India Coronavirus Dispatch: Tour operators seek relief at India Gate rally

Panchkula's cases fall, India's Covid scene has worsened on most fronts, and how infected can spread disease while being unaware of their condition--news on how the country is coping with pandemic

Hundreds of tour operators organised a rally in Delhi’s India Gate on the occasion of World Tourism Day, seeking relief from authorities to tide over the crisis. The sector has been dealt a blow by the pandemic. Adding to their woes, they allege that money paid to airlines and the railways is stuck and they have not received refunds. Many among them have even had to sell their assets to pay salaries to staff. Members of registered associations of tour operators have met with ministry officials to put forth their demands. Despite the government re-opening of tourist spots such as the Taj Mahal, some say they don’t see any recovery before 2022. The operators now seek Atma Nirbhar loans (collateral-free and deferred loans with low interests), one-time grants, free entry or reduced fee for visitors at all monuments and national parks till 2022, reduction or withdrawal of road tax on tourist vehicles and travel bubbles with friendly nations. Read more here.
 

Panchkula’s cases go down: Haryana’s Panchkula has sampled about 750 persons for Covid-19 daily over the last week, a decline from sampling an average of 1800 people per day in the first week of September. Authorities had been collecting about 500 samples a day in August. As the detection of cases subsequently rose, it was attributed to the increased testing capacity. Now, as the number of tests have dipped, the case numbers have also gone down steadily. On an average, 139 persons tested positive daily in the first week of September with as many as 1,800 samples being collected per day. The number then reduced to 119 positive persons daily when sampling was slashed by more than half to 750 samples per day. Read more here.

In Numbers

Monday case dip: On Monday only 70,000 new Covid-19 cases were detected across the country. This is the lowest since the start of September, and around 27,000 lower than the highest that has been achieved in a single day so far. This drop can be explained by the reduced number of tests on Sunday. Just about 700,000 samples were tested on Sunday — the lowest since August 10 — and less than half of number of tests achieved last Thursday. This trend has been noticed in the past as well. For example, 731,000 tests were conducted the previous Sunday, September 20, and the following Monday saw about 75,000 new cases. Similarly, about 720,000 samples were tested on September 6, again a Sunday, and the following day saw about 75,800 cases being reported. Read more here.
 

India compared to other countries: A country-wise comparison shows that even if India’s population size is taken into account, the Covid-19 situation in the country has worsened on almost all fronts. Despite the fact that India conducts the second highest number of tests globally, testing when seen in terms of size of the outbreak has remained inadequate in the country. India’s rank, in fact, with regards to test positivity rate has also come down. The good news is that India has improved in terms of fatality rate. In terms of case tally, for example, India ranked 41st among 195 countries for which data was available as on March 27. By September 27, the country ranked second among 209 countries. Read more here.
 

Understanding Covid-19

Cover can block pain: In a new study by an Indian-origin scientist on asymptomatic cases, a new bit of information has come to light: Covid-19 can actually make patients impervious to pain. This then allows the infected person to spread the virus while being completely unaware of their condition. The study hinges on the fact that the virus can also use a protein to invade nerve cells. This helped the researches link the virus and pain. However, this linkage is yet to be proven for human beings and has been confirmed only in in vitro conditions in a lab. If the link can be proven, the research can prove crucial for vaccine development. Read more here.