The Central government has sent multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Manipur, which are reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases. The two-member teams sent to States comprise a clinician and a public health expert each.
“Teams will be supporting them in their efforts for targeted COVID response and management, and effectively tackling the pandemic,” said a government release.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
Final analysis of Covaxin efficacy out; vaccine 65.2% effective against Delta variant
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8% effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2% protection against the new Delta variant.
The company on July 3 said it concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from Phase 3 trials.
The efficacy analysis demonstrates Covaxin to be 93.4% effective against severe symptomatic COVID-19 cases while safety analysis shows adverse events reported were similar to placebo, with 12% of subjects experiencing commonly known side effects and less than 0.5% feeling serious adverse events.
The efficacy data demonstrates 63.6% protection against asymptomatic COVID-19, a release from the city-based vaccine maker said.
In U.P., two get ‘vaccinated’ on paper
On June 18, Mridula Mangalam, a PhD scholar in Allahabad University, received a certificate noting that she had been fully vaccinated. The final certificate of vaccination said she had been administered the second dose of Covaxin by health staff Anita at the Community Health Centre (CHC) (Soraon) in Prayagraj district.
While being certified as being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus would have been a matter of joy for the 25-year-old scholar, it came as a big shock to her.
Ms. Mangalam got the certificate even though she did not receive her second dose. In fact, she said, she did not even go to the CHC on the said day. “I scheduled my appointment for vaccination but couldn’t go,” she stated, reasoning that it was raining and the CHC was more than 20 km away.
In Mau district, Umda Rai, 65, is facing a similar situation. On May 4, she received a provisional certificate for her first dose at the Doharighat CHC, without even getting a jab, said her son Vidya Bhushan Rai.
Read both their stories here.
Australia’s New South Wales report biggest daily COVID-19 caseload for 2021
Australia's New South Wales state recorded its biggest daily rise in COVID-19 infections this year, even as residents in several major cities across the country were released from snap lockdowns on Saturday, July 3, 2021.
Sydney, the New South Wales state capital and home to a fifth of Australia's 25 million population, has been hit hardest in a flurry of outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant around the country over the past two weeks.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian reported 35 new cases, 29 of which were linked to previous cases. That eclipsed the 31 cases reported a day earlier, taking total infections under the current outbreak to more than 250.
Private hospitals flag lack of COVID-19 vaccine stocks, falling demand
The drive to vaccinate citizens against COVID-19 has been a complicated one since it was opened up to the public, from demand outstripping available appointments to lack of stock when hesitancy took a back seat during the raging second wave of the pandemic. As it stands today, smaller hospitals are alleging a lack of vaccine stocks, while some others say demand has fallen with people preferring to get their shots at public hospitals for free.
Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association president H.M. Prasanna told The Hindu that there was a huge mismatch in vaccine stocks available. “In the private sector, while big chains have huge quantities of stocks and are unable to liquidate them, the smaller ones have no stock — not for the first dose or the second. The bigger hospitals are willing to share stocks with the smaller ones, but the transfer is unable to be carried out,” he said.
He also said the big hospitals were not getting enough people of late as most people were preferring to get vaccinated for free because of the price of vaccines available at private facilities.
Monitoring all entries into Karnataka proving to be a tough task
While the State government has made RT-PCR negative certificate not older than 72 hours or a vaccination certification of at least one dose mandatory for those entering from Maharashtra or Kerala, surveillance is not easy given the nature of the border.
The Dakshina Kannada district administration has intensified checking of people entering through National Highways and State Highways at checkposts set up on the borders. Dakshina Kannada shares a border with Kasaragod district in Kerala and a major portion of its southern border abuts Kasaragod district. Thousands of people from the district visit Dakshina Kannada every day for employment and education, and such people have been asked to undergo tests every 15 days.
10 tested COVID positive every hour in June, 62% were men
Six in every 10 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the Capital last month were male while almost a third of the total men having contracted the virus during the period was aged between 30 and 60 years, according to the Delhi government records.
Over 10 people tested positive for COVID-19 every hour with as many as 7,804 individuals contracting the infection from June 1 to June 30. Of these, 4,873 or 62.44% were males.
Accounting for 1,627 of the total cases, around 21% of the male patients fell in the 14 to 30 age group, followed by patients from the 60-plus and below 14 years categories constituting a little over 9% (713) and slightly over 2% (165), respectively. In June, four out of five patients — irrespective of gender — were found to be aged between 14 and 60 years.
No stage to perform, street artistes take up odd jobs
A lack of recognition from the government and repeated lockdowns have led to several street performers of the Capital take up odd jobs to sustain themselves. While the artistes — who were earlier residents of the Katputhli Colony — maintained that the scenario was bleak even before the pandemic, the various lockdowns have only deteriorated their lives.
Ishamudin Khan, a street magician who has performed across the globe, said that there were dedicated arenas for such performers elsewhere but in India they are treated as “beggars.”
“The condition is terrible and the lockdown has only increased their troubles. In the past 70 years, no institution has added our profession as fine arts or arts. In India we are called beggars. This is also why we were simply put under the EWS category. Where are the Ministries of culture, tourism, social justice and empowerment? Several have been forced to become autorickshaw drivers or garbage collectors,” said Mr. Ishamudin.
Three more residents of Udumalpet tribal settlements test positive
The Health Department on Friday confirmed three more COVID-19 cases in the 17 tribal settlements in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) at Udumalpet in Tiruppur district, days after these settlements reported its first positive case.
Health officials told The Hindu that a 55-year-old man and 45-year-old woman from Mavadappu settlement and a 40-year-old woman from Kurumalai settlement had tested positive. A total of 136 swab samples were lifted from four tribal settlements – Mavadappu, Kurumalai, Kulipatti and Kattupatti – on Wednesday to test for COVID-19, out of which three had returned positive.
Earlier in the week, a 31-year-old pregnant woman from Kulipatti tribal settlement became the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the 17 settlements when she was tested after delivery at the Udumalpet Government Hospital. She was later shifted to the COVID-19 care centre at the upgraded primary health centre in Erisinampatti for treatment. The health officials noted that none of the 74 swab samples that were lifted in Kulipatti on Wednesday had returned positive.
Over 50% of eligible residents have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Chennai
More than 50% of the city's eligible population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, just 12% of the eligible population have received two doses.
According to data compiled by the Greater Chennai Corporation and ICMR, the number of residents vaccinated crossed 30 lakh this week. Of the 59.45 lakh residents eligible for vaccination in the 15 zones of the Corporation, 30.9 lakh have received the vaccine so far.
Over 77% of the 23.39 lakh eligible residents aged over 45 have been vaccinated. As a result, the active cases in the age group have decreased, accounting for over 30%.
Laurus Labs gets DRDO licence to make anti-COVID drug 2DG
Drugmaker Laurus Labs has received licence from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to manufacture and market 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose (2DG), an oral drug indicated as an adjunct therapy for hospitalised COVID-19 patients.
Announcing this, the company said it has already applied for emergency use authorisation for the product with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had on May 1 accorded emergency approval for use of 2DG on COVID-19 patients.
Laurus Labs is among a clutch of companies that have been issued licence to manufacture and market 2-DG, sources said. DRDO had last month invited expression of interest, from pharma companies, offering transfer of technology of the process for manufacturing 2-DG.
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