India Coronavirus Dispatch: Cases drop to less than 40,000 after 102 days

Pune startup develops N95 masks that can inactivate coronavirus, US epidemiologist flags Covid uptick in four Indian states, and more-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Over 37,566 fresh cases reported

India reported 37,566 fresh coronavirus infections on Tuesday, taking the cumulative caseload to 30.3 million, according to central health ministry data. Less than 40,000 daily cases have been reported after a span of 102 days. The country saw 907 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 397,637. The active caseload is at 552,659, while the total recoveries have surged to 29.4 million. As many as 329 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 5.2 million were given on Monday. Read more

Pune startup develops N95 masks that can inactivate coronavirus

Thincr Technologies, a Pune-based startup, has developed a special type of N95 mask that can inactivate the coronavirus, a report in The Indian Express said. The mask has been coated with anti-viral agents known as virucides. “The masks have an additional layer of woven cloth coated with a virucidal formulation that acts on the envelope of the virus. These chemicals break the envelope of the virus and eliminate its cell entry capacity. As the infectious capacity of the coronavirus reduces, so does the spread of infection,” said Shitalkumar Zambad, founder-director of Thincr Technologies. As many as 10,000 such masks have been distributed to government hospitals and institutions over the last two months, the report said. Read more

US epidemiologist flags Covid uptick in four Indian states

A US epidemiologist has warned that the weekly growth rate in Covid cases is starting to show a slight uptick in Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi and it may be time to reimpose more curbs right away, a report in ThePrint said. Bhramar Mukherjee, the John D. Kalbfleisch Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan, and her team had predicted an imminent second wave in India in February. Read more

US, Kuwait deported nearly 4,000 Indians after Covid broke out

A report compiled by the external affairs ministry’s Covid Cell unit has said that thousands of Indians, mostly in the US and Kuwait, were deported to the country through special flights after they completed their prison term in the past year, a report in the Hindustan Times said. The US and Kuwait alone sent back 4,000 deportees. Some Indians also returned by amnesty flights, said the report which provided details about the Vande Bharat Mission, India’s largest repatriation exercise launched last year to bring back citizens stranded abroad due to the pandemic, the report said. Read more

Third wave likely to be delayed, may hit by Dec: Govt body chief

The chief of the central government's Covid-19 working group, Dr NK Arora, has said that the third wave of Covid could be delayed until December this year, a report in Hindustan Times said. “ICMR has come up with a study, which says the third wave will come late in the country,” Arora said. “We have a window period of 6 to 8 months to vaccinate everybody in the country,” he added. The Delta Plus variant of Covid, which has stoked fresh worries over how quickly it can spread, cannot be yet linked to a third wave of the pandemic, Arora said. Read more