Coronavirus India dispatch: Trajectory of cases is a cause for concern

How India's invisible workforce is left to fend for itself, more than 2,000 healthcare workers have contracted Covid-19 -roundup of news on how India is dealing with the pandemic

How India’s invisible workforce is left to fend for itself, more than 2,000 healthcare workers have contracted Covid-19, and the role of asymptomatics in spreading Covid-19 — a roundup of articles in Indian news publications on how India is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

VIDEO

Role of asymptomatics in spreading Covid-19: Asymptomatics are those people who never show symptoms of the disease but test positive for coronavirus. WHO and infectious disease specialists assert that asymptomatic patients exist but it is not known how many there are and in what proportion.The current understanding of the disease is that people are most infectious when symptoms start to manifest, or are “presymptomatic”. It is not clear if asymptomatics are much less likely than presymptomatics and symptomatics to transmit the disease. Read more here.

Amid coronavirus, Delhi’s Rohingya refugees struggle to survive: Spread across Delhi, Jammu, Haryana and Hyderabad, the community of about 18,000 people, is currently fighting not just the coronavirus, but also a perception battle.Most of these Rohingyas living in India work as daily wage labourers, small time traders or street vendors. Very few of them are educated or have a steady job. Read more here.

MANAGING COVID-19 

No documents, no benefits: How India’s invisible workforce is left to fend for itself: Almost half of India’s regular-wage workers would not have hit rock-bottom amid the lockdown if security nets were in place, data show. Lack of documentation and registration kept many workers from accessing government relief and allowed employers to evade their obligations towards their workers during thelockdown, which left millions of workers without jobs and stranded away from their homes. Complicated self-registration processes and several incentives for employers to under-report their workers’ numbers are two primary reasons why a vast majority of workers lack proper documentation. Read more here.

More than 2,000 healthcare workers have contracted Covid-19: As the fight against the spread of the coronavirus enters a critical phase, a large number of Delhi doctors, nurses, members of ward staff and other healthcare workers have tested positive for Covid-19. With the number of patients increasing steadily, and with the government saying that it s expected to touch 5.5 lakh by the end of July, the city’s medical infrastructure is stretched. Read more here.

Indian-Origin expert says trajectory of coronavirus cases in India cause for concern: Harvard Global Health Institute Director Dr Ashish Jha has expressed concern over how quickly the new coronavirus cases are rising in India and said when populous states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh get hit hard, the country could see a “large increase in virus infections and deaths”. India on Sunday saw a record single-day spike of 15,413 new Covid-19 cases, taking the country’s infection tally over the 4 lakh-mark, while the death toll rose to 13,254 with 306 new fatalities. Read more here

How a sero survey could help Haryana combat Covid-19: Ever since lockdown 4.0 ended and unlock 1.0 came into force, Haryana started witnessing a sharp spike in coronavirus cases. The cases began to multiply rapidly, resulting in the state’s case-doubling rate falling from 21 days to 6 days and patient recovery rate from 72 per cent to barely 34 per cent. Although the situation has once again started to improve, the pace at which the infection is spreading across the state has forced the Haryana government to check if there is any community transmission. Read more here.

Lockdown saw fall in cancer care, child delivery claims under Ayushman Bharat: Govt report

Admissions in hospitals for child-deliveries and cancer treatment under the world’s largest health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat, reduced significantly during the 10 weeks of the lockdown, and this trend is “worrying”, which requires “close monitoring”, according to an analysis conducted by the central government. While the oncology claims fell by 64 per cent across India, child-deliveries fell by 26 per cent during the lockdown, showed the analysis conducted by the scheme’s implementing agency, the National Health Authority (NHA). Read  more here.

Why is the Delhi govt opposing the new guidelines against home isolation?

More than 2,000 people have been testing positive for the coronavirus every day for the past 3 days. This enormous case load will quickly overwhelm institutional quarantine facilities if everyone is moved out of their homes. Also, the facilities set up in railway coaches and open grounds are just too hot and uncomfortable to occupy, and there is a shortage of staff to man them effectively. Read more here.

UNDERSTANDING COVID-19

Covid-19 Test Samples: Why do we swab instead of spit?

Swabbing the nasopharynx is an invasive and almost blind procedure. An NP swab is passed along the floor of the nasal cavity up to the back wall, swirled for a few seconds then drawn out. This procedure is not always pleasant, for the patient or the health worker. If not done correctly, it can injure the person and cause bleeding. It can also elicit sneezing or coughing, generating aerosols with infectious virus particles from a positive patient, exposing the worker to a potential infection. Read more here.

Antibodies from convalescent plasma protect against Covid-19

A team of scientists led by Dennis R. Burton from the Scripps Research Institute has discovered that neutralising antibodies present in the blood of COVID-19 infected who have recovered offers powerful protection against novel coronavirus in animals. The researchers found that passive transfer of neutralising antibodies into Syrian hamsters protects them against the disease when exposed to the virus. The protection was found when antibodies at high dose were transferred to the animals. Read more here.