India coronavirus dispatch: Tapping community involvement to beat Covid-19

Scientists believe airborne transmission risk of Covid is higher, Kolkata is running out of hospital beds, and how long will Covid-19 last? - roundup of news on how India is dealing with the pandemic

Interview

No biological reasons for health minister claim that virus in India 'not that virulent’:

Read this interview with Dr Gangakhedkar, who retired as Head of Epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research. He explains why there is “no biological reason to say less virulent” and “no robust evidence” anywhere in the world suggesting different strains of the virus. He also talks about the mortality rate, explaining why it cannot be compared to inter-country mortality rates because they do not take into account the different age demographics of each country. Read more here. 

Managing Covid-19 

Stuffed wards, tired doctors: Only Covid hospital in Kalyan-Dombivali near Mumbai crumbles: Problems run deep at the Shastri Nagar General Hospital, the only dedicated government Covid hospital in Kalyan-Dombivali, a satellite town under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The hospital is among two state-run medical institutions in the region catering to a population of 1.8 million. Since the pandemic struck, Shastri Nagar General Hospital solely treats Covid patients. Around 22 staff members, including doctors, have contracted the virus, leaving the hospital with only eight doctors and 18 nurses. Read more here. 
 

Kolkata is fast running out of hospital beds as Covid cases soar, mortality rate near 6 percent: For the last two weeks, Kolkata has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases. In the last 14 days, the West Bengal capital has recorded 2,600 new cases and over 100 deaths. The city has been struggling to contain its mortality rate even as it is running out of hospital beds amid allegations that the administration has been faltering on contact tracing. While Bengal has been able to bring down its Covid mortality rate to 3.56 per cent from the initial 12 per cent, Kolkata’s death rate is still hovering around the 6 per cent mark. Read more here. 
 

How to tap community participation to defeat Covid-19: Ease in restrictions and surge in cases call for a rethink of our pandemic control strategies, public health experts say, suggesting that the focus must turn to community participation, which has been completely lacking in India’s Covid-19 responses so far. Community participation is critical to public health and has been central in fights against previous epidemics such as Ebola. In the present context, the importance of active engagement with the community has been highlighted by many. Read more here. 
 

What Should I Know If I’m an Indian Student in US Right Now? The F-1 Visa (Academic Student) allows you to enter the US as a full-time student at an accredited college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic high school, elementary school, or other academic institution or in a language training programme. On an F-1 visa, you are allowed to work on campus up to 20 hours per week during regular full-time quarters or semesters. Read more here. 
 

How long will the pandemic last? It could peak sooner than you think: Apart from the inadequate amount of testing, particularly in some populous states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the most disruptive of developments that could derail these predictions is the inability of even the augmented treatment facilities we are putting in place to cope with the sheer number of active cases there will be by the beginning of September.  At the present 25-day doubling rate, active cases will rise to around 1.2 million patients by that date. Read more here. 
 

Opinion

Rolling back the induced livelihood shock: Quantifying the likely scale of the poverty impact of the lockdown, we use most recent workforce survey data on India to estimate what the lockdown-induced livelihood shock might have meant economically for different categories of workers. We suggest some potential policy measures to prevent the shocks from further snowballing into chronic poverty. Read more here. 
 

Large sections of poor are unlikely to benefit from extension of food grains scheme: With widespread hunger and an unprecedented economic recession, the country cannot afford shortcuts. Expansion and universalisation of the PDS, pensions, cash grants and employment guarantee schemes in both urban and rural areas are essential to tide through these difficult times. Read more here. 
 

Understanding Covid-19

Over 200 scientists claim airborne transmission risk of Covid is higher than believed: Airborne transmission, and more specifically aerosol transmission, implies that the virus lingers in the air, especially indoors, and can infect those nearby. Recent evidence suggests that aerosol transmission of Covid-19 may pose a higher risk than was earlier believed. Experts caution that emerging evidence of transmission, especially from environments like those of meat processing plants, which have recently emerged as infection hotspots, suggests that aerosol transmission may be more common than we think. Read more here. 
 

Covaxin to Begin Human Trials in Belagavi: Covaxin, India’s indigenous vaccine candidate developed in partnership with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) and ICMR will be starting their human trials on 200 healthy individuals in Belagavi, Karnataka. The trials will be conducted by Jeevan Rekha Hospital in Belagavi and monitored by BBIL and ICMR. Read more here.