|  | - India’s health ministry has confirmed 4,846,427 Covid-19 cases (986,598 active cases) and 79,722 fatalities. 92,071 fresh cases were recorded on Sunday
- Fatalities across the world are 924,105 (over 29 million infections).
The numbers are as of Monday, 12:30 pm IST. Check out the latest data here | |
| | TODAY'S TAKE | | We have an oxygen problem |  | - Covid-19 patients suffering from breathlessness require high-flow nasal oxygen as a lifesaving measure, pushing up the demand for medical oxygen. And across Karnataka, there’s up to a four-fold increase in the daily demand. The state currently needs 400-500 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen every day, up from 100-150 metric tonnes in March-April.
- Consequently, medical oxygen’s price has shot up, varying upon the type of contract. Under the old contract between manufacturing companies and hospitals, it cost Rs 13-18 per cubic metre; in new contracts, that’s Rs 24-25 per cubic metre, reports TOI. For spot contract during emergencies, it costs Rs 40 per cubic metre.
- Little wonder then that the state's Private Hospitals’ and Nursing Home Association said the Rs 7,000 package price fixed by the Karnataka government for each oxygenated bed is very less and demanded revision of the Covid treatment package for government-referred patients.
- It’s grim in Maharashtra as well, with several hospitals refusing fresh admissions and routine surgeries as the supply of medical oxygen remained erratic. Reportedly, suppliers have told them that the situation could take a while to ease.
- The demand for medical oxygen, in turn, has hit the supply of oxygen for industrial use. Think for the cutting of materials like plasma and usage in the fabrication, automobile, rubber and plastic industries. And both state governments have issued directions to curtail the industrial usage of liquid oxygen and divert the supply for medical purposes.
- However, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Small Industries Association has already shot off a letter to the various government departments urging that supply to industry be resumed. “Several jobs are dependent on these industries and operations have resumed after a long period. The government must end the black marketing of industrial oxygen and ensure adequate supply,” reads the letter to the chief minister, deputy chief minister, industry and public health minister.
- Sandeep Parikh, vice-president, Confederation of Small Scale Industries Association, added industrial oxygen, earlier available at Rs 25 per cubic metre, now comes for Rs 40 per cubic metre.
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| | THE GOOD NEWS | | Pfizer ready to distribute vaccine in US before year-end |  | - US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which has been working alongside Germany’s BioNTech on an mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine, said it will be ready to distribute the vaccine to Americans before the end of the year if found to be safe and effective. The company is prepared to distribute “hundreds of thousands of doses” if the FDA approval is in place, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.
- Pfizer’s is one of the three highly-anticipated vaccine candidates in the world, alongside those developed by Moderna and Oxford University. It is currently undergoing Phase III trials. On Saturday Pfizer said it will expand those trials to 44,000 participants to collect more safety and efficacy data and to increase the diversity of the study’s participants by enrolling, among others, adolescents as young as 16 years of age.
- Bourla’s statement comes weeks after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notified state and city officials in the country to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to priority groups as early as November. The CDC’s technical specifications for two candidates described as Vaccine A and Vaccine B seem to match the products developed by Pfizer and Moderna, The New York Times had reported.
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| | | COVID IN NUMBERS | | Smaller states & cities lead resurgence |  | - Smaller states and union territories that supposedly had put a lid on the pandemic have shown a resurgence of cases in the last few days. According to this analysis, Goa, Puducherry and Chandigarh have reported the highest number of cases per 100,000 in the past seven days.
- In absolute value, the larger states — Maharashtra (153,903), Andhra Pradesh (70,256) and Karnataka (60,319) — contributed the bulk of new cases in the last seven days.
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| Edited by: Judhajit Basu
Contributors: Rakesh Rai, Sumil Sudhakaran, Tejeesh N.S. Behl
Research: Rajesh Sharma
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