The Indian Weekender, Friday 21 August 2020

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14 INDIA Friday, August 21, 2020 The Indian Weekender India: Coronavirus cases Confirmed: 2,767,273 Deaths: 52,889, Recovered: 2,037,870 Active: 676,514 NEWS in BRIEF ‘Take the right precautions’: PM Modi cautions citizens amid dengue season Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to be cautious about tropical and vector-borne diseases and asked them to take steps to be safe amid the country’s battle against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). “This is the season of tropical and vector-borne diseases. I urge you all to take the right precautions. The Government is also closely monitoring the situation and ensuring care to those affected. Stay safe, be happy!” PM Modi tweeted. PM Modi’s tweet comes at a time when India is likely to face challenges during the dengue season, prompting state governments to prepare protocols and find ways to ease the burden on country’s healthcare infrastructure. India tests record 8.97 lakh swab samples in a day India continues to aggressively ramp up its daily testing count for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), as 8.97 lakh swab samples were tested. The country is close to achieving the daily testing target of around a million swab samples. India has conducted 309,38,400 Covid-19 tests to date since the first swab sample was diagnosed on January 23. There has been a threefold rise in conducting Covid-19 tests, as compared to a month ago, when 10 million samples were tested. “A new peak was achieved following 8.97 lakh Covid-19 tests in the last 24 hours. Even with such a high level of testing, the positivity has remained low at 8.81%, as compared to the weekly national average of 8.84%,” said a release from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW). Will the superfast 'Sputnik V' vaccine put citizens at risk? With over 175 Covid-19 vaccines currently in different stages of development, the entire human race is hoping that eventually one of them would work and enable us all to return to normal life. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced the first ever approved Covid-19 vaccine "Sputnik V" and inoculated it to one of his own daughters, stating that it was "safe". This however has not gone down too well with the World Health Organization (WHO) that feels that the "hasty" vaccine needed rigorous safety review. The medical fraternity and the scientists are dealing with uncertainty as they cannot be sure yet if any vaccine could permanently prevent people from contracting Covid-19 and help eliminate the virus or at least limit its outbreak. The novel coronavirus continues to spread at an alarming rate even as 21.9 million people have tested positive for the disease so far worldwide, while over 7,74,000 have died. 13 airlines to repatriate Indians to Bengaluru from overseas Thirteen airlines will connect Bengaluru to 14 international destinations as part of the latest air bubble, Vande Bharat Mission and repatriation programmes to bring back Indians stuck in foreign countries because of Coronavirus pandemic, an official said. "International repatriation flights as well as Government of India's Vande Bharat Mission and air bubble programmes have enabled Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (KIAB) to connect Bengaluru to 14 international destinations," Official said. As many as 13 airlines, domestic as well as international, will operate in these sectors from the city airport The destinations connected directly from Bengaluru include Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Amsterdam, Doha, Frankfurt, Kuwait, Kuala Lumpur, London, Muscat, Narita, Paris, Riyadh and Singapore. The Central government is repatriating thousands of Indians stuck in various countries because of the Coronavirus pandemic and earlier lockdowns through Vande Bharat flights. These repatriation flights are bringing back Indians to multiple Indian cities. Malaysia detects coronavirus strain that’s ten times more infectious Malaysia has detected a strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious. The mutation called D614G was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine. The strain was also found in another cluster involving people returning from the Philippines. The strain could mean that existing studies on vaccines may be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation, said Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah. “People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia,” he said. “The people’s cooperation is very needed so that we can together break the chain of infection from any mutation.” India’s Covid-19 recoveries cross 2m; daily recoveries higher than new infections India’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) recoveries have crossed the two-million mark, as the number of recovering patients has outnumbered new viral infections, the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) data showed. At present, the number of active Covid-19 cases are less than 25% of the total number of the viral infections reported since January 30. “When we talk about the viral caseload of a particular country, it is always the active cases that are counted. It is never the total number of positive cases,” said Rajesh Bhushan, secretary, MoH&FW. Around 60,000 Covid-19 patients are recovering daily from their viral infection. While around 55,000 new Covid-19 cases are being reported a day. A continuous uptick in average daily recoveries has led to India’s recovery rate at 73.18% and a low case fatality rate (CFR) at 1.92%. Higher number of recoveries and declining fatality has shown that the country’s graded strategy has worked, according to the ministry. “The number of hospitalisation cases has also reduced. A small percentage of Covid-19 patients With international air travel still out of bounds due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India has proposed air bubbles with five neighbouring countries, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. Air bubbles seek to restore commercial passenger services to pre-pandemic levels. Pakistan is not on the list of five countries. “Air bubbles have also been proposed with our neighbours Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal & Bhutan. Going forward, we will consider such arrangements with other countries also. It is always our endeavour to reach out to every stranded citizen. No Indian will be left behind,” Puri tweeted. India’s international flight operations are currently largely limited to evacuating its residents from various countries under the Vande Bharat mission (VBM). “We continue to further strengthen the reach & scope of VBM. Air Travel arrangements are already in place with need to be admitted to hospitals. Most of them recover from their viral infection under home isolation. Few Covid-19 patients are in need of a ventillator support. A majority of those who get admitted make a smooth recovery. However, the problem is by and large with highrisk cases such as senior citizens and those with comorbidities,” said Dr. Rommel Tickoo, senior consultant, department of internal medicine, Max Healthcare. The government’s target is to bring down the percentage of Covid-19- related deaths to either 1% or below. “As a result of collaborative and focussed efforts by the Centre and state/UT (Union Territory) governments built on effective implementation of the test, track and treat strategy of the Union government, 30 States/UTs are reporting lower CFR than the national average,” said the ministry in a statement. Aggressive testing leads to early identification and isolation of positive cases. Besides, efficient clinical treatment has ensured the country’s Covid-19 fatality rate is low, said ministry officials. India is testing around 900,000 swab samples daily and three million people have undergone Covid-19 tests since January 23, when Pune’s National Institute of Virology, under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), conducted the first test. India plans air bubbles with five neighbours, Pakistan not among them USA, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Qatar & Maldives. We are now taking these efforts forward & are negotiating with 13 more countries to establish such arrangements.” “These include Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea & Thailand,” he said in another tweet. The latest air bubble was the one with Canada that became operational on August 15. Supreme Court orders CBI investigation in Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected actor Rhea Chakraborty’s petition to transfer the investigation from Patna to Mumbai in Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. The court said that said Bihar government was competent to give consent to CBI for probing into the Patna FIR. A single-judge bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy pronounced the judgement. The bench held that the contents as disclosed by the FIR registered in Patna indicate that even Mumbai Police has jurisdiction. The apex court had reserved its judgement on Chakraborty’s petition after a hearing on August 11. In her petition, Chakraborty said that the Bihar Police have no jurisdiction in the case and that the actor’s death was being used for political gains ahead of elections in the state. Heightened media attention and sensationalising of the case is another ground on which Chakraborty has sought the transfer of the case to Mumbai. Based on Rajput’s father KK Singh’s complaint that Rhea Chakraborty was responsible for abetment of his son’s suicide, Patna Police registered an FIR on July 25. Singh also alleged that Chakraborty illegally transferred Rs 15 crore from Rajput’s bank account. However, the actor has denied all allegations and maintained that she will cooperate with an investigation launched by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Meanwhile, Singh was quizzed by the ED on his son’s finances. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also registered a case against Chakraborty and three members of her family members. Sushant Singh Rajput, 34, was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14.
The Indian Weekender Friday, August 21, 2020 WORLD 15 Pandemic now driven by 20s, 30s, 40s group, many asymptomatic: WHO The World Health Organization said it was concerned that the novel coronavirus spread was being driven by people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, many of which were unaware they were infected, posing a danger to vulnerable groups. WHO officials said this month the proportion of younger people among those infected had risen globally, putting at risk vulnerable sectors of the population worldwide, including the elderly and sick people in densely populated areas with weak health services. “The epidemic is changing,” WHO Western Pacific regional director, Takeshi Kasai, told a virtual briefing. “People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are increasingly driving the spread. Many are unaware they are infected.” “This increases the risk of spillovers to the more vulnerable,” he added. A surge in new cases has prompted some countries to re-impose curbs as companies race to find a vaccine for a virus that has battered "What we are observing is not simply a resurgence. We believe it’s a signal that we have entered a new phase economies, killed more than 770,000 people and infected nearly 22 million, according to a Reuters tally. Surges were reported in countries that had appeared to have the virus under control, including Vietnam, which until recently went three months without domestic transmission due to its aggressive mitigation efforts. “What we are observing is not simply a resurgence. We believe it’s a signal that we have entered a new phase of pandemic in the Asia- Pacific,” Kasai said. He said countries were better able to reduce disruption to lives of pandemic in the Asia-Pacific," and economies by combining early detection and response to manage infections. While mutations had been observed, the WHO still saw the virus as “relatively stable”, Kasai said. WHO also reminded drugmakers to follow all necessary research and development steps when creating a vaccine. Socorro Escalante, its technical officer and medicines policy advisor, said the WHO was coordinating with Russia, which this month became the first country to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine. “We hope to get the response in terms of the evidence of this new vaccine,” Escalante said. Biden, Harris maintain double-digit lead over Trump, Pence: Poll Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris are maintaining a double-digit lead in the country over incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, as the presidential election draws closer, says a Washington Post-ABC News poll. As the Democrats kicked off their National Convention on Monday, Biden and Harris lead Trump and Pence by 53 per cent to 41 per cent among registered voters, The Washington Post reported. Among voters, Biden’s current national margin over Trump is slightly smaller than the 15-point margin in a poll conducted last month and slightly larger than a survey in May when he led by 10 points. As the pandemic was in its initial stage, Biden and Trump were separated by just two points, with the former having a statistically insignificant advantage. Nearly 9 in 10 of Trump’s supporters are enthusiastic to cast ballots for him and 65 per cent saying they are “very enthusiastic”. Slightly over 8 in 10 Biden supporters stated they are enthusiastic about voting for the former Vice President, with 48 per cent saying they are “very enthusiastic”, the poll said. Overall, 54 per cent of registered voters said they are following the presidential election “very closely”. The share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters stands at 58 per cent, the same as it was in September 2016. 53 per cent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent voters are also saying they are very closely following the campaign, a jump of 13 points around this time four years back. Australia locks in coronavirus vaccine deal as new cases ease A fresh outbreak of infections in Australia’s coronavirus hot zone of Victoria appeared to have eased, as the country signed a deal to secure a potential COVID-19 vaccine that it intends to roll out free of cost to its citizens. Australia has signed a deal with British drugmaker AstraZeneca to produce and distribute enough doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine for its population of 25 million, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said late on Tuesday. "Slightly over 8 in 10 Biden supporters stated they are enthusiastic about voting for the former Vice President, with 48 per cent saying they are “very enthusiastic" All Australians will be offered doses but a medical panel will determine the priority list of vaccine recipients, Health Minister Greg Hunt said. “Naturally you would be focusing on the most vulnerable, the elderly, health workers, people with disabilities in terms of the speed of roll out, but I think there would be widespread uptake in Australia,” Hunt told Sky News on Wednesday. AstraZeneca last month said good data was coming in so far on its vaccine for COVID-19, already in large-scale human trials and widely seen as the front-runner in the race for a shot against the novel coronavirus. The vaccine, called AZD1222, was developed by Britain’s University of Oxford and licensed to AstraZeneca. A flare up in infections in Australia’s second most populous state of Victoria forced authorities two weeks ago to impose a nightly curfew, tighten restrictions on people’s movements and order large parts of the state’s economy to close. World: Coronavirus cases Confirmed: 22,308,044 Deaths: 784,365 Recovered: 15,050,063 Active: 6,473,616 NEWS in BRIEF Infectious Covid-19 mutation may be a good thing, says disease expert A mutation of the novel coronavirus increasingly common throughout Europe and recently detected in Malaysia may be more infectious but appears less deadly, according to a prominent infectious diseases doctor. Paul Tambyah, senior consultant at the National University of Singapore and president-elect of the U.S.-based International Society of Infectious Diseases, said the D614G mutation has also been found in Singapore. The city-state’s health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tambyah said there is evidence the proliferation of the mutation in Europe has coincided with a drop in death rates, suggesting it is less lethal. The mutation is not likely to impact the efficacy of a potential vaccine, despite warnings to the contrary from other health experts, he added. “Maybe that’s a good thing to have a virus that is more infectious but less deadly,” Tambyah told Reuters. China, U.S. will allow air carriers to double flights between nations China and the United States will each allow air carriers to double current flights to eight per week between the world’s two largest economies, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday. The department said it will allow four Chinese passenger airlines currently flying to the United States to double flights to eight weekly round-trips, as China has agreed to allow U.S. carriers to double flights to China. U.S. carriers voluntary halted flights to China after the coronavirus outbreak. President Donald Trump on Jan. 31 barred nearly all non-U.S. citizens from traveling to the United States from China. Argentina exceeds 300,000 coronavirus cases, 6,000 deaths – health ministry Argentina confirmed 6,840 new cases of coronavirus and 172 new deaths, taking it simultaneously over the 300,000 case and 6,000 death threshold as the Latin nation battles a surge of contagions in recent weeks. The country’s health ministry reported a total of 305,966 cases and 6,048 deaths. Dr Luis Camera, a member of the Argentine government’s health advisory group, said while cases, intensive care admissions and hospital bed occupancy rates were not still climbing, they had settled at an unsustainable level. “The highest points for the City of Buenos Aires could have been the last days of July and the first days of August,” he told Reuters TV. “Now the infection curve has stabilized at a plateau, but a high plateau. In South America, you call it the altiplano, as opposed to the lowlands.” WHO calls for widespread flu vaccinations this year The world must administer widespread anti-flu vaccinations this year to help to ward off the risk of complicating coronavirus infections, World Health Organization senior adviser Bruce Aylward said on Tuesday. More than 21.9 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 772,647 have died, according to a Reuters tally. WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove told a briefing in Geneva that studies to date showed that less than 10% of the population has evidence of antibodies against the virus US Covid-19 cases surpass 5.5 million The total number of Covid-19 cases in the US surpassed 5.5 million, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The US case count rose to 5,505,074, with the national death toll reaching 172,418, according to the media The hardest-hit US state of California reported 640,722 cases, followed by Florida with 584,047 cases, Texas with 569,331 cases, and New York with 426,571 cases, the tally showed. Other states with over 180,000 cases include Georgia, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey, according to the CSSE. By far, the United States remains the worst-hit nation, in terms of both the caseload and death toll.
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