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A new plan and antibody tests: Covid-19 news from India
In another move, the ministry on Saturday kept rapid antibody tests limited to people in high-risk areas, and did not open up the test to the private sector.
A Union health ministry plan has outlined how regions -- cities, villages or neighbourhoods -- with large Covid-19 outbreaks or multiple clusters of the disease could be walled in, charting what could be India’s first official road map to keep the infection in check. In another move, the ministry on Saturday kept rapid antibody tests limited to people in high-risk areas, and did not open up the test to the private sector.
Covid-19 update: New plan holds clues to unlocking country
A Union health ministry plan has outlined how regions — cities, villages or neighbourhoods — with large outbreaks or multiple clusters of the coronavirus disease Covid-19 could be walled in, charting out what may be the first official road map to keep the disease in check by focussing curbs and surveillance on hot spots while other areas return to some degree of normalcy once the nationwide lockdown ends later this month. Read more
Covid-19 update: Scope of antibody tests rigid despite panel push
The Union health ministry on Saturday kept rapid antibody tests limited to people in high-risk areas (containment zones), “large migration gatherings” and evacuation centres, and did not open up the test to the private sector, overlooking recommendations by its high-level Covid-19 technical experts committee. Read more
Covid-19: What you need to know today
This is the 18th instalment of this column. Like the two other instalments that have come on Sundays, today’s was to have focused on how Covid-19, the coronavirus disease, would affect individuals (on the two previous Sundays, the column looked at how Covid-19 would change countries and companies). Read more
India Inc awaits fiscal push from Centre to keep afloat
As businesses around the country reel under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown it has necessitated, business owners, executives and experts are looking to the government to do enough to keep companies afloat and healthy and, more importantly, to ensure that they do not engage in mass retrenchments. Read more
Covid-19 update: How pool testing can enhance speed, scale
The ministry of health and family welfare evaluated this week a testing methodology that could significantly expand its testing capacity, although it is yet to take a final call in the matter. Read more
Coronavirus testing, treatment free for Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries
As the number of coronavirus infections continue to head north, the National Health Authority (NHA) said on Saturday that testing and treatment for Covid-19 will be free for 50 crore Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries at private laboratories and empanelled hospitals. Read more
Covid-19: Govt says maximum cases in the age group between 21 and 40 years
The maximum percentage of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive cases at 42% in the country have been reported among people in the age group between 21 and 40 years, the government’s data showed on Saturday. Read more
‘No possibility of grid collapse, don’t switch off fridge, TV’: Power ministry
The union ministry of power on Saturday clarified that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for switching off lights on Sunday would not cause instability to the power grid amid concerns over a possible grid-collapse. Read more
PM Modi calls all-party meeting on April 8
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called an all-party meeting on Wednesday, April 8, to discuss the situation arising out of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, days after the Centre announced a three-week nationwide lockdown to prevent its spread. Read more
Biomedical waste from quarantined homes remains a potential hazard
Thousands of people across India have been advised by doctors to stay in home quarantine for 14 days on suspicion that they could be potential carriers of the deadly coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Read more
November’s U-17 World Cup in India deferred by FIFA
The women’s under-17 football World Cup, scheduled in five Indian cities from November 2-21, has been deferred as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fifa announced on Saturday. The decision was taken at the first meeting of the Fifa-Confederations Working Group through a conference call. Read more
‘Cannot do selective evacuation of stranded Indians from Covid-19 affected countries,’ says minister
Minister of state for external affairs (MEA) and parliamentary affairs, V Muraleedharan, spoke to Hindustan Timesabout brings Indians back from abroad, foreigners stranded in India, and relief being sent by India to other countries, among other issues. Read more
1,023 Covid-19 cases across 17 states linked to Jamaat: Centre
At least 1,023 cases of Covid-19 in India are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, the Union health ministry announced on Saturday, adding that authorities had traced nearly 22,000 other people who were connected to the religious event that has emerged as the biggest hot spot of the infection in the country. Read more
Welfare schemes, well-oiled PDS helping Tamil Nadu’s poor
It is either vattams (circle) or kattams (square). Hemalatha, 38, has stood in both shapes — chalk-drawn on the road to help people maintain distance — while waiting her turn to pick up rations from the fair-price shop in Usilampatti in Madurai district. Read more
