India Coronavirus Dispatch: Assam unlocks as infection rate declines

Kerala to train, export nurses and paramedics, why so many vaccines are being developed, and are children strong spreaders of Covid-19?-news on how India is dealing with the pandemic

Interview

Strict lockdowns after four to five months of the pandemic are not justified, says AIIMS professor: Read this interview with Dr Sanjay Rai, who explains that there are health problems other than Covid-19 that need attention, and this lockdown has disrupted all these health-related activities. Based on the sero-survey conducted in Delhi towards the end of June, he also says the number of infections in the city could be almost a 100 times the detected number. The results also point to community transmission and trend toward herd immunity. 
 

Managing Covid-19

Assam unlocks as Covid-19 infection rate declines: All government offices, banks, insurance companies, etc., have been allowed to operate with 100 per cent workforce except pregnant women subject to buses ferrying the staff. Non-contact sports too have been allowed in open space on the condition of maintaining social distancing. Read more here. 
 

Kerala to train, export nurses & paramedics to boost remittances after Covid: Kerala, the southern Indian state with development indicators comparable to the first world, will invest in training and exporting health workers with the aim of capitalising on their remittances, its Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said. The state government’s plan to invest in training health workers comes as the World Bank estimates a sharp decline in remittances globally following disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including job losses. Read more here. 
 


Covid lockdown could lead to over 180,000 new TB cases, 88,000 more deaths, study says: The Covid-19 lockdown may lead to 1,86,000 new TB cases and 88,000 additional deaths in India, according to a new study. The findings, published in the Indian Journal of Tuberculosis, reveal that there had been a 59 per cent under-detection of TB cases during the eight-week lockdown, between March and May, compared to the same duration before that. The nationwide lockdown, had caused disruption in TB services and delay in diagnosis. This may lead to additional deaths if patients do not get treatment on time. Read more here. 
 

Understanding Covid-19

Are children strong spreaders of Covid-19? How effectively can children spread Covid-19? Until recently, it was widely believed that they are not strong spreaders. Recent studies, however, have suggested that children may spread the novel coronavirus at least as much as adults. Read more here. 
 

Why so many vaccines are being developed: According to the latest list of the WHO, at least 165 vaccines for novel Coronavirus were being developed across the world. But why are so many vaccines being developed? Do we need so many Coronavirus vaccines? Wouldn’t the first one to hit the market make others redundant? Aren’t then we wasting huge amount of money and resources in duplicating efforts? Shouldn’t everyone collaborate to produce just one effective vaccine, and concentrate our efforts in ensuring that it is made available to all? Read more here. 
 

A coronavirus vaccine may need a booster. What does this mean? In the global race to contain the coronavirus pandemic, there is hopeful news on the vaccine front, with a number of potential candidates being developed and some promising early results. Based on what we know so far, most potential vaccines designed to protect against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 will require boosters, perhaps regularly. Why is this? Read more here.
 

Will I be quarantined after arriving in India from abroad? Although the Indian government has extended the suspension of scheduled international flights till 31 August 2020, fresh travel guidelines have been issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for international passengers arriving in India from the United States, Germany and France, under the travel bubbles arrangement. Passengers traveling to India must fill an online self-declaration form 72 hours before departure. Read more here. 
 

Opinion

Pandemic has driven home need for collaborations in public policy between experts and administrators: No one was prepared for the speed of its diffusion, the virulence of its impact, the “known unknowns” of its duration and the ethical conundrums raised. The initial response of the authorities was swift and surgical but thereafter, the policies were made on the hoof, perhaps, given the nature of the virus, the spread of poor, at times misleading data and deepening public anxiety. Are there factors beyond the state of the public health infrastructure and the medical advice to “test, trace and isolate” that explain these differences in results? What lessons does the Covid experience offer the practitioners of public policy? Read more here. 
 

The ways in which we deal with, experience and know the pandemic: Three messages need reinforcing while engaging with the public. One, there are different established ways of gaining scientific knowledge generally backed by rigorous methods of validation. Two, knowledge is always in the making and uncertainty is an established aspect of science, especially medicine. And three, knowledge produced by the human and social sciences is just as valuable to better the human condition. Read more here.