India coronavirus dispatch: What happens when a Covid-19 case is confirmed?

The scientists helping fight a pandemic, the future of agricultural markets, and how the government responds when a Covid-19 case is confirmed - read these and more in today's India dispatch

Here’s a round-up of articles from across publications in India on how the country is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic – from scientists helping fight a pandemic, to the future of agricultural markets, and how the government responds when a Covid-19 case is confirmed.

Expert Speak

Webinar: Was the lockdown successful in breaking the chain? Is herd immunity going to save us from the virus? Who needs the mask? Listen to this webinar to know what Dr Shahid Jameel, a well-known virologist and CEO, DBT, India Alliance, and Dr Arvind Kumar, chest and lung surgeon at New Delhi’s Sir Gangaram Hospital, and founder of Lung Care Foundation, have to say about the coronavirus outbreak in India, the lockdown, the treatments, vaccine developments and future of the pandemic.

Citizens Under Lockdown

These scientists are not medical experts but are still trying to help fight coronavirus: They are not virologists or involved in medical research, but a team of around 400 scientists has come up with different ways to bolster India’s attempts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. They are busting coronavirus-related myths — a major menace in current times — besides using government data to derive calculated estimates about the spread of the disease. Read here about how they are also helping manufacture masks and low-cost ventilators.

For Indians under lockdown, social media is the go-to source for news and entertainment: With Indians locked up inside homes, social media usage has gone through the roof in the country. Total session time – the time spent each day – on popular social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram grew significantly between February 2 and March 29, data show. Read more here.

Long Reads

No cure or vaccine, doctors rely on each other, and guidelines: With no cure available yet for the highly infectious Covid-19 and a vaccine that is at least 12-18 months away, frontline healthcare staff are working without established treatment protocols, unlike for most other diseases. Read here to understand how they are relying on general guidelines offered by health and research bodies, and feedback from each other.

Opinion

Covid-19 and beyond – the necessity of creating a global health policy trifecta: Hopefully, by the end of 2020, Covid-19 will have subsided. But there is an expectation that the world learns and moves towards these trifecta of policy lessons in global health. Doing so should prepare nations to more effectively and efficiently deal with the pandemic outbreaks of tomorrow. Read more here.

Will coronavirus lockdown extension do more harm than good? The focus now should shift to repairing the damage wreaked by the deadly coronavirus and the consequent lockdown upon the economy. The reason why that is more important than everything else is the growing vulnerability of those at the subsistence level, with each passing day of no income, and very little assistance from the government. Read more here.

Managing Covid-19

How govt responds when a Covid-19 case is confirmed: With the number of Covid-19 cases breaching the 7,500-mark in India (as of 11 April), what exactly happens after someone is declared positive for the novel coronavirus? The moment the district magistrate is informed, a string of measures are implemented immediately. Read here to understand the responsibilities of the district magistrate which includes among other things, ensuring contact tracing, declaring a curfew, and ensuring supply of essential items.

How can India ensure that agricultural markets work in a socially distanced manner? It is clear that the imposition of the lockdown was a necessary but hasty measure. It has all but shut down the economy and could lead to demand-supply mismanagement for food items. To avoid this, both the Union and state governments must take prompt steps to ease the supply of essential items while regulating the prices to keep them affordable. Read more here.

Who is Dr Beela Rajesh, and how is she handling the pandemic in Tamil Nadu? The Tamil Nadu health secretary has been at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, and has received both praise and brickbats. Read here to understand how the state has been managing the pandemic over the past few days.

The contact tracing technology Apple and Google are jointly developing: Apple and Google have teamed up against coronavirus. Contact tracing is considered essential for bringing epidemics under control, and is expected to help governments in relaxing lockdown orders. Read more to understand how this technology works.

Understanding Covid-19

Can coronavirus damage the brain? In an investigation of hospitalised Covid-19 patients in Wuhan, researchers have recorded the neurological manifestations of the disease. Their findings were published in the journal JAMA Neurology on April 10. They conclude that neurological symptoms can be noticed in a “notable proportion” of the patients and are not uncommon. Read more here.

How plasma therapy works, what India plans: India is all set to try out a therapy that involves attempting to jump-start the immunity of a serious patient by infusing some of the blood plasma of a person who has already recovered from the disease. This is called convalescent plasma therapy and has in the past been used in many other diseases. Read more here.