Bengal’s new problem: A new health crisis might have hit West Bengal. Across hospitals, doctors are now warning of Covid and dengue co-infections. Anecdotal evidence suggests there has been a steady rise in the number of people who test positive for Covid-19 and are then diagnosed with dengue, or vice-versa. This leads to a very critical situation for the patient: Covid-19 causes blood clots, while dengue prevents them by causing bleeding. Last week, the state government issued guidelines for dealing with these cases. “These infections affect different organs and in a way, a patient may end up having more affected organs. Covid affects the lungs internally, dengue does it externally. It also triggers haemorrhage,” says an epidemiologist. Read more here.
Small-scale Ganesh: Mumbai is known for its large-scale public celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi. However, the pandemic has proved dampener this year. Festival organisers who would usually be busy building elaborate pandals before, are constructing water tanks instead. This follows a state government directive asking for idol immersion to be restricted at home or in artificially constructed water tanks. Besides, the idols will be much smaller this year. Those in public places can’t be taller than four feet — the organisers will have to provide for online darshan — while those at home will be restricted to a maximum of 2 feet. A slump in the economy means most organisers will lose out on the huge donations they get every year, too. Read more here.
Health workers unite: ASHA workers had announced a two-day strike against abysmal working conditions characterised by low pay, lack of PPE and harassment. In Maharashtra, though, 70,000 of the all-women army of health workers decided to return to work. However, they wore black masks and ribbons as a mark of protest. The state government has decided to provide them with a fixed monthly salary, though most of their demands remain unmet. The reason for calling off the strike? ASHAs say they are needed in rural areas where they form the crucial link between policy and people. Read more here.
North-eastern surge: In the past week, North-eastern states have reported a spike in Rt value, daily growth rate of cases and daily test positivity rate. Nagaland’s test positivity rate was twice the national average over the past week. This despite the fact Nagaland reported its first case on May 25, long after most of India. While experts say this progression of the virus from densely-populated metros to regions like the Northeast is natural, what remains a worry is the fact that the states have not been able to keep up with the pace of transmission. In a major cause of concern, Nagaland has recorded a daily case growth rate higher than each of the five states/UTs with the highest caseloads. Read more here.
Analysis
Wilful Denial: In a July 23 press note the Health Ministry jubilantly announced that for the second consecutive day, recoveries continue to rise. The self-congratulatory note also stressed upon the fact that the number of recoveries posted in a single day was the highest till then. What this press release, and some of the earlier ones glossed over, was the fact that the number of confirmed cases and deaths per day was also the highest at that point. A government health panel, responding to criticism on low testing rate, said that the national average was more than the WHO-recommended testing rate. However, according to a website tracking testing rates across the world, India is placed 25th out of 30 most-impacted nations. This low ranking is despite the fact that India is ranked 3rd worldwide in terms of number of cases. Besides, the government continues to be in denial over community transmission. Read more here.
Modicare shifts to private sector: Use of PM-JAY, the government’s flagship programme, is now at pre-lockdown levels in most states. However, this time around there’s a major shift: the share of PM-JAY claims in private hospitals has gone up in most states even as government hospitals continue to battle the virus. In terms of pre-Covid business, 99% of private hospitals empanelled under the scheme have recovered. Government hospitals, meanwhile, have witnessed only 63% recovery to pre-covid levels. The recovery rates vary across states, though. In Tamil Nadu, for example, 100% of private hospitals have seen recovery. In Bihar, however, PM-JAY claims continue to lag. Read more here.
Karnataka’s superspreaders: A look at Karnataka’s contact tracing data between March 9 and July 21 shows that most of the cases in the state were spread by a small fraction of infected people. Only 1,381 of 17,008 Covid-19 patients who tested positive by July 7, had contact who had tested positive in the subsequent 14 days. Contact tracing data, like the information collected by the southern state administration, is helpful in fighting the virus as it helps identifying ‘superspreaders’. This data can inform policy on how to effectively contain the spread of the virus. Read more here.
Comment
Fear and empathy: This mental health professional who had been dealing with patients suffering from Covid-19 for 5 months found out she’s Covid positive. What followed was a journey of identification with her patients as she felt the same things they had been complaining about — and she had been treating. From feeling like a social outcast to anxiety and loneliness taking hold, she was now walking in her patients’ shoes. She was also overcome with guilt after realising she might’ve infected her family. The greatest fear, however, was that of dying alone. Read more here.