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Singapore issues Correction Notice to social media platforms under its law against fake news after Kejriwal’s misleading claim

OpIndia Staff
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Singapore issues Correction Notice to social media platforms under its law against fake news after Kejriwal’s misleading claim

Singapore’s Ministry of Health was forced to issue a correction guideline under Protection from Online Falsehoods and Misinformation Act (an act to tackle fake news online) after Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went all out to broadcast his claim of the ‘Singapore variant’.

Taking cognizance of the false statement being circulated online soon after Kejriwal’s claim, Singapore’s Health Ministry issued correction guidelines to Facebook and Twitter and SPH Magazines Ltd. 

The social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and HardwareZone.com have been instructed to carry the Correction Notice for all the end-users of these platforms in Singapore.

Clarification regarding Kejriwal’s false claims of the ‘Singapore strain’

The clarification issued by Singapore reads, “There is no new “Singapore” variant of COVID-19. Neither is there evidence of any COVID-19 variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids’. The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases detected in Singapore in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated from India.”

“The existence and spread of the B.1.617.2 variant within India predates the detection of the variant in Singapore, and this has been publicly known and reported by various media sources from as early as 5 May 2021,” the statement details further.

Singapore’s law against online fake news

It is imperative to note that the Protection from Online Falsehoods & Manipulation Act is popularly known as Fake News Law, and it allows the authorities to respond to fake news by enforcing links to fact-checking sites, censoring websites or social media accounts, and filing criminal charges.

Kejriwal’s claim not only embarrassed India on a global platform but also invoked strong reactions from the Singapore government.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Singapore High Commissioner to India Simon Wong said that Singapore and India are solid partners in the fight against COVID-19, and the pandemic knows no boundary or political color.

Addressing the controversy that erupted on Tuesday over Arvind Kejriwal’s unnecessary fear-mongering by claiming that there was a new ‘Singapore variant’ of Covid-19 which is very dangerous to children, Wong said that the false statements by Arvind Kejriwal would invite actions under Protection from Online Falsehoods & Manipulation Act (POFMA), an act intended to mitigate misinformation in the country. However, he added that they are satisfied with the government of India’s clarification, putting an end to the matter.

Delhi CM Kejriwal fear-mongers about new Covid strain, MEA slams Arvind Kejriwal

On Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to claim that a new variant of Covid-19 was found in Singapore, which could result in India’s third wave. Resorting to unnecessary fear-mongering, the Delhi Chief Minister put out unverified information to claim that the new variant was extremely dangerous for children.

AAP government undeterred on its claim

Despite being slammed by Singapore officials and the Ministry of External Affairs in India, the AAP government continues to further its claim of the Covid-19 ‘Singapore variant’ in India.

Coming out in support of his party leader, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said, “Wrong to say, there is no #COVID19 strain particular to Singapore. There are many strains in India, Will give clarification on the Singapore strain soon. But we assure you there is a new strain in India.”

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia too parroted the same narrative. Deflecting from the topic, Sisodia attacked the BJP for not focusing enough on the issue, despite the fact that neither Kejriwal nor his ministers Jain and Sisodia, presented any factual evidence of the existence of the so-called ‘Singapore strain’.

‘Press operating in dictatorship going to be compromised’: AP editor hints at Hamas presence in Al Jalaa, bombed by Israel

OpIndia Staff
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‘Press operating in dictatorship going to be compromised’: AP editor hints at Hamas presence in Al Jalaa, bombed by Israel

Shortly after issuing a warning, Israel had bombed the Al Jalaa building that housed Al Jazeera and other international media outlets in Gaza city citing the presence of terror organisation Hamas’ military intelligence office in the high-rise.

Israel faced a severe global backlash for its fierce step with several demanding proof for Israel’s claim.

Amidst the blame game, a former Associated Press editor has come out validating Israel’s claim that Hamas did, in fact, have offices inside the Gaza building.

Matti Friedman, who worked at AP’s Jerusalem bureau from 2006 to 2011, in a series of tweets disclosed that he didn’t have “direct knowledge” of the incident, but the source he received the information from revealed that there was plenty intelligence pointing to Hamas’ presence in the building. 

“I take army statements like I take foreign press reports – with several grains of salt. But a conversation with a friend who is intimately familiar with military decision-making right now suggests there were indeed Hamas offices there,” he said in his Tweet.

He went on to state that the Israel Defence Force’s legal advisers were convinced of solid proof of Hamas presence in the building and hence decided to go ahead with the strike.

“Because hitting press offices is a net negative for Israel, the army seems to have had a target it considered worth the fallout,” he added. 

Suggesting that AP was compromised, he revealed, “Any press organization operating in a dictatorship is going to be compromised, and will further compromise itself to conceal how it has been compromised. It’s not a new story or one limited to the AP, or to Gaza.”

The claim, however, has come under considerable scrutiny. The Associated Press informed that it had “no indication” about Hamas’s militant operations being run from the building. 

Israel shares evidence

Giving evidence of Hamas’ presence in the targeted building through intelligence channels to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he said, “We have received some further information through intelligence channels.” 

Declining to share the nature of the information, Blinken added, “That’s not something I can comment on. Press freedom groups condemned the attack, which levelled the building and marked a new chapter in the already rocky relationship between the Israeli military and the international media. AP President Gary Pruitt has called for an independent investigation into the attack.”

ICMR approves self-use rapid antigen testing kit for Covid-19: Read about Mylab’s Coviself

OpIndia Staff
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ICMR approves self-use rapid antigen testing kit for Covid-19: Read about Mylab’s Coviself

India’s apex health research body, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Wednesday gave its approval for a self-use rapid antigen testing (RAT) kit, CoviSelf, for testing Covid-19. The medical body has issued an advisory wherein it approved the use of this home-based kit. However, it has warned against indiscriminate testing.

All you need to know about ‘Coviself’

As the name suggests, Coviself is a do-it-yourself kit for Covid-19 testing, manufactured by Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions Ltd. According to ICMR, the kit will be priced at Rs 250 per pack and will be available in the markets in a week’s time.

“The company will start shipping out tests within a few days. Mylab current production capacity is 7 million tests per week and plans to increase its capacity to 10 million tests per week within 14 days,” the company said.

This self-use test kit can be used by symptomatic patients and immediate contacts of confirmed cases as per ICMR guidelines. Only a nasal swab will be required for this rapid antigen testing. The test results will then have to be uploaded by the home users themselves through an app that is available on the Google play store and Apple store. The data in the app of the mobile phone will be centrally captured in a secure server that is connected with the ICMR COVID-19 testing portal. Here all data will be eventually stored, ICMR said in an advisory.  

The test kits can be purchased without a prescription from local pharmacies and online channel partners, read the advisory.

This would spare the patients from the trouble of going to health care centres for sample collection. The medical body is also hopeful that this move would be beneficial in easing pressure on already overburdened testing labs. It believes that this step would also help reduce the delays in testing.

Batting for the self-test kit, ICMR confirmed that all individuals who test positive may be considered as true positives and there would be no need for a repeat test. However, all RAT negative symptomatic individuals will be treated as suspect Covid-19 cases and would be expected to follow the ICMR and Health Ministry home isolation protocol while awaiting the RTPCR test result.

Rashtriya Janata Dal posts abusive Tweet against Bihar’s ex-Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, quietly deletes after backlash

OpIndia Staff
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Rashtriya Janata Dal posts abusive Tweet against Bihar’s ex-Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, quietly deletes after backlash

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party had taken to its official Twitter handle on May 19 (Wednesday) to post an abusive and derogatory post against former Bihar deputy CM and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. In its now-deleted Tweet, RJD used extremely deplorable language to cast aspersions on the BJP senior leader’s social media popularity.

In its post in Hindi, the primary opposition party in the state of Bihar used crass terms like ‘jahil’ (illiterate), ‘behsram’ (shameless), ‘nagna’ (naked) and ‘harami'(bastard) for the Deputy CM of the state.

Screengrab of RJD’s now-deleted Tweet

With a series of abusive terms, RJD asserted that despite having 2 million followers on Twitter, Sushil Modi is unable to garner even 100 likes for his Tweets. And though no one gives him any importance on Twitter, he comes on the microblogging site to vent his frustrations, Tweeted RJD.

They further accused that Sushil Kumar Modi indulges in such frivolity under the guidance of his senior and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

The said tweet currently does not exist on the TL of RJD’s official verified handle. However, there are many screenshots doing rounds on social media and a number of responses to the tweet, showing that it did exist.

The contentious tweets, expressing vile abuses at the ex-Deputy CM of Bihar miffed various social media users. Chastened by the backlash these abusive remarks triggered, RJD quietly deleted the post from its timeline. However, various alert social media users took screenshots of the Tweet, which RJD had slyly deleted.

Expressing his angst against RJD, one social media user wondered why Sushil Kumar Modi has not yet raised a complaint against the opposition party for using such offensive remarks against him. He also questioned Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s silence over this offensive post and urged him to direct Bihar police to take action.

Despite this, RJD has issued no apology for the vile conduct it exhibited on the microblogging site.

As Black Fungus cases rise, experts say it is not an infection that is contagious: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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As Black Fungus cases rise, experts say it is not an infection that is contagious: Read details

Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, India is facing another challenge in the form of mucormycosis or black fungus. Recently, Rajasthan declared its spread an epidemic as the number of cases spiked in the state. Doctors noticed a spike in queries related to the fungal infection, affecting patients who have recovered or recovering from Covid-19. While health care professionals and patients have to be extra cautious about the black fungus infection, it has to be noted that the disease is not contagious, which means it cannot spread from one person to another.

What is mucormycosis, and who is vulnerable to the infection?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is a rare form of infection. It is more common among people who have health issues and are on medicines that can lower the strength of the immune system. There are certain groups of people who are more likely to get the infection, such as people suffering from diabetes, cancer, organ transplant, stem cell transplant, Neutropenia (lower number of white blood cells), corticosteroid users, drug addicts, and others.

How does infection enter the body?

The fungus can enter the patient’s body through contact with the fungal spores. It can enter in lungs or sinus if someone inhales the spores from the air. It can enter the skin through a burn, scrape, or other skin injuries.

Mucormycosis is not contagious

It has to be noted that mucormycosis is not contagious. It cannot spread between persons or persons and animals. CDC says, “Mucormycosis can’t spread between people or between people and animals”.

In a recent interview with Times Now, Dr. Akshay Nair, Oculoplastic Surgeon, Ocular Oncologist said that mucormycosis is not contagious. He said, “It is possible that a healthy person like you and me can have mucormycosis spores in our system, but unless an environment is created that allows mucormycosis to grow, which happens in diabetes, which happens in immuno-compromised people unless that happens, the disease will not be able to invade our system. It is only possible in those who are vulnerable.”

The onset of diabetes in Covid patients

One point that Dr. Akshay and several other experts have mentioned over the past few days that patients who were not diabetic before contracting diabetes now have diabetes. Some patients who were not even aware that they had diabetes are now vulnerable to mucormycosis after getting Covid. Mucormycosis is now being seen as the first sign of diabetes in such patients, said Dr. Akshay. “This is another group that we need to be alert about, and clinicians should tell the patient recovering from Covid that regardless of what your diabetic status was, you need to keep a watch on your blood sugar now.”

The uncontrolled use of steroids is causing higher blood sugar, says Dr. Ranganathan

Dr. Anand Ranganathan, who was also in the panel during the said discussion that, “The problem is, the more steroids you give, your blood glucose level also increase. So in effect you become “diabetic” even if you might not be and that is the problem, and I think conditions have to be absolutely strict because you need not be diabetic to get black fungus.”

He further added, “You can be a hale and hearty person and you are injected with steroids, and next thing you know not only your immunity goes down giving opportunity for this infection to hold but also your blood glucose increases and when it increases human receptor GPR increases which is a binder present on the black fungus. The more GPR is there, the more glucose is there, the more receptors would be there, and it would give black fungus an opportunity to hold.”

What do other experts say about Mucor

While talking to India today, Prof Sheetal Verma of microbiology at KGMU said, “Mucor is commonly found in soil, plants, decaying fruits and vegetables, and manure in the form of spores. The infection occurs in the sinus or lungs when someone breathes in these spores. But these spores are destroyed by the immune system in most cases. It happens very rarely to those with very low immunity.”

Dr. Anany Gupta, gastroenterology expert at AIIMS New Delhi, said, “Black fungus does not spread from animals to people. Those with low immunity for various reasons may get it. High steroids for a prolonged time also reduce immunity, making patients prone to such infections.”

What are the early signs of Black Fungus infection?

According to the guidelines for patients issued by AIIMS, here is a list of early signs of mucormycosis infection:

  • Headache and nasal obstruction even after taking pain medications
  • Nasal crusting and nasal discharge that could be brownish or tinged with blood
  • Loss of sensation or pain on the face
  • Discoloration of skin
  • Localized facial puffiness

In moderately advanced disease, eye/orbital mucor infection may occur. Some initial signs include:

  • Eye swelling or redness
  • Double vision
  • Loss of vision
  • Pain in the eyes
  • Drooping eyelids

What to do if you see signs of infection?

The first and foremost thing to do is to consult your doctor immediately. The doctor will examine you clinically and may take swabs from the nose and test for fungal infection. If the infection is strong, you may need treatment with antifungal medications and surgery.

Dos

  • Make sure to provide a complete history of diabetes to the doctor
  • Periodically get Sugar levels checked
  • Make sure to keep an eye on the early signs of Mucor
  • Maintain basic hygiene and cleanliness
  • Follow the advice of the doctor
  • Complete the course of treatment as suggested by the doctor

Don’ts

  • Do not Self medicate, especially steroids. Do not listen to any so-called experts who are sharing information on social media platforms. Take medicines only after consulting with a doctor
  • Do not delay reporting symptoms of Mucor
  • In any case, do not ignore medical advice. Do not skip medicine and do not indulge in anything that may compromise your immune system further

Extremists in Uganda chase Christian Pastor while shouting ‘Allahu-Akbar’, beheads him for debating about Islam

OpIndia Staff
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Extremists in Uganda chase Christian Pastor while shouting ‘Allahu-Akbar’, beheads him for debating about Islam

Islamic extremists in eastern Uganda beheaded a Christian pastor hours after he engaged in a public debate with Muslims about Christianity and Islam.

According to the reports, Pastor Thomas Chikooma, a resident of Pallisa town in Uganda, was brutally killed by Muslims after inviting him to an open-air debate in Pallisa. The pastor had reportedly converted 14 people, including six Muslims, into Christianity, thus angering the Muslims in the village.

As Pastor defended Christianity during the debate using the Bible and the Quran, the angry Muslims began shouting Islamic slogans- “Allah Akbar,” compelling him to run away from the venue with his son.

“Two motorcycles carrying two Muslims each and dressed in Islamic attire speedily bypassed us,” his minor son informed. According to Pastor’s son, the two motorcycles stopped at the junction opposite Nalufenya primary school and the road near Pastor’s house. The Pastor approached the Muslim mob and started speaking to them, his son said.

“Immediately some commotion began as the men started talking about the open-air debate, and soon one of them slapped my father,” the son who was witness to the incident said. The son said that he got scared and fled through our cassava plantation and arrived at home.

Family found the beheaded body pastor in the pool of blood

An hour late, the family of the Pastor returned to the scene with some neighbours. However, they did not find anyone. As they continued to search for Pastor, they found him in a pool of blood, beheaded and his tongue removed.

Soon, the Pallisa police arrived at the spot and took the body to a hospital in Pallisa for a postmortem examination. The Uganda Police are now investigating the brutal crime.

The family and the followers of the Pastor are in deep shock as they mourned the loss of Pastor Thomas Chikooma, who had planted 50 churches in eastern Uganda. Pastor Chikooma was a well-known evangelist who led St. Martin Church in Ngalwe village.

Reportedly, the killing of Pastor Thomas is the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda. Uganda’s constitution allows for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and religious conversion. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.

FIR registered against Newslaundry columnist Sharjeel Usmani for his derogatory tweet against Hindus and Lord Ram

OpIndia Staff
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FIR registered against Newslaundry columnist Sharjeel Usmani for his derogatory tweet against Hindus and Lord Ram

The Maharashtra Police has registered an FIR against far-left website Newslaundry columnist and former Aligarh Muslim University student leader Sharjeel Usmani for posting objectionable tweets against Hindus on Twitter.

According to the reports, Hindu activist Ambadas Ambhore, who is a member of Hindu Jagran Manch, had registered a complaint against radical Islamist Sharjeel Usmani in Maharashtra’s Jalna district over his disrespectful tweets against Hindu deity Lord Ram. In the complaint, Ambhore has said that the derogatory tweets had hurt Hindu sentiments.

Based on the complaint, the Ambad police has now registered a case against Sharjeel Usmani on Wednesday night under IPC Section 295-A (malicious act outraging religious feelings) and provisions of the Information Technology Act. The case will be transferred to the Jalna cyber department.

Sharjeel Usmani’s hatred against Hindus

Sharjeel Usmani, a known Islamist hatemonger, had used an unfortunate crime in Haryana to peddle hatred against the Hindu community. Usmani had attempted to communalize an ordinary crime in Haryana and had used derogatory words against Lord Ram, saying people who chanted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ were nothing but terrorists.

In a tweet, Newslaundry columnist Sharjeel Usmani had said that Hindus who chant “Jai Shri Ram” are most likely terrorists.

Tweet by Sharjeel Usmani
Tweet by Sharjeel Usmani

The crime which Sharjeel Usmani used to defame Hindus is suspected to be a case of personal rivalry. One Asif was murdered during a clash between two groups. Only recently, the group Asif was associated with had attacked members of the other group. However, Usmani not only peddled misinformation by communalising the incident but also hurt the sentiments of Hindus by using derogatory words against Hindu slogans.

Sharjeel Usmani has a record of instigating communal passions and hatred against the Hindu community. He had earlier celebrated the death of Aaj Tak news anchor Rohit Sardana.

Left red-faced after its ‘toolkit’ expose, Congress rushes to file FIR against BJP leaders at various places

OpIndia Staff
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Left red-faced after its ‘toolkit’ expose, Congress rushes to file FIR against BJP leaders at various places

The Congress party has been left embarrassed after its alleged “toolkit”, outlining Congress’ attempt to defame the Central government and PM Modi even as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic, was exposed on social media. Congress party has now rushed to declare the purported documents ‘fake’ and ‘forged’ and have also filed FIRs in the case.

According to various media reports, multiple FIRs have been filed against various BJP leaders at different places. Rajasthan Congress secretary Jaswant Gurjar has lodged an FIR at Bajaj Nagar Police Station in Jaipur against BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Minister Smriti Irani, BJP general secretary B L Santhosh, and spokesperson Sambit Patra over the “toolkit” issue.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had exposed the toolkit document during a television interview revealing Congress’s propaganda to malign Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image as the nation battles the pandemic. The other BJP leaders and ministers had Tweeted about the Toolkit. Soon after, it went viral on social media, with the netizens drawing quick connections of the recent propaganda to the points mentioned in the document.

Taking a cue from its colleagues in Rajasthan, the Congress’ students wing, NSUI also lodged an FIR in Raipur against former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and Sambit Patra for printing “false and fabricated” content.

The case was filed at Civil Lines police station on the complaint of Akash Sharma, state chief of the National Students Union of India. Sharma alleged that BJP leaders circulated fabricated content using a fake letterhead of the AICC Research Department.

INC Chhattisgarh took to Twitter to share the copy of the FIR it has filed against the two BJP leaders.

Similarly, on May 18, shortly after BJP exposed the Congress party’s alleged ‘toolkit’, Congress national spokesperson Sunil Ahire said that an FIR has been filed by his party. Taking to his Twitter handle, the Congress spokesperson said that BJP is propagating a fake ‘toolkit’ on ‘COVID-19 mismanagement’ and attributing it to AICC Research Department. “We are filing an FIR for forgery against JP Nadda and Sambit Patra,” he added. 

Congress gets into damage control mode after its ‘toolkit’ lay exposed, relies on its ‘friendly media’ to declare document ‘fake’

Interestingly, ever since Congress’ purported Toolkit proliferated on the social media space, the party has got into a damage control mode. It has tried its best to declare the document ‘fake’ and to do this, the party instantly pinned its faith on its ‘friendly media’.

The Congress party used the so-called fact-checker Alt News to declare the toolkit ‘fake’. The party gave documents to the propaganda website to make its case, and the site made some dubious analysis to claim that the document allegedly prepared by AICC Research Department is forged on a real letterhead, because the fonts in both documents are different.

An article published on Alt News, notorious for peddling propaganda and fake news, gave a clean chit to the Congress party by declaring that the ‘toolkit’ was created on a forged document.

Congress Toolkit

The four-page document titled ‘Cornering Narendra Modi & Covid Mismanagement’ documented by the ‘research team’ of the INC is nothing but a point-by-point instruction guide to target Prime Minister Modi and his handling of the Covid crisis. 

For the same, the document encourages the non-office bearers and party supporters to attack the Hindu festival of Kumbh, the authenticity of PM Cares Fund, the Central Vista project and fanning the propaganda by using funeral and death images.

The ‘toolkit’ also recommended using international media, journalists and social media influencers to further their agenda.

After toolkit expose, Congress leaders attack ‘Kapda Mantri’ Smriti Irani, here is how her ministry worked during the pandemic

Akshita Bhadauria
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After toolkit expose, Congress leaders attack ‘Kapda Mantri’ Smriti Irani, here is how her ministry worked during the pandemic

The recently disclosed “toolkit” document, listing the Congress party’s alleged plan to exploit the Covid pandemic to launch a multi-pronged political attack on the Modi govt has generated a massive response in social media, putting the grand old party a very problematic corner. The ‘toolkit expose saga’ has kept the INC leaders and even supporters engaged with them trying to deflect every accusation being made against them.

The recommendations of mobilizing tragedy-porn did not go down well with several BJP leaders. Many took to social media to register their protest against this document.

Union Minister Smriti Irani too voiced her concerns regarding the document and well, no prizes for guessing, she came under heavy attack by the Congress leaders for her opinion.

IYC leader BV Srinivas, who was seemingly hailed as messiah in a manner that has uncanny symmetry with the toolkit, responded to Smriti Irani’s tweet with a sly, calling her ‘kapda Mantri’.

Here’s what happened

Highlighting a segment of the toolkit, Smriti Irani expressed her displeasure over “respond to help only if a person tags IYC” point from the toolkit.

To this, Srinivas Tweeted, “Madam kapda mantri, please excuse us for the delayed response, we were busy fulfilling food kits, protection kits, ambulances, oxygen cylinders kits etc. Can you please enlighten Twitter users, As a Union Minister, how many people did you helped on SM whether tagged or untagged?”

BV Srinivas’s Tweet. Image Source: Twitter

Seems like the Indian Youth Congress leader is the one who is in need of a tad bit of enlightenment as the distribution of protection kits he is boasting about was made possible by the textile industry last year.

With the onset of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic last year, there was a sudden surge in demand for PPE kits. India, from facing a shortage of domestic manufacturers of the kits went on to becoming the 2nd largest producer of the protection suits in just two months.

According to the Secretary of Textiles Committee Ajit Chavan, India lacked reputed manufactures of PPE bodysuits at the time of the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. Due to the delay in importing such crucial equipment from China, coupled with increasing prices, the Indian Government decided to procure these bodysuits indigenously.

Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani while addressing an expo informed, “While before the pandemic, there was not a single company in the country producing masks and PPE kits, after the pandemic, around 1,100 such companies became operational. From two, the number of companies manufacturing N-4 masks rose to 250.”

The production of PPE bodysuits had crossed 4.5 lacs per day within two months of the onset of the pandemic.

INC & party supporters go on an incompetency rant

From asking the Union Minister to “shut the f*** up” to mocking her stint with the television industry, the INC leaders and supporters left no stone unturned to get back at the Minister who was voicing her opinion on the toolkit.

Amidst innumerable claims on IYC being the only organization helping on ground, let’s take a look at what the Ministry of Women and Child Development is up to.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has constituted a task force and Samvedna helpline to counsel children affected by the pandemic and resolve their grievances.

The department has initiated several measures to tend to children amidst the pandemic who have lost their parents, families thereby losing the source of income.

Simultaneously, regular review meetings are being conducted at Amethi, Irani’s constituency to keep a check on the Covid situation with daily updates being shared.

Both the ministrries under Smriti Irani have been working relentless during the pandemic, apart from the minister reaching out to people from her own constituency for help.

Anti-viral drug 2-DG is not commercially available yet, do not fall prey to fraudsters: warns Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

OpIndia Staff
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Anti-viral drug 2-DG is not commercially available yet, do not fall prey to fraudsters: warns Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Dr’s Reddy’s Laboratories, which has developed oral anti-Covid-19 drug 2-deoxy-D-Glucose(2-DG) in collaboration with the DRDO, has released key pieces of information regarding its availability and the commercial launch of the drug.

On Thursday, the pharmaceutical company confirmed that it has received Emergency Use Authorisation for the drug’s therapeutic use in the treatment of Covid-19. According to the firm, the oral anti-Covid-19 drug 2-DG can only be administered upon prescription to hospitalised patients who have moderate to severe symptoms, as an add on measure along with existing measures.

Listing out important information regarding the new anti-Covid drug, Dr Reddy’s said that the drug 2-DG has not been launched into the market yet. The pharma company also said that the price per sachet is yet to be decided.

“Please beware of agents selling spurious or illegal products in the name of 2DG and also regarding the unverified messages relating to 2DG circulating on social media and on WhatsApp,” Dr Reddy’s warned.

The commercial launch and supply of 2DG to major government and private hospitals is expected to commence in mid-June, the company said, adding that the price will be determined considering the accessibility and affordability.

Anti-Covid-19 drug ‘2-deoxy-D-Glucose(2-DG)’

2-deoxy-D-glucose or 2-DG is an oral anti-Covid-19 drug developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory. The drug is expected to help hospitalised Covid-19 patients and reduce their supplemental oxygen dependence. 

 The medicine, which is being considered a game-changer in the fight against Covid-19, expected to help hospitalised Covid-19 patients and reduce their supplemental oxygen dependence.

According to DRDO officials, the 2-DG drug, like glucose, spreads through the body and reaches the virus-infected cells and prevents virus growth by stopping viral synthesis and destroying the protein’s energy production. The drug also works on virus infection spread into the lungs which help us to decrease the infected patient’s dependency on oxygen.

Since 2-DG is a generic molecule and analogue of glucose it can be easily manufactured in India and made available in plenty to the citizens.

The first and the second batch of 2-DG will be used in a limited manner. It will be used in AIIMS, Armed Forces Hospitals, DRDO hospitals and any other need which arises. From June 2021 onwards it will be made available to all hospitals.

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