India Coronavirus Dispatch: Why decongesting prisons may not be enough

Nashik stands out on safety measures, effect of new paediatric illness linked to Covid, and why swab method for sample collection may not be the best--news on how India is coping with the pandemic

Nashik’s sanitation workers: Maharashtra’s Nashik has done better than other Indian cities. In this field visit, the writers took a look at the conditions of frontline sanitation workers in the region. Officials in the city were well-equipped in terms of access to protective gear. However, it was the informal manual workers who were lagging behind in terms of safety. These workers do not feature in the city’s blueprint while forming sanitisation plans. The workers provide essential services and special care must be taken while dealing with waste from containment zones and quarantine facilities. The writers recommend that the administration’s response to the situation must include training the workers and providing them with PPE. Read more here.

Children and Covid: A few new conditions among children infected by coronavirus have been reported in India. A UK-based study, meanwhile, has gauged the effect of a new paediatric illness linked to Covid-19. The new condition, known as paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS-TS) as well as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), has been observed in children infected by the virus. It can reportedly lead to heart damage, inflammatory responses and multi-organ dysfunction. The findings are important for guiding medical response to Covid-19 cases among children. Doctors initially assumed it was the Kawasaki disease but later realised the symptoms are different. Read more here.

Interview

Prison outbreak: Prisons across the country have been hit by the pandemic. In Maharashtra alone, over 1,000 prisoners have tested positive for Covid-19. In this interview, a prison reforms expert highlights the fact that the Supreme Court’s direction to states to work out a procedure for determining the prisoners who could be released on parole for a few weeks fell short of ensuring any concrete action. “The actual releases for undertrial cases are required to be made by concerned courts — which means bail applications had to be filed and hearing had to be conducted — at a time when courts had also suspended work or restricted hearing to only urgent cases,” she says. She adds that just decongesting prisons is not enough and the focus must shift to those that are already lodged inside. Besides, medical facilities inside prisons have always been lacking and no additional fund allocations have been towards this so far. Read more here.

Comment

Fight is on: Despite India being the third worst-hit country in the world in terms of infection and mortality rates there are now a few indications that it’s gaining an upper hand, says this editorial. For the first time since May, the positivity rate has begun showing a decline after touching a high on August 9. Also, the infection rate has remained stable despite testing being ramped up across the country. However, it’s not all good news. Some states are lagging behind others by significant margins, as a break-up of data can show. Most states are still testing only those with symptoms and their close contacts. It’s randomised testing that can actually produce a better picture of ground realities. The experience of past several months will of course be invaluable as the country tries to manage the crisis. Read more here.

Gargling instead of swabs? This health expert argues that nasopharyngeal swab procedure for collecting samples may not be the best way to do it. Further, an ICMR study says gargle lavage can serve as an alternative to swabbing.Backlog, procurement of good quality kits, staff shortage are just some of the problems associated with the swabbing procedure. For the country to manage the pandemic, ramping up testing is very important. For this to happen, an easier, more efficient  and cost-effective sample collection technique is the need of the hour. Besides, swabs can cause serious injuries if the procedure is not performed correctly. Read more here.

Elections in the time of Corona: The Election Commission has put its foot down with regards to the upcoming Bihar polls. The election body is looking at other countries — South Korea and Sri Lanka — to understand the SOPs put in place for conducting national polls in those countries. Besides, the ECI has conducted Rajya Sabha polls amid the pandemic. The body has now released a set of rules for conducting polls amid the public health crisis. These include reducing the number of voters per voting booth and extending postal ballots to those aged above 80, Covid-positive patients, people with special abilities and those employed in essential services. If implemented well, the writer says, Bihar polls could see satisfactory to high voter turnout. But there are problems associated with virtual campaigning. Among others, will this create a level playing field for all parties and voters? Read more here.

Inequality, not population, is the problem: This writer argues that the chief problem facing us now is of inequality and not ‘population explosion’. She argues that the fear of population growth is fundamentally a politically-driven one. Covid-19, she says, demonstrates this well. The fact that the pandemic caused a lot of problems is a fallout of years of defunding public health infrastructure. She says there is a need to push for bills that try to bring about equality, rather than reinforcing inequality. Looking away from the less privileged during a pandemic is a much bigger issue than ‘population problem’, she says.