India coronavirus dispatch: Patients coming in with cardiac, gastro issues

India may have had community transmission in April, AIIMS starts tele-consultation, and what trials on plasma therapy are underway? - a roundup of news on how India is dealing with the pandemic

Interview

A typical manifestations: Covid patients are coming in with neuro, cardiac & gastro symptoms: The number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise across India. Mumbai has had over 85,000 cases, and nearly 5,000 deaths — the highest among all Indian cities. How has our understanding of this disease changed over the last three months? What is the state of preparedness of the public health and the medical system? Read this interview with Tanu Singhal, consultant, paediatrics and infectious diseases at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, and Harish Chafle, consultant, intensivist and chest physician at the Global Hospital in Mumbai. Read it here
 

Managing Covid-19 

AIIMS starts tele-consultation guidance on Covid-19 for state doctors: Aimed at reducing Covid-19 mortality, AIIMS, Delhi has started tele-consultation guidance for State doctors on Covid-19 clinical management. Ten hospitals with more than 1,000 beds participated in the first session. The sessions will be held twice every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. “Specialist doctors from AIIMS, Delhi will provide expert guidance and knowledge support to doctors manning ICUs in State hospitals,” noted a release issued by the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday. Read more here.
 

Now, police officers deliver groceries at doorstep: Under the Amrutham project, as the spread of Covid-19 continues and more areas in the city turn containment zones, the police will deliver essential goods, including groceries and medicines, and services to residents within containment zones. The project is the brainchild of Inspector General and District Police Chief (Kochi City) Vijay Sakhare, who successfully implemented it in Kasaragod district where he had served as special officer for COVID-19 containment. Read more here.  
 

Govt denying but India had Covid community transmission in April, health ministry paper says: A guidance document released last week by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare seems to have given out India’s best kept Covid-19 secret — it says that as early as April, community transmission had happened in India. Community spread, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, occurs when an illness spreads without the source of infection being known. The statement in the guidance document is contrary to the official position of the government on community transmission. Read more here. 
 

50 per cent Pay Cut at Bajaj Auto's Waluj Plant in Aurangabad: Employees of Bajaj Auto’s Waluj plant in Aurangabad will see their salaries being cut by half during a nine-day lockdown starting later this week, according to people in the know. The local authorities have decided to lock down the city and the industrial area during July 10-18. The unit, which employs close to 8,000 including contract and permanent employees, accounts for half the company’s total production in India. It makes three-wheelers and select brands of motorcycles for the domestic and export markets. Read more here. 

Bengaluru corporation is blamed as sudden Covid spike unravels city’s fight against virus: There has been a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru with state authorities and experts blaming alleged lapses on the part of the BBMP, the city’s civic body, for the situation deteriorating.  The sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in Karnataka and Bengaluru, in particular, has led to questions on whether the agencies involved in managing the pandemic have failed in their responsibility. Read more here. 
 

Opinion

The way in which it was executed, India’s lockdown itself became source of virus’s spread: The way in which the lockdown was executed, the lockdown itself became the source of the virus’s spread. By having people huddle together, infecting one another, and then having the same people travel hundreds of miles, the pandemic has been made much worse than it need have been. Read more here. 
 

Understanding Covid-19

Plasma therapy — 11 trials underway, many Covid ‘cure’ stories but some doubts linger: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain credits plasma therapy with his recovery from Covid-19, and reports of its success have been pouring in from around the country. Even as multiple trials remain underway to establish its efficacy against a disease that has battered the world, plasma banks have been set up to ease patients’ search for donors. Social media is flooded with requests for plasma donors, and many high-profile recovered Covid-19 patients have either pledged or already donated their plasma for people still under treatment. Read more here. 
 

What does it mean for the coronavirus to be airborne? A WHO official said that airborne transmission in crowded, closed or poorly ventilated spaces cannot be ruled out, but further assessment is needed for airborne transmission to be definitive, reported the BBC. The scientists have urged that with significant evidence emerging for smaller or bigger particles remaining in the air, the safety and precautionary protocols would have to be updated to cater to airborne transmission as well. Read more here. 
 

Is the novel coronavirus airborne? Here’s what we do and don’t know: As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, one question that keeps coming up is whether COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air. In fact, 239 scientists in 32 countries have written an open letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO) arguing there is mounting evidence the airborne route plays a role in the transmission of Covid-19. Like a lot of issues to do with the pandemic, what seems to be a relatively straightforward question is deceptively complex. We actually don’t know the answer for sure. Read more here.