India Coronavirus Dispatch: 80% of security forces have received first shot

Benefits of a longer interval between vaccine doses, medical oxygen use doubles in five days in Gujarat, Silence on Kumbh shows religious bias-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

Nearly 170,000 cases reported in a new record

India reported 1,68,912 fresh coronavirus infections on Monday, taking the cumulative caseload to 13.5 million, according to a report in the Scroll. This is the highest one-day rise in infections since the start of the pandemic. The country saw 904 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 170,179, according to central health ministry data. The active caseload is at 1.2 million. Maharashtra also reported the highest-ever single-day increase in cases as the tally rose by over 63,000. Read more here

80% of the military, central security forces have got first Covid shot

Over 8 in 10 personnel in India’s security forces that include armed and police forces have received the first shot, according to data gathered by ThePrint. But, the numbers are much lower when it comes to the complete two-dose regimen. In the Army, the Indian Air Force (IAF), and the Navy, 50 per cent of the personnel have been given the second shot. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) — three of India’s Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) — mirror the trend. The figure is under 40 per cent for state police forces in Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, the report said. These states have seen their Covid caseloads explode in recent weeks. Read more here

Benefits of a longer interval between doses

If increasing the interval between vaccine does provides better protection, it’s worthwhile, explains vaccine expert Gagandeep Kang for The Indian Express. The other benefit is if the supply of vaccine doses is constrained and if a single dose provides a reasonable degree of protection, you can protect more people quickly while waiting for production to catch up and then disburse the second dose. Read more here

Gujarat: Use of medical oxygen doubled in five days

As much as 472 metric tonnes (MT) of medical oxygen was consumed across Gujarat on April 9, the most since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March last year and double the amount used just five days earlier, a report in The Indian Express said that cited data from the Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) data. On April 4, the state had consumed 234 MT medical oxygen, the report said. Read more here

OPINION: Silence on Kumbh shows religious bias

When a minority community practises their religion in India, particularly in the time of Covid, it is seen as malicious, an opinion column in ThePrint said. Muslims were called jihadis and Covid super-spreaders at the beginning of the pandemic in March, last year when over 3,000 of them, including foreigners who had visas and permission by the government of India to attend the Tablighi Jamaat, congregated in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. But, the authorities have allowed the Maha Kumbh to take place where tens of thousands of people are expected to arrive while the country is setting new records in daily infections day after day, the opinion column said. Read more here