India’s COVID-19 figures have been on a consistent decline for nearly a month. However, we are far from safe to celebrate. While the news of a consistent decline in new cases may come as a welcome relief, it cannot be denied that the second wave has exerted a considerable toll on India. Deaths in the […]
COVID-19
COVID-19 fuelling antibiotic resistance
India has long dealt with the encroaching danger of antibiotic resistance. Has the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this situation? Reports indicate the answer is yes. India’s second wave of COVID-19 came at a far faster pace than the initial rise in cases in the country. As such, health systems across the country were overwhelmed – many […]
Mucormycosis – black fungus – to be notifiable in Telangana
The Telangana State Government has declared “black fungus” — or mucormycosis — to be a notifiable disease. In a letter to the states, Union Health Ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said “all government and private health facilities and medical colleges have to follow guidelines for screening, diagnosis, management of mucormycosis. And, make it mandatory for […]
Pandemic preparedness at the forefront
The 74th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the highest-level decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), is to foreground pandemic preparedness whilst advancing measures to end the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has dominated headlines and the public health discourse for well in excess of a year. The public health crisis is unprecedented […]
The savage death toll of India’s second wave
India, embattled by its second wave of COVID-19, continues to weather staggering numbers of deaths with the emergence of a new variant and the spread of black fungus causes for concern. The tragic toll of the second wave has manifested in the deaths of fifty medicos in a single day, reported by the Indian Medical […]
Patent waivers unlikely to resolve COVID-19 vaccine crisis
Patent waivers for COVID-19 vaccines have been offered up as a suggestion as a means to address the global crisis. While in theory this would allow a shift in production from high-income nations to developing countries, achieving this requires overcoming a significant hurdle – a lack of production capacity. Recently, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General […]
Cow dung therapy for COVID-19 harshly criticised
While many in the country struggle to avail healthcare services in the face of the second wave of COVID-19, others have turned to an alternative therapy of dubious efficacy — cow dung. “There is no concrete scientific evidence that cow dung or urine work to boost immunity against COVID-19, it is based entirely on belief,” […]
“Black fungus” adds to India’s COVID-19 woes
India’s COVID-19 situation is bleak. Daily new cases, while lower than their record peaks of 400,000, are lingering in the mid-300,000 range. To add to the list of issues, hospitals are reporting cases of “black fungus” that are reaping their own death toll in the country. As Health Issues India noted earlier this week, “India […]
B.1.617: A continued global threat
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has criticised usage of the term ‘Indian variant’ to describe B.1.617, a variant of COVID-19 first identified in Maharashtra last year. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently notified B.1.617 as a “variant of global concern” – the same designation given to COVID-19 variants first identified in Brazil, […]
COVID-19 cases continue to ravage India
Image credit: quatrox / 123rf The COVID-19 crisis in India shows no signs of abating, as cases remain around the 400,000 peak. The situation remains dire, with figures consistently surpassing that of all other nations. India reported 403,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths on Sunday, indicating that — though the country may have hit a […]