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Yellow alert expected in Delhi! See how it will affect your life

COVID-19

The Delhi government on December 26 announced the imposition of night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am in view of the surge in daily COVID-19 cases.

Delhi has been witnessing a steady uptick in new Covid cases amid the spread of Omicron, triggering concerns over the healthcare system which got overwhelmed during the second Covid wave.

According to Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA)’s four-stage Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), a ‘yellow alert’ will be sounded if the positivity rates remain over 0.5 percent for more than two days.

If the yellow alert comes into effect, restaurants and bars will be forced to operate at 50 percent of their total capacity, shops selling non-essential items would be allowed to remain open from 10 am to 8 pm under the odd-even rule., and cinema halls and theatres would be asked to shut down. This is in accordance to the GRAP which was approved by DDMA in July amid fears of a likely third wave.

And so will be banquet halls and auditoriums. However, hotels will be allowed to remain open.

Spas, gyms, yoga institutes, and entertainment parks will be shut down. Sports complexes, stadiums and swimming pools will be closed. But there will be no restrictions on organising national or international sporting events at these places. Public parks will remain open.

The yellow alert will not come in the way of salons and beauty parlours which will be allowed to operate in the city.

The Delhi Metro will run at 50 per cent seating capacity and no travellers will be allowed to stand inside. Interstate buses will run at 50 per cent seating and only two passengers will be allowed in autos, e-rickshaws, taxis and cycle rickshaws.

At weddings and funerals, only 20 people will be allowed and the ban on social, political, religious, festival and entertainment-related activities will continue. Religious places will remain open but the entry of devotees will be restricted.

The yellow alert will also shut down schools, colleges, educational institutions, and coaching institutes. Private offices will be allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity from 9 am to 5 pm.

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Omicron Update: Night curfew in states; govt asked to cancel polls, rallies

Omnicron Variant

A night curfew has been announced in Uttar Pradesh – from 11 pm to 5 am, starting tomorrow (Saturday) – amid surge in the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

In addition, UP also said only 200 people could attend marriages and social functions, at which all necessary Covid-safety protocols must be followed. Government sources said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also asked all shopkeepers and traders to follow the “no mask, no goods” policy.

The Madhya Pradesh government has also imposed a night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am, amid growing Omicron cases. The number of coronavirus cases in the state reached 7,93,532 on Tuesday after 23 people were detected with the infection, while one death took the toll to 10,530.

In another move, with the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh slated for early next year, the Allahabad High Court has requested the Election Commission of India to immediately postpone the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh for 1-2 months. The court has also urged the Prime Minister to “take strong steps” and consider “stopping and postponing” rallies, meetings, and elections.

“If possible, the elections scheduled in February should be postponed by one or two months because only if life continues, then election rallies will continue,” Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav said.

India’s daily Covid-19 cases on Friday rose by 6,650 and deaths shot up by 374 in a day, according to data by the union health ministry. The daily recoveries stood at 7,051 while the active cases declined to 775.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a high-level review meeting to check preparedness against a possible outbreak of yet another wave of Covid-19. The Prime Minister also said that the focus should be on prompt, effective contact tracing, ramping up testing, accelerating vaccination, and boosting health infrastructure.

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Covid Deaths: Two months into the deadly wave, government begins to play dirty politics

Covid Deaths

While lakhs of Indians lost their lives and their loved ones during the disastrous second wave of Covid-19 stuck the country during April-May, two months later, the government has started playing dirty politics over the tragic incident.

Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singh Deo has said that his state has a surplus of oxygen and no deaths were reported in the state due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Deo made the remarks on Tuesday, after the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due to lack of oxygen has been specifically reported by states/Union territories.

“It is true that no patient died due to the lack of oxygen in Chhattisgarh. Our state is an oxygen-surplus state. There could have been some issues regarding management, otherwise, there is no death due to lack of oxygen,” Deo told media.

Apart from Deo, Tamil Nadu health secretary J Radhakrishna also said on Tuesday that the state government ensured adequate availability of oxygen in both government and private hospitals and there was no death due to lack of the life-saving gas.

Besides the common man scarred with the statement, the Centre’s comment on the lack of data on deaths due to oxygen shortage turned into a flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress on Tuesday.

Commenting on the issue, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “It wasn’t just the lack of oxygen. There was severe lack of sensitivity and truth — then and now.”

Union Minister Giriraj Singh was quick to respond, saying, “I would say about this prince: He lacked the brain then, he misses it now and he will miss it forever. These lists are compiled by the states. You can tell the states governed by your party to submit modified lists. Until then stop lying.”

Amid allegations about thousands of deaths in the second wave of the virus going unreported – triggered by the mass graves on the sandbanks of Ganga and the bodies floating down the river — the government has contended that states are in charge of registering and providing death figures.

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67.6% Indians over six have covid antibodies: ICMR Sero Survey

covid vaccine

The Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) fourth countrywide sero survey has shown that two third of the general population India had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, showing that about 40 crore people are still in vulnerable population.

The 4th round of national serosurvey was conducted in 70 districts in June-July and included children of 6-17 years of age.

“Two third of the general population had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and a third of population did not have antibodies, which means still 40 crore people are still in vulnerable category,” ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava told media.

The fourth sero survey found the overall sero-prevalence of India to be 67.6 percent.

Findings of the ICMR’s 4th national Covid sero survey show there is a ray of hope, but there is no room for complacency and Covid-appropriate behaviour has to be followed, the government said.

According to the government, 85 per cent of the surveyed healthcare workers had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and one-tenth of HCWs were still unvaccinated.

The survey covered 28,975 general population and 7,252 healthcare workers.

The 67.6 per cent figure is a steep increase from the results of the third national serosurvey.

Conducted between December and January, months before the second wave of infections, it suggested only 21 per cent of those over 10 showed evidence of exposure to COVID-19.

Prime Minister Modi has urged people to follow Covid protocols, warning them that failure to do so will invite the virus to spread more aggressively and infect lakhs more people.

This morning India recorded 30,093 new cases in 24 hours – the lowest in four months.

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Covid reaches Team India: Rishabh Pant, staff member test positive; 3 in isolation

Rishabh Pant,

After Rishabh Pant, Indian cricket team’s throwdown specialist Dayanand Garani has also tested positive for Covid-19, news agency PTI reported on Thursday.

Three other coaching assistants, Bowling coach Bharath Arun, reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and India’s standby opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, have been quarantined after Garani’s positive report came on Thursday. All three have been tested negative for the virus, but have to follow the UK Government’s Health Safety Protocol and stay in isolation.

Pant, who has tested positive for Covid -19 virus in England, is staying in home isolation at a friend’s place, reports say.

Pant, Garani, Arun, Saha, and Easwaran are all in London and will not be travelling with the rest of the Indian contingent to Durham, the report further states.

Meanwhile, as per a BCCI source cited by the PTI in a previous report, Pant has been in isolation for eight days and is currently asymptomatic.

In the absence of both Pant and Saha, KL Rahul might have to step up to keep wickets for India in the practice game. The Indian team will undergo more rounds of COVID tests in Durham before kicking off their preparations for the practice match against County XI.

The three-day practice match is scheduled to begin on July 20. Pant will miss the practice game but is likely to be fit for the opener of the five-match Test series against England from August 04.

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Cautionary letter from IMA to GOI stated that Covid-appropriate behaviour is important to deal with third wave

Indian-medical-association

Indian Medical Association (IMA) has written a letter to the GOI. In the letter, the body appealed to the governments to not lower the guard against Covid-19. The letter also mentioned that the country is only walking out of the second wave of the pandemic.

Experts stated that the global evidence and history of pandemics show that the third wave is inevitable and imminent. They added that the only way to mitigate its impact is by following Covid appropriate behaviour and opting for vaccination. The IMA-letter goes on to say that it is painful to note that in many parts of the country, both the government and public are complacent and engaged in mass gatherings without following Covid protocols. The letter further mentioned about tourist bonanzas, pilgrimage travels and religious fervour. It stated that tourism, pilgrim-travels and religious gatherings can wait for a few more months.

Also See: Are Covid vaccines magnetic? Facts you should know related to coronavirus

Doctors warned that opening spaces and enabling people without vaccination to be part of these mass gatherings, are potential super-spreaders for the Covid third wave. They also added that it is the duty of everyone in their respective states to strictly enforce Covid appropriate behaviour for a minimum of three more months more. They further added that it must be ensured that eligible people are vaccinated and measures should be taken to control any mass gathering.

On the past experiences with Covid19, the association said, “But the past experience of last one and half years with the virus and based on the emerging evidences it is obvious with making the universal vaccination reach maximum possible population and strictly adopting to Covid appropriate behaviours we can face the third wave with confidence and mitigate its impact.”

It was also reported that IMA president-Dr JA Jayalal also appealed to the central government to not allow residents to celebrate any kind of festivals amid the Covid-19 crisis. Jayalal said, “Holding any festival is not advisable as it can be dangerous. IMA requests the government to reconsider their decision regarding any kind of mass gatherings.”

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

The statement by the doctors’ association came on the same day when the annual religious procession of Rath Yatra began in Odisha’s Puri city. On the safe side, the religious Yatra was held without the participation of devotees. In the Yatra of Lord Jagannath, only fully-vaccinated temple officials or those who test negative for the coronavirus disease 48 hours before the festival were allowed to pull the chariots of the troika of dieties (Jagannath, Balram, Subhadraa).

Warning on Third wave

In early July, experts had stated that the third wave can strike somewhere near October. Prof Manindra Agrawal also predicted that the third wave can hit a peak in the time-frame of October-November.

A government panel was tasked with modelling the cases of Covid19 in India. Prof. Agrawal is working on the Sutra Model, which is a mathematical projection of the Covid19 trajectory. The panel has been working on prediction of the behaviour of the virus. Prof. Agrawal had said that the third wave will see half the daily cases seen during the second surge.

Last year, Department of science and technology had formed the panel to forecast the surge in Coronavirus cases using mathematical models.

Other members of the panel are M Vidyasagar, a scientist from IIT-Hyderabad, and Lt General Madhuri Kanitkar, Deputy Chief (medical) of Integrated defence staff.

Prof. Agrawal, however, cautioned that emergence of a new strain can fasten the spread during the third wave.

Also Read: When can the peak of third wave of Covid19 arrive in India?

In one of his tweets, Prof Agrawal highlighted that the panel has mapped out three scenarios-optimistic, intermediate and pessimistic. The optimistic scenario is that the life gets back to normal by August and there is no emergence of new strain. The intermediate scenario is that vaccination is 20% less effective in addition to the optimistic scenario’s assumptions. The pessimistic scenario includes that there is an emergence of a 25% more infectious strain in August. He highlighted that the mutant strain he was referring to, is not delta+ (which is not more infectious than delta).

Also Read: Pre-print study of hospitalisations points out 40% increase in mortality of Covid19 patients

In a statement, Prof. Agrawal had posted the bottomline, “If there is no significantly faster spreading mutant, third wave will be a ripple. And if there is such a mutant, the third wave will be comparable to the first one. However, if there is an immunity-escaped mutant, all of the above scenarios will be invalid!”

The panel was in the centre of a debate- storm when it failed to predict the second wave of Covid19 that ravaged through the country in April and May.

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India’s take on localisation of efforts towards sustainable development goals

UN-India

On Thursday, India said that there is no “one size fits all” approach for localisation of sustainable development goals (SDGs). While speaking at the United Nations’ high-level political forum (HLPF) on the issue, India also noted that the countries should experience and learn from each other to implement the 2030 Agenda.

India’s Permanent Representative the United Nations TS Tirumurti presented the comments. Tirumurti asked, “How can localisation of SDGs contribute to leaving no one behind?” He further said that the global Covid-19 pandemic is threatening to disrupt the “decade of action”.

Breaking down goals and implementation to sub-national and local levels is the only way to succeed in achieving SDG targets, said TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Also Read: Complex architecture and Realpolitik bugging efforts to counter climate change

He further said, “It goes without saying that we need to work together collectively to ensure that all countries, especially the vulnerable ones, stay their course on the 2030 SDG Agenda.”

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda is the global effort to mobilise actions and commitments to achieve clean, affordable energy for all by 2030.

TS Tirumurti further added that he is convinced “due to the localisation efforts we are undertaking, our path to implementing the 2030 Agenda will be relatively smooth even in the face of the pandemic.”

On speaking about the only way to succeed in achieving SDG targets, he said, “Localisation also allows developing local solutions to local challenges by empowering provincial and local levels of government.”

Also Read: Direct Air capture technology -its utility in countering greenhouse gas effects

Tirumurti further gave an example of successful implementation of localisation of SDGs as he highlighted India’s aspirational districts programme. This programme focuses on more than 100 developmentally challenged districts across five sectors such as health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, and skill development.

The programme also involves real-time monitoring of 49 indicators across the five focus areas on the ‘champions of change’ dashboard. It has a monthly ranking system for the best-performing districts. The districts programme has also strengthened the technical and administrative capacities of the districts through collaboration with development partners for providing technical expertise and skills training.

Also Read: World must act now on Climate Change- US wildfires are just the tip of the iceberg

UNDP’s appraisal report was released in June this year. The report pointed out that the districts programme (mentioned by TS Tirumurti) is a very successful global model of “local area development”. The report also pointed out that the model harps on leveraging local structures of governance with multi-stakeholder partnerships, to ensure that localisation of the SDGs becomes a reality.

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COVID 19: India’s recovery rate over 97%; govt stresses on ‘covid-appropriate behaviour’

COVID 19: India’s recovery rate

As many as 43,733 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally to 3,06,63,665.

The new recoveries outnumbered fresh infections for the 55th day straight as 47,240 more people were discharged between Tuesday and Wednesday. With this, the total number of discharges has reached 2,97,99,534 and the recovery rate has improved to 97.18%.

As a result, the total active cases in the country have come down to 4,59,920, dipping by 4,437 in the last 24 hours.

Even as health experts and an SBI report warn of the third wave of coronavirus infections hitting India in coming months, the daily caseload on Tuesday plunged to a four-month low.

Meanwhile, ICMR chief Balram Bhargava asserted that instead of highlighting the wave aspect, the focus should be on COVID appropriate behaviour/restrictions to contain the spread of the disease

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) DG Dr Balram Bhargava said, “The future challenge is not the 3rd wave, but how we act on it. Instead of highlighting the wave aspect, we should focus on COVID appropriate behaviour/restrictions to contain the spread.”

The report – COVID-19: The race to finishing line – prepared by SBI Research, claims that the covid third wave peak will arrive in the month of September 2021.

The health ministry says that 45 lakh people were vaccinated on July 6. This is much lower in comparison with the first week of the new programme that saw around 60 lakh Covid jabs each day.

So far, 36,13,23,548 people have been given the anti-Covid jabs. Among these, 36,05,998 doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

Eight states — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra — have administered more than 50 lakh first doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the 18-44 years age group.

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Germany lifts Covid19-ban on travellers from India, UK & other countries with Delta-variants

Indo-German

On Monday, Germany lifted a ban on travellers from India, the UK and three other countries, where the delta variant of coronavirus has been found in the samples of Covid-19 patients. Among the different variants, the delta variant is the dominant one found in the UK which scuttled Boris Johnson government’s plan to open up the country.

Robert Koch Institute is a German federal government agency responsible for disease control and prevention. It said that India, Nepal, Russia, Portugal and the UK have been downgraded to “high-incidence areas” from the current categorisation of “areas of variant concern”. The Germany government has reclassified India, the UK, Russia, Portugal and Nepal as “high-incidence areas”. This would allow travellers to enter the country after producing a negative test on arrival, making it easier for travellers who are not German residents or citizens to enter the country.

Also See: Are Covid vaccines magnetic? Facts you should know related to coronavirus

The current rules in Germany allow only its citizens to enter the country from a nation struck by a variant. The citizens after entry into Germany are subjected to two-week quarantine, regardless of their vaccination status. The “high-incidence areas” status will allow anyone from such countries to enter Germany. Only pre-conditions are that they produce a negative test on arrival and quarantine on arrival for 10 days.

If they test negative for Covid-19, the quarantine period can be shortened to five days. These new norms will be effective in Germany from Wednesday.

If the travellers from high-incidence areas have been fully vaccinated, then they are also exempt from quarantine.

Last week German health minister Jens Spahn had said that the federal government will look into the situation (of allowing travellers form delta variant-hit countries) “in the next few days”.

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

The relaxation in the curbs is driven by a crucial fact that vaccines have been found to be effective against the Delta variant. This variant was first discovered in India.

On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said, “We think that in the foreseeable future, those who have received double jabs will be able to travel again, without having to go into quarantine.”

Dubai has eased restrictions on Indian travellers last month. The easing of the restrictions was for those who have received two doses of a UAE-approved Covid-19 vaccine. United Arab Emirates has approved the vaccines made by Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik V and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

Also Read: Growing proximity of Israel and the Gulf States-from cultural angle to business deals

Four hours prior to departure to Dubai, the passengers from India are required to undergo a rapid PCR test. Upon arrival in Dubai, they must also undergo another PCR test. The passengers from India should undergo institutional quarantine until they receive their PCR test result, following their arrival. The passengers’ PCR test result is generally expected within 24 hours from the time of their arrival.

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Pre-print study of hospitalisations points out 40% increase in mortality of Covid19 patients

Covid19 Max healthcare

During the second wave of the pandemic, there was a 40% increase in mortality among hospitalised coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients as compared with the scenario in the first wave. This observation was made in a pre-print study of hospitalisations with the viral infection across Max Healthcare hospitals. The clinicians are attributing this to patients reaching hospital late, when their condition already turned serious.

The study on patients is based on clinical data from over 14,000 Covid-19 patients admitted during the first wave and over 5,400 during the second wave to Max hospitals in Delhi-NCR, Mohali, Dehradun, and Bhatinda.

Also See: Are Covid vaccines magnetic? Facts you should know related to coronavirus

The mortality was higher across age groups during the second wave. But, the sharpest three-fold increase was seen among the young patients below the age of 45 years. The mortality, proportion of admitted patients who died, has increased from 1.3% last year to 4.1% this year.

Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, group medical director, Max Healthcare said, “Although the age profile of the hospitalised patients remained the same during the first and the second wave of Covid-19, our data shows that the mortality among the young people increased three times which is what most clinicians have been saying. The higher mortality could be because people were reaching hospitals late most hospitals were running full at the peak, more secondary infections, or higher mortality due to delta variant that led to the second wave.”

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

The study showed that during the second wave, the average duration from the symptom to hospital admission among those below the age of 45 years increased by a day from 6.3 to 7.3. In the second wave, the severity of the disease at admission also increased to 39.4% of the patients admitted.  The severity proportion was at 32% in first wave. Dr Budhiraja explained that, this could be because all Covid-19 patients had to be admitted, regardless of severity of disease, at the beginning of the pandemic.

The study shows that there was also a statistically significant increase in the proportion of the patients who needed oxygen support during the second wave at 74%. This proportion was at 63.4% during the first wave.

On the positive side, despite the increase in the severity of the disease, the duration of hospitalisation went down from nine days to eight days.

Dr Budhiraja said, “This is the average; duration of hospitalisation was much longer for severe cases. This is likely the result of another policy change by the government. Initially, patients were required to get two consecutive RT-PCR negative reports before discharge; now it is no longer needed or encouraged.”

Also Read: Centre updated SCI on the vaccination after being pushed by the Court

Another concerning aspect was the proportion of Covid-19 patients who developed secondary infections. It was also more than double during the second wave. This proportion increased from 11.9% during the first wave to 27.8% during the second wave.

There is also a change in the cases of mucormycosis of black fungus from last’s year’s first wave to this year’s second wave. There were only 10 cases and 2 deaths reported during the first wave across the Max Healthcare chain, in comparison to 169 cases & 17 deaths reported this year. The study also found that the use of steroids and anticoagulants has remained high and consistent between the two waves. Anticoagulants are medicines used to prevent blood clots.

Dr Budhiraja commented, “This is one of the largest studies from India on clinical profile of hospitalised Covid-19 patients. And, we have looked at various parameters such duration of hospitalisation, need for oxygen, treatments given, and laboratory markers.”