COVID-19

On May 17th, the ICMR convened COVID-19 National Task Force dropped convalescent plasma therapy from its virus treatment protocol. The decision, it said, was based on multiple studies that have found little to no use of convalescent plasma in treating COVID-19. This comes close on the heels of a recent World Health Organization (WHO) announcement that there is still no evidence to suggest that the antiviral drug Remdesivir is useful in treating hospitalised COVID-19 patients.  While many doctors treating COVID patients say these announcements are leading to confusion and constricting the already limited treatment options available to them, others believe…

To understand and document the impact of COVID on Bengaluru's crematoria and burial ground workers, two members and a volunteer from the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Karnataka, visited 26 crematoriums/burial grounds between May 4 and 8, 2021 and interviewed workers. Based on these interviews and other publicly available information including circulars issued by the government regarding COVID related deaths and burials/cremations and visits to each facility, they have brought out a report titled ‘Dignity Disposed’. Here is an overview of their findings: Bengaluru has 42 crematoriums and 58 burial grounds according to newspaper reports. Additionally, there are temporary…

Equipped with a non-contact thermometer and oxymeter, A Sumathi, a fever surveillance worker employed by the Greater Chennai Corporation, knocks at the door of S Raja in Anna Nagar every morning. Her job: to enquire about the latter's well-being and his family, and provide any assistance they may need. This is a source of assurance for Raja, who feels safe that his family is being tracked on a day-to-day basis for over a year now. A few days ago, when his wife, R Rani, developed symptoms of COVID, he immediately sought Sumathi's help for testing and triaging. “The fever survey worker…

Never has a vaccination drive in India been conducted with a mobile application that requires online registration. As the second wave takes its toll -- with rising infections and reducing tests -- access to the country's limited health infrastructure is becoming all that more difficult, thanks to the digital divide. Whether it is looking for slots on CoWIN or raising an SOS alert for oxygen, medical relief for COVID has to be accessed and circulated through the digital medium. When SOS alerts on Twitter reduced in the last few days, there was a false illusion that the COVID situation was…

When the pandemic struck in 2020, it triggered a national lockdown that brought all economic activity across the country to a halt. Radha (name changed), a garment worker in Bengaluru, was at an absolute loss when her factory shut down from March to June. For her, the current lockdown is a chilling reminder of 2020. “Last year, I pledged whatever gold I had, to pay the rent. What will I do this year?” she wonders. Her landlord has not increased the rent, but even the water and electric bills are worrisome. Her husband, also an informal worker, has had no…

Dead bodies floating in the Ganges and washing up ashore in neighbouring Bihar is just one in the long list of gory stories that we have been witnessing in recent weeks. Frantic calls for help from people struggling to find a hospital bed, oxygen, blood plasma, medicines and even places for cremation or burial, continue to flood social media platforms, even as the cost of saying the final goodbye becomes too steep for many. And while citizens have come together to create resource pools, sharing leads and contact numbers, cross-checking and circulating them, union health minister Harsh Vardhan claims there…

As the BBMP began to streamline its bed allocation system, private hospitals in Bengaluru -- under the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) -- were quick to launch their own bed allocation system through their online portal. While 50% of their beds are set aside for patients coming through the BBMP's triaging system, Bengaluru's private hospitals and nursing homes are allowed to allot the other 50% themselves. PHANA was set up 20 years ago and currently has over 400 members in Bengaluru and many affiliate members across the State. The association set up 'Search My Bed' which gives real-time…

Mumbai's handling of the pandemic has earned accolades from several quarters, including from India's Supreme Court, which suggested that New Delhi emulate Mumbai civic body’s response to COVI19.  In the second wave of the pandemic, which in Mumbai started on February 10 and showed up on its dashboard on Feb 11th, registered a mortality rate of 0.4% (until April 30).  BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal claims that this could be one of the lowest mortality rates in any city in the world.  Mumbai  has registered 14,574 deaths till May 22, 2021 since the onset of the COVID19 last year. COVID19 fatalities…

Karnataka’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the scientific adviser to the government on COVID management, had predicted a second wave in January and February of 2021. While the TAC’s prediction was off by a couple of months--in UK and USA, the second wave had wreaked havoc in the final months of 2020--they did forewarn the State government that a faster spreading and more debilitating second wave of the pandemic was just waiting to happen. And it did. In the end April 2021, the State was clocking approximately 50,000 cases per day with capital Bengaluru alone averaging 20,000 cases per day.    The…

When the rest of the country was grappling with the highly virulent COVID second wave in March-April, the Jammu and Kashmir government was busy with preparations to host a mega-Tulip festival at Asia’s largest Tulip garden in Srinagar. Scheduled for six days starting April 3rd, thousands of local residents, tourists and officials thronged the garden on the inaugural day. The event was jointly inaugurated by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan. Prime Minister Narendera Modi was the festival’s brand ambassador. Prior to the official inauguration, Modi had tweeted: “……..The garden will see over 15 lakh…