India has a major issue with diabetes, facing risk factors including both lifestyle and genetics. However, predicting who will develop type-2 diabetes over the course of their lives is still a case of risk analysis and some measure of guess-work. Artificial intelligence (AI) could be the solution to this. The overall prevalence of diabetes in […]
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Coronavirus – not India’s sole health concern
Media coverage – especially on the topic of healthcare – is currently dominated by the coronavirus (COVID-19). This is not unexpected, as the disease figures worldwide are surging, now exceeding one million cases. However, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot lose sight of other health concerns, as failure to address these could […]
COVID-19 cases in India at 1,600+
The largest jump in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in India in a single day has been recorded. The country saw 386 fresh infections confirmed according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, taking the total case count to 1,637. The Ministry has also reported 38 fatalities due to COVID-19 whilst 132 people have recovered. […]
Migrants sprayed with disinfectant: The latest controversy
The Union Government’s decision to implement a quarantine affecting 1.3 billion has alternately been praised and criticised – some deeming it necessary to counteract a large-scale coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, others deeming it draconian and callous. However, fresh controversies have surfaced in recent days surrounding the impact on migrant workers. Footage has been unearthed showing a […]
Quarantine at Nehru Stadium
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi is to be repurposed as a quarantine facility to help combat the COVID-19 outbreak in India. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) relinquished the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to the Delhi state government. The SAI announced last month that sports facilities under its purview could be used for quarantine purposes. […]
PPE kits dispatched to hospitals, more ordered
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced provisions for the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits to the nation’s healthcare providers amidst the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. Already, 60,000 PPE kits have been procured by the Union Health Ministry for hospitals so healthcare workers can safeguard themselves against COVID-19. 3.34 lakh PPEs […]
COVID-19 testing: Is India falling behind?
“Test, test, test,” is among the most resounding messages issued by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), during the coronavirus pandemic. However, when it comes to COVID-19 testing, is India falling behind? “We have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing – which is the […]
COVID-19 case count continues to rise
The coronavirus pandemic continues to pose a major threat to health systems, as the COVID-19 case count grows to more than 800,000 confirmed infections worldwide. At the time of writing, there are 801,117 confirmed COVID-19 cases globally. This includes 1,251 cases in India as of Monday according to data released by the Union Ministry of […]
Community transmission of COVID-19 in India?
The Union Government has seemingly confirmed “limited community transmission” of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in India but said the country is not in the third stage of the COVID-19 outbreak yet. The current scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic in India is local transmission with limited community transmission. This acknowledgement came in standard operating procedure guidelines outlined […]
AYUSH practitioners: Modi reaches out
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached out to Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) practitioners to participate in efforts to tackle the disease – while also cautioning against promoting unproven cures. Modi interacted with AYUSH practitioners via videoconferencing over the weekend and suggested that they could benefit the […]