India coronavirus dispatch: Precarious condition of hospital cleaning staff

Live streaming of court proceedings, ways in which Parliament can resume functioning, and how Thane Covid cases nearly tripled in June-roundup of news on how India is dealing with the pandemic

Opinion
 

Live streaming of court proceedings is part of the right to access justice: The pandemic has presented the Supreme Court with both a challenge and an opportunity to adopt technology. As the lockdown began, the Court had to quickly find the technology and create protocols for virtual courts and e-hearings. Before this, there was an open courtroom that the public could access. This protected the right to access justice, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Covid-19 presents the judicial system with an opportunity to find ways to ensure access to justice even without a physical courtroom. Read more here.
 

The precarious condition of hospital cleaning staff: In the rapidly changing environment of a pandemic, cleaners may be the last to learn about important new protocols. But, given the nature of the work they do — directly handling bio-waste and body fluids that may be infectious, and coming in close contact with patients as they assist hospital staff — equipping cleaners with knowledge and protection should be of utmost importance. Read more here.
 

Managing Covid-19 
 

Ways in which Parliament can resume functioning: One of the casualties of the Covid pandemic has been the normal functioning of the Indian Parliament. There can be the usual meetings/sittings but with preventive measures in place to protect MPs. In addition to ensuring social distancing, Parliament’s premises can be sterilised as per WHO guidelines. Legislatures in Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Sweden and the European Parliament have opted for this model.  Read more here. 

Defining containment zones: The lockdown, implemented in five phases, worked at the national level, while the classification of red, orange and green districts operated at the state and inter-district levels. Demarcation of containment zones is done within a town, village, or municipal or panchayat area. Neighbourhoods, colonies, or housing societies where infected people live are sealed, and access is restricted. Containment zones are where the restrictions on movement and interaction are the most severe. Read more here. 
 

How Thane Covid cases nearly tripled in June: Thane, a satellite town of India’s financial capital, is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). As much as 60 per cent of its area comprises slums (of two kinds, one-room houses in buildings known as vertical slums, and clusters of small tenements or jhuggis), with high-rises accounting for the remaining 40 per cent. Amid the Covid-19 spurt witnessed in eight satellite towns since June, Thane has emerged as the worst-affected. It has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases among the satellite towns, with much of its initial spurt reported from slums. Read more here. 
 

With Covid-19 surging, Telangana govt to allow treatment at private medical colleges: In the wake of a growing influx of Covid-19 patients into state-run hospitals, the Telangana government has decided to utilise the services of private medical colleges to treat those who test positive for the coronavirus, according to a senior official. Stating that as many as four medical colleges have been identified in the limits of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the official added that patients who are coming to government facilities would be treated at those colleges also. Read more here. 
 

Delhi HC suggests exclusive helpline for healthcare workers: The Delhi High Court on Thursday suggested that the government could open a helpline exclusively for Covid-19 healthcare workers in the capital, where nurses, paramedical and housekeeping staff could make an anonymous complaint if they were not given personal protective gear. Read more here. 
 

Forcing migrants to stay back in cities during lockdown worsened spread of coronavirus, study shows: Most migrants who returned soon after lockdown had much lower risk of being infected and did not contribute to any significant spread subsequently. Held back in cities when the epidemic was raging there, the migrants picked up the infection. When they finally returned from May 4, the epidemic spread to the rural areas. Allowing the migrants to return before the lockdown would have contained the epidemic. Read more here. 
 

Understanding Covid-19
 

A Covid-19 vaccine for India is only a part of the answer: One set of issues concerns possible variations in the efficacy of a vaccine. How effective will the vaccine be in people with compromised immune systems? This ‘condition’ is true of many people in India, thanks to poor nutrition, presence of diabetes or heart disease, long-term infections such as TB or leprosy and/or air-pollution-induced respiratory diseases. Many people overuse medication, often obtained informally. Read more here. 
 

Next 3 months will see a flood of new data on Covid vaccines and treatments: Exhausted health-care investors who might feel like they haven’t had a day off since March aren’t going to catch a break this summer, as a barrage of new data on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments are expected in the third quarter. With more than 10 million confirmed cases around the globe and over half a million deaths from Covid-19, drug and vaccine makers are under increasing pressure to deliver. Read more here. 
 

Children with Covid-19 could develop neurological symptoms like headaches, reveals study: Children with Covid-19 may develop neurological symptoms, without developing any of the known respiratory symptoms associated with Covid-19, a study suggests. The study, published in the JAMA Neurology, looked at the neurological manifestation of the infection in four paediatric Covid-19 patients. Read more here.