News Analysis India

Tag: Pandemic

  • Mumbai logs 660 new COVID-19 cases, lowest since February 23; death count rises by 22

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Mumbai reported 660 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the lowest since February 23 this year, and 22 fatalities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

    With this, the city’s infection tally rose to 7,14,450 and death toll to 15,122. On Wednesday, Mumbai had recorded 788 cases and 27 deaths. The country’s financial capital had reported 643 new infections on February 23 this year.

    After that, the daily COVID-19 infection count in the city had remained in four to five digits for a sustained period during the second wave.

    According to the BMC officials, the city currently has 15,811 active cases of COVID-19 as 768 patients recovered during the day.

    With this, the tally of recovered patients jumped to 6,81,288 and the recovery rate is 95 per cent, they said. As 25,396 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the overall test count in Mumbai reached 65,34,969.

    Mumbai’s average growth rate of COVID-19 cases between June 3 and 9 was 0.12 per cent, while the average doubling rate was 566, they said. The number of active containment zones in the city has came down to 25, while there are 93 buildings that have been sealed to curb the break the chain of the virus.

    During the second wave of the pandemic, Mumbai had reported the highest number 11,163 coronavirus positive cases on April 4, while it had witnessed the highest 90 deaths on May 1.

  • Covid: 25 more deaths, 1,117 new cases in Jammu and Kashmir

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: The COVID-19 death toll in Jammu and Kashmir rose to 4,143 on Thursday with 25 more fatalities, while 1,117 new cases pushed the infection count to 3,04,866, officials said.

    Out of the fresh cases, 332 were from Jammu division and 785 from the Kashmir division, they said. Srinagar district recorded the highest 194 cases followed by 121 in Budgam district, officials said.

    The number of active cases dropped to 18,581, while the overall recoveries have reached 2,82,142 so far, officials said. The death toll rose to 4,143 after 25 patients died in the past 24 hours, they said.

    Officials said there were 18 confirmed cases of Mucormycosis (black fungus) in the union territory and no fresh case has been reported since last evening.

  • Assam to hold board exams if Covid positivity rate drops below 2 per cent: CM

    Several states have cancelled their board examinations amid the Covid-19 pandemic after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decided not to hold its class 12 exam.

  • 27,000 people have availed treatment under Rajasthan’s health insurance scheme since May 1: Officials

    The flagship health insurance scheme provides an annual cashless insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to every family. The scheme also covers expenses for COVID-19 treatment.

  • Government issues guidelines on COVID in children; suggests rational use of CT scan; Remdesivir not recommended

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government has come out with comprehensive guidelines for the management of COVID-19 among children in which Remdesivir has not been recommended and rational use of HRCT imaging has been suggested.

    The guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the health ministry also said that steroids are harmful in asymptomatic and mild cases of infection.

    The DGHS recommended steroids only in hospitalised moderately severe and critically ill COVID-19 cases under strict supervision.

    “Steroids should be used at the right time, in the right dose and for the right duration. Self-medication of steroids must be avoided,” it said.

    The guidelines also said Remdesivir (an emergency use authorization drug) is not recommended in children.

    “There is lack of sufficient safety and efficacy data with respect to Remdesivir in children below 18 years of age,” the guidelines said.

    The guidelines suggested rational use of High-resolution CT (HRCT) for seeing the extent and nature of lung involvement in patients with COVID-19.

    “However, any additional information gained from HRCT scan of the chest often has little impact on treatment decisions, which are based almost entirely on clinical severity and physiological impairment.

    “Therefore, treating physicians should be highly selective in ordering HRCT imaging of the chest in COVID-19 patients,” the guidelines said.

    They said COVID-19 is a viral infection, and antimicrobials have no role in the prevention or treatment of uncomplicated COVID-19 infection For asymptomatic and mild cases, the guidelines said antimicrobials are not recommended for therapy or prophylaxis while for moderate and severe cases antimicrobials should not be prescribed unless there is clinical suspicion of a superadded infection.

    Hospital admission increases the risk of healthcare-associated infections with multidrug-resistant organisms.

    For asymptomatic infection among children, the guidelines recommended no specific medication and promoted COVID-appropriate behaviour (mask, strict hand hygiene, physical distancing) and suggested giving nutritious diet.

    The guidelines said that for mild infection paracetamol 10-15mg/kg/dose may be given every 4-6 hours for fever and throat soothing agents and warm saline gargles in older children and adolescents have been recommended for cough.

    In case of moderate infection, the guidelines suggested initiating immediate oxygen therapy.

    “Corticosteroids are not required in all children with moderate illness; they may be administered in rapidly progressive disease and anticoagulants may also be indicated,” the guidelines said.

    For severe COVID-19 among children, the guidelines said if Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) develops, necessary management to be initiated. “In case shock develops, necessary management should be initiated. Antimicrobials to be administered if there is evidence/strong suspicion of superadded bacterial infection. May need organ support in case of organ dysfunction, e.g. renal replacement therapy,” it said.

    The guidelines also recommended a six-minute walk test for children above 12 years under the supervision of parents/guardians “It is a simple clinical test to assess cardiopulmonary exercise tolerance and is used to unmask hypoxia. Attach a pulse oximeter to his/her finger and ask the child to walk in the confines of their room for six minutes continuously,” it said.

  • Centre’s move of capping Covid vaccine prices at hospitals came late: Punjab minister

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Wednesday said the Centre’s decision of capping the price of Covid vaccines at private hospital came late and urged it to abolish the 25 per cent quota kept for private players.

    Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the central government will provide free coronavirus vaccines to states and union territories for inoculation of all above 18 from June 21, Sidhu in a statement urged the Centre to refund all payments made by state governments for vaccines.

    The decision of capping the price was taken at a much later stage when private hospitals have already made huge profits while BJP leaders levelled false allegations that the Punjab government is making profit by supplying vaccines to them, the minister said.

    He said the state governments do not enjoy the unique position of the Centre, which has the advantage of being a monopolistic buyer and can negotiate an appropriate price.

    The Centre was getting the Covishield vaccine at Rs 150 per dose whereas the state government was getting it at Rs 315, he said.

    The minister also said the Centre should administer free vaccines to all sections of society as the BJP had announced in several assembly polls.

    Keeping this in view, the Centre should abolish the 25 per cent quota allocated to private players, he said.

    Lashing out at the Centre for blaming Punjab government for allegedly making profit by supplying vaccines to private hospitals, the minister said considering the vaccine policy of the Union government, they decided to prioritise the poor and most deserving sections.

    He said the private hospitals were expected to cater to those in the 18-44 age group who wanted to avail paid vaccination such as students and those who have to take up jobs in foreign countries and were not being covered in any of the priority groups.

    He said the month of May witnessed the peak of the second wave and many youngsters aged between 18-44 appealed to the Punjab government that there was no vaccination available in private hospitals in Punjab unlike other states.

    Sidhu stated the vaccines were given to the private hospitals at the rate they would have paid to the manufacturers as giving at a rate less than that would have given them undue profit.

    The sale price of vaccines supplied to private hospitals went into the state fund for the purchase of vaccines for the poor and the deserving, he said.

    The minister clarified that fixing the rate of any vaccine as well as medicine falls under the purview of the Centre and latest instructions regarding capping of vaccine prices at private hospitals have been issued to all deputy commissioners and civil surgeons to ensure the compliance.

  • Jammu and Kashmir gets technology that can supply oxygen to multiple patients at a time

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: The Primary Health Centre at Tukroo in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir has become the first PHC in the union territory to get multi-feed oxygen manifold system technology which can supply oxygen to multiple patients, an official said on Wednesday.

    “To cater to the requirements of oxygen supply for multiple patients during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Tukroo Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Shopian district becomes the first in J&K to get multi-feed Oxygen Manifold System (OMS) technology,” an official spokesman said.

    The technology uses a multi-way redial header fitted to a single cylinder. This enables one oxygen bottle to cater to the needs of multiple patients concurrently thus enabling critical care management to a larger number of patients with existing limited resources, he said.

    It consists of a 24 cylinder system catering to 40 fully functional beds along with an ERC room which is fully equipped and functions round-the-clock, he added.

    Earlier, Covid patients from Shopian, which is a hilly and far-flung district, had to travel long distances to reach a hospital, but with this facility patients will be able to get oxygen at the nearest hospital.

  • Centre asks states not to share data on vaccine stocks in public, says it’s ‘sensitive’

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has written to the states and Union territories, advising them not to share the data of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system on vaccine stocks and the temperature of vaccine storage at public forums, and stating that it is a “sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement”.

    States are supposed to update the Centre on stock and transactions of all vaccines — those included in its Universal Immunisation Programme as well as using the electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network, a vaccine management system implemented in India with the help of United Nations Development Programme.

    EVIN system is used to track the vaccine stock status and temperature at all levels of vaccine storage — from the national to sub-district levels — after being launched in 2012-13.

    “It is overwhelming to see that all states are using the system to update the stock and transactions of Covid vaccines on a daily basis,” said a letter issued to the mission director of the National Health Mission in states on June 4 by the ministry.

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    The letter added that data and analytics generated by eVIN for inventory and temperature is owned by the ministry and should not be shared with any other organisation, partner or media agency, online and offline public forums without its consent.

    “This is very sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement,” the letter also said.

    The letter has come at a time when questions are being raised on the lack of centralised vaccine availability data in public domain and opacity in the vaccine distribution plan to states.  

    Officials in the ministry, when approached to comment on the content of the letter, however, insisted that this was a routine letter issued to states and is sent periodically on all vaccines and was not issued specifically for Covid vaccines. 

    “That is because information related to vaccine consumption and cold storage etc can be used by private companies to push their trade agendas in specific areas,” clarified an official in the reproductive and child division of the ministry.

    Another official said that data related to Covid vaccine is also updated on the CoWIN portal in real time.

  • Centre asks states not to share data on vaccine stocks, temperature of storage in public

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has written to the states and Union territories, advising them not to share the data of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system on vaccine stocks and the temperature of vaccine storage at public forums, and stating that it is a “sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement”.

    In a recent letter to the states, the Union health ministry said the Centre, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has rolled out the eVIN system under UIP, which is used to track the vaccine stock status and the temperature at all levels of vaccine storage, from national to the sub-district level.

    In the letter, the health ministry said it was overwhelming to see that all the states are using the system to update the stock and transactions of Covid vaccines on a daily basis.

    “In this regard, please be advised that data and analytics generated by eVIN for inventory and temperature is owned by the Ministry of Health and not to be shared with any other organisation, partner agency, media agency, online and offline public forums without the consent of the ministry.

    “This is very sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement,” said the letter written by Pradeep Haldar, Advisor, Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) to all mission directors of the National Health Mission in all the states and Union territories.

  • Maharashtra reports 10,989 COVID-19 cases, 261 deaths 

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 10,989 new COVID-19 cases, taking the state’s caseload to 58,63,880. It also recorded 261 fatalities, pushing the death toll to 1,01,833, health officials said.

    The daily cases in the state have dipped to around 10,000 in the last two days. Maharashtra had reported 9,927 cases on March 9 this year after which the numbers had increased.

    As many as 16,379 patients were discharged on Wednesday, taking the number of recovered persons to 55,97,304. The state’s recovery rate is 95.45 per cent and the case fatality rate is 1.74 per cent, the health department said.

    There are 1,61,864 active cases in the state now. As many as 2,20,912 coronavirus tests were done during the day, taking the total to 3,71,28,093. Mumbai reported 785 new cases of infection and 27 deaths.

    The total of cases in the financial capital of the country rose to 7,12, 840, while its death toll reached 15,033. The larger Mumbai division reported 2,403 new cases and 47 deaths, taking the region’s caseload to 15,54,814 and death toll to 28,553.

    Nashik division reported 972 new cases, Pune division 2,752 cases, while Kolhapur division reported 3,527 cases including 1,078 in Kolhapur district itself.

    Aurangabad division recorded 188 new cases, Latur division 386 cases, Akola division reported 451 cases, while Nagpur division reported 310 cases.

    Maharashtra’s coronavirus figures: Positive cases 58,63,880, New cases 10,989, Death toll 1,01,833, Recoveries 55,97,304, Active cases 1,61,864, Total tests 3,71,28,093.