India Coronavirus Dispatch: Lowest daily caseload in five months

53% parents polled in survey willing to send kids back to school, anti-phishing portal sees steep rise in cyber crime complaints, and more-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Over 25,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 25,166 fresh coronavirus infections on Tuesday, taking the cumulative caseload to 32.2 million, according to central health ministry data. The daily caseload is the lowest in five months. The country saw 437 more deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 432,079. The active caseload is at 369,846, while the total recoveries have surged to 31.4 million. As many as 554 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 8.8 million were given on Monday. Read more

53% parents polled in survey willing to send kids back to school

About 53 per cent of Indian parents polled in a recent survey by LocalCircles support the reopening of schools in August or September, while 44 per cent of them are against the idea, a report in ThePrint said. In June, as many as 76 per cent of parents did not want to send their children to school. This amounts to a nearly 30 percentage point decrease in two months, the report said. Read more

Delhi govt directs technical institutes to ensure Covid vaccination of staff

The Delhi government has directed technical institutes to ensure complete first-dose vaccine coverage among all teaching and non-teaching staff “within 15 days” and the second dose for all eligible “at the earliest”, a report in The Indian Express said. “All the teaching and non-teaching staff working in various institutions under DTTE have been at the forefront as Covid warriors in the Delhi government’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. To maximise the health and safety of the education community, DTTE requires all the teaching and non-teaching staff of its institutions to be vaccinated,” a circular from the government said. Read more

Anti-phishing portal sees steep rise in cyber-crime complaints

The anti-phishing portal set up by the Maharashtra Police department in 2019 for reporting cybercrime saw a four-fold rise in such complaints in 2020 amid the pandemic, a report in The Indian Express said. From March to December 2019, the portal received 790 complaints. In 2020 (from January to December), when online commerce and banking activity increased due to the lockdown, the complaints received on the portal shot up to 3,938. In 2021, as many as 1,368 complaints have been received so far. Read more

K'taka forms district-level expert panels to beat potential third wave

Anticipating a third wave of Covid, the Karnataka government ordered the setting up of expert committees at the district level that would provide technical guidance to local administrations, a report in the Hindustan Times said. The government said the district-level Covid-19 Technical Expert Committees (TEC) were being formed on the recommendation of the state Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) based on experience from the first two waves of the pandemic. Experts say the third wave may hit the country between October and November this year, the report said. Read more