India coronavirus dispatch: Long road to recovery for discharged patients

Schools, colleges are likely to stay shut, to looking at the plight of migrant workers who stayed back in Delhi, to the long road to recovery for discharged patients

Schools, colleges likely to stay shut, the new medicines for restricted use, and why only science can combat the virus, — a roundup of articles in Indian news publications on how India is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Expertspeak

Not all Covid-19 patients need antivirals. New drugs for restricted use at physicians’ discretion: Cipla Ltd and Hetero Drugs have got authorisations for antiviral remdesivir for restricted emergency use, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, has got an approval for manufacture and marketing antiviral favipiravir. These medicines are likely to be available in the hands of medical professionals who are fighting Covid-19. How do these medicines work? What do we know of them today as opposed to what we knew of them earlier and what they were used for? And how are they likely to help the treatment of Covid-19 patients? Read this interview with Rommel Tickoo, associate director, internal medicine, at Max Healthcare, New Delhi. 

Managing Covid-19

Schools, colleges likely to stay shut in Unlock 2.0 as govt fears Covid-19 spread in monsoon: Not many guidelines may change in ‘Unlock 2.0’, the second phase of reopening the country after the lockdown, except for the possible resumption of international flights. Schools, colleges and cinema halls are likely to remain closed as there are apprehensions that the monsoon, which has now covered virtually all of India, could aggravate the spread of Covid-19. Read more here
 

The plight of the migrants who didn't leave Delhi: They had not anticipated that the lockdown would continue ahead of the initial 21 days. Also, going back to their village was not a lucrative option as there would be no jobs in the villages either. Some of their money was still stuck with the contractor. In order to ensure that the contractor did not fleece them of their hard-earned money, they had no option but to stay back. The contractor had also assured them that they would get their jobs back, once things came back to their regular course. Read more here 

Guwahati lockdown explained: Here are the guidelines till July 12: A total lockdown will come into force in Assam’s Kamrup Metropolitan district — which includes Guwahati city — from June 28, 7 pm till July 12, 6 pm. The new lockdown guidelines are more stringent than the earlier guidelines. In a press conference on Friday, State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this was a “stringent lockdown”, and “almost like a curfew. Read more here

Looking beyond just a testing milestone: As Tamil Nadu notched up its first million Covid-19 tests, the first to reach the milestone in the country, data on the number of tests being done in its different labs — 47 in the government sector and 42 in the private sector — have been made available. Read more here

OPINION

Only science can combat virus. Scientific community must not remain silent on tall claims: Even though Covid-19 continues to rule and ruin our daily worlds, it still does not give the right to the righteous of the land to promote cures, remedies and preventions which are beyond the realm of their understanding and operation. Prudence is the need of the hour and prudence comes from wisdom. Read more here

How Ramdev’s Coronil makes social media’s fight against misinformation more difficult: The introduction of a ‘cure’ and the resulting reaction — the Narendra Modi government’s AYUSH Ministry has asked Patanjali to stop advertising Coronil, and the Uttarakhand Ayurveda Department has said the company did not mention ‘coronavirus’ in its application seeking licence — raises an important debate on information disorder on social media platforms. And the question of what medical misinformation constitutes during times of a pandemic and otherwise. Read more here

Understanding Covid-19

Long road to recovery for discharged patients: Many recovered patients have complained of loss of taste, loss of smell, body fatigue, body pain, low blood pressure, stroke, blood sugar fluctuation and cardiac problems — now common signs during convalescence. Doctors across the city said apart from treating actively infected Covid-19 patients, they also have to monitor patients discharged after treatment. Patients are taking 3-4 weeks to regain their sense of taste, and longer for the sense of smell to return. Read more here

Severe Covid-19 can damage the brain, preliminary study finds: A preliminary study of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 has found the disease can damage the brain, causing complications such as stroke, inflammation, psychosis and dementia-like symptoms in some severe cases. The findings are the first detailed look at a range of neurological complications of Covid-19, the researchers said, and underline a need for larger studies to find the mechanisms behind them and assist the search for treatments. Read more here

RT-PCR, antigen, antibody, TrueNAT — all you need to know about the different Covid tests: India has scaled up testing for Covid-19 to over 200,000 tests per day. But that figure doesn’t include all the types of tests available, which all serve different purposes. The testing figures that ICMR updates every day include data only from the RT-PCR, TrueNAT and CBNAAT tests — with the latter two being tuberculosis tests roped in for Covid-19 testing last month. Read more here 

A sensor for flu and Covid-19 at the same time; can tell difference: Covid-19 shares number of symptoms with the common flu. Researchers are now developing a new sensor that can tell the difference between the two illnesses — and test for both simultaneously. A dual test improves on current options in several ways. It’s more convenient for patients who wouldn’t have to get multiple tests done. It also saves time for medical personnel when resources are stretched. Read more