India Coronavirus Dispatch: The 'weekend effect' of RT-PCR testing

The story of a heroic migrant, UP' share in national testing rises, and how the world's two largest democracies fared--a roundup of news on how India is dealing with the pandemic

Weekend effect: Weekends usually see a reduced number of tests being conducted. Since RT-PCR test results take a few days to arrive, a drop in new cases is inevitably noticed on Mondays. The graph of daily new case additions, therefore, shows dips periodically. This ‘weekend effect’ was more visible for the weekend gone by since it came after a period of very high number of tests. Friday saw over a million test; on Saturday the number of tests dropped to 801,000 and on Sunday, only 609,000 tests were conducted. Consequent to this, the number of cases detected on Sunday was less than 61,500 and on Monday dipped further to 60,975. On Monday, the number of tests went back up to 925,000. This means an increase in the number of daily additions is around the corner. Read more here... 

UP testing numbers: UP has reported a higher share in national testing on multiple days this month. So far, the northern state has recorded 4.5 million Covid tests. With the crisis worsening in the state, it plans to ramp up testing further to over 150,000 tests a day. The state health minister says 60-65 per cent of the tests conducted are RAT. He adds that antigen tests are conducted mainly in containment zones and for contact tracing. Meanwhile, the number of containment zones in the state has gone up to 14,453. Around 7.8 million people live in these zones. Read more here...

Long Read

A hero among migrants: This story is about Nicholas Murmu, a migrant worker hailing from Jharkhand and employed in Bengaluru. After the nationwide lockdowns were imposed, he found himself unemployed and without a source of income. Worse, he found that people from his state had been held under bonded labour by factories in and around the city. With the help of local volunteer bodies, he took it upon himself to help migrant workers from Jharkhand. His long journey includes rescuing women who were held captive by contractors and whose children were forced into labour. Mr Murmu decided to stay back in Bengaluru to help distressed migrants get access to welfare and in some cases to justice. After reaching home, he soon found out that most people in his district — Dumka —  are now unemployed. He continues to assist other workers in whatever way he can. Read more here...

Interview

Battling malnutrition: India has the highest number of children with malnutrition globally. The pandemic now threatens to reverse gains of recent years. An expert suggests a rapid assessment of nutritional status is needed on the basis of 2016 National Family Health Survey data. After the rapid survey, targeted interventions can be planned. The impact of halting mid-day meal schemes also needs to be studied and if there is a need to run a similar programme that can attain pre-Corona levels. An area-wise study of key parameters is also necessary to identify underweight and malnourished children. Most of these cases are concentrated in a few states. “For example, every second child from the poorest household in Bihar is already underweight,” says the expert. Besides, there is a need to look into nutritional needs of pregnant women as well. Read more here...

Comment

How the two biggest democracies fared: Both, US and India, have been hit pretty badly by the pandemic. India has fared much better in terms of deaths since the population here is much younger. But parallels exist in terms of focus on public health care. India’s spending on public health as a percentage of GDP is one of the lowest among major countries. The US, meanwhile, is notorious for its private insurance-driven health care system. Both countries showed a marked unpreparedness in dealing with the virus early on, says the columnist. While India did go for lockdowns, it resulted in a lot of chaos because of the heavy-handed bureaucratic implementation. A major difference between the two countries, however, is that in the US an energised opposition has been holding the government to account while the opposition in India has left much to be desired, says the writer. Read more here... 

Time for eco-institutionalism: After the 2008 global recession, worldwide emissions dipped by 1 per cent but this was soon followed up by a ghastly 5 per cent increase in the period of economic recovery. It’s estimated that the Covid-19 pandemic might lead to 5-8 per cent reduction in emissions by the end of 2020. But if parallels are to be drawn with the economic crash of 2008, what does that imply as far as the near-future goes? The recent series of events related to the energy sector are not very encouraging. Not only has there been a cut in financing of some key renewable energy sectors, but it has also been well-established that coal will remain a part of the country’s energy mix. The columnist calls for adopting ecological institutionalism and exploring norms aligned with eco targets. Read more here...