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Amdavad Municipal Corporation introduces ‘drive through’ RTPCR testing as COVID-19 cases surge in the state

OpIndia Staff
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Amdavad Municipal Corporation introduces ‘drive through’ RTPCR testing as COVID-19 cases surge in the state

Amdavad Municipal Corporation in Ahmedabad today launched a drive-through RTPCR testing centre to increase testing in the city as the state grapples in second wave of Chinese coronavirus cases. People reached the GMDC ground in auto rickshaws, cabs, private cars for the drive-through testing centre. The testing will be held from 8 AM to 8 PM.

Over 600 people got themselves tested within just two hours today. The response has been phenomenal, said Rajiv Gupta, IAS. The facility was announced on April 13, 2021. 5 collection stations were set up and people had to take tokens through scanning the QR code at the entrance. Payment could be made via online mode or through cash on the spot. The results will be sent within 24 to 36 hours of collection of samples. The charges for the testing are Rs 800.

As of now, Gujarat has over 34,500 active coronavirus cases of which 8989 cases are in Ahmedabad. 4,922 people have lost their lives in the state to the Chinese virus.

Top Chinese official admits Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates”, suggests mixing different vaccines

OpIndia Staff
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Top Chinese official admits Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates”, suggests mixing different vaccines

In a rare acknowledgement, the top Chinese official for disease control said that the current vaccines developed in the country don’t offer a high enough protection rate for the Coronavirus and that China is considering mixing different vaccines in order to boost effectiveness.

“We will solve the issue that current vaccines don’t have very high protection rates,” Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a conference in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday.

“It’s now under consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process,” Gao added. He outlined a couple of options in order to solve the vaccine efficacy issue: one is to increase the number of doses or to adjust the dosage or the interval between shots; the other is to mix vaccines developed from different technologies.

However, as Gao’s comments gained attention on social media and headlines, Gao quickly disavowed his comments, seemingly clarifying that he was speaking about the effectiveness rates for “vaccines in the world, not particularly for China.” However, Gao did not explicitly make clear as to which particular vaccines he was referring to.

“The protection rates of all vaccines in the world are sometimes high, and sometimes low. How to improve their efficacy is a question that needs to be considered by scientists around the world,” Gao said in an interview with the Chinese state-owned publication The Global Times.

China currently has five vaccines approved for use in its mass vaccination campaign, three inactivated-virus vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm, a one-shot vaccine from CanSino, and the last from Gao’s team in partnership with Anhui Zhifei Longcom.

The effectiveness of these Chinese vaccines range from just over 50% to 79%, according to various International trials and the companies themselves.

The majority of Chinese vaccines are made by Sinovac, a private company, and Sinopharm, a state-owned firm. These vaccines have also been distributed to several dozen countries around the world including Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Hungary, Brazil, Pakistan and Turkey.

Back in January, Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine was found to be only 50.4% effective in Brazilian clinical trials, with the efficacy rate of the vaccine ranging from around 50% to over 83%.

Liu Peicheng, a Sinovac spokesman, acknowledges that varying levels of effectiveness have been found in different trials around the world but said that can be due to the age of people in a study, the strain of the virus, or other factors. China has so far not approved any foreign vaccine for use in mainland China.

The Sinovac spokesman, Liu, said that studies find protection “may be better” if the time period between vaccination doses is longer than the current 14 days but gave no indication that there might be a change made in the standard practice.

UP govt ramps up measures to fight the resurgent COVID-19 outbreak, airlifts 25,000 doses of Remdesivir using govt plane from Gujarat

OpIndia Staff
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UP govt ramps up measures to fight the resurgent COVID-19 outbreak, airlifts 25,000 doses of Remdesivir using govt plane from Gujarat

As the number of coronavirus cases in the state rise at an alarming pace, the Uttar Pradesh government has stepped up its efforts to blunt the new wave of COVID-19.

According to the sources, Uttar Pradesh is working on a war footing to tackle this sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases. The government has released hundreds of crores of funds for procuring essential drugs, testing kits, N95 masks and PPE kits in its fight against the coronavirus.

The CM himself is reviewing the availability of medicines in the districts, and ensuring that there is adequate supply. The govt also arranged a large shipment of Remdesivir from Surat. The big consignment of Remdesivir vials arrived in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered 25,000 doses of the injection keeping in view the spiralling cases of COVID-19 infection in the state recently.

It is noteworthy that CM Yogi Adityanath had sent a government aircraft to Ahmedabad to bring medicines to save the lives of people from Covid-19 for the third time since last year. Earlier, on June 9 last year, he had sent a government aircraft to Goa to bring TruNet machines. The UP Chief Minister had also brought medical equipment from Bangalore on April 7.

The Chief Minister has also directed the Health Department to ensure that the vaccines are provided at prescribed market rates, while ensuring that there is no shortage of other medicines. The Chief Minister has ensured the availability of Remdesvir, Ivermactin, Paracetamol, Doxycycline, Azithromycin, Vitamin C, Zinc Tablet, Bitamine B Complex and Vitamin D3 in every district of the state. The officials of the Health Department have ensured that there is no shortage of these medicines in any district of UP for treatment of COVID-19 patients

According to Drug Controller Dr AK Jain, seven Indian companies in the country are producing Remadecivir injections under a voluntary licensing agreement with Messrs, Gilead Sciences America. The companies have assured to provide more injections as per the need of the state at the earliest. At present, there is a sufficient amount of Remdesivir injection and its dose is being given to serious patients.

Yogi Adityanath government has also ensured that the state has enough oxygen capacity to provide to those in need of supplemental oxygen. Out of 507 MT of oxygen, only 232 MT has been used so far. In less than 24 hours, the state government has added about 121 ICU and HDU beds in various medical colleges and institutes across the state.

Sources claim CM Yogi Adityanath is personally supervising the state’s preparedness against the second wave of the coronavirus, despite being tested positive for the virus. Taking to Twitter, he informed that after noticing initial symptoms, he got himself tested and the tests came back positive. He is currently in self-isolation and undergoing treatment.

Though the resources and beds in Uttar Pradesh are adequate to meet the current level of infection, CM Yogi Adityanath has directed the authorities to further expand the capacities.

While the L1 hospitals are not yet started because of the permission of home isolation granted by the Health and Family Welfare department, the L2 and L3 hospitals have started accepting patients infected with the coronavirus.

There are 25,764 (normal beds with oxygen) and about 7000 ICU beds in L2 and L3 hospitals in the state so far. Special Secretary Pranjal Yadav said that the availability of oxygen in the state is 507 metric tons. While the utilization of oxygen is 232 MT, the industrial usage is 99.6 MT. There are more than 5000 ventilators in the state. The state government has sent a proposal to the Government of India, asking for additional 1500 ventilators.

Alok Kumar, the Principal Secretary of the Medical Department, said that 121 ICUs and HDU beds have been added in various medical colleges and institutes in the last 24 hours. Era Medical College in Lucknow has been declared a complete COVID-19 Hospital.

Department of Medical Education, Kanpur, Agra, Meerut, Prayagraj, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Banda, Azamgarh, Ambedkaranagar, Kannauj, Jalaun, Saharanpur and Badaun Medical Colleges, Autonomous State Medical Colleges in Ayodhya, Basti, Bahraich, Firozabad and Shahjahanpur, KGMU Lucknow, North State Medical University Saifai, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Super Specialty Children’s Hospital and Post Graduate Educational Institute, Noida, SGPGI Lucknow and Government Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida have sent an amount of one hundred crore rupees each as a part of the strategy to fight the second wave of the coronavirus.

As per UP government sources, 200 beds will be added at the Integral Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, taking total beds to 400, including 120 ICU beds. Efforts are underway to add another 500 beds, including 150 ICU and HDU beds at TS Mishra Medical College by tomorrow. Mayo Institute Barabanki has more than 200 operational beds, while the Cancer Institute also has 100 such beds. Sources suggest another 300 beds, including 50 ICU beds, will be added at the Career Institute this evening.

Covid-19 surge: No space to bury dead bodies in graveyards, graves being dug in advance to save time, crematoriums break down due to overload

OpIndia Staff
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Covid-19 surge: No space to bury dead bodies in graveyards, graves being dug in advance to save time, crematoriums break down due to overload

India has recorded over 1,85,000+ Covid-19 cases in a single day. 1,026 people have lost their lives due to the complications associated with the infection yesterday. Though the average death rate is on the lower side, the number of dead bodies per day is increasing, which has created a problem for the graveyards in several cities.

The largest graveyard in Delhi can accommodate only 150 more bodies

As per reports, the largest graveyard in Delhi, Jadid Qabristan Ahle Islam, can accommodate only 150 more dead bodies. Mohammad Shamim, the caretaker of the graveyard, said that the number of dead bodies is on the rise since April 4. On April 12, 25 dead bodies were brought to the graveyard. Out of 30 dead bodies that were brought on April 13, 18 were non-Covid. Shameem added that he is the third generation of caretakers, and he has never seen so many dead bodies in a single day.

Labour is not ready to dig graves amid Covid-19 fear in Ranchi

As per regulations, the dead body has to be buried at 7 or 8 feet instead of the normal 3 feet to ensure infection cannot escape from the grave. Digging such deep graves take time and manpower. However, in cities like Ranchi, people are unable to find the labour to dig graves as they are afraid of the infection. They are arranging JCB machines to dig the graves. Mukhtar Ahmed of Anjuman Islamia said that the number of dead bodies has increased in the last few days. People have to wait for hours to bury the deceased. However, he ensured that there was no shortage of space.

The price of digging graves increased by 60% in Lucknow

In Lucknow, as the number of dead bodies increased, the price to dig the grave has also gone up. As per a report published in Hindi Daily Amar Ujala, 210 dead bodies were buried in the largest graveyard in the city, i.e. Aishbagh graveyard. Out of these 210, 14 were infected, according to Hafiz Mateen, caretaker of the graveyard. In the Hazratganj graveyard, 40 dead bodies have been buried in the last four days.

Price of digging grave increased by 60%. Left: Old price Rs.500. Right: New price Rs.800. (Image: Amar Ujala)

However, Hafiz Salimuddin, caretaker of the graveyard, assured that none of them was infected. The price to dig the grave has gone up by 60% from Rs.500/- to Rs.800/-.

Graveyards in Surat are digging graves in advance

In Surat, those who had died of Covid-19 are being buried in three graveyards that are located in Rander and Rampura. Ibrahimbhai, the caretaker of Mora Bhagal graveyard, said that before Covid, 2-3 dead bodies used to come on any given day. However, nowadays, around 10-12 dead bodies are arriving daily. They are digging graves in advance so that people do not have to wait to bury the deceased. He added, if they wait for someone to come and ask to dig the grave, people may have to wait for two days to bury the deceased. JCBs are also being used in Surat to dig graves.

JCB digging graves (Image: ABP News)

Crematorium grounds facing similar problems

The situation is no different on crematorium grounds. In Surat, dead bodies are being burnt day and night. At one place, the walls of the electric crematorium melted due to constant high heat. Ashwini Kumar and Ramnath Ghela crematorium grounds are getting the majority of the dead bodies. As per reports, around 100 dead bodies are reaching daily for cremation, which is much higher than normal. The administration has restarted Kailash Mokshdham to accommodate the increase in demand. Notably, Kailash Mokshdham was close for 14 years.

In Ranchi, the electric crematorium in Harmu broke down. While the administration was trying to fix it, the dead bodies were being buried in the open, which is not safe as per the protocols. A team from Delhi was called to repair the crematorium.

One more video of a mob calling for beheading Yati Narsimhanand Saraswati for ‘insulting Prophet Muhammad’ goes viral

OpIndia Staff
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One more video of a mob calling for beheading Yati Narsimhanand Saraswati for ‘insulting Prophet Muhammad’ goes viral

On April 13, one more video calling for the beheading of Yati Narsimhanand Saraswati for ‘insulting Prophet Muhammad’ went viral on social media. The video was from Bareilly, and it was shot sometime during the last week on Friday. A large group of men from a particular community were seen walking in large groups on both sides of the road. Similar videos from the same day were making rounds last week.

In the video, some of them could be heard raising the slogan, “Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se juda sar tan se juda (The one who disrespected the prophet, should be punished by beheading)”.

In another video, a man was seen raising slogans from a stage in which he said, “Uncha bolo kya chahiye, gustakh-e-nabi ka sir chahiye (Say it loud what do you want, head of the one who disrespected the Prophet)”.

Bareilly Police claimed the crowd was dispersed peacefully

In its reply, Bareilly Police said that two videos were viral on social media in which a man was seen raising communal slogans. Out of the two videos, Delhi Police has registered a case in Parliament road police station. In another video, a group gathered a large group of people and demanded action against the person. The Police further claimed that they accepted the memorandum keeping the law and order situation in mind, and dispersed the crowd peacefully.

In the reply, Police did not mention what action they took against the crowd that was asking to behead Yati Narsimhanand Saraswati. They did mention that a case was filed against the Dasna priest in Delhi, and they also registered a case based on the memorandum given by the leader who had gathered the crowd, but nowhere there was any mention if they took any action against the slogans raised by the crowd.

US Navy dismisses first-ever woman commander of missile destroyer USS Hopper, cites ‘leadership issues’

OpIndia Staff
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US Navy dismisses first-ever woman commander of missile destroyer USS Hopper, cites ‘leadership issues’

The U.S. Navy has reportedly removed its first-ever woman commander of the USS Hopper, a guided-missile destroyer vessel based in Pearl Harbor, seemingly because of leadership issues and problems with ‘crew morale’.

Commander Kathryn Dawley took command of the USS Hopper in April 2020 and was the first-ever woman to do so. According to the Pacific Fleet, her removal from command was “due to a loss of confidence in her leadership.”

According to the U.S. Pacific Fleet Spokesman Lt. James Adams, the decision was “based on her overall performance in this critical leadership billet. Morale of the crew played a large factor in the decision to remove her from command.”

The US Navy has, however, stated that no misconduct was associated with her removal.

Ever since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, morale issues have become a frequent cause of concern for the U.S. Navy. Back in January, there was a COVID-19 outbreak aboard the USS Chafee, which became public after crew members of the vessel leaked documents to a Navy-focused news outlet. A Chief Petty officer on the Chafee told the outlet that “the morale is like nothing I’ve ever seen on board. Sailors on board are just defeated and don’t know what to do.”

The USS Hopper is named after Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, who became an important figure in computer science, developing one of the earliest programming languages.

Kathryn Dawley, the dismissed Commander, had enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1997 and dreamed of commanding the USS Hopper, according to the press release at the time of her assumption of command.

“Hopper has been my dream since I commissioned,” she was quoted as saying at the time. “As a role model, Rear Adm. Grace Hopper embodied the qualities of a naval officer that I strive to be; strong, confident, and fearless.”

The USS Hopper (DDG-70) is currently undergoing modernisation in Hawaii after leaving dry dock last year.

Missionaries converted over 1 lakh people amidst the pandemic, claims to have planted more churches than all the 25 years of their work in India

OpIndia Staff
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Missionaries converted over 1 lakh people amidst the pandemic, claims to have planted more churches than all the 25 years of their work in India

Taking undue advantage of the lockdown imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, missionaries in India converted as many as 1 lakh people and adopted 50,000 villages in a span of one year. Need for medical aid and two squares meals amidst the financial crisis, pushed the economically weaker section into the trap of missionaries. The missionaries also built a record number of churches in thousands of villages where none existed before.

The data was validated by David Reeves, the CEO of unfoldingWord, an organization dedicated to church planting and ‘translating God’s Word — with accuracy and excellence’. David in an interview with Missionary Network News informed that one of their partners of the church planting network shared a detailed report about the immaculate feat achieved in India.

Reeves stated, “Because they could not meet with others during lockdown, they decided [to] simply start specifically praying for unsaved people they know. Then, they decided to follow up those prayers by phone and WhatsApp. They estimate about 100,000 conversions during lockdown as a result of this approach. Similarly, with church planting, they encouraged every church to [pray for] 10 specific villages or neighbourhoods [with] no church. Then, as restrictions loosened slightly, they were able to get into these regions. They estimate that churches adopted about 50,000 villages during lockdown, and 25% now have an “opening” for the Gospel — some believers, a small house church, etc.”

“This is much more than we could have done pre-COVID,” he remarked.

While the world was reeling under the pandemic, unfoldingWords was celebrating the unexpected good news from church planting partners in India. “During 2020 – the COVID year – they’ve planted more churches than all the 25 years of their ministry work there,” Reeves says. The organization sees the pandemic as a blessing to strengthen their conversion business.

Who is David Reeves?

David Reeves is the president of JAARS (Jungle Aviation and Radio Service), an organization responsible for the translation of the Bible. David believes that a Bible translation in as many languages is necessary for the expansion of the church and the ‘Kingdom of God’. His organization also provides resources for biblical training.

What is church planting?

As per OM (Operation Mobilisation), a missionary organization, church planting is as simple as forming new churches in places where few or none exist. Planting of churches requires so-called church planters to work hand-in-hand with national churches to establish new fellowships and train in missions which is essentially adding more people to their faith.

They “intentionally and systematically sow God’s Word” through literature distribution, public meetings and events.

According to the missionary group Reach All Nations, “RAN receives students from various parts of India for receiving theological education. Upon the completion of the training, they go back to their own communities. In collaboration with their local churches, they are placed in the mission field for church planting work. While they are in the field we support them in two ways. Helping them with monthly financial gifts until they are self-supported and providing ongoing biblical training in the field. Once a month we meet with them for a full day of prayer, fellowship, and teaching. We do this until the fledgling church is fully launched.”

There are over a 110 Evangelical organizations with a ‘Church Planting’ mission running steadily in India. Every organization has maps, targets and objectives for conversions and the creation of new churches set for every year.

Joshua Project, an organization that claims to give definition to the ‘unfinished business’ maintains ethnological data of every community of India mapped along with its population, occupation, obstacles and a roadmap to convert them.

Tours and travels operators in Mumbai issuing fake COVID-19 negative reports for Rs 300: Report reveals

OpIndia Staff
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Tours and travels operators in Mumbai issuing fake COVID-19 negative reports for Rs 300: Report reveals

As Maharashtra prepares for another wave of crippling lockdown, with the coronavirus cases in the state rising at an alarming rate, an investigation by Mid-Day found out that there are many tours and travel operators in Mumbai helping people who want to escape out of the state with a bogus RTPCR test result.

In sting operations carried out at Ghatkopar’s Gopal Bhuvan stop and at Borivli’s SGNP bus stop, Mid-Day found that tours and travel agents are issuing fraudulent COVID-19 negative test reports for as low as Rs 300-Rs 500 for people wanting to travel to Gujarat and Rajasthan.

With the resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, many states, including Gujarat and Rajasthan, have made it compulsory for people to carry a negative RTPCR test result on arrival. However, the tours and travel operators in Mumbai found a unique way of bypassing this regulation by issuing bogus negative RTPCR test results to the travellers travelling out of Maharashtra.

A tour bus operator was busted by the Crime Branch in Mira Road on Tuesday morning for providing passengers with fake COVID-19 certificates. However, the report published by Mid-Day alleges that the businesses of other travel agents remained unaffected.

While the workers on the buses claimed that the test reports are required only at checkpoints while crossing over from Maharashtra to Gujarat, the driver of a bus going to Udaipur said that if the security is too tight, they would make arrangements to help people with fake reports cross the checkpoints in a vehicle with a local number plate. Assuming that local vehicles have residents from the area, the authorities do not check them. The passengers board the bus again after crossing the checkpoint.

The tour operators at Borivali were confident of themselves and said that they would take the responsibility if things went awry, the report said. They assured that their fake certificates were more powerful than the genuine certificates as they had arrangements in place with the cops posted on state borders who allow them to jump lines while those adhering to rules have to wait several hours in the queue, as per the Mid-Day report.

The report carried transcript of a conversation between the mid-day reporter and a certain Ramesh bhai of Maruti Nandan travel in Ghatkopar. During the conversation, when probed if he could a fake negative RTPCR test, Ramesh Bhai responds in affirmative, stating that he could get a report which would be enough for the passenger to cross the border. He asks Rs 500 from the reporter to get the report.

In its investigation, Mid-Day also came across Manik and Sanket of Sanket Travels, Rohit Jaiswal of Falcon Bus line and London Pari bus’s cleaner Rathod and driver, who all admit to providing forged RTPCR test reports for passengers to help them cross border checkpoints.

Mira Road police seize a bus with fake COVID-19 negative certificates, 38 booked

The Mira Road police yesterday caught a bus ferrying passengers to Surat with bogus COVID-19 test reports. 38 people, including the bus owner, two drivers, a cleaner and two agents were booked for violating rules.

The police claimed that as the coronavirus outbreak is becoming severe in Maharashtra, too many people are trying to leave Mumbai. The tours and travel operators are using this catastrophe as an opportunity to line their pockets, the police said. They are resorting to all kinds of unethical practices to make money, the police added.

“We recovered fake RT-PCR reports issued by three laboratories from 20 passengers. The remaining 12 travellers said they had been charged Rs 300 Rs 500 in the name of fake certificates but were issued nothing,” said a police officer.

However, despite the crackdown by the police against a Pawan Travels bus, Mid-Day correspondents found that few agents booking tickets for Gujarat and Rajasthan at the Borivali East near SGNP were offering fake COVID-19 test certificates for Rs 500 per person.

BMC officials at Mumbai airport took bribes from international passengers to allow escape from mandatory quarantine

Earlier last week, another investigative report published by Mid-Day revealed how the BMC officials at the Mumbai airport were helping people flying from abroad escape the mandatory quarantine period.

For as much as Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000, a handful of civic officials at the Mumbai international airport were reported to have allowed passengers from abroad to escape the compulsory seven-day institutional quarantine. The investigation by Mid-Day brought to fore shocking lapses by BMC officials deployed at the airport, whose job is to ensure passengers from the UK, Europe, Middle East and South Africa undergo the mandatory 7-day institutional quarantine. These were amongst nations that reported new fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus.

The news daily found that an elaborate arrangement was in place for passengers travelling from foreign countries to slip away from the airport without undergoing mandatory quarantine. In its investigation, the newspaper discovered that far from ensuring that passengers were sent to mandatory quarantine, the BMC officials at the airport actively helped them to escape.

Maha COVID-19 crisis: Hospital beds and ventilators running short, scarcity in oxygen and Remdesivir supply, and inordinate delays in testing

OpIndia Staff
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Maha COVID-19 crisis: Hospital beds and ventilators running short, scarcity in oxygen and Remdesivir supply, and inordinate delays in testing

Maharashtra is in throes of a resurgent coronavirus outbreak that is on the brink of overwhelming the state’s health care system. The state on Tuesday reported 60,212 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the total tally to 35,19,208 while 281 fatalities pushed the death toll to 58,526. The state alone accounts for almost 44% of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country.

In the view of alarming rise in the coronavirus outbreak, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday convened a press conference and announced a 15-day long statewide curfew starting from 8 pm on April 14.

Patients struggle to get beds and ventilators as the coronavirus outbreak overwhelms hospitals in Maharashtra

The situation in Maharashtra is particularly dire, with cities across the length and breadth of the state reporting an upsurge in coronavirus cases. Hospitals throughout the states have been swamped with COVID-19 patients as the state government scrambles to get private institutes and other medical centres to admit coronavirus patients.

In Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and India’s financial nerve-centre, hospitals are on the verge of buckling under the pressure as new infections rise at an alarming rate. About 7,873 new cases were reported from Mumbai on Tuesday. Chaos has swept the hospitals in Mumbai as the hospital authorities are forced to send patients and their relatives back because there are no vacant beds left. Similarly, such grim situation at the hospitals pervades the rest of Maharashtra.

In Nagpur, the winter capital of Maharashtra, there has been an acute shortage of isolation beds, ICU beds and ventilators. About 6,826 people tested positive in the city on Tuesday. With a population of over 30 lakhs, only 33 isolation beds and 2 ICU beds are vacant as of April 13 in over more than 127 hospitals(government and private), including Covid Community Centres.

Likewise, the coronavirus outbreak situation in Pune, another major city in Maharashtra, is similarly bad. Pune on Tuesday reported 5,214 cases. Patients in the city are forced to run pillar to post in their search for the availability of vacant beds at the city’s numerous medical facilities.

Dire Oxygen shortage in Maharashtra

The surge in coronavirus caseloads in Maharashtra also meant that the state is facing acute shortages in the availability of supplemental oxygen. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray yesterday pointed out the scarcity of oxygen during his address to the state.

Besides requesting neighbouring states to provide Maharashtra with surplus oxygen, Thackeray also asked IAF assistance from PM Modi to airlift oxygen from other states.

Earlier yesterday, 19 patients in Thane’s Vasai allegedly died because of shortages in supplemental oxygen. The relatives of the deceased and local authorities alleged that the coronavirus patients who were admitted to the hospitals succumbed due to the alleged scarcity of oxygen. Today it was reported that the state will receive 100 MT oxygen from the Jamnagar plant of Reliance in Gujarat.

Apart from oxygen, the state is also facing shortage of Remdesivir, the drug used in treatment of COVID-19 patients. The shortage has resulted in black marketing of the drug for easy and quick profit. On 12th April, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said that companies manufacturing anti-viral drug Remdesivir should double the production and decrease its MRPs to Rs 1200- Rs1300.

Testing backlog across Maharashtra as COVID-19 cases rise at a frightening pace

Even testing capabilities are under tremendous strain due to the inexorable rise in number of coronavirus cases. Many testing centers have been witnessing serpentine queues as people suspicious of being infected are lining up to get themselves tested.

This has naturally created a backlog in testing at several laboratories across the state. The spike in Covid-19 cases precipitated by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and state guidelines mandating negative RT-PCR tests for those working in public transportation, home delivery services, film shoots, roadside eateries, and other categories have likely played a crucial role in exacerbating the testing backlog in the state.

Acknowledging the delay, Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Monday this week asked all the laboratories to issue reports to the municipal body within 24 hours.

Another reason that may have contributed to this worsening testing backlog is the BMC’s decision of making negative RTPCR test mandatory for entry in the malls. Even as the cases were on the rise, the BMC allowed malls to operate, allowing entry only to those who carry a negative RTPCR test with them. This move seems to have backfired as testing laboratories across the city were swamped with people waiting to get their tests done.

The surge in testing across Mumbai can also be attributed to the positivity rate of infections reported in the city. In the week between April 5 to 11, the positivity rate in the city was hovering around 22 per cent, a 4 percentage point increase from the week before. As cases in Mumbai climb, more people are coming out to test themselves for an infection that has now become pervasive in Mumbai.

In their defence, the testing laboratories claim that they are already working at a stretched out capacity. Labs equipped to handle 2000-3000 cases a day have suddenly found themselves tasked with testing 15,000 to 17,000 samples a day. While they are building the capacity to cater to the growing requirement of testing, the inexplicable surge has undoubtedly contributed to the testing backlog.

The situation is not very different in Nagpur. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation on Sunday announced that there won’t be any RTPCR test conducted at any of the public testing or swab collection centres run by the municipal corporation. In the statement, the NMC said due to the increasing Covid cases, and a rush at testing centres, all the four public labs at IGGMCH, AIIMS, GMCH and Nagpur University have a huge backlog of results.

Instead, the NMC said only antigen test will be conducted at these centres. However, antigen tests are not the most reliable test for determining COVID infection and are known for giving false negatives and false positives.

Some private testing laboratories that are still conducting RTPCR tests are taking inordinate time to process the results. The results, which were earlier given in hours after the test, are now taking days for getting processed. This has naturally created a sense of fear and panic among people, who realise that such long delays could prove fatal.

“They are giving us results on the third or fourth day after the testing. We don’t get a bed in hospitals unless we furnish a positive report. Moreover, there is a shortage of beds and ventilators. Who is supposed to be responsible if the delay of 4 days cost us our lives?” a visibly anxious citizen asked while standing in a queue outside a testing centre in Nagpur.

For others who are travelling to other states, the delay in the testing results does not comply with the guidelines mandated by the governments.

“I have to travel to Gujarat on an urgent basis. The state of Gujarat has mandated negative RT-PCR test done within 72 hours before arrival. However, the testing centre says they can provide us with the result only on the 4th day. How am I expected to furnish the test result then?” a woman outside a testing centre in Nagpur asked.

More tests needed in the state

It is ironical that while that the labs in Maharashtra are already working beyond capacity, the state needs to increase testing by several folds to control the pandemic. At present the test positive rate in the state is more than 25%, which is almost double the national rate of around 13%. As the state is seeing high positive rates among the tested, it means it is not testing enough, and a large number of people are roaming around in public without getting tested, who may have the infection and spreading the same.

From reports of shortages to black-marketing, is Remdesivir really the ‘miracle drug’ to cure Covid?

Anurag
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From reports of shortages to black-marketing, is Remdesivir really the ‘miracle drug’ to cure Covid?

In the last month, India went from reporting around 25,000+ Covid-19 cases to 1,85,000+ cases. The beds are filling up quickly, and though India has done exponentially well in the first wave, the second wave is testing not only the governments and health system but the public in general too.

Though the so-called intellectuals and elite are pushing for another lockdown, India cannot afford another nationwide lockdown. Hence, the union and state governments are pushing for micro containment zones, night curfews, tracing and vaccination.

Amidst the increasing numbers, the demand for the ‘miracle drug’ Remdesivir has increased by several folds. While the manufacturers like Cipla have already announced that they are increasing the production, more manufacturers are getting permission to manufacture the drug to meet the demand in the market. To understand why there is so much demand and if it is actually a miracle drug against Covid-19, it is important to understand what this drug is, how it works, when it was tested for Covid-19, what experts say and why there is a need to control the panic caused by its ‘shortage’.

What is Remdesivir?

Remdesivir is an antiviral medication that was created by an American organisation Gilead Sciences. It was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). The aim was to identify therapeutic agents for treating RNA-based viruses that can result in a global pandemic. initially, it was tested against hepatitis C and a cold-like virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The drug was not effective in either cases. However, it showed promising results against other viruses. During the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014, the assembled library for the drug Remdesivir was utilised to identify and prioritise compounds with efficacy against the Ebola virus. Further studies in cells and animals suggested that it was effective against viruses in the coronavirus family, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

How Remdesivir works?

The drug belongs to a class of antiviral drugs that defeat the infection by posing as legitimate chemical building blocks of a DNA or RNA sequence. They get themselves stitched into the nascent strand and mess up the whole replication process of the virus. In short, Remdesivir poisons the viral replication process. The interesting part of the whole process is that it does not mess up with the human cells’ own polymerases. Though Remdesivir is much better than many other antiviral medicines available in the market, according to experts, it is far from perfect.

When was Remdesivir first tested against Covid-19?

In May 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorisation for Remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19 in adults and children hospitalised with severe disease. In India, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) gave permission for the trial of Remdesivir in May 2020. On June 4, DCGI had approved the use of Remdesivir lyophilised powder for emergency use in patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19.

What are experts’ views about Remdesivir?

Though the drug has shown promising results against severe Covid-19 infection, the experts believe that it is far from being the perfect cure. According to the results of a study published by the National Institute of Health, the final results showed that the treatment using Remdesivir was beneficial. The patients who received the drug were quicker to recover. The study also found that there was an improvement in mortality rates for those receiving supplemental oxygen.

The study suggested that the use of Remdesivir may prevent patients from progressing to more severe respiratory disease. Dr John Beigel of NIAID said, “Our findings show that Remdesivir is a beneficial treatment for patients with COVID-19. It may also help to conserve scarce health care resources, such as ventilators, during this pandemic.” However, the study added that the drug alone was not sufficient treatment for all patients.

WHO had warned against usage of Remdesivir

In November 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) recommended against the use of Remdesivir in Covid-19 patients stating that there was no evidence that the drug can improve survival. Recently, while talking to India Today, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at WHO and its Technical Lead on COVID, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, recommended against it. Swaminathan said, “Based on available evidence, there were about five trials… which essentially showed that Remdesivir given to hospitalised patients, didn’t reduce mortality, it didn’t reduce the duration of hospitalisation, and it didn’t affect the progression of the disease”.

She further added that there is a silver lining with the use of the drug, though. She said, “there are smaller studies that have shown, in some small subgroups, perhaps some marginal benefits, like some patients who need low flow oxygen, the NIH trial showed that there was perhaps a marginal mortality benefit, but that is a very small subgroup of patients.” As WHO is still waiting for the results of more studies, it is not recommending the use of Remdesivir in Covid-19 patients.

Why is there a shortage of Remdesivir in India?

Several factors have caused the shortage of Remdesivir. The first being the suddenly increased number of Covid-19 cases in the country, especially in Maharashtra. The state alone has reported over 60,000 cases in a single day on April 13. The other states like Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka and others are reporting a large number of cases that have suddenly increased the demand for the drug in these states.

As a result, black marketers and hoarders saw an opportunity and started using the spike in cases as a way of earning illegitimate money. On April 9, Mumbai Crime Branch recovered 272 injections of the drug in a shop in Andheri. The drug should cost between Rs.1,000/- to Rs.2,000 as per the price set by the governments and manufacturers, in black, the same drug goes for Rs.7,000/- and above. Some reports suggest the price is even higher in some cases. According to a report in Money Control, in a letter to the DCGI, LocalCircles said that many posts and comments received from various cities of India have quoted the drug was being sold for as high as Rs 50,000 that was over ten times the retail price of the drug.

What are the governments and manufacturers doing about the shortage?

To control the panic that has built up around the availability of the drug, the union government and state government have capped the price of the drug in the market. On April 11, the government of India banned the export of Remdesivir from ensuring the availability of the drug. On March 24, Zydus Cadila, one of the manufacturers, dropped the price of the drug to Rs.899/- per injection. On April 8, the Maharashtra government capped the price between Rs.1,100/- to Rs.1,400/-. On April 9, Nagpur collector issued an order capping the price of the drug to 10% above MRP.

The leaders are working on the local level as well to ensure the drug is available in the market. On April 11, Union minister Nitin Gadkari requested Sun Pharma to arrange 10,000 injections for Nagpur. On April 13, Cipla announced that it would double the production of Remdesivir to meet the demand in the market. On the same day, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) got permission to produce the drug. On April 14, UP CM Yogi Adityanath directed the health department to urgently acquire the drug from Ahmedabad. The government of India has issued an order that suggests Remdesivir should only be used for the patients on oxygen.

Though the governments and manufacturers are doing their best to ensure the drug is available in the market, it is essential for the public not to create a panic. The law enforcement agencies must speed up the process to track hoarders and take strict action against them as per the law.

It is also very important to take the precautions as suggested by the Health Ministry and avoid going out unless it is necessary.

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