India Coronavirus Dispatch: The utility of smaller hospitals in a pandemic

India gears up for the vaccine rollout, the most Googled term in 2020, the swelling fortunes of women business leaders in pharma, and more-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

Covid pandemic has shown India the utility of smaller facilities over mega hospitals

The pandemic has shown us the utility of smaller facilities over mega hospitals. In the early period of the outbreak, big hospitals became overburdened as all suspected and sick people thronged them. Panic led even patients with mild illness to rush to these hospitals. This drove home the point that a good referral system helps in balancing out the load of patient care and ultimately leads to better patient care. During the period of the pandemic, a majority of Covid-19 and non-Covid services were provided by the PHCs and neighbourhood clinics. Read more here

Covid-19: Peer-reviewed report shows Oxford vaccine is safe – but how effective is it?

Full interim analysis of the safety and efficacy of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine – developed in partnership with AstraZeneca – has been published in The Lancet. This paper represents the most comprehensive set of results from any of the phase 3 trials of Covid-19 vaccines to date.

These are still only interim results, meaning they show only how the ongoing phase 3 trial has progressed so far. The final results may differ. But what this analysis reveals is how the Oxford team calculated its vaccine’s efficacy, which it announced in late November. Read more here

‘Coronavirus’ most searched item on Google in 2020

The top searched term on Google this year was unsurprisingly ‘Coronavirus’, which also became the top trending news this year. After Coronavirus, elections results, Kobe Bryant, Zoom and IPL were respectively the most searched items. Read more here

Covid vaccine a ‘few weeks’ away, here’s how India is gearing up

States around the country have started preparations for the nation-wide immunisation drive. The central government is preparing the line-listing of prioritised population groups for vaccination. The government is also sending additional vaccine storage equipment to states. The Centre has already asked the states and UTs to assess their cold-storage requirement, if they need extra equipment, ranging from walk-in coolers, walk-in freezers, deep freezers, to ice-lined refrigerators etc. The government has also began mobilising additional vaccinators for the drive, and out of 2.39 lakh vaccinators (auxiliary nurse midwife), 1.54 lakh will be deployed for Covid-19 vaccination. Read more here

How coronavirus has made a mark on the list of India’s richest women

After a tumultuous few years, the fortunes of India’s pharma companies reversed this year as the Covid-19 pandemic led people to buy more medicines. This has translated into wealth creation for leaders in India’s pharma industry which includes many women. 

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, managing director and CEO of Biocon, which manufactures complex pharma ingredients, is the second-wealthiest woman in India, followed by Leena Gandhi Tewari of USV, which is in the field of diabetes and cardiovascular and Nilima Motapatri of generic drugmaker Divi’s Laboratories. Together these three women have a net worth of Rs 76,520 crore ($10.82 billion). Read more here

New research: For masks, clothes, wipes, a material that kills coronavirus when exposed to UV light

Although disinfectants such as bleach or alcohol are effective against the novel coronavirus, they are corrosive. In a new study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers from the have presented an alternative — certain materials that, when combined with ultraviolet light, can almost completely kill the virus. Read more here