EDITORS' PICK

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast 2021 to be the hottest summer season in recent years in many parts of the country. On March 24th, Delhi recorded the hottest day of the month in  76 years. In fact, 2019 was the seventh warmest year in the history of humankind after 1901.  Summers in India are becoming increasingly unbearable and cities are finding it hard to cope with heat wave related incidents. A study by scientists at IIT Gandhinagar has forecast an eight fold rise in heat wave related incidents in the country if the global community fails to check…

Unlike Bengaluru, there are no housefull boards outside the crematoriums of Chennai. Neither has Chennai witnessed the traumatising scenes of unauthorised, open burning of bodies, as seen in New Delhi. Even before COVID cases spiked last year, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) had directed Chennai crematorium workers and officials to use the space judiciously — a move that probably helped these facilities function efficiently when the second wave hit Chennai hard in 2021 and COVID fatalities rose sharply. The GCC has also vaccinated a majority of crematorium workers in its 41 crematoriums and 147+ burial grounds in the city, according to…

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…

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…

A harrowing tale from last year was my attempt to find shelter for a homeless, mentally ill man, Kumaresan, during the height of the pandemic. My many attempts finally secured a place for him at a shelter run by the NGO, The Banyan. Kumaresan’s story had a fruitful outcome, or so I thought, until recently.  After a few weeks had passed, some of my friends told me that Kumaresan had returned to Perambur and he could be seen on the streets again. As I had not personally come across him, I did not believe them and continued with my routine.…

Geared fully in a PPE suit in the harsh Chennai summer, Dr M Keerthi Varman attends to COVID patients at the Stanley Medical College Hospital. Throughout six continuous hours of his duty, he shuttles between the outpatient ward, where he assesses the condition of COVID patients and the 'zero delay' ward, where immediate care and oxygen support have to be provided to patients with no time lost in the admission process. Work in a COVID ward demands more than the usual share of care and alertness. "A patient once removed his oxygen mask to use the restroom. It could have…

It's summer time now, and the calls of the Asian Koel to find a mate, can be heard through the day. It is breeding season for many birds. A visit to the mangroves and wetlands of Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, reveals a variety of birds in breeding plumage - Indian Pond Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret. The Clamorous Reed Warbler is given away by his territorial singing. Even elusive birds like the Striated Heron, Yellow Bittern and Cinnamon Bittern get active in summer and can be more easily spotted. In breeding plumage at Kharghar - Indian Pond Heron, Cattle Egret, Great…

It is utopian to imagine a world without plastic, and it has its uses. At the same time, excessive utilisation of plastic without safeguards for disposal of waste can do immense harm. It is likely to cause various health issues affecting hormones, lungs, nerves, and the overall immune system. Sometimes, it may even lead to cancer. Over the years there has been a felt need for more information on how Chennai fares with regard to microplastic pollution in the air. To find out about this, a group of researchers from Pondicherry University embarked on a mission to estimate the strength…

In the first part of our conversation with Dr Anant Bhan, Bhopal-based researcher in Global Health, Bioethics, and Health Policy, we asked him some of the common questions that citizens are grappling with today in the face of a stark vaccine shortage, coupled with frequent changes in policy. Continuing the conversation, we look at the overall data sufficiency on vaccines, the disease itself and its overall implication for the management of the pandemic. Edited excerpts below; for the entire unabridged conversation, scroll down to find the video link: Veering to the big picture, just weeks back, we had hundreds of…

The second, brutal wave of the pandemic in India has brought us face to face with tragedies and horrors that we probably never even encountered in the most fearsome of our nightmares. The intensity and surge in numbers is one thing, but what has left us most anguished and horrified is the unpreparedness of our governance, the dire straits of a neglected public health care system and the consequent stripping of dignity and rights of citizens — in life, illness and even death. And even as we live this dystopian reality, we are constantly battling another huge fight — the…