India Coronavirus Dispatch: Cases of seasonal flu dip amid Covid

AstraZeneca says no higher risk of blood clots with its coronavirus vaccine, why the 28-day gap between doses is necessary, and more-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

Reasons behind Maharashtra's poor Covid showing

Maharashtra's poor show in curbing the spread of the coronavirus is because it is not testing enough and properly, a report in ThePrint said. The state has 56 per cent of the active caseload in India, but it accounts for just seven per cent of fully vaccinated people in the country. Also, despite the fact that the state is now close to testing 100,000 samples a day, the tests-per-million metric is at 1,42,513.9 against a national average of 1,63,160, the report said. Read more here

 

Cases of seasonal flu dip amid Covid

Cases of seasonal flu—a common occurrence in January and February— have seen a dip amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a report in ThePrint said. Sales of medication for cold and flu declined by 14 per cent from Rs 3,154 crore to Rs 2,712 crore between February 2020 and February 2021, according to data gathered by the All India Organisation of Chemist and Druggist (AIOCD-AWACS). Experts say compliance with recommended precautions to avoid contracting Covid-19 such as wearing a mask and frequent hand-washing is behind the dip in cases of seasonal flu as communicable diseases spread through droplets. Read more here 

AstraZeneca says no higher risk of blood clots 

British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has said that a review of individuals inoculated with its Covid-19 vaccine has shown no evidence of increased risk of blood clots, a report in the Scroll said. The vaccine was developed in collaboration with the UK's University of Oxford. Pune-based Serum Institute of India is the manufacturing partner for the vaccine. AstraZeneca said it has reviewed data from 17 million people vaccinated in the United Kingdom and European Union after reports emerged of blood clotting among people who received the shots in Norway. Read more here

Here’s why the 28-day gap between doses is necessary

A report in The Indian Express explains the reasoning behind the 28-day interval between jabs in a two-dose Covid-19 vaccine regimen. Dr Farah Ingale, director, internal medicine at Hiranandani Hospital, told the newspaper, “With the first dose, people develop antibodies slowly, but with the second dose, this process gets faster. A minimum 28-day gap, therefore, is appropriate. Many countries are maintaining a gap of around three months to ensure the maximum number of people in their country get inoculated." Ingale added, "In India, our approach has been different. Through our phased approach — which keeps in mind our population size — we are hoping people receive their vaccination in a timely manner." Read more here 

Maharashtra: Lockdown is not the right strategy at this stage, expert explains

In a report in The Indian Express, a medical expert explains why lockdowns are not the right strategy at this stage. Dr Pradip Awate told the newspaper a lockdown is like a pause button which made sense in the early days of the pandemic as it bought the authorities time to prepare for the crisis. The lockdown provided time to upgrade health infrastructure, ramp up hospital bed numbers, laboratory network, equipment like oxygen beds and ventilators. But now that those systems are already in place. Lockdowns should have little role to play in the strategy to contain the virus. Read more here