GENRE: Explainers

[Based on a conversation with Dr P V Karthik] In the fight against the current COVID tsunami that’s engulfing us, we, along with a group of amazing volunteers (most of them being young college students and young working professionals), have been trying to respond to SOS tweets and alerts coming in from various parts of the country. With the number of SOS cases increasing from Chennai, we assembled a dedicated team of volunteers to cater to region-specific requests.  Those who made calls to hospitals in the last 3-4 days will know how difficult it is to get a bed in…

India is in the throes of the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. Cases are shooting up at alarming rates across the country every day. The crunch of medical resources on one hand, and the cost of treatment especially in critical cases on the other, have left citizens in dire straits. In these circumstances, health insurance and the extent of coverage received under existing policies assumes huge importance. Personal accounts are often not very encouraging. Jayalakshmi Krishnan from Chennai had opted for reimbursement when she was admitted to a private hospital for COVID treatment. "I was at the hospital's general…

The devastation that we see around us today caused by the second wave of COVID-19 in the country, is not just because of the rates of contagion and the virulence of the disease, but also — and perhaps, more significantly — because of the crunch in life-saving resources. Especially something we have always taken for granted — Oxygen.  But why did the country run short of oxygen and have we been able to find solutions to tide over the shortage? Although oxygen is the element primarily responsible for sustaining life on planet Earth and constitutes 21% of the atmosphere, oxygen…

Phase III of the country's largest vaccination drive has been officially launched from May 1, 2021, where the youth of the country aged between 18 to 44 years will get themselves vaccinated. Remember, the vaccine, whichever you take, does not make you immune from the virus. But it does reduce the severity of its effects. With the new order, the government has made it compulsory for all above 18 years to get vaccinated. However, due to the surge of COVID cases in India, a few states have delayed the vaccination drive, though registrations began on April 28, 2021. This has…

Chennai saw an unseasonal, early heat wave earlier this month, with the temperature soaring above normal for five consecutive days. The city also recorded its highest temperature of the year till date during this period, at 41.6 degree celsius. Brutal summers in Chennai are not uncommon and people tailor their lives around these, but extreme or prolonged heat waves require a certain level of preparedness and planning to protect the most vulnerable persons in the city. While cities work on climate action plans to mitigate the impact of climate change, parallel efforts must be made to create contingency plans for…

Translated by Sandhya Raju கடந்த சில வார காலமாகவே, சென்னையில் தொற்று அதிகரித்து வருகிறது. ஏப்ரல் 23-ம் தேதி, 3842 பேருக்கு தொற்று உறுதி செய்யப்பட்டது. புதிய வடிவை பெற்று கொரோனா வைரஸ் வேகமாக பரவும் நிலையில், பல நகரங்களில் படுக்கை, மருந்துகள் மற்றும் ஆக்சிஜன் ஆகியவற்றிற்கு தட்டுப்பாடு ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது. இதனால் மக்கள் பீதி அடைந்துள்ளனர். அவர்களுக்கோ, அவர்கள் குடும்பத்தினருக்கோ தொற்று ஏற்பட்டால் அடுத்து என்ன செய்வது, எப்படி சமாளிப்பது போன்ற பயம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளதை புரிந்து கொள்ள முடிகிறது. நேர விரயமின்றி, எவ்வாறு மருத்துவ வசதி பெறுவது, படுக்கை பெற தாமதமானால் என்ன செய்ய வேண்டும் போன்ற உறுதி செய்யப்பட்ட தகவல்கள் மற்றும் வழிகாட்டுதல்களை இங்கே தொகுத்துள்ளோம். முதலில் அறிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டியவை: தொற்று அறிகுறிகள், பரிசோதனை மையங்கள் இருமல், காய்ச்சல், மூச்சு விடுவதில் சிரமம், தொண்டை கரகரப்பு, மூக்கடைப்பு, தலை வலி, உடல் வலி, வாசனை மற்றும் சுவையின்மை…

On March 30th, the Meenambakkam weather station in Chennai recorded a high of 41.3 degree C, beating the all-time record for the hottest day in March in the city. The last time Chennai witnessed such a peak in temperature was when the Nungambakkam station recorded 40.6 degree C on March 29 1953. The second-highest temperature recorded by the Meenambakkam station was on March 31 2014, when the observatory registered 39.2 degree C.  Just two days after the mercury touched its highest ever in March this year, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) announced (on April 1st) the likelihood of Chennai’s temperature…

On 27th April 2021, the COVID figures released by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (commonly referred to as MCGM or BMC) showed the count of positive patients in the city at 66,045.  The positivity rate in Mumbai stands at over 13% which means that approximately 1 out every 8 people getting tested is infected with the virus. Though numbers have been falling over the past week, Mumbai continues to be the worst-affected in Maharashtra. Newer hotspots in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region such as Kalyan-Dombivli, Thane, and Navi Mumbai, are mushrooming. The government is struggling to ramp up health infrastructure even…

Our new refrigerator is arriving, and with it we can be sure of something else – Thermocol as voluminous as the fridge itself. Not so long ago, lunch at the food court meant eating off a Styrofoam plate. What really is Thermocol and Styrofoam? What is Thermocol and Styrofoam? Thermocol and Styrofoam are brand names – the former by BASF and the latter by Dow Chemicals. Thermocol is an EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) and Styrofoam is an XPS (Extruded Polystyrene). Both these polystyrene products are derived from petroleum, just like plastic. Thermocol is so popular that any EPS/XPS is generically called…

India is in the grip of a second wave of COVID-19. What's more, a new double mutated strain of SARS CoV2 has been detected. This is in addition to the Brazilian, South African and the UK strains. Reports of re-infection and positive cases among vaccinated people are coming in from various parts of the country. The new strain(s) are more infectious and affect a younger population. Cases of children being infected are being recorded. Ominously, the new COVID cases may not be detected by routine RT-PCR tests. The R-value is increasing (R-value is the reproductive value which indicates how many others…