India Coronavirus Dispatch: What Independence means to Covid-19 warriors

From asking students to stay in India to learning more about the plight of migrant workers forced to walk home during the pandemic

Covid warriors speak: On Independence Day, some frontline doctors speak on what freedom means to them. One says that freedom means the freedom to speak which is an important aspect of the medical profession. He says, among other things, poor quality of PPE kits and, occasionally, the complete non-availability of them is a cause of concern that needs to be expressed clearly. Other doctors speak of the long and arduous journey they had to undertake amid the pandemic. Freedom for them will mean freedom from the pandemic since that’s the only way they can meet with their families and spend time with them. Read more here.

‘Stay in India, Study in India’: The government is now exploring the possibility of increasing the number of seats in educational institutions. This is being done to accommodate for the students whose plans to study abroad were abruptly cancelled by the pandemic. A committee called ‘Stay in India and Study in India’ has been set up by the Centre which is headed by the UGC chairman. A member of the committee further says that increasing the number of stories is one of the four proposals the committee is exploring to ease the impact on students. Read more here.
 

How oil rigs are adapting: Even amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdowns, offshore oil installations continued to work. Employees at these companies stayed offshore by 2-3 times the norm of 14 days. As some oil rig employees test positive, companies have ramped up precautionary measures. ONGC employees are being tested before they get onboard. In addition, they are being provided with protective equipment like gloves, helmets and hand sanitisers. As far as some operations on oil rigs are concerned, maintaining social distance is not possible. However, ONGC has put in place strict SOP for working offshore. Read more here.
 

In Numbers

On the migrant crisis: One in four migrant workers either walked, cycled or travelled in hand-pulled rickshaws to head back to their village, shows data from a survey. Further, over 50 per cent of the respondents went without eating for a full day at least once before leaving the city. 48 per cent say their employer paid them their full salary before leaving. 35.6 per cent say fear of Covid-19 is what forced them to exit, while 28.9 per cent cite lack of income as the reason. A majority, 87.3 per cent say they were not ill-treated by any policeman or government official on their way home. Further, 40 per cent say they faced issues of food scarcity. Read more here.
 

Ground Reports

Lapses in Dharavi model: While Dharavi may have evaded the devastation everyone assumed the pandemic would have wrought, there are gaps in the narrative. As interiors of the area, like Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, show, no healthcare worker has gone for inspection. These areas are so congested that it’s impossible for two people to walk alongside each other on the same street. Tragic stories abound in the area, too. In some health centres, there are multiple people admitted on the same bed. In other cases, even relatives of those who have died have not been tested for the virus. Hospitals, both government and private, have turned people away without testing them. In some cases, residents express shock over the fact that they haven’t tested positive yet. Read more here.
 

Mumbai, India’s Covid-19 hotspot: Since the pandemic began, Mumbai has seen a very high caseload and a disproportionate number of deaths. Its death rate is 3 times the national average. Mumbai’s sero-surveys further confirm the fact that the city has been doing much worse than its Indian counterparts. Mumbai conducts fewer tests than Delhi — India’s other major hotspot. At the beginning of the outbreak, Mumbai’s airport started screening incoming passengers but only those from China. This screening, as the city would soon realise, was inadequate. As late as March 10, the government called for quarantining passengers coming in only from a handful of countries. Further, Mumbai’s peculiar demographics made an effective response to the pandemic extremely complex. Further, many labs and clinics became reluctant to test and admit patients; much of this reluctance was BMC’s doing. Read more here.
 

Research

New interest in old drug: RLF-100, an old drug formulation, is now being studied for its effectiveness in treating coronavirus patients. Doctors in Mumbai are already prescribing the drug although it’s not available in India. The drug, also known as Aviptadil, is a formulation of synthetic Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP). VIP is produced by immune cells and helps in improving blood flow and muscle activity in the gastrointestinal tract. Further, VIP is shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cytokine activity properties. Since Covid-19 primarily attacks the lungs, the drug may prove helpful in limiting the damage in lungs. RLF-100 has been granted “Orphan Drug Designation” by the US FDA. Read more here.