Covid-19: States private labs yet to take testing load

Two private laboratories in Bengaluru which received approvals from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to test for Covid-19 infections two weeks ago have cumulatively tested only 231 samples so far, possibly due to stringent government guidelines. While Cancyte Technologies has tested only two samples, Neuberg Anand Diagnostic Laboratory has tested 229 samples so far.“Unlike other states, the Karnataka government has put a long process in place that requires the physician to upload all case-related information, including symptoms, on the government-run website. It is only after the surveillance officer’s approval that the physician can refer the patient to the laboratory for testing. The process is time-consuming,” said Dr K N Sridhar, founder and managing director of Cancyte Technologies, which has kits that can test about 700 patients....read more

SPECIAL SERIES ONLY COVIdences on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): Environmental stability (Part 8)

(Source: DHS Science and Technology, Master Question List for COVID-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2), Weekly Report, 18 March 2020)How long does the agent live in the environment?What is known?SARS-CoV-2 Data,SARS-CoV-2 can persist on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for up to 3 days (at 21-23oC, 40% RH), with a half-life of 13-16 hours.1 ....read more

CMAAO Corona Facts and Myth Buster 37

What is The National Convalescent Plasma ProjectFact: The project has launched a website for patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and want to donate plasma, and for healthcare providers who are considering this treatment for their patients.Doctors will be able to use the platform to input data on their patients’ response to the plasma treatment. The hope is that this potentially life-saving therapy can be moved to controlled clinical trials followed by wider use if effectiveness is shown as quickly as possible....read more

Relieve stress by changing the interpretation

Stress is the reaction of the body or the mind to the interpretation of a known situation. Stress management, therefore, involves either changing the situation, changing the interpretation or taming the body the yogic way in such a way that stress does not affect the body.Every situation has two sides. Change of interpretation means looking at the other side of the situation. It is something like half glass of water, which can be interpreted either as half empty or half full....read more

Health Sutras By Dr K K Aggarwal

Quarantine for 14 days

Healthcare News Monitor

Hydroxychloroquine makers Zydus, Ipca, others plan 6 times capacity to meet demand

Business Today- PB Jayakumar | E Kumar Sharma

Indian pharmaceutical companies are raising monthly production of anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) four times to 40 metric tonnes (MT) by the end of this month and five to six times to over 70 metric tonnes (MT) by next month. The plan to step up production came after the Government of India indicated it will help countries in dire need of the drug to fight novel coronavirus. Peak capacity would produce 35 crore (350 million) tablets of 200 mg dosage every month. Indias own requirement is unlikely to exceed 10 crore tablets for which the government has already placed an order with leading domestic manufacturers Zydus Cadila and Ipca Laboratories. Industry experts say 10 crore tablets are good enough to treat seven crore people, if required. In India, HCQ costs less than Rs 3 per tablet. The remaining production will be exported to neighbouring countries as well as countries such as the US which need them. According to some studies, HCQ has shown strong antiviral effects on the coronavirus infection, which prompted US President Donald Trump to seek Indias help in procuring the drug.

India allows limited exports of anti-malaria drug after Trump warns of retaliation

CNBC

India, the world’s main supplier of generic drugs, said on Tuesday it will allow limited exports of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine that U.S. President Donald Trump has touted as a potential weapon in the fight against the coronavirus. The Indian government had put a hold on exports of hydroxychloroquine as well as on the pain reliever, paracetamol, saying stocks were depleting because of the hit to global supply chains after the coronavirus emerged in China late last year. But Trump spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend seeking supplies and on Monday said India may face retaliation if it didn’t withdraw the ban on exports. India’s neighbours, including Nepal, have also sought the anti-malaria drug. “It has been decided that India would licence paracetamol and HCQ in appropriate quantities to all our neighbouring countries who are dependent on our capabilities,” said Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava. “We will also be supplying these essential drugs to some nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic,” he said. Use of hydroxychloroquine has soared as the United States has quickly become the epicentre of the pandemic, though doctors prescribing it have no idea whether it works. U.S. fatalities from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, hit 10,902 on Monday, rapidly closing in on Italy and Spain, the countries with the greatest loss of life to date, according to a Reuters tally of official data.

Foreign doctors fighting Covid-19 at AIIMS want salaries, institute refuses to

Mint- PTI

A group of 70 foreign doctors at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences working to combat COVID-19 alongside their Indian colleagues say they have been reduced to borrowing money because they have not been paid their salaries. While AIIMS authorities maintain the doctors -- from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh -- are sponsored by their respective countries, the junior and senior resident medicos say banks back home are not operating because of the lockdown everywhere. A senior AIIMS administrative official said the institute is under no obligation to pay the doctors. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 5, the AIIMS’ Residents Doctors Association said amendments should be made in the rules so the foreign doctors are paid their salaries. The foreign doctors, irrespective of their nationality, are “working tirelessly and under similar stress", the letter said. The AIIMS Resident Doctors Association, the umbrella body representing all resident doctors at the premier institution, also urged Modi to provide special financial benefits to the foreign doctors for their “selfless efforts" in treating people amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Covid-19: Police arrests doctor for escaping from quarantine centre

India Today- PTI

doctor, who was told by the authorities to stay in the quarantine centre for coming in contact with a Covid-19 patient, was arrested by the police for escaping from the facility, an official said on Tuesday. The doctor, a consultant at the Peace Hospital and Research Institute (PHRI) at Imphals Porompat area had treated a Tablighi Jamaat returnee, who later tested positive for COVID-19. The state government directed the doctor and the staff of PHRI to go for quarantine at the government quarantine centre here as per protocol, the official said. On April 5, a team led by the State Nodal Officer (Quarantine) went for physical inspection of the people in the quarantine centre and found that the doctor was missing, a statement issued by Director of Health Services, K Rajo Singh said. As the doctor was missing at the quarantine centre, a complaint was filed at Porompat police station by the authorities against the doctor. The police arrested the doctor from his Kshetrigao residence on Monday evening, officials said, adding that the doctor has been sent back to the quarantine centre again.