India Coronavirus Dispatch: Health insurance premiums surge two-fold

Arthritis drug can reduce death rate in Covid-19 patients by 71 per cent, new study sheds light on virus, scams in the name of cures, and more-news on how the country is coping with the pandemic

Health insurance premiums have nearly doubled this year, but Covid alone not to blame

If you are yet to renew your health insurance, get ready to shell out more from your pocket now. With multiple factors coming in play, the Covid-19 pandemic being one of them, health insurance premiums have jumped up to 100 per cent this year. There are multiple reasons for this rise — the Covid outbreak that has caused medical inflation, government-induced coverage expansion, and change in price slabs, industry experts claimed. Read more here

Explained: How to read 'serosurveys'

Seroprevalence studies, which test for antibodies, tend to throw up higher numbers than PCR tests, and these numbers sometimes vary in different rounds in the same population. What explains such variations? From the high numbers from serosurveys in India so far, what can we infer about immunity levels reached? Read more here

Arthritis drug can reduce the mortality rate in Covid-19 patients by 71 per cent

In a major win against the Covid-19 researchers have identified that an Arthritis drug can help in reducing the mortality rate in elderly people by 71%. As per the findings, a daily pill of baricitinib along with standard care can reduce the deaths by 71% in Covid-19 patients with moderate or severe infection. The drug is marketed under the name Olumiant and is available for rheumatoid arthritis for only three years now. The research is led by the researchers at Karolinska Institute in Sweden. The latest findings can be encouraging for medics as they are hoping the arthritis drug could help save the most vulnerable to coronavirus that are elderly people. Read more here 

Opinion: Scams galore in the name of Covid cure

As Covid-19 cases are again surging, panic-stricken people are falling prey to quacks, occult practitioners, and cyber cheats. The combination of financial and health threats makes people more vulnerable and creates opportunities for fraudsters. Many are tempted to buy or use questionable products that claim to help diagnose, treat, cure or prevent Covid-19, says Dr. R Kumar, President of the Society for Promotion of Ethical and Affordable HealthCare. Read more here

In Numbers: India Records Lowest 24-Hour Tally in Four Months

India added 30,548 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Monday, taking the country’s tally of confirmed cases to 88,45,127. The death toll rose by 435 to 1,30,070. According to Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling Covid-19 data from all over the world, India’s death toll is the third-worst. Read more here

Covid patients in Telangana died younger and earlier than others

In the preliminary period of the Covid-19 pandemic, patients infected with the disease in Telangana died younger and earlier, as compared to patients in other parts of the world. According to a retrospective study of 201 Covid deaths that occurred in Gandhi Hospital in the period March-June, the average age of Covid patients who died was 56.7 years - much lower than the mean age in other countries including China and Europe, where the average age was above 65 years. Also, the average number of days from the onset of illness to death was observed to be 6.5 days by Gandhi Hospital researchers - which is much lower than that of other countries, where it was between 18.5-28 days. Read more here