Tag: covid19

Health experts says the next 40 days will be crucial for India amid covid surge in China.

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There is still no clarity on what is happening in China, with experts raising alarm that the country is witnessing a steep increase in the number of COVID-19 cases due to coronavirus variant BF.7.

The Union Health Ministry has, however, said that the next 40 days will be crucial in India – with the country likely to witness a surge in January.

“In the past, whenever a NBCOVID-19 wave was reported in India, it used to hit us in 30-35 days, starting from East Asia, it used to hit Europe in 10 days, moving towards America and the Pacific region, and then finally hitting India which would normally take 30 days,” a senior health ministry official told media, requesting anonymity.

The official added that the number of deaths and hospitalisations is likely to be low this time, even if India is hit by a COVID wave by the end of January.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is likely to make mandatory, from next week, negative RT-PCR reports for passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Filling up of ‘air-suvidha’ forms and 72-hour prior RT-PCR testing could be mandatory for arrivals from these countries.

The government has made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving in each international flight from December 24. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is likely to visit the Delhi airport to take stock of testing and screening facilities there.

Medical Experts suggests of second covid booster dose amid rising concern.

In a meeting with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, doctors of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) suggested allowing people to take another booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. If approved, this would be the second booster dose, with the first one having been approved in early 2022. The meeting was held virtually between doctors, health experts, and the Union Health Minister on 26th dec to discuss preparedness as the apprehension of another COVID-19 wave seeps through the country.

In the meeting, the doctors stressed on the fact that despite the many efforts by the health system, only a small proportion of the population got their booster dose. Dr. Sahajanand Prashad Singh, President of IMA, said that only 30 percent of the population is covered with booster doses. He urged the Health Minister to take the necessary actions to vaccinate the maximum population with booster doses.

Nation to hold mock drill for covid emergency responses.

During a virtual meeting with health ministers and senior officials of states in view of the recent surge in coronavirus cases in some parts of the world, he said, “The Centre and states need to work in tandem and in a collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for Covid prevention and management.”

“A mock drill for an emergency response to deal with Covid 9 cases will be conducted at hospitals across the country on Tuesday, 27th December, the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya will also be participating in the Mock drill,” official sources told ANI.The mock drill is being conducted amid fear of a Covid surge in the country in the wake of a spurt of Covid cases reported in China and other countries. The Union Ministry in India has started taking several proactive steps in this direction.

According to officials, travel guidelines have been revised and issued. 2% random screening of international passengers to be re-initiated from Saturday, December 24, the random screening charges will be charged to the passengers.

The Covid-19 Survivor

                                                               (Photo: Shutterstock)

They have been to the edge and back. Some survived, some died, and some struggled with isolation. This Covid-19 has messed up with everyone’s mind. The best thing that you can do is don’t let it take over your mind because if your mind gives up, then your body will give up too.

This story is of a guy named Danish Akhtar, 24 years old, from a district named Koderma in Jharkhand, who tested covid positive a month back. He never ever dreamt of getting covid positive. It was like a nightmare for him. He used to cough so much that his throat and chest would literally burn. He got the virus from his friend who in turn tested positive. His friend got infected from his father who condition was very critical. With so much things happening around, Danish was too shocked. His mental state has also deteriorated. A cool and fun- loving guy like him would be in such a state, this itself was shocking for his family and friends. Having reported chronic cough and fever, he was taken to the local -government hospital and was there for 14 days. He was only let out once he tested negative for the virus. His friends and family supported him a lot. Initially, he was blank but his inner will help him a lot to recover. “And yet I would turn away”, says Danish.

After he got back from hospital, the destiny had something else in store for him. The very next day his father started having symptoms of the virus (fever, body ache, loss of smell, etc.). Danish started blaming himself for his father’s condition. The guilt was clearly visible in his eyes. But he didn’t give up. He used to stay awake and took great care of his father. Days passed, taking care and praying to Allah for his father’s recovery. At last, after 14 days, he took his father to the hospital for the covid test and to everyone’s happiness, he tested negative. Danish was exhausted, delirious, ecstatic, sleepless but also grateful to Allah.

Now all Danish wants to do is put the whole ordeal behind him as just one bad dream. His advice to those currently infected is, “Be prepared for a tough battle. Don’t let covid mess up with your mind. No matter what, don’t give up.”

17 Sustainable Goals by United Nations.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development has continued to evolve as that of protecting the world’s resources while its true agenda is to control the world’s resources. Environmentally sustainable economic growth refers to economic development that meets the needs of all without leaving future generations with fewer natural resources than those we enjoy today. Let us know 17 Sustainable Goals set by UN and their progress by now.

1) Poverty Eradication:

The 2030 Agenda acknowledges that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

2) ENDING HUNGER:

The total number of persons suffering from severe food insecurity has been on the rise since 2015, and there are still millions of malnourished children. The economic slowdown and the disruption of food value chains caused by the pandemic are exacerbating hunger and food insecurity.

3) Ensure healthy lives and promote well- being for all at all ages

Progress in many health areas continues, but the rate of improvement has slowed and will not be sufficient to meet most of the Goal 3 targets. Globally, an estimated 295,000 maternal deaths occurred in 2017, resulting in an overall maternal mortality ratio of 211 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, a 4 per cent reduction compared with 2015 and a 38 per cent reduction compared with 2000. The majority of the deaths occurred in low- and lower-middle-income countries, and roughly 66 per cent of them occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. At the current pace of progress, the world will fall short of the target of the Goal.

4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all:

At the end of 2019, millions of children and young people were still out of school, and more than half of those in school were not meeting minimum proficiency standards in reading and numeracy.

5)Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

The commitment to advancing gender equality has brought about improvements in some areas, but the promise of a world in which every woman and girl enjoy full gender equality and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment have been removed remains unfulfilled.

6)Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

In 2017, 3 billion persons lacked soap and water at home. In 2016, 47 per cent of schools worldwide lacked handwashing facilities with available soap and water, and 40 per cent of health-care facilities were not equipped to practise hand hygiene at points of care.

7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

The world is making good progress on increasing access to electricity and improving energy efficiency. However, millions of people throughout the world still lack such access, and progress on facilitating access to clean cooking fuels and technologies is too slow.

8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all:

In 2018, the rate of growth of global real GDP per capita was 2 per cent. In addition, the rate for least developed countries was 4.5 per cent in 2018, less than the 7 per cent growth rate targeted in the 2030 Agenda.

9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation:

In 2019, 14 per cent of the world’s workers were employed in manufacturing activities, a figure that has not changed much since 2000. The share of manufacturing employment was the largest in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (18 per cent) and the smallest in sub- Saharan Africa (6 per cent).

10)Reduce inequality within and among countries

In 73 of the 90 countries with comparable data during the period 2012–2017, the bottom 40 per cent of the population saw its incomes grow. Moreover, in slightly more than half of those countries, the bottom 40 per cent experienced a growth rate in income that was higher than the overall national average.

11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable:

Rapid urbanization has resulted in a growing number of slum dwellers, inadequate and overburdened infrastructure and services and worsening air pollution.

12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns:

As at 2019, 79 countries and the European Union reported on at least one national policy instrument that contributed to sustainable consumption and production in their efforts towards the implementation of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns.

13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

The year 2019 was the second warmest on record and the end of the warmest decade, 2010 to 2019. In addition, with a global average temperature of 1.1°C above estimated pre-industrial levels, the global community is far off track to meet either the 1.5 or 2°C targets called for in the Paris Agreement.

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development:

Oceans and fisheries continued to support the global population’s economic, social and environmental needs while suffering unsustainable depletion, environmental deterioration and carbon dioxide saturation and acidification.

15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss:

Forest areas continued to decline, protected areas were not concentrated in areas of key biodiversity and species remained threatened with extinction.

16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels:

Conflict, insecurity, weak institutions and limited access to justice remain a great threat to sustainable development. Millions of people have been deprived of their security, human rights and access to justice.

17) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development:

Strengthening multilateralism and global partnerships is more important than ever before. The global nature of the pandemic requires the participation of all governments, the private sector, civil society organizations and people throughout the world.

Bioterrorism

From the past two decades , it is stated that the threat of biological warfare is not a myth but a harsh reality of the world . Due to the outbreak , we can recognise the high risk and consequences of bioterrorism.

This editorial provides you the overview of bioterrorism , it’s symptoms , causes , measures and impact on humans in present scenario .

Introduction

A bioterrorism attack is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs to cause illness or death. These germs are often found in nature. But they can sometimes be made more harmful by increasing their ability to cause disease, spread, or resist medical treatment.

Biological agents spread through the air, water, or in food. Some can also spread from person to person. They can be very hard to detect. They don’t cause illness for several hours or days. Scientists worry that anthrax, botulism, Ebola and other hemorrhagic fever viruses, plague, or smallpox could be used as biological agents.

Despite patchy intelligence, France started its own biological weapons programme in the early 1920s. It was headed by Auguste Trillat, an inventive German-educated chemist who envisioned and tested the sustained virulence of airborne pathogens.

The goal of bioterrorism is usually to create fear and/or intimidate governments or societies for the purpose of gaining political, religious, or ideological goals. Bioterrorism may have a different effect on societies than would weapons such as explosives.

Symptoms

The symptoms of exposure to a biological agent might include sore throat, fever, double or blurred vision, rash or skin blisters, exhaustion, difficulty talking, confusion, descending muscle weakness, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and coughing.

History

Historically, biological weapons have been a threat to humans for many centuries. At those times, very crude methods such as fecal matter, animal carcasses, etc. were used to contaminate water sources, but now the concentrated forms of biological agents such as dried spores and genetically modified organisms are available, which are fatal even in minute quantity.

During the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, a scrub typhus outbreak in north-eastern India came under suspicion. India’s defense and intelligence outfits were alert to the outbreak of pneumonic plague – well known in biological warfare – in Surat and Bubonic plague in Beed in 1994, which caused several deaths and sizeable economic loss.

Prevention

There are some points that you need to consider during the outbreak :

  • If you become aware of a suspicious substance, quickly get away.
  • Cover your mouth and nose with layers of fabric that can filter the air but still allow breathing. Examples include two to three layers of cotton such as a t-shirt, handkerchief or towel.
  • Depending on the situation, wear a face mask to reduce inhaling or spreading germs.
  • If you have been exposed to a biological agent, remove and bag your clothes and personal items.
  • Follow official instructions for disposal of contaminated items.
  • Wash yourself with soap and water and put on clean clothes.
  • Contact authorities and seek medical assistance. You may be advised to stay away from others or even to quarantine.
  • If your symptoms match those described and you are in the group considered at risk, immediately seek emergency medical attention.
  • Follow the instructions of doctors and other public health officials.
    Avoid crowds.
  • Wash your hands with soap and water frequently.
  • Do not share food or utensils.

Link

Transportation in India.

India’s transport sector is large and diverse; it caters to the needs of 1.1 billion people. In 2007, the sector contributed about 5.5 percent to the nation’s GDP, with road transportation contributing the lion’s share.

Good physical connectivity in the urban and rural areas is essential for economic growth. Since the early 1990s, India’s growing economy has witnessed a rise in demand for transport infrastructure and services.

However, the sector has not been able to keep pace with rising demand and is proving to be a drag on the economy. Major improvements in the sector are therefore required to support the country’s continued economic growth and to reduce poverty.

Roads. Roads are the dominant mode of transportation in India today. They carry almost 85 percent of the country’s passenger traffic and more than 60 percent of its freight. The density of India’s highway network — at 0.66 km of roads per square kilometer of land – is similar to that of the United States (0.65) and much greater than China’s (0.16) or Brazil’s (0.20). However, most roads in India are narrow and congested with poor surface quality, and 33 percent of India’s villages do not have access to all-weather roads.

Rural Roads-A Lifeline for Villages in India: Connecting Hinterland to Social Services and markets

Railways. Indian Railways is one of the largest railways under the single management. It carried some 19.8 million passengers and 2.4 million tonnes of freight a day in year 2009 and is one of the world’s largest employer. The railways play a leading role in carrying passengers and cargo across India’s vast territory. However, most of its major corridors have capacity constraint requiring capacity enhancement plans.

Ports. India has 13 major and 199 minor and intermediate ports along its more than 7500 km long coastline. India’s seaborne foreign trade being 95% by volume and 67% by value, the ports play a very significant role in improving foreign trade in a growing economy. These ports serve the country’s growing foreign trade in petroleum products, iron ore, and coal, as well as the increasing movement of containers. Indian ports handled cargo of 850 million tonnes and about 9.0 million TEU container traffic in year 2010. Over the last decade, the average annual growth rate of port cargo volume has been about 10%.. The future potential for port sector, particularly container ports is huge considering that the container traffic is projected to grow to 40 million TEU by 2025. Inland water transportation also remains largely undeveloped despite India’s 14,000 kilometers of navigable rivers and canals.

Aviation. India has 128 airports, including 15 international airports. Indian airports handled 142 million passengers in 2010-11 and 1.6 million tonnes of cargo in year 2009-10. The CAGR for the domestic passenger and freight growth over the last decade has been 14.2% and 7.8% respectively. The dramatic increase in air traffic for both passengers and cargo in recent years has placed a heavy strain on the country’s major airports. Passenger traffic is projected to grow more than 15% annually over 2011-13 and it is estimated that the aviation industry, currently 9th largest in the World, will require 30 billion USD investment in the next 15 years to keep pace with the growing demand.

Urban Transport. India is experiencing rapid urbanization with the present urbanization levels at 30% translating to a population of roughly 340 million living in urban areas. The number of million plus cities is presently at 42 and the urban economy accountd for roughly 60% of the GDP. Motorisation rates in India are in double digits as in most developing economies. Only about 20 cities out of 87 cities with a population in excess of 500,000 and state capitals have any kind of organized transport and only 3-4 cities could lay claim to a mass rapid transit system. The share of public transport in cities with population sizes over 4 million has declined from 69% to 38% between 1994 to 2007. Accident and fatality rates are one of the highest in the world affecting primarily the poor and vulnerable without their own means of transport.

Transport infrastructure in India is better developed in the southern and southwestern parts of the country.

The major challenges facing the sector are:

• India’s roads are congested and of poor quality. Lane capacity is low – majority of national highways are two lanes or less. A quarter of all India’s highways are congested. Many roads are of poor quality and road maintenance remains under-funded. This leads to the deterioration of roads and high transport costs for users.

• Rural areas have poor access. Roads are significant for the development of the rural areas – home to almost 70 percent of India’s population. Although the rural road network is extensive, some 33 percent of India’s villages do not have access to all-weather roads and remain cut off during the monsoon season. The problem is more acute in India’s northern and northeastern states which are poorly linked to the country’s major economic centers.

• The railways are facing severe capacity constraints. All the country’s high-density rail corridors face severe capacity constraints. Also, freight transportation costs by rail are much higher than in most countries as freight tariffs in India have been kept high to subsidize passenger traffic.

• Urban centers are severely congested. In Mumbai, Delhi and other metropolitan centers, roads are often severely congested during the rush hours. The dramatic growth in vehicle ownership during the past decade – has reduced rush hour speeds especially in the central areas of major cities.

• Ports are congested and inefficient. The average annual growth of cargo volume in the ports in the last decade was close to 10%, However, capacity utilization in some of the major ports remain as low as 58-60% Both bulk and containerized traffic is expected to grow at a much faster pace in future and by some estimate the container traffic is projected to grow to about 4.5 times of the current volume by 2025. India’s ports need to significantly ramp up their capacity and efficiency to meet this surging demand.

• Airport infrastructure is strained. . Air traffic has been growing rapidly leading to severe strain on infrastructure at major airports, especially in the Delhi and Mumbai airports which account for more than 40 percent of nation’s air traffic.

Universal destruction

How could it be possible that when the time gets worse we often ignore the vulnerable?

Nikhil Meshram

We are living in the world , where no one can intrude . A life , where you can’t touch the one you want . A life, where one has to stay away from his own . A life , where no one can go in one’s home . Yes , it’s a life we are living ‘ A life of a LOG’ .

Coronavirus , I believe it’s not a new word in your dictionary . This eleven letter word creating a massive destruction all over the world . I know you are well aware but the real question is , are you following the protocols properly?

Firstly let’s get some knowledge about coronavirus.

The origin .

The recent outbreak began in Wuhan, a city in the Hubei province of China. Reports of the first COVID-19 cases started in December 2019.

Coronaviruses are common in certain species of animals, such as cattle and camels. Although the transmission of coronaviruses from animals to humans is rareTrusted Source, this new strain likely came from bats, though one study suggests pangolins may be the origin.

However, it remains unclear exactly how the virus first spread to humans.

Some reports trace the earliest cases back to a seafood and animal market in Wuhan. It may have been from here that SARS-CoV-2 started to spread to humans.

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that can cause disease in both animals and humans. The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus strain known as SARS-CoV is an example of a coronavirus. SARS spread rapidly in 2002–2003.

The new strain of coronavirus is called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus causes coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19).


Around 80%Trusted Source of people with COVID-19 recover without specialist treatment. These people may experience mild, flu-like symptoms. However, 1 in 6 peopleTrusted Source may experience severe symptoms, such as trouble breathing.

The new coronavirus has spread rapidly in many parts of the world. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A pandemic occurs when a disease that people are not immune to spreads across large regions.

It’s okay take a deep breath . Yes, it’s a lot to take in but we all know how china played with the whole world .

The protocols.

  • Wear masks ,
  • Wash hands ,
  • Use sanitizers ,
  • Social distancing , etc,.

Is it important to follow protocols ?

You say NO , I say ‘if you want to die you can easily ignore the protocols ’ . Well I don’t want to die , I have my whole 20s , 30s and so on…… .

According to the survey, people have been moving around freely, meeting different social groups and attending gatherings, going to malls and markets. This indicates that a pandemic fatigue has set in after after a year of restrictions on movement, social distancing and strict mask wearing norms.

Well , if you are saying this is what following protocols is than I am happy to stay home rather than chilling around like a monkey . Like really , a monkey also has a common sense that when to do chilling and when to fight for himself . What we are doing is putting masks in our pocket to showcase the world that I have one . Haha it’s kinda funny .

We long to return to normal, but **normal led to this**. To avert the future pandemics we know are coming, we MUST grapple with all the ways normal failed us. We have to build something better. I hope this piece, in showing what went wrong, helps.

Link :

Covid-19 THIRD WAVE.

Raising the alarm bells for policymakers and citizens, a research report has contended that India may witness the third covid wave from August 2021. The report – COVID-19: The race to finishing line – prepared by SBI Research, claims that the covid third wave peak will arrive in the month of September 2021.

The research report says that India achieved its second wave peak on 7th May. “Going by the current data, India can experience cases around10,000 somewhere around the 2nd week of July. However, the cases can start rising by the second fortnight of August,” the report said.


These are the highlights from the report:

1. Global data shows that on average third wave peak cases are around 1.7 times the peak cases at the time of second-wave.
2. However, based on historical trends the cases can start rising by the second fortnight of Aug’21 with peak cases at least a month later.
3. India has started giving more than 40 lakh vaccination doses per day as shown by 7 DMA.
4. Overall, India has fully vaccinated 4.6% of its population, apart from 20.8% having received one dose. This is still lower than other countries including the US, the UK, Israel, Spain, France among others.
5. The decline in bank deposits in FY21 and concomitant increase in health expenditure may result in further increase in household debt to GDP in FY22.
6. States with high per capita GDP have been associated with higher Covid-19 deaths per million while low per capita GDP are associated with low Covid-19 deaths.
7. Only 4.6 per cent of the population in India is fully vaccinated, while 20.8 per cent have received one dose, much lower compared to other countries including the US (47.1 per cent), the UK (48.7 per cent), Israel (59.8 per cent), Spain (38.5 per cent), France (31.2), among others.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EDUCATION IN INDIA

India is the one of best and largest place for education systems in the world.

India is the country with over 1,000 universities and 50,000 colleges and institutions. The impact of covid 19 is observed in every sector around the world. The education sectors of India as well as world are badly affected by this.

Due to this pandemic, around 32 crore learners stopped to move schools/ colleges, all educational institutions are halted in India. COVID-19 made all the institutions to grow and opt for platforms , techniques, that are not used before. All the classes suspended and all the examinations, entrance tests are postponed.

This pandemic completely destroyed all the schedules of every student. COVID-19 Impact on education is also leads a great damage on country economy at present and in future.

COVID-19 has created many opportunities and challenges for educational institutions to strengthen their technological knowledge and infrastructure.

The lockdown made the entire education online, the teachers are teaching and assigning works through online by using some apps like zoom, Google meet, teams, YouTube, Facebook, skype .,etc.

India is not fully equipped to make education reach every corner of the country through online process. The students those who are not having access to internet will suffer a lot due to the present choice of digital platforms.

Universities and the government of India are relentlessly trying to come up with a solution to this problem.

Use of MS Excel in today’s world.

Excel is typically used to organize data and perform financial analysis. It is used across all business functions and at companies from small to large. The main uses of Excel include: Data entry.

Excel is a software program created by Microsoft that uses spreadsheets to organize numbers and data with formulas and functions. Excel analysis is ubiquitous around the world and used by businesses of all sizes to perform financial analysis.

The main uses of Excel include:

1 Data entry
2 Data management
3 Accounting
4 Financial analysis
5 Charting and graphing
6 Programming
7 Time management
8 Task management
9 Financial modeling
10 Customer relationship management (CRM)
** Almost anything that needs to be organized!

Excel is used extensively in finance and accounting functions. In fact, many organizations run their entire budgeting, forecasting, and accounting functions entirely out of Excel spreadsheets.

While Excel is defined as a “data” management tool, the data that is most commonly managed is financial. At CFI, we would define Excel as the ultimate financial software. While there are other pieces of financial software that are tailored toward performing specific tasks, the strongest point about Excel is its robustness and openness. Excel models are as powerful as the analyst wishes them to be.

Accountants, investment bankers, analysts, and people in all types of financial career paths rely on excel to perform their daily job functions.

And one should know how to use MS Excel. Its on of the most important skill in today’s corporate world.

Health Infrastructure in India

The pandemic has shown that India’s healthcare system is lacking on multiple ares and calls for a rework by all stakeholders. Government expenditure on health, demand-supply mismatch, and chronic shortages are just some of the problems.

In 2020-21, India spent 1.8% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare. With ‘health and well-being’ one of the six pillars of the Union Budget 2021-22, the government has committed approximately 2.5-3% of GDP now. Data shows that India has 1.4 beds per 1,000 people, 1 doctor per 1,445 people, and 1.7 nurses per 1,000 people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India ranks 184 out of 191 countries in health spending. The US spends over 16% of its total GDP on healthcare, while Japan, Canada, Germany etc. spend over 10% of their GDP on healthcare.

How have facilities coped with the pandemic?

Badly. The capacity of the healthcare system has been stretched to its limits with critical shortages of hospital beds, oxygen concentrators, life-saving drugs, medical supplies, disease surveillance etc. With urban India struggling to counter the onslaught of the second wave of covid-19, rural India’s threadbare healthcare system stands even more stressed.

On April 9, Harsh Vardhan said the country had “substantially ramped up” hospital infrastructure, with 75,867 ICU beds and 255,168 oxygen beds. But going by the crisis across states, these numbers seem inadequate. Public health experts say the Centre and the states must now work together to quickly add more beds, ICUs and ventilators and also open temporary Covid facilities. They must ensure uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen. Several states have launched online tracking of hospital beds, but these often fail to display real-time data, leading to harassment of patients. For milder cases, the district administrations can open home care facilities with regular tele-monitoring so that the load on hospitals can be reduced.

Does poor healthcare impact the economy?

At a micro level, increased expenditure adversely impacts savings and consumption levels. Reduced consumption leads to reduced demand, disincentivising producers to invest more in capital formation. In case of firms, poor health conditions impact physical and mental ability, worker turnover, and attendance, leading to lower productivity. At a macro level, lower economic efficiency results in lower production relative to inputs employed, leading to lower economic growth and reduced income generation.

What is needed to improve healthcare?

India is in desperate need of an all-encompassing public healthcare system. The need of the hour is to have a regulator who can work with states and ensure that the focus shifts to affordable health-care, availability of more health-care professionals, well-equipped facilities, and disease prevention instead of disease management. Inequity among states in terms of facilities needs to be minimized. The Centre needs to aim for 100% health insurance coverage.

Government Initiatives

Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government of India to promote Indian healthcare industry are as follows:

  1. In March 2021, various states and UTs started implementation of the ‘Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0’—a campaign aimed to reach those children and pregnant women who were missed out or have been left out of the routine immunisation programme due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is aimed to accelerate the full immunisation of children and pregnant women through a mission mode intervention.
  2. In March 2021, the Parliament passed the National Commission for Allied, Healthcare Professions Bill 2021, which aims to create a body that will regulate and maintain educational and service standards for healthcare professionals.
  3. In the Union Budget 2021, investment in health infrastructure expanded 2.37x, or 137% YoY; the total health sector allocation for FY22 stood at Rs. 223,846 crore (US$ 30.70 billion).
  4. The government announced Rs. 64,180 crore (US$ 8.80 billion) outlay for the healthcare sector over six years in the Union Budget 2021-22 to strengthen the existing ‘National Health Mission’ by developing capacities of primary, secondary and tertiary care, healthcare systems and institutions for detection and cure of new & emerging diseases.
  5. In Union Budget 2021-22, the government announced its plans to launch ‘Mission Poshan 2.0’ to merge ‘Supplementary Nutrition Programme’ with ‘Poshan Abhiyan’ (Nutrition Mission) in order to improve nutritional outcomes across 112 aspirational districts.
  6. The Government of India approved continuation of ‘National Health Mission’ with a budget of Rs. 37,130 crore (US$ 5.10 billion) under the Union Budget 2021-22.
  7. In the Union Budget 2021, the Ministry of AYUSH was allocated Rs. 2,970 crore (US$ 407.84 million), up from Rs. 2,122 crore (US$ 291.39 million).

Getting a Job in Google.

Year after year, Google has been ranked as one of the top companies to work for, so it’s no surprise that the tech giant receives roughly three million applications per year. With an acceptance rate of 0.2%, you’d have a better chance of getting into Harvard.

It is difficult to get a job at Google because of their quality standards and the high number of applications they receive per year. For example, INC reported that Google receives 2 million job applications per year, which means it’s more competitive to get into than Harvard University.

Google is an employer of choice for the world’s top talent, typically receiving hundreds of resumes for every opening, which allows them to be extremely selective in their hiring.The hardest part is getting an interview. If you attend a university, go through campus recruiting.

According to the Pascale, The lowest paid Google employees are Entry Levels at $51,000.Google says there is no degree or prior experience required. In fact, 61% of learners enrolled do not hold a four-year degree. This certificate could be a perfect launchpad to a career in IT.

So if you have a keen interest in working at Google California or at any other branches of Google work hard my friend. More than studies work on yourselves, on your IQ level the interviewees are not going to ask you a question from your syllabus.

JOURNEY TO SANITY -JOURNALING

A sudden change in the external environment surrounding a person might affect ones physical, mental and emotional health. As we all have been facing an unusual situation for past one year, the importance of sanity and peace has increased. It might not possibly change the outer environment but it can certainly change the way a person sees the situation and help them fight the hardships of life.
There is no thumb-rule to living a perfect life. However, there are certain qualities we can attain that might help us make our lives nearly perfect. JOURNALING AND WRITING ONE’S EMOTIONS OUT, is something we have heard since ages. How children make a personal diary and write their emotions out where they feel the need to be heard.
I know it sounds boring to a lot of people but Journaling and letting ones feeling out can reduce a lot of burden from one’s chest (Yes, children can be smarter than adults). In life, we have a lot of things that generally cannot be shared with others and we tend to keep those emotions inside us, hoping that they won’t bother us anymore. But little do people know how suppressed emotions can harm a person’s mind and even manifest itself in form of physical illness.

Looking at our own life from an outside perspective.

So, the first issue with Journaling might be accepting one’s emotions which we have denied for a long-time. I know, that accepting might not change the situation but might help in making peace with it. If not so, then a little writing might not affect a person as it might give you a clearer picture of the issue and maybe possible outcomes or ways to make things better for it.

Probably we have started considering writing our issues out but what about others getting an insight into our hidden lives by reading the journal. For such cases, thanks to technology we have free apps for IOS and Android that keeps a person’s account confidential and provides app locks for security purpose. Since we have checked out two major issues from our list, I guess we might start to consider Journaling.

Additionally, it is win – win situation as there’s no loss. However, there might be some gain in terms of gaining more understanding, compassion and peace.

Do not forget to read more from the series 🙂

JOURNEY TO SANITY – ACCEPTANCE

JOURNEY TO SANITY – MINDFULNESS

JOURNEY TO SANITY – SELF CARE

JOURNEY TO SANITY – DOUBLE STANDARDS

JOURNEY TO SANITY – SUNSHINE 🌤️

All you need to know about Modena vaccine

Moderna will be the fourth vaccine to be used for the vaccination drive in the country. The other three vaccines that are being used in India are Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V.

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Cipla, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company, to import Moderna vaccine for restricted emergency use in the country, VK Paul, member of NITI Aayog announced on Tuesday. “New drug permission has been granted to Moderna, the first internationally developed vaccine. This new drug permission is for restricted use,” Paul also said in the press briefing.
The Moderna vaccine has been manufactured by the American pharmaceutical company with the same name. Here is all you need to know about the international vaccine:

How many shots are required?

The Moderna vaccine is a two-dose regimen at an interval of 28 days. In India as well, it will be administered in two doses, Paul confirmed in the briefing. However, the interval between the two doses in India is yet to be announced.

Is it WHO approved?

The Moderna vaccine is approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The world health body approved on April 30 on the basis of the recommendations of its strategic advisory group of experts (SAGE).

How effective is the vaccine?

The Moderna vaccine has been shown to have an efficacy of approximately 94.1% in protecting against Covid-19. The immunity starts to develop after 14 days of the first dose, WHO mentions on its site.

Does it work against new variants?

According to the studies done so far, the Moderna vaccine is effective against the new variants of SARS-CoV-2, including the Alpha variant and the Beta variant. However, researchers are still testing the vaccine’s efficacy against the new variants.

How many countries have approved the Moderna vaccine?

So far, the vaccine has been approved in more than 40 countries including Canada, the United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Israel, Japan and South Korea.

Any side effects?

The Moderna vaccine has no major side effects. However, after a person is administered with the dose there may feel slight fever, soreness in the arm, chills. The after effects include body ache, nausea and fatigue.

Age groups that it is safe for?

The WHO has approved the vaccine for all above the age of 18-years. Recently Modenra filed a request with the European Medicines Agency seeking authorisation for use in adolescents in the 12-17 age group. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also reviewing its medical trial data for emergency use authorisation of its vaccine in kids 12 and up.