Tag: COVID-19 pandemic

Class 12 boy handles bodies of coronavirus patients

Introduction

The spread of Corona Virus has resulted in World-wide lockdown and India too has implemented lock down in all its states for last few months. This led to closing of the major industries like automobiles, infrastructure, tourism, manufacturing etc. which are biggest stakeholders of organized and unorganized sectors in India. Most of the people working in these sectors are daily age workers who do not have fixed income or benefits but solely relies on everyday wages. The closure of all these sectors has led to one of the biggest crisis which we will face in future. Here’s an article on class 12 boy handling bodies of coronavirus patients to earn living.

About

In a hunger for job to ease living, 12 class boy haunted a dangerous job of handling bodies of corona patients. A class 12 student, wants  to study medicine, to supply for his siblings’ school fees and his mother’s treatment he is doing this job. Chand Mohammad’s mother suffers from a thyroid disorder and needs her medicines urgently, but the family doesn’t have enough means for the treatment. They are barely making their ends for living . As his elder brother lost his job at a merchandise store in Krishna Nagar market during the lockdown. Chand Mohammad is from Seelampur in Northeast Delhi. He and his family has been surviving on ration provided by neighbors. And whatever his brother could earn doing odd jobs. 

Where Chand joined for work?

 A week ago, Chand joined a corporation as a sweeper at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in New Delhi. The job requires him to handle bodies of corona patients. The shift is from 12 noon to eight pm. He took this work after he got exhausted from all options to seek out work. Though this is a dangerous job, as he is at a better risk of getting engaged with the infection, but he want the work and earn. His family, including three sisters, two brothers and fogeys, is struggling for living. Right now, they had food and medicines for my mother. On many days, they cooked food only once. There’s an opportunity that they may fight the virus, but they cannot run away from hunger. Chand’s three sisters are still in school. He, himself is in 12 standard and have to pay the varsity fee. They need money to study. He hopes that his first salary will set things right to a particular extent. He read namaz before he exits his home for work. He even have faith within the almighty. God will look after  him and will surely show him the way. 

How he is handling bodies of coronavirus patients?

 Chand, who wants to study medicine, says But what bothers the youngster is that employees like him who are into high-risk jobs don’t get any insurance from the private companies employing them. “The most dangerous job within the world immediately handling bodies of corona patients  pays around Rs 17,000 per month. Every day, Chand handles around two to three bodies along side another sweeper. They are required to place the bodies inside the ambulance, take it to the crematorium and put it down on a stretcher once they reach the crematorium.They also have to remove all wearing the private protection equipment, which is extremely heavy. It limits movement and suffocates an individual. During this heat, one can finish up bathing in their own sweat. 

An incident he shared with media

 On Tuesday evening, Chand handled a body on his own. There was no helper with him, So, it took him a while. He gathered his breath at the top when he heard, a doctor saying the body had been lying within the mortuary for a month which nobody claimed it. Once he tried taking the body down from the ambulance, the duvet came off and a few liquid spilled on his thighs. As he is desperate to get some money, Chand has approached people giving money on low interest rates and he took his Aadhaar card and voter card, hoping to urge some money on low interest rates. His family is worried about his safety. Perhaps they also know that this is the only way for them to survive at the present. His parents inquire about his work daily. They pray for his safety. His mother cries tons daily, but he make her understand. Chand takes a shower as soon as he reaches home and keeps a distance from his family members. He is taking all precautions.For now, he would like some help in order that the family remains afloat. But we may never know what is in our destiny! 

Conclusion

 As this pandemic has made many people to suffer a lot. They are unable to have one time meal. Many don’t have money, they have migrated.We should help poor and needy as much as we can. This boy Chand Mohammad has to opt this job in which he is handling bodies of coronavirus patients. Just because he don’t have enough money he is doing this dangerous job.

The real ground reality of the corona treatment

Corona virus, every day its like we are tuned to the same channel spewing the same things like a factory mill on overwork. But be as it may every day, we learn more about this disease that was thrust suddenly to the world, after initially originating from china. There are many a theory afloat that China deliberately kept the onset of this disease a secret to gain from it, and knowing the level the Chinese usually stoop to it would not be farfetched to believe so. Nearly every country is trying to cope up to this disease with drastic level of differences. On one side we have countries like new Zealand who have virtually negligible cases and still effectively trying to combat the situation and on the other end we have countries like USA where the cases have arisen to such a point that their President has announced that he will be slowing down testing to make it seem like the number of cases have dwindled. So where on this spectrum does India lie?

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

India is home to a vast population that counts in billions, to safely combat a virus which spreads so easily is a herculean task in itself. However, the front-line workers are continuously working to be the first line of defence, but is it enough. Very often we see on the news and media how heroically our government is fighting the virus, often depicting them as gallant saviours shielding us from the evil virus. The hospitals giving their best in order to help the patients that they get, treating them and sending them back to society so that they may function like before. However,  the ground reality is anything but so, with the influx of corona positive cases of nearly 15000 each day, adding the fact that hospitals are seeing the worst mismanagement that could be done during a pandemic, it is no surprise that to many people going to the hospital seems like a walk towards the gallows. The hospitals launched apps in order to increase their efficiency and help them control the crowd gathering in hospitals, however with the traditional Indian scene of mismanagement this has just poured fuel to the increasing fires. The apps show the hospitals having free beds when there are none, mistreating patients and whatnot. Many a hospital within Delhi, India’s capital city have started to look more like morgue, without enough beds to put the dead bodies in, entire floors have been converted into makeshift morgues with bodies simply piled up unhygienically. This is just the tip of the iceberg that is the inefficiency of the hospital scene in battling corona virus. With the amount that an average corona patient is charged, coupled with the gross mismanagement it can make life a living hell for anyone going to the hospital regarding this issue. During this pandemic bed charges have inflated very much, a general ward bed in super specialty hospitals costs around 11000 a day, due to the covid-19 expenses. The overall amount depends on the time period one I admitted. Adding the mismanagement of the hospital staff into the mix it can go for unnecessarily long periods. Counting in the per day costs of a ventilator in the ICU ward for serious cases it can add an additional 50,000 per day as well. Thus, even if one miraculously survives the ordeal of corona, monetarily they are thrust back way harder than before.

What actions we further take is for everyone to see.

Novak Djokovic and his wife tests positive for Covid-19

The Serbian tennis professional and one of the most dominating players in men’s tennis and the men’s world number one tennis player, Novak Djokovic,33 has been tested positive for covid-19 along with his wife, who has also tested positive for the virus

The World No. 1 is now the fourth tennis player to test positive for the virus after participating in a charity tournament recently which he organised in Serbia and Croatia. Djokovic confirmed the news in a statement and also issued an apology to those who were infected with the virus after playing in the charity tournament.

Earlier in the week the Serb stands widely accused of complacency for organizing an unofficial charity event – in Belgrade, Zadar and Montenegro (subsequently cancelled) – without safety protocols applicable in most other countries and which have prevented resumption of the main Tour until August.

Djokovic expressed regret and sympathy but little contrition in a prepared statement. He was clearly upset that his close friend, Viktor Troicki, and the Serb’s pregnant wife, along with Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric – who played each other on Saturday – as well as Dimitrov’s coach and his own fitness trainer had also tested positive. he also repented for each individual case of infection and hopes that all of them recover soon.

With increasing number of covid-19 positive cases all over the world its important to be safe and take the necessary precautions

Dexamethasone- Corona Vaccine Update!!!

Finally some good news today dexamethasone is now being called a major breakthrough based on a recent randomized controlled trial in the UK. Dexamethasone also known as Decadron is an example of a glucocorticoid are sometimes referred to as corticosteroids other examples of glucocorticoids include hydrocortisone methyl prednisolone prednisolone, prednisone beta methazone and triamcinolone so glucocorticoids are a class of steroid hormones that bind to the glucocorticoid receptor in the body cortisol aka hydrocortisone is the glucocorticoid.

pexels-photo-4031867.jpeg
Photo by Edward Jenner on Pexels.com

We naturally make in our body it’s essential for life it regulates or supports various cardiovascular metabolic and homeostatic functions it also plays a big role in our immune system especially when it comes to reducing certain aspects of inflammation this is why we use them all the time in medicine we sometimes give these steroids for asthma copd rheumatologic type diseases and countless more diseases. Sometimes it is also given for steroids for meningitis and also for some forms of cancer we also give them in the early course of severe ards acute respiratory distress syndrome whether that ards is due to infection such as pneumonia or vaping lung injury or whatever the cause for severe ards we typically give methylprednisolone or solumedral at a dose of one milligram per kilogram per day. So, for most people that ends up being around 80 milligrams per day so this is the equivalent of 15 milligrams of dexamethasone the idea here is to suppress the cytokine storm that has taken place meaning that the massive amount of inflammation that causes lung damage and can indirectly cause damage to other organs as well our body naturally makes cortisol in our adrenal glands specifically in the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex the adrenal gland then secretes cortisol into the bloodstream and the cortisol travels to different tissues of the body and then binds to the glucocorticoid receptor inside cells it then stimulates the cell to make more anti-inflammatory proteins and causes the cell to make less pro-inflammatory proteins but giving someone glucocorticoids meaning steroids to someone who has an infection is somewhat of a tricky thing because the fear is that if you suppress the body’s immune system it has the potential to make the infection worse. Sometimes the body’s immune system does more damage than the actual infection for example in cases of meningitis that is due to either streptococcus or tuberculosis we give steroids because the medical evidence shows that they have better outcomes when we do so and giving someone steroids for viral pneumonias like influenza is more controversial because doing so generally leads to worse infection with that said if the viral pneumonia is so bad to the point of causing severe ards most doctors will give steroids in that situation. So this is why, the general medical guidelines so far recommend against giving steroids for covert pneumonia unless the patient has severe ards and we’ve been waiting for randomized controlled trials to come out for steroids in covid and here we are now with this study so in march of 2020 the recovery trial which stands for randomized evaluation of covid-19 therapy was one of the randomized control trials that actually looked at several different potential treatments for covid which included low-dose dexamethasone this trial was done in the UK.

skynews-dexamethasone-covid-19_5014958

Image source: Sky News

Over 11 500 patients in it so this trial has not been peer reviewed as of has not been published in the journal yet so everything I know so far is based on what’s been released to the general public in this trial over 2100 patients were randomized to receive dexamethasone specifically six milligrams once per day for 10 days and this group was compared with over 4 300 patients that were randomized to the standard care alone so 6 milligrams of dexamethasone is the equivalent of 32 milligrams of methylprednisolone so this is about half the dose we would typically use for someone with severe ards so among the patients who received standard care alone 20-day mortality was highest in those who required mechanical ventilation this was 41 and then intermediate in those patients who required supplemental oxygen only this was mortality rate of 25 percent and the mortality rate was lowest among those who did not require supplemental oxygen in which that mortality rate was 13 for patients who were on mechanical ventilators dexamethasone reduced mortality from 41 percent to 28 percent for patients who needed supplemental oxygen it reduced mortality from 25 percent to 20 percent and there was no benefit among those patients who do not require supplement oxygen in other words if someone only had mild disease there was no point in giving dexamethasone so based on these results one death would be prevented by the treatment of around eight ventilated patients. So that’s the number needed to treat for ventilated patients and then the number needed to treat for the ones who required supplemental oxygen that number needed to treat would be 25 so these preliminary results are significant but it doesn’t mean that dexamethasone is a miracle drug it’s certainly not a cure but it does seem to help based on these numbers index and methazone could be of huge benefit and not just rich countries but poorer countries as well because this drug is very cheap and is widely available so this is great news and very exciting but there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered like what is the ideal dose should we use higher doses in patients who are mechanically ventilated with ards and when will it be approved for use in the united states and we’ll get these answers pretty soon now another.

person holding petri dish
Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

Interesting question is should we give decadron dexamethasone to people who have mild disease now even though this study didn’t show any benefit the reason why i bring this up is because some people start out with mild disease and then go on to have moderate or severe disease and we have no way of predicting who goes on to do that and also it happens very quickly lots of times someone could be doing just fine and then all of a sudden within hours they all of a sudden are deteriorating and they have severe disease so should we give those patients decadron regardless is there any harm doing so that’s another question that remains to be seen.

How to keep yourself amused during Covid 19

Since the global outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, we are locked inside our homes trying various things to pass our free time. We can either waste our time or put it to better use by doing something productive. Most people are wasting this precious time, by sleeping, playing online games, watching shows, just thinking about how this lockdown period is affecting their lives. But, for the students, this is the best time to do stuff that he/she has wanted to do all their lives, but never found the time to do. So, here we are compiling some of the interesting and creative stuffs that you must try to keep yourself entertained during quarantine.

Reading: A habit to develop

As we have all the time in the world, so we can devote some time to enhance our knowledge by reading some good books. We couldn’t read much earlier as we had other important things to do, but this time away from the world has allowed us to explore many different books. Many good novels are available online. So, we don’t need to worry about going to the store to buy one. Reading books makes us see the world from many different perspectives, as characters from a novel have different points of view.

Learning new things

As no one is perfect and learning should never be stopped. We could use this time to learn new things, instead of just sitting around wasting time. You could utilise your time by learning French, or any of your favourite foreign language. You could easily found many good online videos and websites and also enrolled myself in a French learning course that is helping me a lot to learn. Also, I’m utilizing my time to prepare for some competitive exams that I need to give in the future.

Enhancing Yourself

We could immerse ourself in the process of self-learning to improve our skills and getting to know ourself better. We should keep trying new things to bring out our creativity. We can try to enhance our cooking skills by making new dishes each day and also investing this time to meditate and give our mind some time to relax and find peace.

Spending time with loved ones

We could best use of our time by spending quality time with our family members. In this digital age, we generally don’t get time to spend with our families due to busy schedule and workload. So this lockdown has given us enough time to appreciate and enjoy our time with family members. We could help our mother in household work, spend time with father talking about different things, help our brother with his studies and we also have fun, playing games together.

There are also many apps which you could prefer to keep yourself entertained. Some of these apps are as follow:

Learning Apps

There are several applications that enabled us to achieve our goals and learn new things through homeschooling. Some of such apps are:

  • DUOLING APP

Duolingo enables users to learn languages through gamification. The app includes 35 languages.

  • BUSUU APP

Due to the current pandemic, Busuu has introduced a new initiative, Keep Kids Learning. This initiative was done to support children and their families while home-schooling. The initiative provides free learning of different languages by some qualified teachers.

Fitness apps

Currently, there is no access to local gyms. So at such time to keep ourself fit and healthy we could install some good apps to follow our daily exercise routine. Two of the apps are as follow:

  • STRAVA

Strava is a fitness app where you can track all your performance and also helps to complete the given challenges. The app is community-driven which has social elements for friendly competition.

  • Runtastic

This fitness app was launched by Adidas. The app provides more than 180+ videos. The videos help users to achieve their daily fitness goals. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, it is currently offering a three-month free premium trial too.

Music Apps

Well, no doubt, music is the best way of relaxing. So these are few apps that you could also use:

  • Soundcloud

Soundcloud is one of the most common music apps. Here over 200 million tracks are uploaded by the active community. Soundcloud is one of the world’s largest open audio platform.

  • Spotify

Spotify is the other app that provides millions of tracks and even episodes. So during the lockdown period, you can choose any kind of music you to listen according to your mood.

Along with these fantastic Apps, there are many other apps that you can use in this period of lockdown and can keep yourself entertained.
These are some of the exciting and useful things that one could try to keep himself/herself entertained during this lockdown.

Stay mentally healthy in Coronavirus pandemic

We all are going through the most difficult times, which nobody had even thought of. The increasing cases of Coronavirus scaring us, we are locked up in our house, there is a constant tension how to keep us and our family safe. Some of us are alone in their homes, from extroverts we are turning into introverts. All these things leading to a great impact on our mental health which sometimes leads to anxiety and depression. So, it is necessary to stay strong and keep yourself healthy. Here are some ways which help you to keep yourself mentally strong and healthy.

  1. STAY HAPPY – Try to be happy as much as you can. Pamper yourself. Do whatever you like. Wakeup in the morning, enjoy the sunrise, listen music, dance, read the book with coffee. Make your favourite food. Draw if you enjoy painting. Polish your skills. Get time for your hobbies. Do everything which you are not able to do in your daily busy life
  2. DO YOGA AND EXERCISE – Exercise and yoga improves both physical and mental health. According to Duane Milder, “Exercise boost levels of serotonine, dopamine and norepinephrine. It gives you a general good feeling about being in control in an otherwise uncontrollable situation. You can’t go to gym but go for a walk on your terrace or parking area. Do yoga in the fresh air. It will boost up your mood and help you to feel happy and stress-free for the whole day.
  3. DON’T FEEL “YOU ARE ALONE” – We are physically far from each other, not emotionally. Talk to your loved ones. Video call your friends, play games. Spend time with your parents. Don’t feel your are alone. Try to regularly talk to someone who are living alone. It will encourage them and you, and we will together go through this.
  4. EAT HEALTHY FOOD- Eat food which has lots of vitamins and minerals. Eat vitamin A and vitamin C rich food. It will help you to boost your immunity and protects you from seasonal illness.
  5. LIMIT THE NEWS- WHAT YOU ARE WATCHING OR READING- We all are scared from what is going around us, but don’t spend a lot of time in watching and reading about Coronavirus. It only increases the mental stress. Also don’t believe on news circulated on social media. Most of the time the news is fake and it leads to a lot of unnecessary stress.
  6. MAINTAIN POSITIVITY- The most important thing is maintain positivity and never lose hope. Always think that it is all temporary and it will end soon. Think that this is the time when you can spend quality time with your parents, partner, polish our skills, do yoga and exercise, spend time with yourself which is nearly impossible in your daily busy life. Try to look for the positive side of every situation. It will not only help you but your positivity encourage others too, to look for the positive side of the situation.

Try to follow these tips everyday .It will help you to go through this global pandemic. Mental health is as important as physical health. If you are not feeling well don’t hesitate to seek help. We need to keep phisical distancing so it doesn’t mean that you don’t socialise with people. Talk to people and your loved ones. This will surely help you to keep you mentally healthy.

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.

Designer masks: the new fashion statement

If we have to live with a face mask in the foreseeable future, let it be a designer one. Luxury brands to corporate fashion, artisanal communities to even turban designers are redefining the face mask into a fashion accessory, albeit one that follows all the norms of WHO safety protocols.

The bizarre situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked an amazing amount of creativity among designers and artisans. Glamorous to the artistic, the range of masks flooding the market is exhilarating.

While the initial intention of designers and brands was to create masks for a more altruistic purpose — to rush supplies to frontline workers as a contribution to the fight against the pandemic, it is turning into another vertical of their business. For artisans, on the other hand, it is a means to survive the financial constraints imposed by the lockdown and tide over these uncertain times.

Globally, fashion brands such as Dior, Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton recalibrated their manufacturing units to make masks, protective gear and sanitizers. Their masks initiative has moved from public-spirited to a fashion offering. Indian designers and savvy artisans are fast catching up. Face masks are a canvas for self-expression and a means of survival at a time when most business has come to a halt. According to the book History of Surgical Face Masks by John L. Spooner, masks first made an appearance as protective gear for medical practitioners in the 19th century. They were adapted in China in 1910 to prevent spread of pneumonic plague.

Fashion in Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan included designer face masks as a shield to deal with rising pollution. The rest of the world is waking up to the fact that your mask does not have to be boring or surgical if you aren’t a frontline healthcare worker or afflicted by COVID-19.

The Savile Row mask

huntsman

Established tailors on this iconic London street are handcrafting and retailing face masks, which is now an essential accessory in our fight against the coronavirus. Huntsman, a big name on Savile Row, handcrafts soft masks made using 100 percent Egyptian cotton. The double-layered masks are embroidered with their signature alphabet ‘H’ and are sold in a classic box pleat design with elasticated straps.

The luxury monogrammed masks

lv-mask

LVMH, owner of brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and Fendi, has employed 300 additional artisans to make non-surgical face masks. The LV masks feature the classic brown monogram pattern in tan suede with gold rivets reinforcement and costs up to $1800. Pretty much like LV, Fendi has put out a logo-monogrammed mask in deep tan/brown shade that has been designed and hand-stitched by artisans in their Paris atelier.

The signature pattern face masks

ampm-amhale-safari-edit-face-mask-1-286x258-1

Most designers have signature prints that they are known for. Priyanka Modi, creative Director of AMPM, an edgy fashion brand has dovetailed their prints with some colour “added keeping in mind the universal dreariness, to lift up the spirits of the people who end up wearing them”. The result is a collection of snug textured, patterned masks with contemporary aesthetics and angular lines. Functional to the tee, these masks can be bought online as well as at AMPM stores, and retail between Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000.

The quilted ones

hemant-258x258-1

Leconet Hemant’s dreamy signature patterns and prints make way on to their 3-and-5 ply face masks. “We have used cotton poplin with polyester interlining, which feature prints and light quilting with fabric. Each mask undergoes UV-ray sterilisation before being packed in a fabric pouch made from the off cuts,” says designer and co-founder Hemant Sagar. The prices of the masks range from Rs 999 and Rs 1499 and they are being sold via the brand’s stores.

The Rajput-style masks

1

Rajputs are famous for their swag and their style, on display even in the most stressful of situations. Udaipur-based safa and turban designer Harendra Jodha, who studied the Rajput lifestyle at Chopasin School (they teach you how to live a life of leisure like a Rajput!) created a range of beautiful handloom cotton 3-ply masks to match the safas that the men wear, particularly at weddings or important ceremonies.

 

PM addresses SPIC MACAY’s International Convention

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today addressed the Spic Macay’s International Convention via video conference.

Prime Minister appreciated the fact that even under these trying circumstances, the spirits of the musicians remained undeterred and that the theme of the convention is focusing on how to alleviate the stress amongst the youth owing to the COVID -19 pandemic.

He recalled how historically music played an inspiring role and a cohesive role in times of war and crisis.

He said poets, singers and artists always scripted songs and music to bring out the valour out of the people in such times.

Prime Minister said that even now, in such trying times when the World is fighting an invisible enemy, the singers, lyricists, and artists are scripting lines and singing songs that would increase confidence of the people.

Prime Minister recalled how the 130 Crore people of this country have come together to clap, sound bells, blow conch shells to energise the entire nation in its fight against the pandemic.

When 130 crore people come together withthe same feeling and emotions it becomes music, he said.

Just as there is a need for harmonyand discipline in music,there is a need for similar harmony, restraint and discipline from every citizen to fight the Corona Pandemic he said.

He appreciated the new elements in the Spic Macay convention this year like nature walk, heritage walk, literature and holistic food along with Yoga and Naad Yoga.

Elaborating on Naad Yoga, he said in India, Naad is considered to be the basis of music and also as the basis of the energy in self.

He said that this Naad reaches its crescendo or Brahmnaad when we regulate our inner energy through yoga and music.

This is the reason that both music and yoga have the power of meditation and motivation, both are immense sources of energy, the Prime Minister added.

Prime Minister said, music has not only been a source of happiness, but also a means of service and a form of penance.

There have been many great musicians in our country who have lived their entire lives to serve the humanity, he said.

Prime Minister said, the fusion of ancient art and music with technology is also a demand of the times.

Rising above the boundaries of states and languages, today music is also strengthening the ideal of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ more than ever, he said.

Prime Minister appreciated the fact that people are giving  new messages on social media through their creativity, furthering the country’s campaign against Corona

Prime Minister expressed the hope that this convention will also give a new direction to in our fight against the corona virus.

Do bats spread Covid-19?

Some of the misinformed citizens are on a hunt to get rid of bats, owing to the fear of Covid-19 spread through this mammal. Reportedly, more than 150 bats were killed in Rajasthan alone despite the appeal of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This whole bat-hunt began when an ICMR report found CoVs positive in Rousertus and Pteropus: 2 Indian bat species. A local newspaper reported similar incidents happening Bangalore. Even the USA, Australia, and other countries are having hundreds of bats found at animal markets culled.

Now the question arises do bats spread Covid-19?

The answer is no. A report published in Medical News Today cited that out of 1400 bat species in the world, two have been tested positive for a close relative of SARS-2-Cov, which is the RATG 13 virus. But it is only similar to novel coronavirus (not the same) and it can neither transmit it to humans nor can cause Covid-19 to our species. The current hypothesis proposed by scientists across the globe is that Bats transmitted this close genetic relative to pangolins and then to humans as Pangolins are the world’s most trafficked mammals for global wildlife trade, Chinese medicines, and luxury food. Even in the past, the linker between humans and bats has been an animal that has been extensively traded or farmed. For example, in the 2013 Ebola virus outbreak, non-human primates like chimpanzee or deer have been intermediate hosts between humans and bats. Bats throughout history have been the origin of Ebola, Nipah virus, and rabies. 

For instance, in the case of Nipah virus, fruits bitten and thrown by bats carry their saliva, which if consumed by humans might transmit Nipah due to salivary transmission. Fortunately, both in the case of Nipah and Covid-19, negligible chances of transmission have been found through their excretory wastes.

So what to do if you cite a bat in or near your house?

Just call a professional rehabilitator or yourself lead them to the way out of your house. No need to kill them.

Why do bats carry so many viruses and why there’s a need to protect bats?

Bats have a strong immune system and they are the only flying mammal. Their strong immune system makes their lifespan as long as 20-30 years. This strong immunity of bats has now been a key research area for the development of the Covid-19 vaccine ( by the University of Saskatchewan, Canada).

Also, another need for protecting bats is that they maintain a biological ecosystem by:

1. Pollination of flowers and fruits: Especially in mangrove regions bats play a major role in the pollination of pollen grains. This year in India itself, Cyclone Amphan went just aside mangroves as these thick trees act as a shield against such natural calamities.

2. By helping in pest control in farmlands:

Bats eat up insects and pests. As per The Print, worth 800 million dollars and 22 billion dollars pest control annual expenses are saved by bats alone in Indonesian farms and USA corn farms respectively.

3. As per Wildlife Protection Act,1972 two of the bat species are protected in India due to the threat of extinction.

Conclusion: The major cause for such global outbreaks such as Covid-19 is mostly due to human activities such as wildlife trade and habitat destruction.

UGC to bring norms for e-degree courses

The University Grants Commission is set to bring in regulations for online degree courses, officials familiar with the matter said.

The development has come after the ministry of human resource development asked the country’s top 100 universities to offer such courses amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Members of the commission, in a meeting on Friday, discussed the contours of the regulations which will be similar to those for open learning courses.

“It is likely that an integrated set of regulations for distance and online learning can soon be brought out by the UGC. There is a general agreement that courses which are high on practical content like engineering or others will not be offered through online education. However, courses where there is less of practical training are ideal for such teaching. Moreover, subjects like coding can also be taught,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

Even with integrated regulations, there may be clauses specifically for online courses, the official cited above said. The reason for bringing in regulations is mainly to address quality concerns related to such courses, he said.

The higher education regulator has already decided that it will lower the bar for varsities to offer online and distance learning courses from the earlier benchmark 3.26 score by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) at least for one academic year.

It is also likely that varsities will be given a free hand in offering diploma and certificate courses online, said another official.

Following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, the HRD ministry has been focusing on popularising the online mode of education as classroom teaching appears increasingly difficult.

In her budget speech earlier this year, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the country’s top 100 educational institutions will start offering full-fledged degree courses online. Sitharaman had again mentioned online courses while announcing the relief measures to alleviate the effect of the pandemic on the economy.

Karnal smart city undertakes key initiatives to fight Covid-19

Karnal Smart City has undertaken the following initiatives to combat COVID-19:

  1. Resource Management and Administration

Augmentation of Medical Infrastructure:Availability of medical infrastructure is ensured (as on April 15, 2020) including 1,577 PPE kits; 13,348 masks N-95; 66,076 three-layer masks; 1,873 litre of sanitizers; 434 VTM; 2,580 sodium hydrochloride; 295,805 gloves; 05 thermal scanners; 125 no. of isolation wards for COVID patients; 1,000 additional beds for quarantine; 92 D type & 36 B type oxygen cylinder availability and 50 functional ventilators.

Manufacturing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs):PPEs are the most essential equipment for the doctors and frontline workers for combating COVID-19 pandemic. In PPE kit manufacturing plant, more than 300 kits are manufactured every day.

Masks are produced by Self Help Groups: More than 65,000 total masks are produced; on an average 4,000 are produced each day; more than 250 self-help group members are involved; and about 52,000 masks have been sold till date.

Quarantine Facilities:Karnal City has capacity of 3,396 beds for COVID patients – this include 1,632 Government buildings; 1,224 Dharamshala; and 540 hotels. Out of 1,000 identified beds – 43 citizens are quarantine in Government building and 914 are home quarantined. Further, patients under home quarantined are monitored through cell tower location by police.

Karnal Live Tracker App:An app has been developed to track citizens who are home quarantined. There is a simple process to get registered on app and post registration – a citizen has to report six times with a gap of two hours in a day start from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm; next step is to upload latest photo and record their body temperature. Also, by giving access to the current location, latitude and longitude of citizen are captured. The app offers features like tele counselling to ensure upkeep of mental health of the citizen.

Testing Lab:Kalpana Chawla Government Hospital in collaboration with district administration has adopted a resourceful approach to setup COVID-19 testing lab. A lab has a capacity of testing 150 samples each day.

Sample Collection Kiosk:The kiosk is manufactured locally to ensure protection of the doctors/staff involved in sample collection. It is much safer, faster and more efficient collection of COVID-19 test samples.

  1. Food and Relief Measures

Shelter Homes for Migrant Labourers:The total number of displaced migrant workers in Karnal is 784, who are residing in 7 shelter homes across the district. The district administration in collaboration with NGOs has been successful in providing shelter, food, basic essentials and medical facilities to the migrant labourers working in Karnal and those from other districts willing to cross. Administration collaborated with Radha Swami Satsang Bhawan to provide the necessities for a comfortable stay. Emphasis was given on the following measures – lodging; food; hygiene kit; personal commodities; medical assistance; police assistance; and other essentials.

Adopt a Family Initiative:A Corona Relief Fund was started at the district level, to ensure that dry ration can be delivered to daily wage workers. These vulnerable & needy families were identified by a screening method and by self-reporting at district helpline 1950. Families are being provided a packet of dry ration – rice, atta, cooking oil, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking masala, haldi and soap. Till date, approx. 70 lakh rupees have been donated, which means that approx. 14,000 poorest families will be taken care throughout the district.

Dry Ration distribution:District Administration is providing dry ration to daily wage workers who are not covered under PDS or any other Government scheme. Shri Krishna Parnami School, Karnal has been converted into a donation center to maintain stocks of all the essentials. About 2,440 packets have been distributed and 4,160 packets are in stock at the center. The cost of one packet of weekly dry ration is approx. 475 rupees.

Cooked Meals Distribution:Out of 15 lakh population, approx. 5 lakh belongs to unorganized sector. A collaboration with ‘Nirmal Kutia’ (a gurudwara) and district administration Karnal created a sustainable model for successfully dealing with the hunger crisis. Meal is served at 97 identified locations each day.

Doorstep delivery of Essentials:a) Online delivery – (i) Facilitated linkage of kirana shops and dairies with online platforms; (ii) Collaboration with Needs on Wheels (NOW); (iii) more than 10,000 orders have been delivered successfully b) Localized delivery – (i) localized delivery of essentials effectively implemented; (ii) vendor designated by district administration.

  1. Precautionary Measures & Citizen Outreach

Lockdown Enforcement:Complete lockdown was imposed due to COVID-19 by the district administration and district police helped in its implementation.

Accessibility for emergency services:Movement passes issued online for ensuring mobility for essential and emergency services and  per day approvals are limited to ensure social distancing.

Notification for extension of validity of fee payment and paying fees

In pursuant to the guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs vide No.40-3/2020-DM-I(A), Dated 24th March 2020 and subsequent amendments regarding imposition of complete lock down due to outbreak of COVID-19, the MoRTH had issued an advisory dated 30th March, 2020 to all regarding extension of validity of the documents related to Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. It was advised that documents whose extension of validity could not or not likely be granted due to lock-down and which have expired since 1st of Feb, 2020 or would expire till 30th June 2020, Enforcement authorities were advised to treat such documents valid till 30th of June, 2020.

It has also come to the notice of the Government that citizens are facing difficulties in respect of various fees/late fees as mandated under rule 32 and 81 of Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 due to lock down in the country and closure of Government Transport Offices. There are cases where the fees have already been paid, for the service or renewal, however the process could not be completed due to lockdown. Further, there are issues where citizen is finding difficult to deposit fees due to closure of RTO offices.

In order to facilitate citizens during  COVID –19, MORTH has issued a statutory order prescribing that the fees paid on or after 1st February 2020 for the activity(s) including renewal and in case such activity(s) is not completed due to conditions for prevention of COVID-19 pandemic, the fees paid shall continue to remain valid. And   If there is delay in paying the fees from 1st of Feb, 2020 till the period of lockdown there would not be any additional or late fee yo be charged for such delays  till 31st July 2020.

UAE sends aid plane carrying medical supplies to Afghanistan

United Arab Emirates yesterday sent an aid plane carrying seven metric tons of medical supplies to Afghanistan. Emirates News Agency said, the aid will assist approximately 7,000 medical professionals as they work to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Commenting on the aid delivery, UAE Ambassador to Afghanistan Eisa Salem Mohammed Aldhaheri said, UAE is committed to ensuring that the medical professionals of Afghanistan are equipped with the appropriate protective equipment to enhance their health and safety as they bravely combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
In March, the UAE dispatched an urgent medical aid shipment to Afghanistan containing 20,000 testing units and equipment to examine thousands of people. Till date, the UAE has sent over 641 metric tons of aid to 54 countries, supporting more than 641,000 medical professionals in the process.

Telephone Conversation between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and H.E. Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission

Prime Minister today had a telephonic conversation with H.E. Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The two leaders discussed the global situation in the context of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister expressed his condolences on the loss of life in the European Union due to COVID-19.   He emphasized on the need for coordination and cooperation among all the countries to fight the pandemic. The Prime Minister also dwelt on the steps taken by India for containing the spread of Coronavirus infection.

Ms. Von Der Leyenmentioned that the Prime Minister’s leadership in taking early measures has been the key to preventing a rapid spread of the disease in India.  She also expressed her appreciation for the assistance rendered to the European citizens in India in this situation.

Ms. Von Der Leyen emphasized the importance of maintaining a steady supply of essential items, including medicines and coordinated efforts for vaccine development.

The two leaders discussed possible cooperation within the G-20 framework, and the forthcoming video-conference in this context.

*****