India Coronavirus Dispatch: Containment zones cross 20,000 in Bengaluru

Shortage of Covid beds in Kolkata, number of containment zones crosses 20,000 in Bengaluru, and why India has fewer Covid deaths-a roundup of news on how India is dealing with the pandemic

Managing Covid-19

Containment zones cross 20,000 mark in Bengaluru: The city has had a total of 21,863 contain-ment zones, including 13,494 which are active as of Saturday. As the number of such zones is in-creasing by the day, many citizens and residents’ welfare associations want the BBMP to reassess what falls within such a zone. The highest number of active containment zones is in the South zone at 4,100, while Dasarahalli zone has the least at 363. Read more here:

Short of Covid beds, Kolkata ‘forcing’ infected to sign ‘isolation bonds’ & quarantine at home: Many Covid patients in Kolkata have alleged that they are being forced into home isolation by the authorities despite their demand for institutional care. According to patients, even the elderly and those with comorbidities are being made to sign an “isolation bond” that fixes the onus of self-isolation on them. The allegations come as the West Bengal capital finds itself in a situation where it has more active Covid-19 cases than hospital beds. Read more here. 

Why is Delhi conducting another sero survey—and who will be tested? On August 1, Delhi ini-tiated a second serological survey across the 11 districts of the capital to estimate the percentage of the population that could have developed antibodies against the novel coronavirus. The exercise “will aid the government to tailor its (Covid-19) strategy to changing circumstances”, the Delhi government said on the official Twitter handle of the Chief Minister’s Office. Read more here.

As Covid-19 fear spreads, villages and tier-II towns in Telangana take stringent steps: As the government is not enforcing the lockdown, stating that it is not “economically feasible,” the Nalgonda traders association, local authorities and political leaders have held deliberations and im-posed the lockdown. The Nalgonda District Medical Health Officer (DMHO), Kondal Rao, said that since it was a decision made by the residents, they did not have a say in it. Read more here. 
 

Oximeter sales soar but there is no guarantee of accurate reading and no govt regulations: Asked about the problems faced by users, industry insiders say at-home-oximeter sales in India re-main largely unregulated, and are not governed by a quality-control framework. Insiders say the recent tensions with China have hit oximeter imports, forcing Indian companies to fashion the de-vices from parts sourced from the neighbouring country, with no clear guidelines to help them through the process. Read more here.

Understanding Covid-19
 

Aboard the Diamond Princess, a case study in aerosol transmission: The Diamond Princess’ outbreak remains the most valuable case study available of coronavirus transmission. A research team based at Harvard and the Illinois Institute of Technology has tried to tease out the ways in which the virus passed from person to person in the staterooms, corridors and common areas of the Diamond Princess. It found that the virus spread most readily in microscopic droplets that were light enough to float in the air for several minutes or much longer. Read more here.

Blood clots in colder climates could be why India has fewer Covid deaths than West, study says: Researchers from Mumbai have suggested there may be an association between seasonal and geographical variations and Covid-19 deaths, based on a Chinese study and a comparison of fatality data from countries across the world. In an article published Friday in the IJMR, a team from the Homi Bhabha National Institute in Mumbai suggested that the underlying pathology, which is more prevalent in colder climates, may partially explain India’s low Covid-19 mortality rates in compari-son to that of Western countries. Read more here.

Novel coronavirus circulated unnoticed in bats for decades, study says: The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which has so far infected over 17.6 million people and killed nearly 0.68 million across the world, has been circulating unnoticed in bats for decades. Bats have been the “primary reservoirs” for novel coronavirus. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is likely to have diverged from closely related bat viruses called the sarbecovirus, 40-70 years ago, a study published in Nature Microbiol-ogy says. Read more here. 

Podcast

Do rapid antigen tests provide reliable enough data to track the pandemic? There are issues related to rapid antigen tests, as several States, led by Delhi, have started to rely on this form of testing to collate data related to positive cases. What is it not telling us? Listen to this podcast on what the two serological surveys, from Delhi and Mumbai respectively, and what they tell us about the effects of the disease.

Interview
 

Covid-19 linked inflammatory syndrome impacting children: Paediatric Multi system Inflam-matory Syndrome (PMIS) is a potentially life-threatening disorder. Twenty one of 600 children be-ing treated for Coronavirus in Mumbai's Wadia hospital have been diagnosed with the disease. What is the connection between the Kawasaki disease and PIMS? How does this impact children's health? Watch this interview with Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospitals.