A think tank titled Center for Monitoring COVID (CMC) was set up on Monday by Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) in partnership with two industry bodies — Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI).
The CMC intends to research, analyse and publish reports on coronavirus in Telangana, and will be a think tank for government, general public and media on specific areas related to COVID management.
Members of the think tank said they will release COVID Analytics Report (CARE) for Telangana on a daily basis and it will contain the analysis and explanation on disease progression, and plans for better treatment.
“The objectives of daily CARE reports are to demystify COVID statistics, focus on the key statistics such as active cases, treatment, infrastructure and capacity utilisation,” stated a press release, which added that CARE intends to balance ‘negative reporting in media’ with ‘positive stories in media’. The reports will be available on websites of ASCI, FTCCI, and on social media.
Pushing ‘positive stories’
In the first report published on Monday, they compared positive cases, active cases, recoveries and deaths recorded on August 8 and August 9, and cumulative statistics. Headlines of news reports, excerpts from it, were published too under the heading ‘Positive Media Stories’.
Subodh Kandamuthan from ASCI said, “It is important to forecast the disease progression. Past data alone is not adequate for capacity planning for COVID treatment. CARE attempts to forecast the treatment capacity utilisation so that government can take active steps.”
