'In India, there's currently evidence the Centre has not managed a smooth vaccine rollout.' 'It is now falling back on blaming states, which are facing vaccine shortages,' points out Devangshu Datta.
Politicians and bureaucrats find it very difficult to accept their failure and inability as it is not in their veins, the Delhi high court Wednesday said while expressing concerns over the condition of subordinate judiciary's judicial officers who are at risk of contracting COVID-19 owing to the nature of duties.
There is an upward trend in the recovery rate which was recorded at 62.42 per cent on Friday.
'India's cases of death per million population is 14.27 while the global average is more than its four times, at 68.29'
'If a doctor is kind of trying to say that there's an urgency, relatives should definitely get a second opinion.'
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal -- contribute 85.5 per cent of active caseload and 87 per cent of total deaths in India.
The plans also state that highly suspected cases testing negative on Rapid Antigen Test should be examined again using the gold standard RT-PCR test.
There could be a paucity of isolation and ICU beds, and ventilators, according to a study.
This comes ahead of the resumption of the functioning of metro rails across the country from September 7.
What do we know about India's devastating second wave, and can we assign responsibility for it?
The recoveries have surged to 20,37,870 in the country, while there are 6,76,514 active cases of COVID-19, according to the data updated at 8 am. The record high recoveries have ensured that active cases of coronavirus infection, the 'actual caseload' of the country, currently comprises less than 1/4th (only 24.45 per cent) of the total cases.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to 68-year old Stalin, for whom this would be the first stint as CM
"Under the CO-JEET" plan, personnel of the three wings of the armed forces -- the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy -- have been pressed into service to help restore oxygen supply chains, set up COVID beds and provide help to the civilian administration in its fight to control the pandemic," said the Lt General, whose post of deputy chief integrated defence staff (medical) comes under the Chief of Defence Staff.
The Manipal Hospital where the 77-year-old leader is admitted said he was "doing well" and "clinically stable."
In the 'Additional guidelines for quarantine of returnees from abroad/contacts/ isolation of suspect or confirmed cases in private facilities', released on Thursday evening, the ministry said there are large number of facilities such as hotels, service apartments and lodges which are "unoccupied due to impact of COVID-19 on travel and tourism".
He pointed out that for every patient who is tested positive, there are 5 to 10 people who are positive but not tested. That means more than 15 to 20 lakh people are getting infected every day in India even now. Statistically, five per cent of the positive patients need an ICU bed, irrespective of their age. On an average, a patient in ICU spends at least 10 days there.
The pandemic has brutally highlighted the inadequacy of India's administrative systems. And, the government has demonstrated its culpable inability to speed up vaccination in a timely manner, says Jaimini Bhagwati.
The two cities finally got their act together by ramping up the testing capacity and implementing stricter quarantine norms.
'Even if the clinical trials are successful and we have a couple of vaccines by the end of this year, we still need the hundreds of billions of doses, which will take time'
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative total of 1,54,28,170 samples have been tested up to July 23 with 3,52,801 samples being tested on Thursday.
'Today, saving lives needs to take precedence.'
One reason for the surge in cases is the spread of infection at large weddings. Weddings turned out to be super spreaders.
'The available workforce is getting depleted.' 'We need to appoint doctors and frontline health workers immediately.'
'We will ensure that every child is protected,' says Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson, NCPCR.
The doubling time of coronavirus cases in India has improved to 15.4 days from 13.3 days, the Union health ministry said on Saturday, as the country's COVID-19 death toll climbed to 4,971 and the total cases rose to 1,73,763. The doubling time has improved during the past three days, it said. As many as 11,264 COVID-19 patients have been cured in the last 24 hours till Saturday 8 am, the highest number of recoveries recorded in one day, pushing India's recovery rate to 47.40 per cent, it said.
Chennai's Koyambedu market for vegetables, fruits and flowers, one of the largest in the country that used to teem with thousands of people every day, has emerged as the latest hotspot for COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu. The development has prompted authorities to shift the market -- spread over 295 acres with over 3,000 outlets of which only about 200 of them are presently functional -- to suburban Tirumazhisai from Thursday.
The states and UTs having a recovery rate higher than the national average include Ladakh (85.45 per cent), Delhi (79.98 per cent), Uttarakhand (78.77 per cent), Chhattisgarh (77.68 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (76.59 per cent), Haryana (75.25 per cent), Chandigarh (74.6 per cent), Rajasthan (74.22 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (73.03 per cent) and Gujarat (69.73 per cent).
As remarkable as DRDO's contribution in containing and treating COVID-19 has been, its success over the last 15 months has been in its primary role of developing conventional defence equipment and technologies.
Whether the third wave will ravage us depends on the pace of vaccinations, careful and calibrated opening up of establishments, and a strategy to contain the spread in specific states or pockets.
'Even with 3 lakh cases a day, we have saturated our resources.' 'It is scary to even think what will happen when the number doubles.'
Only half India's population has received the first shot of Covishield and Covaxin and the government's immediate task is to first vaccinate its adult population before placing its focus on children.
While the new COVID cases and total active cases are going up, the administration is focusing on testing, contact tracing and treatment.
Clean toilets, colour-coded dustbins, comfortable beds, oxygen cylinders and all amenities one can expect in a top class hospital -- the first inmates of the train coaches converted into isolation wards have come away praising Indian Railways for providing a unique solution to care for suspected COVID-19 patients.
Agarwal said that the current 'R0' or R naught for the coronavirus infection is somewhere between 1.5 and 4.
According to the guidelines, all travellers would need to give an undertaking on the online portal www.newdelhiairport.in that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days, that is, seven days paid institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by seven days isolation at home with self-monitoring of health.
A senior Delhi government official when asked about the spiralling number of COVID-29 cases, and whether there could be another lockdown, however, said, cases have increased as testing has been ramped up, "so, it is not that cases are rising alarmingly, and hence there is no chance of going back to lockdown".
The government's focus is on urban areas, so rural areas are neglected and the COVID situation in Bihar's villages -- neither the positive cases nor the deaths -- are reported, notes M I Khan.
The rise in the number of coronavirus cases has gained pace significantly. It took 110 days for the number of cases in the country to reach one lakh but just 53 days more to race past the eight-lakh mark.
'If we vaccinate quickly, it could be pushed to January, February, and the longer it can be pushed, the smaller the wave is likely to be, because by that time vaccination will scale up.'
'Cases are increasing, day by day, because testing has increased.'
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