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Health Secy reviews Covid-19 status in select districts seeing surge in cases

Preeti Sudan (File photo)

New Delhi (NVI): Senior Health Ministry officials including Health Secretary Preeti Sudan and Rajesh Bhushan, OSD, MoHFW today held a high level review meeting via video conference with officials from 45 municipalities/municipal corporations across 38 districts in ten states, that are witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The officials with whom the Health Secretary interacted included the District Collectors, Municipal Commissioners, Chief Medical Officers, Superintendent of District Hospitals and Principle of Medical Colleges, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The 38 districts are from the following states and Union Territories: Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

During the meeting, the main issues discussed were the widespread infection in densely populated urban areas, with areas that shared public amenities; importance of house-to-house surveys; prompt testing followed by prompt isolation and clinical management of cases and containment strategy to be implemented.

In a statement health ministry said, “State officials were advised on the measures to be taken in the containment zones for case management and buffer zones surveillance activities and promotion of COVID appropriate behaviour.”

To reduce the case fatality rate, the officials were briefed on measures to be taken like prioritising the high-risk and vulnerable segments like elderly people and people with co-morbidities while contact-tracing to prevent deaths; active surveillance measures, adequate testing and promoting health seeking behaviour for timely detection of cases; ensuring timely shifting of patients without escalating the symptoms.

Regarding infrastructure and human resource management for the containment of COVID-19, the state officials were told to ensure adequate planning for health infrastructure should be taken up; adequate number of surveillance teams to be provided; a system to be put in place for bed availability management, Centres of Excellence to provide hand-holding for medical professionals and senior officers to be deployed for hospitals to offer help to citizens to find health services as per their need.

While speaking on field governance, Municipal authorities were advised to take leadership and put the whole municipal infrastructure for containment measures using the ‘whole of Government approach’.

It was also highlighted that along with COVID-19 management efforts, care needs to be given to the regular and essential health services that are also available for the citizens.

The officials stressed upon the areas that need constant attention included active house-to-house survey for timely detection; augmentation of the survey teams; efficient ambulance management; efficient triaging of patients at the hospitals and bed management; clinical management of the hospitalised cases through rotational 24*7 teams to ensure reduction in the fatality rates they were also advised to ensure that the testing results were returned by the labs in time for ensuring early identification and timely treatment.

It was also suggested to involve the elected representatives in the rural areas for cooperating with the district health authorities for confidence building and timely accessing of available health services. States were reminded to activate the fever clinics for detection of SARI/ILI cases in the buffer zones. In view of the lockdown being eased and curbs being lifted, States were also advised to make a district wise prospective plan for the coming months.

So far, a total of 1,24,430 people has been cured, 5,137 of whom were cured in the last 24 hours taking the total recovery rate to 48.49 per cent. The total number of active cases now stands at 1,24,981.

Nepal reports 314 new cases of Covid-19, tally surges to 3,762

New Delhi (NVI): Nepal reported 314 new cases of coronavirus today, taking the national tally to 3,762, according to local media reports.

The country’s Ministry of Health and Population said, “Of the infected, 3,506 are males and 256 are females.”

Among the newly-infected are 294 males and 20 females, the ministry said.

The new infections have been found in Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa, Saptari, Janakpur, Syangja, Kaski, Parsa, Bara, Rautahat, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Dailekh, Surkhet, Argakhachi, Kapilvastu, Nawalparsi, Palpa, Pyuthan, Rupandehi, Sarlahi and Mahottari.

At present, 71 of the 77 districts and all the Provinces have witnessed the transmission of COVID-19 virus in the country, as per media reports.

So far, the government has conducted 257,962 tests for coronavirus in Nepal. Of these, 1,00971 samples were tested through the PCR and 156,991 through the RDT.

Apart from this, 41 people have been discharged following recovery, which means the total recovery cases stand at 365 across the country.

Meanwhile, Nepal has recorded one more coronavirus related death, which has taken the national COVID-19 death toll to 14 across the country.

COVID-19 tally in Bangladesh rises to 68,500; 930 dead

New Delhi (NVI): Bangladesh reported spike in coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours with the detection of 2,735 new cases, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 68,504.

The country also recorded a total of 42 deaths due to the novel coronavirus during this period, raising the death tally to 930, according to United News of Bangladesh.

So far, a total of 14,560 people have recovered from the deadly contagion, after 657 more patients made recovery.

The detection rate of new patients has been recorded at 21.10 per cent.

Meanwhile, against the total number of detected cases, the recovery rate is 21.25 per cent and the mortality rate is 1.36 per cent in the country.

Coronavirus cases surpass 1,00,000 mark in Pakistan

New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan has now surpassed the 1 lakh mark in coronavirus cases after nearly 4,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 1,03,671 with at least 2,067 fatalities.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, Punjab province has reported 38,903 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Sindh has 38,108 positive cases.

On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 13,487 cases, Balochistan is at 6,516, Gilgit-Baltistan at 932, Islamabad at 5,329 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 396 cases so far, according to Geo News.

So far, 31,198 people have fully recovered from the deadly contagion in the country.

In addition to this, the Supreme Court today took back its decision to reopen markets on the weekend as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise across the country.

New Zealand declares itself coronavirus free, drops restrictions

Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern

New Delhi (NVI): New Zealand today declared itself coronavirus free and lifted all domestic coronavirus restrictions after its final COVID-19 patient was cured.

While strict border controls will remain in place, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said restrictions such as social distancing and limits on public gatherings were no longer needed.

“We are ready,” Ardern said while addressing a media briefing in Wellington, adding that New Zealanders had “united in unprecedented ways to crush the virus.”

Reportedly, the country, with a population of five million, has had 1,154 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 22 deaths.

In addition to this, no new cases of coronavirus have been reported since the last 17 days and had only 1 active case left for more than a week, who also recovered completely today.

Ardern further added that the sacrifices made by New Zealanders, including a drastic seven-week lockdown the helped curb infection rates, had been rewarded, as now there were no active cases in the country.

Low-intensity quake hits Delhi

Mild earthquake hits Delhi
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): A low-intensity earthquake measuring 2.1 on Richter scale struck near Delhi today, as mild tremors were felt in the national capital.

The epicenter of the quake was near Gurugram in Haryana, according to the National Center of Seismology.

Tremors were felt in Delhi, Noida and surrounding areas for a few seconds.

The agency confirmed that the latest earthquake had its epicenter at a depth of 18 km from the ground.

Reportedly, this is the tenth quake to hit in and around parts of Delhi in the last two months.

Working mothers hit harder than fathers due to Covid-19 lockdown: Report

New Delhi (NVI): A study shows that working mothers in the United Kingdom are faring worse than fathers since the lockdown began as their work time is interrupted more often by childcare other activities at home.

According to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), UK mothers are one-and-a-half times more likely than fathers to have either lost their job or quit since the lockdown began, World Economic Forum said in a report.

There is no doubt that lockdown has put pressure on parents’ time around the world, but while fathers tend to do less, they have also increased their involvement in childcare, says the study.

The research shows that working mothers’ working hours have fallen more, proportionally, and their work time is interrupted more often by childcare, reports WEF.

With children staying at home and needing to be entertained or educated, lockdown and school closures around the world is putting more pressure on families.

The IFS’s study shows that this could have a long-lasting effect on the career prospects of working mothers as they are bearing the brunt.

In the UK, schools and nurseries began to reopen from June 1 but a large number of school-age children remain at their homes, in the care of their parents, who may also be working. According to UNESCO, the UK is not alone as there are efforts to contain COVID-19 by shutting schools in more than 100 countries, which is affecting almost 70% of the world’s student population.

In such a scenario, schooling and looking after children at home is putting a large burden on families who are also weathering the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the report, in 2014/15, mothers were in paid work at 80% of the rate of fathers; now this is 70% of the fathers’ rate. Before COVID-19, mothers in paid work worked an average of 73% of the hours fathers worked, and this has now fallen to 68%.

The research further notes that the effects of this discrepancy will continue for a long time even after the pandemic as workers who have lost their jobs permanently may struggle to find new ones, and workers who have reduced their hours may struggle to increase them again. Meanwhile, workers whose productivity has suffered due to interruptions may be penalized in pay and promotion decisions, the report claimed.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020, women are persistently less present in the labour market than men. On average, about 78% of adult men (aged 15 to 64) are in the labour market, while only 55% of women of the same cohort are actively engaged in work, report WEF.

Monsoon in Maha around Jun 11: IMD

(Representational Image)

New Delhi (NVI): The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that monsoon is likely to arrive in Maharashtra in the next 2-3 days, with Mumbai expected to hit by rains on June 11.

In a weather forecast yesterday, IMD said that conditions are becoming favorable for the advancement of monsoon into some parts of Goa and South Konkan, within the next 2-3 days.

Earlier, the IMD had said that monsoon onset over Maharashtra was expected from June 10 onwards. The state has already witnessed Cyclone Nisarga. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the cyclone-hit Raigad two days back and announced Rs 100 crore aid.

Cyclone Nisarga hit the coastal town of Alibug in Raigad district on May 3. Maharashtra has already received rainfall in four sub divisions due to the cyclone. IMD has also predicted cloudy sky conditions in Pune this week.

Operation Samudra Setu: Navy ship reaches Iran to evacuate Indian citizens

New Delhi (NVI): In its next phase of ‘Operation Samudra Setu’, the Indian Navy has started the process of evacuating Indians from Iran. Indian Naval Ship (INS) ‘Shardul’ reached Bandar Abbas port in Iran this morning and is all set to embark Indian citizens to bring them back to Porbandar in Gujarat, The Indian Navy said in a statement.

“The Indian Mission in Islamic Republic of Iran is preparing a list of Indian citizens to be evacuated and will facilitate their embarkation after requisite medical screening,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

COVID-related social distancing norms have been catered onboard INS Shardul and the ship has been specially provisioned for the evacuation operation, including embarkation of additional medical staff, doctors, hygienists, nutritionists, medical stores, rations, personal protective equipment, face-masks, lifesaving gear etc, the MoD said.

Apart from the authorised medical outfit, medical equipment specific to dealing with COVID-19 including innovative products developed by the Indian Navy during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is also being carried onboard.

The evacuated personnel would be provided the basic amenities and medical facilities whilst undertaking the sea-passage to Porbandar, the Defence Ministry said.

“Special isolation compartments have also been earmarked for any contingencies. In view of the unique challenges associated with COVID-19 including asymptomatic carriers, stringent protocols are being stipulated during the passage,” it added.

The evacuated people will be entrusted to the care of State authorities after disembarkation at Porbandar, the Ministry said.

Yesterday, Indian Naval Ship Jalashwa arrived at Tuticorin harbor in Tamil Nadu with 700 Indian nationals stranded in Maldives.

Indian Navy had launched Operation Samudra Setu to repatriate Indian citizens commencing May 8. Indian Naval ships Jalashwa and Magar have already evacuated 2874 personnel from Maldives and Sri Lanka to ports of Kochi and Tuticorin.

World Oceans Day 2020: History, significance and theme

New Delhi (NVI): World Oceans Day is celebrated every year on June 8 around the globe to remind the people about the importance of oceans in the lives of human beings.

The day is marked by the United Nations to highlight the role of the oceans in everyday life and inspires action to protect and sustainably use marine resources.

In 2008, it was decided by the United Nations General Assembly that as of June 8, 2009, the day will be celebrated as “World Oceans Day” globally.

The concept of this Day was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit–UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This theme for this year’s World Ocean Day is ‘Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean’. Innovation — relating to the introduction of new methods, ideas, or products — is a dynamic term and one that is fundamentally filled with hope.

In order to celebrate this day, people hold several events, seminars, rallies to raise awareness about oceans. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, celebrations this year will be held online.

The UN World Oceans Day celebration will take place as a virtual event produced in partnership with Oceanic Global.

Oceans serve as the world’s largest source of protein with more than 3 billion people depending on the oceans as their primary source of protein. They are the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe.

World Ocean Day holds great significance as we discuss various methods to save oceans for our future generation.

The rate by which we are polluting our ocean bodies is alarming. Plastic waste, decreasing levels of water, impurities in water, and others, it is the greatest necessity to preserve and conserve our oceans.

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