India Coronavirus Dispatch: Second Covid wave inevitable, say experts

Experts on a second wave, contribution to global Covid research, vaccination programme takes a pause, and more-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

IN NUMBERS: Over 16,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 16,488 fresh coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,10,79,979, according to a report in the Scroll. The country saw 113 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 1,56,938, according to central health ministry data. The total recoveries have surged to 1,07,63,451 while the active caseload is at 1,59,590. As many as 14.2 million healthcare and frontline workers have been inoculated since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Read more here

Will try to 'convince' govt to bring back Pfizer vaccine: CSIR chief 

India's top scientific research body could play a mediator between the central government and US drugmaker Pfizer to bring the firm's Covid vaccine to the country, a report in ThePrint said. The director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Shekhar Mande told ThePrint that he would try to "convince" the central health ministry to initiate discussions with Pfizer. Mande added that the Modi government should also consider asking Johnson & Johnson and Moderna to bring their vaccines to India. Read more here

India accounted for just 6.7% of global Covid research: Study

According to a new study, India accounted for only 6.7 per cent of global scientific research on Covid-19 despite recording the second-highest number of coronavirus cases, a report in ThePrint. The study, published in the Scientometrics Journal earlier this month, said 87,515 publications were pushed out until 5 October of last year in total. The study classified the publications into three periods: the first period between 1 January and 8 April 2020 (4,875 articles); the second period between 9 April and 12 July (39,138); and the third period between 13 July and 5 October (43,502). According to the study, in the first period, India accounted for 2.9 per cent of articles published on Covid-19. This rose to 6.7 per cent in the second period and remained steady at 6.8 per cent during the third period. Read more here

Second wave inevitable: Experts

Experts believe there is no reason to think India will not to have to tackle a second wave of Covid infections going by the trajectory of cases in other countries, a report in The New Indian Express said. Countries that are three to four months ahead of India in terms of the pandemic have seen their second wave, Dr V Subramanian, infectious diseases specialist at Apollo Hospital said at a panel discussion on the novel coronavirus. The second wave will come to India too, but will be milder and hopefully will fizzle out faster than the first, Subramanian added. Read more here

No vaccination sessions today and tomorrow

Vaccination sessions will not be held today and on Sunday as the central government's flagship platform to manage the vaccine rollout Co-Win is undergoing an update, a report in the Quint said. The health ministry said the platform is transitioning from Co-Win 1.0 to Co-Win 2.0. The update comes ahead of the second phase of the programme that will target the elderly and those with preexisting conditions. Read more here