News Analysis India

Tag: second covid wave

  • Second wave caused 30% more deaths in admitted patients than the first, shows data from 41 hospitals

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: A registry-based ICMR study from 41 government and private hospitals in India has shown that a significantly higher number of Covid patients had shortness of breath, developed acute respiratory disease, needed oxygen and ventilation in the devastating second wave of the pandemic as compared to the first wave. 

    Importantly, the study has also shown that mortality due to the infectious disease also went up in all age groups, except in those under 20 and 13.3 % of the admitted patients died in the second wave in comparison to 10.2% in the first wave. 

    These figures mark, in absolute terms, a 3.1% rise in mortality and a 30% rise in relative terms and confirm fears that the second wave, beginning March this year, was far more lethal than the first wave last year.

    A more granular analysis showed that while 6.5% of those admitted patients aged 20-39 years died in the second wave, this percentage was 3.5 % in the first wave, for 40-60 year olds, the mortality went up from 9.2% to 12.1% and for those above 60 the death rate increased from 17% to 22.2%. However, for those under 20 years, mortality was down from 6.1% to 4.7% between the two waves.  

    The significant data is based on comparing the clinical outcomes of 18,961 patients — 12059 of whom were hospitalised in the first wave and 6,903 in the second.

    It has been published under the title “Clinical profile of hospitalized Covid-19 patients in first & second wave of the pandemic: Insights from an Indian registry-based observational study” in the Indian Journal of Medical Research. 

    The comparison showed that the mean age of the patients was significantly lower in the second wave 48.7 years versus 50.7 years even as over 70% of the hospitalised patients were over 40 years in both the waves. 

    However, a significantly higher proportion of the admitted patients in the second wave (48. 6% vs 42.8 %) complained of shortness of breath, developed acute respiratory distress (13 % vs 7.9 %), required oxygen support (50.3% vs 42.7%) and mechanical ventilation (15.9% vs 11.1%). 

    A lesser proportion of admitted patients had one or more comorbidities, highlighted the study, and showed that 50% of the patients presented to the hospital for admission within three days of onset of symptoms during the second wave as compared to four days in the first wave—showing that the deterioration may have been more rapid. 

    Also, the proportion of asymptomatic patients at the time of admission had considerably increased during the second wave, the data analysed from the National Covid19 Clinical Registry showed and amongst the symptoms noted, shortness of breath in the second wave increased by 6%.

    “In conclusion, the second wave that is being experienced in our country seems to be slightly different in presentation than the first wave,” the researchers noted.

    “Besides the steep rise of the cases, there has been more involvement of the younger demographic. However, the elderly above 60 years of age remained the most vulnerable,” they added. 

    The symptomatology has remained focussed primarily on respiratory systems with breathlessness reported in higher proportions during the second wave of Covid-19 in India, the paper said adding that higher utilization of health care systems has underlined the need for meticulous pandemic preparedness for future surges. 

    The findings in the latest paper are consistent with another study independently carried out by the Max group of hospitals which has shown that the second wave of Covid in India was far more fatal than the previous wave. 

  • Second Covid wave deadlier, fatalities higher in younger patients: Study

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: An important study carried out by 10 super specialty hospitals of a major corporate chain across five states has shown that the second wave of Covid had a markedly higher mortality rate as compared to the first one last year. 

    The retrospective research by the Max group of hospitals on clinical outcomes of nearly 20,000 patients showed that 40% more patients died between January and mid-June this year, as compared to those between April-December last year. The fatalities were particularly higher in younger patients, the research results said. 

    The results from the study “Differentials in the characteristics of Covid-19 cases in Wave-1 and Wave-2 admitted to a network of hospitals in North India” have now been released on BioRxiv, the preprint server for medical sciences. 

    For the study, medical records of a total of 14,398 cases admitted in the first wave to the Max network of hospitals in north India — Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Haryana — and 5,454 cases admitted in the same hospitals during the second wave were compared. 

    Overall, in each wave, almost two-thirds were males and females were admitted slightly more in the second wave as compared to the first wave while the age group 60+ years continued to have a disproportionately large share, nearly 40%.  

    ALSO READ | Covid cases with variants of concern rose from 10% in May to 51% till June 20: Parliamentary panel told

    Relative to their population (less than 10% at the all-India level) 60+ age group was nearly four times as likely to be admitted and patients of age less than 45 years comprised 28.3% and 27.1% in the first and second wave. 

    However, the most striking finding, which the researchers noted, was the overall higher severity of the disease at admission and a significantly higher mortality rate in the second wave, especially in younger patients. 

    In the second wave, 10.5% of the admitted patients, for instance, died as compared to 7.2%  in the first wave and the increase in mortality was seen in both males and females. Younger patients, aged less than 45 years, saw the sharpest increase in mortality to 4.1% from 1.3% in the first wave and not only was the mortality higher this year for patients in ICU (19.8% vs 25.1%) but steeply higher even for those admitted inwards (0.5% vs 3.1%). 

    Since there were no significant demographic differences in the population during these two waves, various other factors such as increased comorbidity and higher occurrence of secondary bacterial and fungal infections may have contributed towards increased mortality, the scientific exercise led by Max group director Sandeep Budhiraja concluded.  

    Additionally, said the paper, as reports indicate that a higher percentage of infections having been caused by delta variant (B.1.617.2) of SARSCoV2 in the second wave, which was not only more transmissible but also potentially more lethal, could be another important factor. 

    “Late presentation of patients in wave 2 due to non-availability of hospital beds could also have contributed towards higher mortality,” it said. 

    Importantly, the study showed that more patients required oxygen support this time (74.1% vs 63.4%). But on a rather positive note, more than one-fifth (21.4%) of patients stayed for less than 5 days in the hospital this year compared to 15.7% in the first wave. Cases with a long stay of over 15 days also reduced from 10.4% in the first wave to 7% in the second.

  • About 73 per cent elderly experienced increased abuse during lockdown during second wave: Report

    The report also found that approximately every third elderly (35.1 per cent) claimed that older people face domestic violence (physical or verbal) in old age.

  • Provide data on kids who lost at least one parent to Covid: NCPCR to states 

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Country’s apex child rights’ body has asked states to share data related to all the kids who have lost both or one parent in the ongoing second wave of the Covid pandemic in India, on its Bal Swaraj portal, in order to carry out their real time monitoring.

    As per the data compiled by the Union Women and Child Development Ministry, there are 577 kids in the country who have lost both parents to the infectious disease while there is no figure available of the children who lost at least one parent to Covid. 

    “This mechanism had not been put in place last year during the first Covid wave but the impact of the second wave on the kids has been far more severe,” Priyank Kanoongo, chairman of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said.

    “We therefore want the states, as directed by the Supreme Court too, to share the required data urgently so that the well being and education of the kids can be taken care of,” he said, adding that the state commissions can also pay random visits to check on the condition of these children. 

    ALSO READ | ‘Can’t imagine how many children orphaned by Covid’: SC directs states to identify, help them

    Kanoongo explained that in most instances, the orphaned children in need of care and protection, will be restored with the willing immediate family, or can be sent to children homes or be put up at specialised adoption centres, depending on the circumstances and as recommended by the child welfare committees in districts.

    “The CWC will prepare individual plans for all 577 such kids,” the NCPCR chief also said.

    In a separate letter to the state education secretaries, the Commission also said that in case of death of one or both parents of the child enrolled in a private school, the expenditure on elementary education of such children in the same school may be borne by the government.

    The child rights’ body also said that this will apply to all categories of schools, aided, unaided as well as private school.

    “Schools with minority institution status and all residential schools shall also follow the procedure and ensure that no such child is forced to leave the school in any manner against the child’s choice due to non-payment of fees,” the letter addressed to principal education secretaries of states said. 

    For the kids above class 8, who are beyond the purview of the Right to Education act, NCPCR said that the state government should devise guidelines for the schools and make a policy for reimbursing the expenditure on education of these children.

    From the Non-Institutional Child Care Fund, the Union government had earlier released Rs 10 lakh to each district for the care of orphaned children in the pandemic.

  • Covid-19 death rates similar globally, lowest in India: Study

    Express News Service
    BENGALURU: Despite the mayhem caused by the second wave of the pandemic and India’s unpreparedness to respond to the unprecedented surge, the death rate from Covid-19 is “very similar across countries, with India still among the lowest,” according to Dr Shiv Narayan Nishad from CSIR-National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi, and Prof Prashant Goswami, Institute of Frontier Science and Applications (IFSA), Bengaluru. Their findings have been published in a scientific paper they have co-authored and is available as a preprint in ‘The Lancet’, the prestigious international science journal.

    The paper – ‘A Comparative and Evidence-Based Assessment of COVID-19 Response in India’ is an “evidence-based analysis using public domain data from global platforms like WHO, as well as a couple of other international sources on high degrees of similarities in regional structures. Also, the death rates were found to be very similar (about 2 per cent of the confirmed cases), in spite of a wide range of health care practices across the world,” Goswami told The New Indian Express. The two scientists and co-authors have re-examined this issue in view of the second Covid-19 wave.

    Recently, there have been a lot of discussions in India as well as in international media regarding the severity of the second wave of Covid in India, and India’s presumed failure to respond to it. “While better foresight, stricter preventive measures and higher efficiency in vaccination are undoubtedly required, it is worthwhile to compare India’s performance in a global context to learn valuable lessons as well as to avoid loss of morale due to thoughtless analysis,” said Goswami.

    To begin with, Covid-19 is considered to spread through agent-based (through people-to-people contact) transmissions. Thus, a logical analysis should consider the cases per capita (like per million) of population. Actual numbers hide the fact that a country may be dealing with 10 times more population (and hence contacts) than a country, but is still lower on Covid cases or deaths, the study says.

    The epochal behavior of Covid, in terms of daily new cases, with two, somewhat separate, major peaks (with a much higher second peak) is very characteristic for the US and the UK. India has followed a similar pattern, but with a lag of about 90 days, and with much smaller per million cases till now. It was also pointed out that the initial growth of the pandemic, (normalised 15-day epochal linear trend), was very similar across the world. However, with the availability of data on the second wave, and post March, 2020, a number of interesting features have emerged, which can aid preventive preparedness and planning

    Perhaps the most significant feature is that in spite of wide variations in types of response and the efficiency of health care set-up across different countries, the death rate from Covid-19 is very similar across countries, with India still among the lowest! While the issue of underreporting of cases/deaths may remain, an analysis of cases and deaths as percentage of tests carried out also show a similar scenario, although there is an increase in death rate as percentage of tests in India in the past weeks (becoming comparable to that of the US), the study points out.

    It would be logical to expect that countries with supposedly better healthcare and distribution facilities would have smaller per million cases as well as deaths. However, international data shows that the performance in India, both in terms of number of cases (prevention) and deaths (cure) remain among the best in the world. While this cannot be any reason for complacence, it does put the issue in a more logical perspective. After all, Covid-19 being a novel pandemic, its patterns of growth and spread are still emerging. Thus, the emergence or the severity of the second Covid-19 wave was not predicted or anticipated by the agencies concerned, nationally or internationally, the analysis says.

    Going by the global patterns, the second wave  should subside by May-end if the preventive measures are carefully followed. However, the possibility of a third wave cannot be ruled out; an important and urgent preparatory measure would be to complete the vaccination of the population in the next three months, it stressed.(More details: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3618307..and also at WHO website https://pesquisa.bvsalud.org/global-literature-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/resource/en/ppcovidwho-1748)

  • INTERVIEW | Leaders did not follow policies, failed to keep promises, says Dr Chandrakant Lahariya 

    Express News Service
    Dr Lahariya is a medical doctor, epidemiologist, vaccines and health systems expert based in New Delhi. He has more than 17 years of experience in outbreak, epidemics and pandemics and one of the Indian experts involved in the 2009, H1N1 pandemic preparedness and response. He is the co-author of ‘Till We Win: India’s Fight Against The COVID-19 Pandemic”.

    1. The second Covid wave has taken the country by storm and led to a near-collapse of the healthcare system in many states, the starkest case being that of the national capital. Who do you think the buck stops with?

    A: The health systems challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic were widely acknowledged. The health systems weaknesses were fully detailed in a situation analysis document released as part of India’s third national health policy in March 2017. However, the type of effort which should have been made since then and till now is suboptimal. The NHP 2017 proposed to increase government funding for health to 2.5% of GDP by 2025, from 1.15% in 2015-16. Five years since then, the country is not on track to achieve the target it set for itself. We know, government funding for health and a well-functioning health system are essential to minimize the impact of any health emergency including epidemic and pandemic. We also know that health systems can not be strengthened overnight. And that is why experts have always kept repeating for the last two decades to invest in health services. India has landed in this situation because the successive elected governments, both national and state levels, and elected leaders did not follow up on the policies they approved and promises they made. The buck stops with governments and elected leaders at all levels. I believe it will change only when citizens start holding the elected leaders accountable for health services in their areas and when health will become an agenda which will determine their voting decision, in every single election.

    2. How and why did we miss anticipating such a massive wave of infections?

    A: There was no reason to believe, if anyone did, that India would not face a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The search for answers in universal BCG vaccination and high rate of underlying infection and thus heightened immune system quickly transcended to a narrative of ‘Indian exceptionalism’. What was forgotten the viruses do not respect boundaries and on any other ground. We know that 1918 -20 influenza pandemic four waves over a period of two years and the second wave was the one which was most severe and caused the highest mortality, in nearly all parts of the world. In the last year nearly every country, except China, has faced a second or third wave. All those should have alerted us to prepare for the next wave.  It is clear that those signals were not fully followed. Much of the Indian response to the first wave was doing what was needed to tackle the COVID-19 such as ventilator beds, PPE, and improved testing. Though there were many discussions on strengthening health systems, I am not sure if it was actually done.  If only the promises made to strengthen the health system, made by both union and state governments, would have been followed, India’s handling of the second wave would have been very different.

    3. In your estimation what could be the level of undercounting of deaths which are largely due to lack of access to adequate and timely treatment, rather than the disease itself—in India in the second wave thus far?

    A: It is very likely that deaths due to COVID-19 in India are being undercounted, as of now. This is not going to be a problem in India but also in all countries with poor registration of deaths. The rush at crematoriums and burial grounds clearly show the excess deaths. This situation at crematoriums is not in just one city or state but across many states of India. What it points to is the excess deaths in India than the pre-pandemic period. The confirmed COVID-19 deaths would not have increased this rush. We know that there is increased mortality and many of rural India and even cities are not being tested for COVID-19. Those deaths are not counted as confirmed deaths. It is not possible to predict at this stage whether those number Whether that number would be two or four folds is not possible to say. However, India has a relatively better performing death registration system, where nearly 70% of all deaths are registered. Therefore, I am sure that in the time ahead, we will definitely get a clear picture of this in the time ahead. However, for me more important is that India needs to revise the approach to certification of COVID-19 deaths and need to make it broad-based. India also needs to increase testing and treatment services in rural parts, to ensure the timely identification and case management, which would help in reducing the deaths.

    4. At one point of time, many epidemiologists believed that at least the metropolitan cities may have seen the worst of the Covid pandemic already last year. Do you think the high seroprevalence in these cities, as shown in the serosurvey, lulled policy makers and people into a false sense of security?

    A: We know that sero-surveillance is one of the tools in pandemic and they have their limitations. Alongside, the unknowns about the SARS CoV2 virus and COVID-19 have been far too many. Back then, there was limited clarity how long the immunity lasts after natural infection and what is the protective level of antibodies. It is also true that with every serosurvey, many started arguing that ‘herd immunity’ results in the end of the pandemic. Though, even the threshold of ‘herd immunity’ was not fully understood. And the experts at the global level were divided in their opinion. The core point that in such novel pathogens, herd immunity only through the natural infection was unlikely to be achieved. Attempting that would have had a very high human cost in the form of illness and deaths. Herd immunity through vaccination would be the right approach.  However, it is not about responding to the pandemic only. The weak health systems and world still being in mid of the pandemic, should have been reasons enough to continue to work upon strengthening everything which was needed to respond to the virus and pandemic.  However, in my opinion, it is the traditional low priority given to health, which resulted in a lull and false sense of security. In fact, the belief that India could tackle the first wave with whatever health system it has, sort of, was taken as the system does not need anything additional. 

    5. Battling a fierce wave of infections, the country is also facing an acute shortage of Covid vaccines. What do you think of the country’s vaccination policy so far and would you say the government did not plan well?

    A: One of the key approaches in any public health programmes has to be simplicity in design and assured provision of supply before promising delivery. That’s exactly what most countries have done. The countries have used age criteria to open the vaccination (except for health workers), the vaccination has been opened in phased manner and the availability of vaccines has been secured before started vaccinating.  Nearly all countries are providing vaccines free of cost to the citizens. India had advantage of a robust universal immunization program platform, on which COVID-19 vaccination is being implemented. The way India’s COVID-19 vaccination strategy has been developed, I am not sure if it is a technical decision or political decision. Sometimes politics should be kept away from some health decisions and especially so in the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccination is one such area. I think there is still an opportunity in India to simplify the process. The vaccine supply is unlikely to increase drastically; however, if the government revisits some vaccination decisions and put a few on hold, that can streamline the vaccination drive, which is so very vital for pandemic response today.

    6. Do you think a third wave of the pandemic is possible in the coming months? Going forward, what do you think could be India’s approach to the crisis?

    A: We know that SARS CoV2 is unlikely to disappear and will be with humanity for years and decades to come. It is also sure that the second wave would decline in coming weeks and the epidemic curve would be flattened one more time (I think starting mid to late June 2021). However, we should also know that the number of new daily new cases is not going to be as low as we had seen in February 2021. I am also confident with increased vaccination coverage, there would be a slow but sustained downward trend. However it is very likely that with the susceptible population increasing, people dropping their guard one more time, there would be fresh waves of cases. There will be a third wave at national level, which is more likely due to surge in cases at select states. No one can say, which states would those be. Irrespective of everything, when and to what extent of third of subsequent wave of COVID-19 in India would be, will be determined by the actions taken by union and state governments, the vaccination coverage, mutations in the virus and potential immune escape, and the adherence of COVID appropriate behavior by public. See, there are so many unknowns. Therefore, how many waves India will have will be determined by our actions together but also what we learn what Indian states learn from the experience of other states.

    7. Given the situation, as of now, do you support the idea of a nationwide lockdown?

    A: Much of India is already under various forms of restrictions. However, there is limited value in nationwide lockdown. We know that in India there are states and districts which have a different number of daily new cases and test positivity rate. The nationwide lockdown has always been said to be a blunt instrument. A year later with better understanding of the virus and so many technical experts, there is no value in use of a blunt instrument. The approach to pandemic response to be calibrated, factoring in local epidemiology. There are international experts who have also advised for national nationwide lockdown. However, what they miss is that India is a country of 1.38 billion people and where every state has a population size equivalent to a nation in other settings. Therefore, the restriction has to be purpose-specific and not uniform. Second and most important, all the restrictions for COVID-19 should be, no matter which state or setting they are, should always be supplemented by social security measures and cash transfer for a large proportion of population, without the unnecessary burden of proof to get those benefits. The nationwide lockdown is not the right option for India in this wave.

  • Bengal shuts down malls, cinema halls, parlours, gyms

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: All shopping malls, cinema halls, gyms, spas, beauty parlours, sports complexes, swimming pools, bars, and restaurants in West Bengal shall remain closed for an indefinite period with immediate effect, an order issued by the state government on Friday said. 

    The order also restricted operations of other commercial establishments other than those dealing with essential services.

    The order also said all social, cultural, academic, and entertainment-related gatherings and congregations shall remain prohibited.  

    “Bazars/haats will remain open only during 7-10 am in the morning and 3-5 pm in the afternoon,” the order said. Essential services such as medicine and medical equipment shops, grocery, etc. will remain outside the confines of the embargo.

    Bengal on Thursday recorded 17,403 fresh Covid positive cases and 89 deaths in the past 24 hours.

  • COVID-19 vaccine drive may leave blood banks dry

    By Express News Service
    India’s blood banks could face a crisis, with lakhs of people set to get vaccinated against COVID-19 from May 1. This is because the National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) has said blood banks shouldn’t receive from people within 28 days of them taking either dose of the vaccine. Most blood donors are in the 18-44 age group, which will be eligible to get vaccinated from May.

    To avoid being caught off guard, doctors are urging the public to donate blood before receiving the vaccine.

    The minimum interval between the two doses is four weeks, which means, if you want to receive the second dose at the earliest, you can’t donate blood for 56 days, explained Project Director of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) Deepak Jacob.

    The Tamil Nadu State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) recently urged blood banks to encourage people to donate blood at the earliest, as “not being able to donate blood for the next two months, when everyone is getting vaccinated, will result in a shortage of blood”.

     A doctor in Sivaganga warned that if enough people don’t donate blood before getting vaccinated, the maternal mortality rate could rise. “But motivating people to donate first, without discouraging them from taking the vaccine, is a tightrope walk,” another doctor added. In Chennai, a senior doctor opined that the NBTC could reduce the deferral period to prevent a shortage of blood. 

    Not all will be vaccinated immediately: Expert

    “While Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine, produced using a killed virus, Covishield uses a weakened adenovirus. WHO guidelines recommend a deferral period of 14-28 days only in case of live attenuated vaccines, but the two vaccines in India are not live attenuated ones. The UK has a seven-day deferral period if a donor receives the AstraZeneca vaccine (Covishield) and develops symptoms post vaccination,” the senior doctor said.

    The deferral period should be reduced to 14 days since blood donation doesn’t decrease the immune response, and transfusion from a vaccinated (live attenuated vaccine) donor very rarely carries the risk of an immuno-compromised recipient contracting coronavirus infection, the doctor added.

    However, Jacob asserted that concerns about blood shortage are unwarranted since all donors won’t be vaccinated in the first week of May. “There may be a long queue for months. Also, due to reduction of elective surgeries and road accidents on account of lockdown, the demand for transfusion is expected to drop, like last year,” he said.

    Meanwhile in Telangana, various youth organisations, blood banks and NGOs are encouraging youngsters to donate blood before getting vaccinated. “Summer is when the need for blood is the highest, and number of donors lowest. Soon after the Centre announced vaccination for youth, reached out to them on social media, asking them to donate blood before getting vaccinated. e plan to conduct special blood donation camps across the country,” said P Vijaya Kumar Babu, in-charge of resource mobilisation, Indian Red Cross Society – Telangana.

    In Kerala, hospitals in all major cities are already suffering from a shortage of blood due to the inability to organise donation camps last year owing to the COVID-19 crisis. On Thursday, CM Pinarayi Vijayan urged youth to donate blood before getting vaccinated. Vinod Bhaskaran, founder of Blood Donors Kerala, said they launched a social media awareness drive.

    Blood Donors Kerala and DYFI have planned blood donation camps across the State in the coming days. In Odisha too, hospitals are running out of certain blood groups, according to the government’s e-Blood Bank. “The situation is not very good at blood banks, and may worsen within 10-12 days,” said NGO Lifeline Charitable Trust president Dhirendra Thakur.

    (Inputs from Madurai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Salem, Dharmapuri, Tiruchy, Hyderabad, Kochi and Bhubaneswar)

  • Maharashtra extends lockdown till May 15 as state reports 66,159 fresh Covid cases

    By Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Thursday extended till May 15 the existing lockdown enforced to stem the spread of coronavirus in the state.

    An order issued by chief secretary Sitaram Kunte said the decision to extend the restrictions has been taken as the state continued to be threatened with the spread of Covid-19. The state on Thursday reported 66,159 new Covid cases and 771 deaths in the last 24 hours. At present, the state has 6,71481 active Covid patients. 

    It was imperative to continue the emergency measures to prevent and contain the spread of the virus, he said. The sweeping curbs on the movement of people and a host of other activities, imposed early this month, were to continue till 7 am on May 1.

    The restrictions were further tightened on April 14 and then last week, bringing more activities under their ambit.

    ALSO READ | After Serum, Bharat Biotech cuts vaccine price for states to Rs 400 per dose

    Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC, banning the assembly of five or more people at one spot, are in force. Local train services in Mumbai and public transport are open only for essential services staff of the government.

    At present, vegetable shops, grocery stores, and milk outlets are allowed to function only between 7 am and 11 am. Essential services have been exempted from the purview of the curbs.

    In the recent cabinet meeting, CM Uddhav Thackeray had held a discussion on the possible extention of the lockdown with his colleagues. The majority of the ministers had pressed for an extension of lockdown looking at the spike in Covid cases and shortage of oxygen and Remdesivir.

  • Hyundai Motor to help Covid-ravaged state breathe easy

    By Express News Service
    CHENNAI: Hyundai Motor India on Wednesday announced that it will roll out a Rs 20-crore Covid relief package to set up oxygen plants in hospitals and provide other infrastructure assistance to Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

    The philanthropic arm of Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) will allot resources to install the oxygen plants to help hospitals become self-sufficient in this regard. Besides, the foundation will aid installation of medicare facilities and provide support staff to hospitals and cater to their operational costs for next three months and further if needed.

    HMIF Managing Director and CEO SS Kim said, “The pandemic’s second wave has triggered an unprecedented crisis for the nation. To offer meaningful assistance to the most affected cities and States, Hyundai has redeployed its resources and channelled efforts that will provide relief during these difficult circumstances. We are organising resources on a war footing and hope to help in abating this crisis”

    Kim also said that Hyundai has also organised a vaccination drive for its staff aged above 45 years, at its manufacturing unit in the State with support of Sriperumbudur primary health centre, and will continue such efforts to help India overcome the crisis.