VA-SenaSeptember 11, 2020
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4min6280

The survey, carried out from May 11 to June 4, tested blood samples from 28,000 people across 21 states.

New Delhi: India may have had 6.4 million coronavirus cases by May, the first national sero-survey conducted by top medical body ICMR indicates. The survey, published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, suggests that 0.73 per cent adults in the country were exposed to Covid-19.

The survey, carried out from May 11 to June 4, tested blood samples from 28,000 people across 21 states.

Sero-positivity was the highest in the age group of 18 to 45 years (43.3 per cent), followed by those between 46 and 60 years (39.5 per cent); it was the lowest among those above 60 (17.2 per cent).

 

A total of 64,68,388 adult infections were estimated in India by the early May, the survey report said.

For every confirmed case of COVID-19 in May, there were 82-130 infections that went undetected. The survey report said that overall infections were low with less than one percent of the adult population being exposed to COVID-19 by then. But this also meant that a majority of the population was still susceptible to the highly contagious virus.

“The findings of our survey indicated that the overall sero-prevalence in India was low, with less than one per cent of the adult population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by mid-May 2020. The low prevalence observed in most districts indicates that India is in early phase of the epidemic and the majority of the Indian population is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said the report.

The survey also showed that around May and June, the infections had already spread to rural India.

India has been battling the Coronavirus for a few months now but the possibility of a shift in cases from urban areas to the country’s small towns and villages is worrying.

A bulk of the rural Coronavirus numbers are likely to come from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where a sizeable population lives in villages and small towns.

Even in districts with zero or low number of detected cases of Covid, people were found to be infected. This could be due to low testing and poor access to testing labs which led to under-detection of cases in these districts. The survey suggested that there was a need to strengthen surveillance and increase testing of suspected cases in these areas. The report said, “The present findings of seropositivity in the strata of districts with zero to low incidence of COVID-19 cases underscores the need to strengthen surveillance and augment the testing of suspected cases in these areas.”

Sero-positivity was highest at 69.4 per cent in the rural areas (villages) while in the urban slums it was 15.9 per cent and in urban non-slums it was recorded at 14.6 per cent.

But the survey was also done mostly in rural areas. The survey says that only about one-fourth (25.9 percent) of the surveyed clusters were from urban areas.

It highlighted the need to continue to implement specific containment measures including the testing of all with symptoms, isolating positive cases and tracing high-risk contacts to slow transmission and to prevent the overburdening of the health system.

Men living in urban slums and in occupations with high risk of exposure to potentially infected persons were associated with sero-positivity.


VA-SenaSeptember 9, 2020
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1min4709

 

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With 89,706 infections being reported in a day, India’s COVID-19 tally went past 43 lakh, while 33,98,844 people have recuperated from the disease so far pushing the national recovery rate to 77.77 per cent on Wednesday, according to data shared by the Union Health Ministry.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 43,70,128, while the death toll rose to 73,890 with 1,115 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.69 per cent.

There are 8,97,394 active cases of COVID-19, which is 20.53 per cent of the total caseload in the country, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, reached 30 lakh on August 23 and went past 40 lakh on September 5.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 5,18,04,677 samples have been tested up to September 8 with 11,54,549 samples being tested on Tuesday.


VA-SenaSeptember 9, 2020
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2min4955

The top medical research has made these revelations to investigate the effectiveness of plasma therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 after conducting a study in 39 hospitals across India.

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The Convalescent Plasma (CP) therapy didn’t help in reducing death due to the coronavirus, the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed in a study.

The top medical research has made these revelations to investigate the effectiveness of plasma therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 after conducting a study in 39 hospitals across India.

For this, the ICMR researchers did an open-label, parallel-arm, phase II, multicentre, and randomized controlled trial from April 22 to July 14 this year. The trial was registered with the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) for the purpose, it said.

1,210 patients (moderately ill, confirmed COVID-19 cases) admitted across 39 trial sites were screened. Of these, 29 were teaching public hospitals and 10 were private hospitals spread across 14 states and Union Territories representing 25 cities.

The study was conducted on 464 randomly enrolled participants who were hospitalized and were moderately ill, confirmed COVID-19 patients. 235 participants were put in the intervention arm while 229 subjects were in the control arm.

According to the study, participants were randomised to either the control or the intervention arm. Two doses of 200 ml CP was transfused 24 hours apart in the intervention arm.


VA-SenaAugust 25, 2020
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2min4183

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: ICMR Says ‘Irresponsible People’ Not Wearing Masks Driving Pandemic in India; Schools to Remain Closed for Now

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Coronavirus LIVE Updates: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) today said those who don’t wear face masks are driving the pandemic in India. “Irresponsible, less cautious people who are not wearing masks are driving the pandemic in India,” said ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava at a press briefing with Ministry of Health officials. Meanwhile, schools and educational institutes will likely remain closed across the country. With Unlock 3.0 phase set to end on August 31, the government is expected to issue a fresh set of guidelines for reopening of the economy that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram will be opened for devotees from tomorrow, with ‘darshan’ being allowed from 8am to 11am and then from 5pm till the time of Deeparadhana in the evening, said the temple administration today. “Devotees have to register online one day prior to darshan and keep a copy of registration form and Aadhaar card at the time of temple visit. 35 persons will be allowed inside the temple at a time and the total number of devotees in a day will be restricted to 665,” they said.

 


VA-SenaMay 23, 2020
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3min45920

The ministry of health is organising online training in ventilatory management for chest physicians and physicians in internal medicine on an online platform on Monday.

 

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MUMBAI: Several city doctors are going back to school to get updated with skills and knowledge on Covid-19 clinical management.

Like, the ministry of health is organising online training in ventilatory management for chest physicians and physicians in internal medicine on an online platform on Monday. The state’s Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) will hold a physical training session for health car staff of government hospitals soon. A session is scheduled at St George Hospital on Sunday.

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A doctor managing DMER’ssession said that they will extending the training to doctors of public hospitals who specialise in other fields. “The idea is to prepare everyone for the outbreak. Doctors are worried about exposing themselves and their families to the virus. We have to help clear their doubts, and equip them with safety guidelines,” said the doctor.

Dr VA Sajit Babu, a consulting chest physician from Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, said they are learning online from experiences of doctors treating Covid-19 patients in Italy, South Korea. “There are standard operating procedures approved by WHO and ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)… European doctors who have treated patients share their experiences on these webinars. Though we are all learning at this stage, they have treated more patients,” he said. The Indian Chest Society too is part of global summits, where experiences are shared, he added.

Webinars and online training offered by associations in the country and globally are best to follow, said Dr Rohan Sequeira, consultant cardio-metabolic physician at Jaslok Hospital. “Many international universities, too, have started holding training sessions on patient management and on developing research in Covid-19 management,” said Dr Sequeira