Health

Just as the rest of the world and our country, Chennai too is waiting with bated breath for the COVID-19 immunisation programme to start, the only ray of hope after a terrible year spent fighting a novel contagion. From conducting dry run exercises in the hospitals to registering priority groups for the first phase of vaccine, multi-disciplinary government committees in Tamil Nadu and Chennai are working on this massive exercise. While the date of commencement of vaccination has not yet been specified, health officials say that the city is adequately prepared to start the exercise immediately as they hear from the…

About five years ago, Manoj Gopalkrishnan, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, heard about the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus or MERS-COV outbreak. He read news stories discussing the shortage of testing kits and wondered if pooling as a form of testing, where samples are mixed together in a batch and only tested further if the combined sample tests positive, could be used to accelerate testing. But back then, the idea only remained in his head. In early 2020 as COVID-19 virus raged across the world, Manoj saw that once again there was a shortage of…

The sudden spurt of COVID cases on the IIT-Madras campus last December, shortly after it reopened, has been the subject of close scrutiny in many quarters. Within 18 days of the first two cases detected, the institution recorded 199 cases (179 students, three persons in the quarters, 16 mess workers and a carpenter), leading to a new cluster. At around the same time, many colleges in the city reopened for final year students and research scholars. The outbreak at IIT-Madras has alerted them to the need for revisiting safety protocols and demonstrated why it is important to not let our…

As talks of vaccines acquire a shrill pitch, it is time to look back at some of the essential workers who saw us through the hard days of the lockdown in the past few months. The mortuary and ambulance staff of King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital, one of Mumbai's biggest public hospitals, spoke to Citizen Matters about their life experiences in 2020 - an extraordinary year which was filled with fear and trepidation. But, they could not stop. The 'leader' Senior Mortuary Attendant, Kashinath Raghunath Mugdar, is an old hand. Having witnessed the mortuary overflow after the 1993 communal riots,…

Last week, the new SARS-CoV-2 variant was revealed to be the reason behind the rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in South and East England. It is being referred to as VUI (Variant Under Investigation) 202012/01, or the B.1.1.7 lineage. 1108 cases of this strain have been identified so far. While this new variant spreads more rapidly than other strains, there is no evidence yet that this variant causes severe disease or mortality. Given this all travel from and into the UK has been halted as a precautionary measure in our country. For the first time in the last few weeks…

Even as the UK, US and other countries have started vaccinating their citizens, India is yet to start immunising its massive population, as the final human trials are not yet over. The task is difficult and poses unique challenges. Citizen Matters spoke to four eminent experts on their views on the vaccine and the various challenges of a mass vaccination drive: Dr Satyajit Rath: Visiting Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune.Dr Shahid Jameel: Director, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana.Dr Rakesh Mishra: Director, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.Prof Nirmal Kumar Ganguly:…

Health workers at a Boston hospital broke into a celebratory dance on receiving their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine recently. In India, even before the vials are ready, competition is emerging over who will have the first access. With the vaccine in the final trial phase, India faces the looming challenge of producing the quantities necessary to provide immunity to all its citizens.  Globally, pharma companies are racing ahead to roll out vaccines to fight COVID-19, including the new highly infectious strain that has been found in Britain. Daily life cannot find a new normal until populations have built up antibodies…

The Covid-19 pandemic put to test the capacity and resilience of health systems across the globe. Public health systems in countries witnessing widespread virus transmission (USA, western European countries, Iran and India) were overwhelmed, leading to higher mortality. Despite lower disease incidence when compared to western countries, major cities of India witnessed significant Covid-19 related mortality. Various shades of lockdowns and civilian restrictions aided containment efforts, but caused severe socio-economic distress.   In India, the pandemic response relied on tertiary hospitals with intensive care units and ventilators to treat Covid-19 and prevent deaths. Expectedly, the technocratic part of health systems led…

[This article was updated after an official order, with several changes to the original announcement, was issued by the Chief Secretary, Karnataka. The full text of the order can be found here] The Karnataka government has imposed a State-wide night curfew for eight days beginning December 24. The curfew will come into effect at 11 pm and last till 5 am on those days. The decision was taken in view of the new strain of Covid-19 virus, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced, a day after he had ruled out the possibility of night curfew. "In view of the new…

It was only last week that work hours returned to “normal” for Sajida, an Accredited Social Health Worker (ASHA), also known as Community Health Worker, who lives in Mahalakshmi Layout.   As with all ASHA workers, she was part of the critical front line; keeping her ears to the ground and eyes peeled for any sign of Covid-19 and its spread in her locality. Since March, when the city recorded its first coronavirus case, Sajida has worked up to 16 hours a day, surveying neighbourhoods and tracing contacts of those who tested positive.  Although Covid-19 cases and positivity rates have…