"We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday.
According to the WHO, during the week of September 5-11, the number of new weekly cases worldwide decreased by 28 per cent over the previous week to more than 3.1 million. The number of new weekly deaths was down 22 per cent to just under 11,000.
Tedros likened the pandemic response to a marathon race.
"Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap the rewards of all our hard work."
Nevertheless, the WHO's experts continue to urge caution, Xinhua news agency reported.
The virus is "circulating at a very intense level around the world at the present time. And, in fact, the number of cases that are being reported to the WHO we know are an underestimate," Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said.
"We feel there are far more cases that are actually circulating than are being reported to us," she added.
"We expect there to be future waves of infection, potentially at different time points throughout the world, caused by different subvariants of Omicron or even different variants of concern," she noted.
Those future waves of infection "do not need to translate into future waves of death, because we have tools that can prevent infections," she said.
Even as the pandemic wanes, people should maintain high levels of vigilance, said Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme.
The world is fighting "a highly mutable evolving virus that has shown us, time and time again in two-and-a-half years, how it can adapt and how it can change," Ryan added.
"Completing two billion doses of vaccines in 18 months in a country as vast and diverse as India, is a phenomenal accomplishment," said Yasumasa Kimura, UNICEF India Representative.
"It is testament to the grit and dedication of India's health workers who have worked tirelessly to boost vaccination coverage in all parts of the country, despite the challenges of repeated pandemic waves, inclement weather, difficult terrain and hard-to-reach areas," Kimura added.
UNICEF also applauded the hard work and effort of the scientists, health practitioners, vaccine manufacturers, and policymakers for the timely availability of the vaccine for fighting the deadly disease.
Almost one-and-a-half years after initiating the vaccination drive, the Indian Health Ministry recently confirmed that 98 per cent of the population above 18 years have received at least one dose of the vaccination, while 90 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
In addition, about 82 per cent of adolescents aged 15 to 18 years have also been vaccinated with the first dose and 68 per cent have got both the first and second dose. Vaccination drive was first rolled out in the country on January 16, 2021.
However, the decision of virtual mode of court hearing is a matter which is under the purview of the judiciary and the Central government has no role to play in this matter, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha.
"Since the Covid lockdown started, the district courts heard 1,23,19,917 cases while the High Courts heard 61,02,859 cases (totalling 1.84 crore) till February 28, 2022 using video conferencing (VC). The Supreme Court held 2,18,891 hearings till March 14, 2022, since the beginning of lockdown period making it the world leader in virtual hearings," he said in his reply to a question.
The Supreme Court on April 6, 2020 gave legal sanctity and validity to the court hearings done through VC. Further, VC rules were framed by a 5-judge committee which was circulated to all the High Courts for adoption after local contextualisation.
As many as 24 High Courts have implemented VC rules. One video conference equipment each has been provided to all court complexes including taluk level courts and additionally, funds have been sanctioned for additional VC equipment for 14,443 court rooms. Funds for setting up 2,506 VC cabins have been made available, and an additional 1500 VC licenses have been acquired, the Minister said.
He also said that VC facilities are already enabled between 3,240 court complexes and corresponding 1,272 jails, while a sum of Rs 7.60 crore has been released for procurement of 1,732 document visualisers.
Noting that the lack of access to computers, laptops, and digital hardware amongst lawyers in rural areas and the resultant digital divide is a genuine problem, Rijiju said that to overcome this problem of the digital divide, 493 eSewa Kendras have been set up in High Courts and district courts across the country which gives lawyers easy access to e-Court facilities and internet facility.
To resolve technical glitches which arise during VC hearings, the NIC has been closely monitoring the complaints.
It has also developed a VC software which is under test, he added.
Replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha on the Finance Bill, she said that the impact of a full-blown war in Ukraine is being felt by "all of us" as the war's impact has disrupted supplies and broken value chains.
"Now we are also facing the situation of a full-blown war in Ukraine which is not some war in some corner of the world but it seems to be having an impact on all countries like the way the pandemic has," she said.
Sitharaman also pointed out that the Central government did not increase taxes to fund the recovery from the impact of Covid, while citing an OECD report that said 32 countries had increased various tax rates during the pandemic.
"So, no tax was increased for our recovery process to be funded or aided."
Furthermore, she said that India remains as the top 5 FDI recipient countries in the world.
The minister pointed out that in the last 7 years and 9 months of the present government till December 2021, India recieved FDI inflows of $500.5 billion, which is 65 per cent higher than the inflows during the 10 years of the UPA government.
On Tuesday, Rajya Sabha continued to discuss the Finance Bill 2022 and Appropriation Bill, 2022 moved by the Finance Minister on Monday.
Now, the ministry of education is trying to bring many new changes on the bases of New Education Policy (NEP).
The NEP-2020 also envisions setting up of a Higher Education Commission of India as an umbrella body with four independent verticals to perform distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard setting. Accordingly, the Ministry is in the process of drafting a Higher Education Commission of India Bill.
The NEP-2020, inter-alia, envisions setting up of Model public Universities for holistic and multidisciplinary education, at par with IITs, IIMs, etc., called MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) which will aim to attain the highest global standards in quality education.
This information was shared by the Minister of State for Education, Subhas Sarkar in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The NEP further states that all programmes, courses, curricula, and pedagogy across subjects, including those in-class, online, and in ODL modes as well as student support will aim to achieve global standards of quality, the minister added.
The Ministry of Education has announced NEP 2020 on July 29, 2020 after obtaining approval of the Union Cabinet.
Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said it has notified the UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 on September 4, 2020, and further an amendment on July 1, 2021.
These regulations lay down the minimum standards of instruction for the grant of degrees through Open and Distance Learning mode and online mode.
The UGC has further informed that in view of the recommendation of National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3 per cent (2018) to 50 per cent by 2035 and to further promote Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and online education, the UGC has constituted an Expert Committee to review existing ODL and Online regulatory framework while ensuring quality, driven by simplified recognition system and processes.
The decision to postpone the 11-day festival was taken in the executive committee meeting of the Dhanu Yatra Mahotsav Samiti (DYMS) chaired by Bargarh District Collector and DYMS Director Monisha Banerjee on Friday.
“According to a notice issued by the district administration, the existing Covid guidelines of the State government do not allow for the large crowds seen during Dhanu Jatra. As a result, the event has been put on hold for the time being. However, If the Covid situation improves by next month and the January guidelines permit the event to be held, the DYMS will meet again to discuss about the celebration of the Dhanu Jatra.”, said Banerjee.
Sureswar Satpathy, Secretary of DYMS said, “Considering the prevailing situation, organizing the event is difficult. Thus we have put the celebration on hold. If the situation improves in January, we will hold another meeting to decide about the events.”
It is pertinent to mention here that, Dhanu Jatra was cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The widespread impact of the pandemic continues to deepen, the report warned, increasing poverty, entrenching inequality and threatening the rights of children like never before.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has been the biggest threat to progress for children in our 75-year history," said Henrietta Fore, the Unicef Executive Director, in a statement.
"While the number of children who are hungry, out of school, abused, living in poverty or forced into marriage is going up, the number of children with access to healthcare, vaccines, sufficient food and essential services is going down. In a year in which we should be looking forward, we are going backward," he added.
The report showed that Covid-19 has pushed a staggering 100 million more children into poverty -- a 10 per cent increase since 2019. This corresponds to nearly two children every second since mid-March of last year, when the pandemic was declared.
According to Unicef, even in a best-case scenario, recovery to pre-pandemic levels will take up to eight years.
Furthermore, some 60 million children are now living in "monetary poor" households, and more than 23 million have missed out on essential vaccines, the highest number in more than a decade.
Prior to the pandemic, roughly one billion children worldwide suffered at least one severe deprivation, such as lack of access to education, health, housing, nutrition, or sanitation and water. Unequal recovery is pushing the number higher.
The report noted that at the peak of the pandemic, more than 1.6 billion students were shut out of school due to lockdowns.
Worldwide, more than 13 per cent of adolescents aged 10 to 19 are affected by deteriorating mental health. Unicef reported that by October 2020, critical mental health services in 93 per cent of countries were disrupted or halted due to the spread of Coronavirus.
In addition, up to 10 million more child marriages could occur before the end of the decade as a result of the pandemic, while the number of child labourers has risen to 160 million, a nearly 8.5 million increase in the last four years. Rising poverty means an additional nine million boys and girls are also at risk, the report said.
Beyond the pandemic, the report warned of further threats to children that jeopardise their rights.
Unicef said 426 million children globally, or nearly one in five, live in conflict zones which are becoming more intense, with women and girls at the highest risk of conflict-related sexual violence.
Eighty per cent of all humanitarian needs are driven by conflict, the agency added, and nearly half the world's children, some one billion, live in countries that are at an extremely high-risk' from the impacts of climate change.
In the face of the ongoing pandemic, growing conflicts, and the worsening climate emergency, Unicef continues to call for investment in social protection, as well as inclusive and resilient recovery.
Action is needed to end the pandemic and reverse the rollbacks in child education and nutrition, the agency said, including through leveraging its role in vaccine distribution, the report said.
The gross non-performing advances (GNPAs) and the net NPAs remained stable at 7.7 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively for banks as on June 30, 2021, compared to 7.6 per cent and 2.5 per cent as on March 31, 2021, and 8.6 per cent and 3.0 per cent as on March 31, 2020, i.e. at the beginning of the pandemic.
Of the total restructured loan book of Rs 2 lakh crore for the banks as on June 30, 2021, the restructuring under Covid 1.0 is estimated at 51 per cent of the total restructuring of Rs 1.0 trillion, while restructuring under Covid 2.0 is estimated at 31 per cent of the total restructuring or Rs 0.6 trillion.
Moreover, as per ICRA's estimates, of the total restructuring of Rs 1 lakh crore under Covid 1.0, 60 per cent was accounted for by corporates, 30 per cent by retail and the balance by the MSMEs as on June 30, 2021. The public sector banks (PSBs) were relatively more accommodative in restructuring requests of the borrowers as their restructured books stood at 2.4 per cent of the advances vis-a-vis 1.3 per cent of the private sector banks (PVBs).
Notwithstanding the positive headline asset quality numbers, the fresh NPA generation rate (or slippages) remained elevated during the second wave in absence of regulatory relief such as moratorium. The gross fresh slippages during Q1 FY2022 stood at Rs 1.0 lakh crore (annualised slippage rate of 4.1 per cent) compared to Rs 2.5 lakh crore or 2.7 per centp during FY2021.
ICRA expects this to remain elevated at Rs 0.7-0.8 lakh crore (2.8-3.2 per cent) during Q2 FY2022 but moderate to Rs 1.1-1.2 lakh crore (2.0-2.4 per cent) during H2 FY2022 as the impact of second wave wanes.
Commenting on the developments, Anil Gupta, Vice President - Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA Ratings says: "Considering that 30-40 per cent of the loan book was under moratorium during Q1 FY2020 across most banks, the loan restructuring at 2.0 per cent of advances after the second wave is a positive surprise and much lower than our earlier estimates. Despite the positive headline numbers, we continue to be watchful of the asset quality, given the elevated levels of the overdue loan book and for the performance of the restructured loan book."
With net NPAs declining to the lowest levels in the last six years, the legacy asset provisioning for the banks has been declining in relation to their core operating profits.
As per ICRA's estimates the GNPAs and NNPAs are expected to further decline to 6.9-7.0 per cent and 2.2.-2.3 per cent by March 2022 which will continue to be a relief for the bottom-line of lenders. Despite expectations of moderation in gains on bond portfolios because of expectations of rising bond yields in FY2022, the Return on Equity for banks is likely to remain steady at 4.4-7.6 per cent for PSBs (5.1 per cent in FY2021) and 9.5-9.9 per cent for PVBs (10.5 per cent in FY2021).
With increased confidence on the position of banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also phased in the last tranche of the Capital Conservation Buffer (CCB) from October 1, 2021, which otherwise was deferred four times in the last three years. This will entail higher regulatory capital requirements, i.e. Core Equity Capital (CET) of 8.0 per cent compared to 7.375 per cent earlier, but the banks are well placed in our view for these enhanced capital requirements.
The PSBs raised Rs 10,300 crore of equity capital (0.18 per cent of risk weighted assets - RWAs) from the markets in H1 FY2022, which followed a capital raise of Rs 12,000 crore (0.21 per cent of RWA) in FY2021. Large private banks also remain well-capitalised though few mid-sized PVBs could need to raise capital.
Apart from the asset quality, the rollover of additional tier-I (AT-I bonds) of public banks remains to be monitored, given the sizeable quantum (Rs. 27800 crore) of bonds that have the scheduled call option in FY2022 and FY2023.
Apart from State Bank of India, none of other PSBs have raised AT-I bonds this financial year. As per ICRA's estimates, the PSBs may not need the capital budgeted by the government for FY2022 even with enhanced capital requirements. However, it provisions for any unforeseen events and shall provide confidence to banks as well as investors and credit growth.
"With the improved capital and profitability position of public banks, which accounts for a 62 per cent share in bank loans, and abundant liquidity in the banking system, supply of credit does not appear to be a constraint. Nevertheless, revival of credit demand and the willingness of banks to push growth will be the key drivers of the overall credit growth in the economy. We continue to maintain our credit growth estimate of 7.3-8.3 per cent for banks for FY2022 compared to 5.5 per cent for FY2021," Gupta said.
The estimates are derived from a new WHO working paper based on the 3.45 million Covid-19 related deaths reported to WHO as at May 2021.
"The backbone of every health system is its workforce. Covid-19 is a powerful demonstration of just how much we rely on these men and women, and how vulnerable we all are when the people who protect our health are themselves unprotected," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the WHO weekly Covid-19 briefing on Thursday.
Available data from 119 countries, in the working paper, suggest that by September 2021, two in five healthcare workers were fully vaccinated on average, with considerable difference across regions and economic groupings.
Less than one in 10 have been fully vaccinated in the African and Western Pacific regions while 22 mostly high-income countries reported that above 80 per cent of their healthcare workers are fully vaccinated.
A few large high-income countries have not yet reported data to WHO.
"We have a moral obligation to protect all health and care workers, ensure their rights and provide them with decent work in a safe and enabling practice environment. This must include access to vaccines," said Jim Campbell, Director of the WHO Health Workforce Department, in a statement.
Besides the death of healthcare workers, the WHO is also concerned that an increasing proportion of the workforce are suffering from burnout, stress, anxiety and fatigue.
The global health body has called on leaders and policy makers to ensure equitable access to vaccines so that health and care workers are prioritised.
Tedros noted that more than 10 months since the first vaccines were approved, "the fact that millions of health workers still haven't been vaccinated is an indictment on the countries and companies that control the global supply of vaccines".
Further, the WHO stated that the Covid-19 pandemic will drag on until 2022, much longer than it needs to, because several poor countries have not received vaccines against the deadly infectious disease.
It would be a "moral catastrophe of historic proportions" if G20 countries cannot act quickly, said Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister and currently WHO's Ambassador for Global Health Financing.
These nations have pledged to donate more than 1.2 billion vaccine doses to COVAX.
According to the WHO, so far, only 150 million have been delivered.
Moreover, just one in seven of the doses promised by pharmaceutical companies and wealthy countries are actually reaching their destinations in poorer countries, new figures from The People's Vaccine -- an alliance of charities, have suggested.
The vast majority of Covid vaccines have been given in high-income or upper middle-income countries.
Africa accounts for just 2.6 per cent of doses administered globally.
In March, 2020, hundreds of companies were forced to shut down their offices overnight and had to adopt work-from-home policy.
After 18 months, though there are many tech companies that have decided to continue remote work, some IT firms are reportedly planning to bring employees back to the office.
As per reports in national media (India Times), IT firms are taking this decision as Covid-19 cases are steadily declining and most employees are vaccinated. Leading IT firms such as TCS, Wipro and Apple are reportedly asking their employees to follow the hybrid style of working, where one is expected to work for 2-3 days from office and the next 2-3 days from home.
Earlier on September 13, senior leaders at Wipro returned to office after 18 months.
They will work from office, twice a week.
India's largest employer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is reportedly planning to call back over 80 per cent of its employees to office. However, Rajesh Gopinathan, the CEO of TCS said the decision would depend on the Covid-19 third wave.
Several other major companies such as Infosys, Apple, HCL Technologies, Nagarro, and Nasscom are reportedly planning to follow the hybrid model of work and call back employees to office.
Video Editor: Partha Narayan Das
Writer/Producer: Sanchita Mondal
Amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, IIT-Ropar developed a device named 'Jeevan Vayu', which can be used as an alternative to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines. This is the first such device in the country that works without electricity and is optimized for both oxygen production units like oxygen cylinders and oxygen pipelines in hospitals. These facilities are not available in other existing CPAP machines.
During the current Covid wave, preparations were made to establish 'Energy Science and Engineering' department at IIT Delhi. This new undergraduate B. Tech programme in 'Energy Engineering' will be introduced from this year.
K.A. Subramanian, Head of Centre for Energy Studies (CES), IIT Delhi, said, "The B. Tech Energy Engineering degree programme aims at making easy access to energy, supply quality and reliability as well as improving efficiency, de-carbonization and reducing the cost of energy supply."
IIM-Ahmedabad is starting 'Ashank Desai Centre' for leadership and organizational development. Vishal Gupta, IIM-Ahmedabad lecturer, said, "The Ashank Desai Centre' aims to promote rigorous research and leadership and organizational development and research in the public, private and social sector. It also aims to create opportunities where faculty, practitioners and policy makers can come together."
In the middle of the second wave of the Covid-19, a Centre for Transport Research and Injury Prevention was set up at IIT Delhi. This centre will do research and in the field of road safety and modern road transport system. Hundreds of lives can be saved by this technology developed by IIT Delhi by reducing road accidents.
At the same time, alumni of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and IIT have created a start-up during the second wave of coronavirus. Under this startup, AIIMS alumni will impart training to the youth preparing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for entry into top medical colleges across India. On the other hand, IIT alumni will help those youths who want to appear for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for getting admission to top engineering colleges.
Alumni of AIIMS and IIT have come up with a solution through holding online crash course for a period of 45 days.
Apart from this, Gurugram-based NorthCap University (NCU) has tied up with the US's Arizona State University (ASU), as a part of Cintana Alliance under the New Education Policy (NEP) announced in 2020. Cintana is a network of leading universities around the world that helps develop high-quality educational programs to meet the economic needs of other countries.
US News & World Report has ranked ASU as America's most innovative university for the past six years. Times Higher Education has also named it as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. ASU is the campus of America's largest engineering college. ASU's Thunderbird School of Global Management offering Master in Global Management has been ranked number one in the Times Higher Education-Wall Street Journal rankings.
Milind Padalkar, Pro Chancellor, NCU, said, "This tripartite agreement will focus on education, research and digital transformation. This will greatly benefit NCU students, teachers and the entire Indian innovation ecosystem."
The website 'www.google.co.in/covid19' contains information such as key helpline numbers, content about symptoms, protective measures, known treatments, and the latest global and Indian statistics.
This Google website also hosts a collection of videos on how people can use their time productively while at home, as well as resources and training modules for individuals, small businesses, and educators to stay connected and informed, especially when self-isolated at home.
The website has four key sections: health information, safety and prevention tips, data & insights, and resources.
The Safety and Prevention Tips section consists of educational and informative links and videos by the Union Health Ministry, aiming to convey to people the importance of washing hands, declaring symptoms, and adopting responsible behaviour.
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The website also carries a snapshot of some of the most popular searches related to coronavirus, including the latest coronavirus news, right way to wash hands, things to do at home, as well as answers to questions like what is social distancing?, what is a lockdown? or what is self-quarantine?.
The Data and Insights section shows up-to-date insights from Google Trends including some of the most searched and trending questions on COVID-19 from India.
The Resources section hosts several useful videos that help parents and kids spend time learning at home, or help people with coping techniques for stressful days, or simply try their hand at new recipes and DIY (do it yourself) projects spanning art and fitness.
To help people get up and running for working from home, there are also links to key resources: Individuals will find tips for getting work done when working from home useful, and teachers can connect with their students using resources like Distance learning resources for schools, Teach from Home tools for teachers, and methods to help kids learn to read at home.
For entrepreneurs running small and medium businesses, there is information on managing their business through uncertainty and training tools for remote working and learning.
(With Agency Inputs)
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Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla gave the instructions in a fresh letter to the state and UT Chief Secretaries and authorities on Sunday.
He reminded the states and UTs to ensure the movement of inter-state and intra-state cargo movement of essential goods.
"Union Home Ministry on Sunday again issued a clarification to the state and Union Territory (UT) governments instructing that there is no restriction on inter-state or intra-state cargo movement of essential items or any other items," a ministry official said in a press briefing.
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"Godowns and cold storages can store any kind of goods. The godowns inside the company premises are also under exempted category. It is also directed to all state authorities to ensure the movement of employees of the manufacturing units of essential goods."
The instruction came just two days ahead of the end of the nationwide lockdown, with no word yet about its future. The movement of essential goods and services are exempted from the lockdown measures while violations are punishable under the Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code as per the Home Ministry's consolidated guidelines.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Centre is focussing on a quick solution to the issues flagged with the Union Home Ministry control room.
A team of officers of Joint Secretary and above from various ministries are engaged with the task and they try to resolve the issues in coordination with the state and Union Territory governments.
"Issues raised with the Home Ministry control room are solved by the officials of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Railways and Civil Aviations who take help of state governments for the purpose," a ministry official said.
In its persistent effort to help the needy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home Ministry has been addressing hundreds of calls received from people from different states. These queries were addressed by its nine control room helplines being run round-the-clock for seven days at its office.
The official also said that the state governments are trying their best in providing door to door supply of essential commodities to the people residing in hotspot areas so that they should not go out of their houses.
The state governments are also taking the help of volunteers and the civil society organisations in this effort, the official said. As per the official, Army units have also come forward at some locations and they have been extending their support in the distribution of food and increasing awareness in rural areas.
"The condition of essential commodities is under control."
The COVID-19 pandemic has so far claimed 273 lives and infected over 8,000 people across the country despite the nationwide 21-day lockdown imposed here since March 24 to break the transmission of the deadly disease.
The Union Home Ministry asked states and the Union Territories to abide by the Supreme Court's order on dealing with migrant workers in a humane manner.
Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in a letter to the Chief Secretaries of states and the administrators of UTs said they should take necessary action in compliance with the apex court's direction while implementing the lockdown.
The Supreme Court's directions were linked to welfare of migrant labourers, housed at relief camps in different parts of the country.
As per the apex court order, the states and the UTs should ensure adequate medical facilities, proper arrangements for food, clean drinking water and sanitation at these camps.
Further, trained counsellors and/or community group leaders belonging to all faiths should visit the camps to deal with any consternation that the migrants might be going through.
The court said the migrants' anxiety and fear should be understood by the police and other authorities, and that they should deal with them in a humane manner. The state governments and UTs should engage volunteers along with the police to supervise the welfare of migrants, it said.
The MHA communication also reiterates the directions in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's letter to states and UTs. The Health Ministry has already issued detailed guidelines to deal with psychosocial issues among migrants.
The Supreme Court's intervention came following a plea that the migrant workers were facing problems due to the pandemic as they had lost jobs and were unable to meet their basic needs.
(With IANS Inputs)
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Prior to their marriage, both Saurabh Das and Pinki Rani had eloped to Gujarat barely months before the nationwide lockdown. It was then the love birds had faced numerous problems in the new State. As per reports, Saurabh and Pinki stayed in Ahmedabad for nearly four months as their families were against their relationship.
“We were stranded in Gujarat due to lockdown. Somehow we managed to return to Odisha and got married on the day we were discharged from the quarantine centre,” said Saurabh.
On May 10, the couple returned to Odisha and as per the guidelines, they were asked to undergo a 14-day quarantine at Sagada area under Nimapara block of Puri district.
“We had faced a lot of problems in Gujarat due to lockdown. This day would have been memorable if our families had attended the marriage ceremony,” said Pinki.
Some local residents, ASHA and Anganwadi workers and officials in-charge of the quarantine centre played a crucial role in making necessary arrangements for the couple’s marriage.
The entire marriage was solemnised only after the swab reports of both Saurabh and Pinki came negative for COVID-19. The entire function was organised as per the COVID-19 guidelines issued by the State government.
(Edited By: Bikram Keshari Jena)
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Using an internet survey of 10,368 adults from across the US, the research team have sought to better understand the sociological and psychological effects of the pandemic. The common denominator in their findings is fear.
"Fear is a pretty consistent predictor. We found is that fear, coupled with a range of social vulnerabilities, consistently and significantly predict a range of mental health outcomes," said researcher Kevin Fitzpatrick from the University of Arkansas in the US.
"Additionally, as originally hypothesized, it appears as though individual fear is higher in those places where there is a higher concentration of confirmed Covid-19 cases and/or a higher death rate," Fitzpatrick added.
In a study focusing on symptoms of depression published in the journal Anxiety and Depression, the research team found that on average, survey respondents scored one point higher than the cutoff for clinical significance on a commonly used depression scale. Nearly a third of respondents were significantly above that level, they found. They also found elevated depressive symptoms among socially vulnerable groups including women, the unemployed and people who report moderate to high levels of food insecurity.
In a second study on suicidal thoughts, behaviours and actions, published in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, the researchers found that 15 per cent of all respondents were categorised as high risk for suicide.
The third study, published in the journal Psychological Trauma, examined fear and mental health consequences of the pandemic. When researchers asked respondents how fearful they were of Coivd-19 on a scale of one-to-10, the average answer was seven. But fear of the disease and its consequences is not evenly distributed throughout the country, they found; it was highest in areas with a greater concentration of Covid-19 cases and among the most socially vulnerable groups.
"All three papers are part of an initial, early push to understand the sociological impact of Covid-19," said Fitzpatrick. Meanwhile, another recent study, published in the journal PLOS One, revealed that google searches during pandemic hint at a future increase in suicide.
Recently, Australian researchers also found rates of elevated psychological distress, including depression and anxiety symptoms, were found among adults during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
(IANS)
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For the study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the research team analysed records from 419 hospitals to study the clinical trajectories of 3,222 hospitalised Covid-19 patients aged 18-34.
Researchers found that over one-fifth of the patients (21 per cent) required intensive care, 10 per cent required mechanical ventilation and 2.7 per cent died.
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"There was a significant rate of adverse outcomes," said study author Jonathan Cunningham from Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US.
"Even though a 2.7 per cent death rate is lower than for older patients, it's high for young people who typically do well even when hospitalized for other conditions," Cunningham added.
Individuals with cardiovascular risk factors were also over-represented among the young people hospitalized -- 36.8 per cent and 24.5 per cent of patients had obesity and morbid obesity, respectively; 18.2 per cent of patients had diabetes and 16.1 per cent had hypertension.
The researchers found that patients who presented these comorbidities were also more likely to experience adverse outcomes.
Patients with morbid obesity, for example, comprised 41 per cent of the hospitalized young adults who died or required mechanical ventilation.
For individuals with more than one of these conditions, risks for adverse outcomes were comparable to the risks faced by middle-aged adults, aged 35-64, who had none of these conditions, as observed in a study of 8,862 members of this population.
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The researchers stressed that the dataset, which relies on hospital administrative claims, only lends insight into the adverse outcomes of hospitalized young people.
"We think the vast majority of people in this age range have self-limited disease and don't require hospitalization. But if you do, the risks are really substantial," the study authors noted.
(IANS)
As per information by the State Health department, maximum number of Covid-19 recoveries were reported from Khordha where as many as 500 patients were declared free of the virus. Apart from Khordha, a total of 9 districts logged more than 100-plus recovered cases during the last 24 hours.
The State on Wednesday reported 2604 new Covid-19 case while 15 persons succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours. The total positive caseload in the State rose to 259541 and the death toll mounted to 1072 after 15 more patients passed away under treatment, said State Health and Family Welfare Department.
In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 81,249,028 and 1,772,912, respectively.
The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 19,299,960 and 334,830, respectively, according to the CSSE.
India comes in second place in terms of cases at 10,207,871, while the country's death toll soared to 147,901.
The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (7,504,833), Russia (3,047,335), France (2,619,616), the UK (2,336,688), Turkey (2,162,775), Italy (2,056,277), Spain (1,879,413), Germany (1,672,643), Colombia (1,603,807), Argentina (1,590,513), Mexico (1,383,434), Poland (1,261,010), Iran (1,206,373), Ukraine (1,061,074), South Africa (1,011,871), and Peru (1,007,657), the CSSE figures showed.
Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 191,570.
The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (122,426), Italy (72,370), the UK (71,217), France (63,235), Iran (54,814), Russia (54,559), Spain (50,122), Argentina (42,868), Colombia (42,374), Peru (37,474), Germany (30,508), Poland (27,147), South Africa (27,071) Indonesia (21,452) and Turkey (20,135).
(With IANS Inputs)