Tag: Coronavirus pandemic

Easing out the lockdown

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the rate of infection of coronavirus has increased in those countries that relaxed the lockdown at once. They have indicated that underestimating the challenges that may arise in the future needs to be taken into consideration by the stakeholders.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that China and Germany have reported an increase in cases after a lockdown was relaxed. Any lifting of restrictions imposed for safeguarding the people be done with proper planning and catering for the contingencies, which includes testing on priority and vigilance of the government on every development.

The country lifting the lockdown should possess enough medical potential to deal with the development of new clusters of the coronavirus. Easing out the pressure on medical fraternity is the need for time as they are under stress for the last couple of months. A gradual and firm approach in lifting the restrictions is required. Indian public health system has been doing well when we think of coping up with the coronavirus pandemic.

India needs to facilitate investment in the health system to cope with any development of the second wave. The limitations of testing can be addressed by the government on top priority to avoid any resurgence going unnoticed for a longer period. A steep rise in the infected coronavirus cases can be seen for the last three days, India is about to touch the figure of the daily rise of coronavirus infected cases to ten thousand which is a matter of concern.

Rolling out of effective plans to revive the economy amidst the spread of coronavirus after keeping a lockdown for a considerable period is understood. However, hurried opening or relaxing the restrictions may boomerang on society and can cause a huge spread of coronavirus. Social distancing measures can be converted to the law for a certain period and people breaking the same can be imposed a penalty to stay in quarantine etc. this will reduce the unnecessary burden of movement of people.

Health and survival of the people be given the topmost priority over giving impetus to economics. A steep rise in the coronavirus cases during the past week in India is a sign to the government to monitor the cases more closely. The government needs to plan an effective exit strategy for a smooth transition from a complete halt.

Workplaces that require less manpower and contribute more to the development of the economy can be opened by the government on priority rather than the opening of malls and educational institutes that may become a hub of the spread of the infection. India has succeeded in keeping the mortality rate low due to coronavirus at a bare minimum in comparison with the developed countries of the world who delayed the lockdown and suffered the loss of lives.

Migrant workers moved to their native place causing economic loss to the place from where they moved and adding to the burden of accommodating them to their native place. Unemployment is increasing in urban areas and the migration of people has carried the infection to rural areas too. Unambiguous guidelines of the government are required and center-state face-off must be avoided on political grounds by both, rather the states should support the central government in dealing with the entire scenario diligently.

Worst incidents of 2020 till date!!!

2020 is probably the year of histories to be created and to taught in the coming decades that how intelligent and cruel are the humans!!!

There is the series of bad events on it self starting of the year…again and again humans are proved that the level of damage can be upmost by them. We are taking ourselves to the path of destruction which might not have any end. Let us see what are the events that give us hint that 2020 will be written in history.

1- Australian forest fire

Australia encounters fires almost every year but this time it gave a new signal. Over 1 billion animals are believed to be dead and an estimated 2,000 homes were lost, the overall damage and economic losses would reach 100 billion US$.

brown open field
Photo by Matthis Volquardsen on Pexels.com

2- Flood in Jakarta- Indonesia

In Indonesia, flooding is common particularly during the rainy season of October-April, but this particular flood occurred in January and killed almost 70 people on Sulawesi Island and hundreds of people were displaced by heavy rain in West Java.

man pouring water from dipper on blue and grey house
Photo by hitesh choudhary on Pexels.com

 

3- Riots in Delhi

Riots in Delhi was based on anti-CAA protest in which violence, property destruction and also rioting that killed 53 people, most of whom were Muslims shot, slashed with kicks and set on fire by Hindu mobs in North East Delhi.

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Image source: This week

4- The Pandemic- COVID-19

This is the worst situation till date of 2020 a 2 gm virus( research says that total molecules of corona virus from all over the world would weigh 2 gm i.e. equal to a coin weigh) it almost broke the economic condition of every country in the world.

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Photo by Edward Jenner on Pexels.com

5- Olympics & IPL- 2 biggest event of world brought to halt.

Due to COVID-19 outbreak 2 most popular event were called off which was very disappointing for the players as well as their supporter.

 

6- Brutal killing of Saints

This incident took place in Palghar were people of village mysteriously attacked the van on saints which was heading towards their senior saints funeral program. People on investigation said that they were informed that this van contain corona virus patient, it was more worse when police also joined people in this attack.

Man-Lynched

Image source: Siasat.com

7- Gas leakage- Visakhapatnam

This was a major gas leak in LG polymers chemical plant in Visakhapatnam which killed 11 people, 800 were hospitalized and many more faced issues like headache, ill, vomiting etc.

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Image source: The Hindu

8- Justice for Blacks

The conflict raised when George Floyd, 46, died on May 25, after a video showing a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck for almost 9 minutes.

crowd of protesters holding signs
Photo by Josh Hild on Pexels.com

9- Indian cinema lost 2 gems

Bollywood lost 2 precious gems Irfan Khan an Rishi Kapoor. Actor Irfan Khan were facing problem related to Neuroendocrine tumor which became the reason for his death where as on the other hand actor Rishi Kapoor died by Leukemia.

10- Brutal death of a pregnant Elephant- Kerala

This incident took place in Velliyar River in Kerela where a pregnant elephant came in search of food where local offered a pineapple loaded with fire cracker which exploded in her mouth, doctors tried to save her but unfortunately couldn’t save. Suspect was arrested by forest officials and was interrogated. This shows how cruel has mankind became over the years.

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Image source: Facebook

 

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A tale of two countries:- how the reopened.

As the pandemic increases its foothold over the world, nations worldwide are looking to reopen with varying degrees of success. Various countries have seen a slow decline in the number of cases while some a sudden spike. As the world slowly wakes up from its corona stupor, lets have a look at how two countries have made changes in order to reopen.

Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.com

If the world is a family, I think we can agree that the current US is the crazy cousin who constantly does weird shenanigans. Most countries have gone the traditional way which is a partial reopening followed by a full reopening. However not so in case of America, where the existence of corona is a political debate. Even now, as the entire country staggers some news outlets continue to make scarce of the Covid threat. Amongst the frontrunners is Sean Hannity, a main feature of Fox news, a news outlet that has made its entire existence sculpted to favour Donald J. trump. The channel has constantly reported fake news in order to incite the crowd and further Trump’s image. As the country is hit by several catastrophic events which include the likes of earthquakes, nation wide riots and the ever-looming global pandemic, a few states have opted for the full reopening in order to “save their economy”. However foolish as the idea maybe some companies and brands have taken onto themselves to follow the guidelines. A certain church in USA has seen its pastor greeting their reverends with a squirt gun, in order to bless them. The pastor, wearing a mask and gloves can has been seen greeting the people as the pull up by the church in order to be blessed. While the church tries to see a sense of normalcy, various brands have come up with a new solution to help keep people safe while still being up to trends during this summer. Some designers have come up with a concept being termed as a “trikini” for women looking to enjoy beach season. By providing a mask of similar design in order to look fashionable, some worry about how safe it would actually be, being in a crowd filled beach. Germany has been a country that has seen a good decrease in the number of cases and has safely reopened the country. However, it has not been without some bizarre changes. Germany was the first country to reopen their football league, the Bundesliga which notched up a very large group of viewers who had been starved of action during the pandemic. But there were a number of changes such as no fans being allowed inside the stadium, serious checking of players before and after the matches, going so far as to quarantine a coach of a team who had stepped out of the assigned hotel to buy toothpaste. Even in terms of music being played in public places, a number of changes have taken place. Fans of classical music can see and hear live performances one on one in a designated area in places like airports, museums etc. But a good plan has seen the country come out of the pandemic safely

Thus we see the stark difference in the outcomes of the state of the nations, due to the method used by them to reopen heir countries. What happens in India is still too soon to tell.

Corona Vaccine Update!!!

The situation in the world are very worse and so our hope for vaccine also. Scienticts are trying hard and hard to discover the vaccine. Scientist and pharma industry from all over the world are in danger in terms of health and wealth.

Here are some updates related to corona virus vaccine;

Moderna Therapeutics‘ invented mRNA-1273 vaccine prototypes which is heading towards success with high speed. The vaccine, is currently in its second phase of testing is more likely to be tested ahead on its third phase of clinical testing, Moderna therapeutics plans to involve about 30,000 participants between the ages of 18-55 and those who are at high risk of corona virus. If the trials are successful than it would be much relief for the people all around the world, by the time, Moderna promised to manufacture 100 million doses of the vaccine. The third phase of the testing is most likely to start in July.

Oxford University & AstraZeneca of Brazil which is worst affected country due to COVID-19 are jointly working to develop the corona virus vaccine. Once they tried to develop the vaccine but it failed in testing, now after much of research and time they again got hope and now they are soon ready to begin the trails on humans. To speed up the development of vaccine and minimizing the clinical trial time they are conducting both phase I and phase II trials at the same time.

Serum Institute of India (SII) India is also leading in development of  vaccine it has already tested for 18-55 age but side effects were observed and is again under development and testing. If India is able to development the vaccine first than India will become super nation as India will show to world that still India can do better in health sector and obvious youth is also at great potential so, ultimately it will attract many of the MNCs to India.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

How can Start-ups and Businesses overcome the downturn because of COVID-19?

The COVID-19 has created a pandemonium for start-ups and businesses all around the world. Most of the start-ups and businesses are facing a downturn in their financial market. We know it’s a very hard time for all, and we all are trying very hard to survive through the pandemic. Most of the employees are in fear of losing their job security. The start-up entrepreneurs are afraid of not getting any proper upcoming projects. Every start-up enterprise and business are going through terrible times now, financially. The employees are trying to survive without pay. The economy of the country is degrading day by day. 

Hence, we are here to see what can start-ups and businesses do to overcome the downturn because of COVID-19. If we have the will to make progress, we are surely going to overcome this pandemic. Even if the market is not as fast-paced as before, we still can develop the businesses financially. All we need to have is a proper strategy to make the progress happen, to survive COVID-19. Here is a list of strategies that start-ups and businesses can follow to overcome the downturn.

Strategies to overcome downturn due to COVID-1

Communicating with regular clients 

Every business company or a start-up must have a regular set of clients. Try to communicate with your customers regularly. Even if the pandemic resists you from gaining any new project, you will still have your old clients. Try to keep your old client satisfied. You will get the support you need from regular clients.

Manage your team for new strategy plans

Your old strategies won’t be of any help now. You need new ideas to make new strategies. To have new ideas, you need a working team led by a strong leader. The leader has to make the team members understand how important it is to make strategies. If you want to overcome the financial loss your company has faced, you need to strategize everything. 

Make small plans rather than bigger ones

Your only goal, for now, is to survive the pandemic with as low financial loss as possible. So, make smaller plans rather than long-term plans. You should have a plan for the upcoming month, rather than the year. Plan every day out and execute the plan meticulously.

Pay attention to investment

Now, you won’t have a lot of funding. Your company would already suffer heavy losses, due to a lack of new projects. Hence, try to keep the investment at a bare minimum. Don’t invest in huge projects at the moment. Look for smaller projects. In this way, you can save funds for your company. This is not the time to invest your money, because you have no idea what the future holds.

New ideas and methods

You need to understand what is important at the moment. You have to impress your clients, and for that, you need to bring in new ideas. You have to focus on the necessity rather than the exuberance. Every new idea has to be convenient and needed by the customers. There is no need for fancy ideas. It’s highly unlikely that a customer would be interested to invest in any fancy project. You have to modify your methods according to the need of the moment.

How to save your company from financial loss?

Financial loss is inevitable for any company in the current scenario. But you can save your company from becoming bankrupt. You have to make your employees work towards the satisfaction of the existing clients. The employees would get paid based on their work. You have to make a new rule for your employees, which would stay consistent until the company is back on track. Your employees would get paid for the amount of work they are going to produce. You need to plan out work for every employee you have. Even for a start-up company, you need to keep your employees as well as your clients happy. Your employees are the pillars of your company. In this way, you can satisfy both the clients and the employees. Apart from that, you have to make small teams of members, headed by one leader. Make them work on small projects. They would get paid based on every successful project they execute. In this way, your company won’t suffer from a lack of work. Also, your employees would get paid for executing the projects wonderfully.

The best way to overcome financial loss is to not invest huge amounts on any projects now. Take up small projects, which would be easier for the employees to finish, and also in time. Try to invest less as much as possible. Only invest in projects you think would be fruitful for your company at the moment.

How to make plans and strategies to overcome financial loss?

The focus should be on new plans and strategies, for a small amount of time. Once the pandemic ends, the situation of the company would improve for the better. Now, you need to focus on new plans. Have a team of members who would give you proper strategies regarding new projects. The projects have to go according to the strategized plan. Every project should be well planned and simple. All the employees have to keep in mind, that it is better to have simple plans to work on, rather than complicated ones.

Therefore, it is not hard for any start-up or business to overcome downturns. Your employees are your strength. You all can work together to keep your company out of financial loss and debt. You need to focus only on what is needed and how you can work together to develop for the better. Work with your employees and plan out the upcoming months properly to achieve success. Your company will progress if you execute the plans properly. The more united you are with your employees, the better it would be for the company.

How far lockdown extension will implicate the Educational system?

Both schools and colleges are facing a tremendous loss of learning. As that of the recent situation, summer vacations are going on and the HRD ministry is formulating another alternative calendar for the coming months in case the situation doesn’t improve.

Online classes as an alternative!

The educational system decided to opt for online classes for the students but it actually didn’t work and was not up to the mark. Also, these lectures have failed to influence students.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/online-classes-not-up-to-the-mark-finds-new-study/articleshow/75416080.cms

A study conducted by Principal in an architecture college, Professor Sharma came up with a conclusion that offline classes are better than online ones.

What problems were faced?

Just imagine yourself sitting inside a classroom with your earphones plugged in and not able to be part of the classroom! Exactly, same happened with the students who were studying in cities have returned back to their homes belonging to rural areas are not able to access the online classes due to lack of internet connectivity, they were marked present but not able to listen and learn, which eventually headed students to a complete loss.

What can be improved?

Most probably nothing can be done with the students living in rural areas. But what about the one’s living in the cities? Students also complained that they were informed at the very last moment of starting the class. Sometimes the students have to wait, mostly the teachers keep waiting.

So the problem can be resolved by maintaining the time table for lectures the same as that was done in offline classes. The classes should be conducted according to the time table with exact timing so no one has to wait. The best thing which can be done is to improve the educational system by adopting the technology.

Post lockdown solutions-

Careful planning helps you limit the long term significance of this shutdown. Reopening of schools to be allowed in green zones. Also, the schools in the yellow zone should also open as soon as the zone turns green. Students should be allowed to visit the school in shifts, this will not equalize the previous education but it will ensure that at least some education is given to every student while taking care of social distancing. Proper sanitization after finishing with one shift should also be carried out.

Relaxation to students!

“All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) will also issue a revised academic calendar soon and Prof. Rajive Kumar directed colleges to continue online classes for the current semester under the extended lockdown”.

Overwhelming updates regarding fees acted as a huge relief to students as colleges and institutions are not allowed to demand any sort of fee payments until the ongoing COVID lockdown is lifted and conditions become normal.

No money to pay salaries!

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Delhi Government is left with no money. They don’t have money to pay their employees. The Deputy Chief Minister has also written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman regarding this issue.

https://www.timesnownews.com/delhi/article/no-money-to-pay-salaries-delhi-govt-seeks-rs-5000-crore-aid-from-centre-to-deal-with-covid-19-crisis/599452

Unite and fight! The only possible way to fight against this pandemic.

25th Foundation Day of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences

Prime Minister today addressed the 25th Foundation Day of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences at Bengaluru via video conferencing.

Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of the Karnataka Government in handling the COVID-19 situation.

Shri Modi said the World is facing one of the biggest crisis since the two World Wars. Like the world changed pre and post-World Wars, the same way the pre and post Covid world will be different, he said.

Shri Modi said at the root of India’s brave fight against Covid-19 is the hard-work of the medical community and our Corona warriors. He likened the doctors and medical workers as soldiers but without the soldiers’ uniform.

Prime Minister said the virus may be invisible enemy but our corona warriors are invincible and in the battle against the invisible vs invincible our med workers are sure to win.

Prime Minister expressed concern at violent incidents, owing to mob mentality, against the front-line workers and said several steps have been taken by the Government to curb them. He said that the Government also provided an insurance cover of Rs. 50 Lakhs to those on the front-line.

Prime Minister called for a focus on human centric aspects of development instead of debates on economic issues in the era of globalisation.

He said, advancements nations make in the health sector will matter more than ever before and that the Government had taken many initiativesin health-care and medical education, in the last 6 years.

Prime Minister called for a four pillared strategy to improve the health care, its infrastructure and its access to one and all.

He said the first pillar would be Preventive Health Carewhere in the emphasis would be importance of Yoga, Ayurveda and General Fitness. He said more than 40,000 Wellness Centres were opened with a key focus on controlling life style related diseases. The success of Swachch Bharat mission is another key area of preventive health care.

The second pillar is – Affordable Healthcare. Prime Minister highlighted the success of Ayushman Bharat- the world’s largest healthcare scheme and how in less than two years, One crore people have benefitted from it, especially women and those living in rural areas. 

The third pillar is- Improvements on the supply side.  Prime Minister said that a nation like Indai has to have proper medical infrastructure and medical education infrastructure. 

He said, Work is under-way to ensure a medical college or post-graduate medical institute in every district of the country.  Prime Minister underlined the fact that the country has seen rapid progress in setting up 22 more AIIMS. 

He said over the last five years, we have been able to add over 30,000 seats in MBBSand 15,000 seats in post-graduation.   This has been the largest increase in the five year term of any government since independence. 

Prime Minister also spoke of the setting up of National Medical Commission to replace The Medical Council of India through an Act of the Parliament. 

The fourth pillar, he said would be  Mission mode implementation of all the schemes and that it is very crucial for the success of a good idea.

He cited how the implementation of National Nutrition Mission is helping youngsters and mothers and also how India is determined to eliminate Tuberculosis by 2025, which is 5 years ahead of the global target of 2030.

He also spoke of Mission Indradhanush where the annual rise in vaccination coverage has increased by four times.

Prime Minister said that the Central Government has recently approved the introduction of a new law for expanding education of more than 50 different allied and healthcare professionals, which will address the shortage of shortage of para-medical personnel in the country.  

He urged the gathering to discuss and ideate on three issues namely how to make advances in Tele-Medicine; how to make gains in health sector through ‘Make In India” and how to bring about more of IT related services into health care.

He was appreciative of how the initial gains in the area of Make in India where the domestic manufacturers started production of PPEs and N-95 Masks and already supplied over 1 Crore of PPEs and 1.5 Crore of Masks.

Prime Minister also appreciated how the ArogyaSetu App is helping in the fight against Corona virus.

CSIR-IIIM & Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to develop RT-LAMP based test for Coronavirus

As part of COVID-19 mitigation mission of Country, CSIR has strategized its R&D to develop, integrate, scale-up, and deploy necessary technological interventions for combating Coronavirus pandemic in the country. Considering the multifarious problems created by coronavirus, which require interventions, the CSIR under the guidance of its Director General, Dr. Shekhar Mande has formed five verticals to coordinate various research activities into Digital and Molecular Surveillance, Drugs & Vaccines, Rapid and Economical Diagnostics, Hospital Assistive Devices & PPEs, and Supply Chain and Logistics.

Since testing is vital component in COIVD-19 mitigation, CSIR-IIIM, Jammu a constituent laboratory of CSIR has partnered with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to develop and scale-up a new Reverse Transcriptase-Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) based COVID-19 diagnostic kit for which a formal MOU has also been signed between CSIR-IIIM, Jammu and RIL.

COVID-19 RT-LAMP test is a nucleic acid based test carried out from nasal/throat swab sample from patients. The test recipe has been developed and successfully demonstrated using synthetic templates. It is rapid (45-60 min), cost effective and accurate test.  It has been tested with a small number of patients samples and validating the kit on more number of patient samples is planned and will be done together with RIL.

The advantage of this test is that the RT-LAMP based COVID-19 kit components are easily available and these can be completely manufactured in India.  While the, the current COVID-19 testing is done by real-time PCR their components are mostly imported. Further these tests are expensive; require highly trained manpower, costly instruments and a relatively high-end lab and cannot be deployed at remote locations in quarantine centers, airports and railway stations, etc.

On the other hand, the RT-LAMP test can be done in a single tube with minimal expertise in a very basic lab setup like mobile units / kiosks for testing at Airports, Railway Stations, Bus Stands and other public places. The end detection of the test is a simple colored reaction, which is easily visible in UV light, and now is being modified such that it can be detected in regular light.

After testing the accuracy of the kit, on a much larger number of patients, CSIR-IIIM and RIL will jointly approach ICMR for approval. RIL plans to rapidly scale up the tests for the larger population and use it for easy, rapid and widespread diagnosis for COVID-19 detection for the larger interest of society.

With the formal launch of the RT-LAMP based diagnostic test, the COVID-19 testing will not only be more rapid, cheap, easy and accessible but also would go a long way quickly isolating the infected individuals and mitigating the spread of virus.

Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Director and Dr. Sumit Gandhi, Principal Scientist from CSIR-IIIM and Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, Senior Vice President, R&D and Dr. Manish Shukla, General Manager R&D from RIL side are monitoring this project.