose to 3,78,34,054. There are 1,55,474 active cases in the state now. The state capital Mumbai reported 749 cases and 18 deaths. The total of cases in the city rose to 7,14,965, and the death toll rose to 15,097.

    The larger Mumbai division reported 2,267 cases and 84 deaths. The total of cases in the region rose to 15,61,266 and death toll reached 30,236. Nashik division reported 978 cases including 601 in Ahmednagar district. Pune division reported 2,760 cases including 790 in Satara district and 829 in Pune district .

    Kolhapur division reported 3,503 cases including 1,087 in Kolhapur district and 787 in Sangli district. Aurangabad division reported 224 cases, Latur division 361 cases, Akola division 387 cases while Nagpur division reported 217 new cases.

    Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra: Total cases 58,98, 550, New cases 10,697, Death toll 1,08,333, Recoveries 56,31,767, Active cases 1,55,474, Total tests 3,78,34,054.

  • Jammu and Kashmir records 866 fresh COVID-19 cases, 14 more deaths

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir recorded 866 fresh cases, taking the infection tally to 3,06,638 on Saturday, while 14 deaths took the toll to 4,174, officials said.

    Out of the fresh cases, 265 were from the Jammu division and 601 from the Kashmir division of the Union Territory, they said. Srinagar district recorded the highest of 164 cases, followed by 71 each in Budgam and Pulwama districts.

    The number of active cases has dropped to 16,284 in the Union Territory, while 2,86,180 patients have recovered so far, the officials said. The death toll due to the disease rose to 4,174 as 14 patients died in the past 24 hours.

    Meanwhile, the officials said there were 19 confirmed cases of mucormycosis (black fungus) and one fresh case was reported since last evening.

  • Thane: Armed with college degrees, they are working as drain cleaners amid pandemic

    By PTI
    THANE: Lack of jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic has forced some young men who have college degrees to work as `nullah’ (drain) cleaners in the Mumbra area near here. But they are not ashamed.

    No work is inferior and they have to support their families, said one of them. A group of around 20 persons from Diva in the district has been hired by a private contractor for nullah cleaning which is undertaken every year to prevent flooding during the monsoon.

    Among them are some well-educatA group of around 20 persons from Diva in the district has been hired by a private contractor for nullah cleaning which is undertaken every year to prevent flooding during the monsoon.ed young men. Sameer (full name not disclosed) , who said he is a “double graduate”, is working with the contractor for the last three months.

    “There are no jobs outside. Companies have closed due to the pandemic. One needs a job for earning a livelihood and to take care of the family,” he told a local news channel.

    Anil, another worker, said he is an “IT engineer”. Some of them had white-collar jobs which they lost during the pandemic. To save on transport costs, they walk from Diva to Mumbra, a distance of over 10 km, everyday for work.

    As they needed income, one of them approached an agent of the civic contractor who undertakes pre-monsoon works a few weeks ago, and expressed willingness to join his team of labourers.

    The corporator of the ward in Mumbra where the work is underway said she felt sympathy for them as they had lost their regular jobs.

    “I salute them for their work,” she added. “One should not look down upon any work. After all we have to survive and support the family. What if we are postgraduates or double graduates? Our degrees are not going to help us at present,” said another man.

    “This job will last for a couple of weeks. Then we will have to look for another source of income,” he said.

  • Jharkhand reports only 1 fresh COVID-19 death, 291 new cases

    By PTI
    RANCHI: Jharkhand recorded only one single-day COVID-19 death and 291 fresh cases, a health bulletin said on Saturday. Accordingly, the state’s death toll and coronavirus tally rose to 5,082 and 3,43,065, respectively, it said.

    No fresh deaths were reported in state capital Ranchi and East Singhbhum, districts that had been witnessing a high number of fatalities. A single death during the last 24 hours was recorded in Bokaro district.

    The mortality rate stood at 1.48 per cent, higher than the national average of 1.20 per cent. Pakur and Chatra did not report any new COVID-19 case since Friday, the bulletin said.

    Jharkhand now has 4,220 active cases, while 3,33,763 patients have recovered from the disease so far, it said, adding, the recovery rate has improved to 97.28 per cent, better than the national average of 94.90 per cent.

    Altogether, 90,22,574 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state, which includes 39,338 in the last 24 hours.