Topic: COVID-19: Country Updates 

12th March, 2021, Saturday; 9.30am-11am

• Bangladesh Update: The situation is under control. The number of cases was just above 200 and deaths were just about 5 yesterday. The total number of vaccination is 210 million and the first dose is nearly 120 million. About 80 million have also taken the second dose. Vaccination is progressing well. Everything has opened up including the schools. Only primary schools have not opened, but will soon open.
• India Update: The situation in India is definitely very positive. The number of cases has reduced to 4194 from 1.75 lakhs per day. No cases have been reported for 3-4 days from states like Pondicherry, Assam. The numbers are in two digits in several states. So the wave is flattening and the third wave is in a state where it is no longer a concern. The positivity rate has come down to 0.52%. The Health Ministry has declared that if it is more than one percent, one must be vigilant. The recovery rate is 98.7%. The active case load is 0.1% now. All parameters are coming down. Almost all eligible population have got the first and second doses. Children 14-18 years are also being vaccinated. We have a proposal to extend it from 5-15 years. IIT Kanpur has predicted a fourth wave. But this has been challenged by another group. Life has returned to normalcy. Full occupancy in flights is allowed. Air travel restrictions have come down and only vaccination certificate is now required; no RT PCR done. Wearing of masks, hand sanitisation, distancing has to continue. Cases in India constitute only 0.7% of the global cases.
• South Africa Update: In South Africa, the problem is the infectivity rate is not less than 5% till now. The infectivity rate has not come down since omicron started. People are pushing for not wearing masks. Ventilation is a huge problem but outdoors masks not required. The fifth wave is expected to happen in May-June. Less than 45% of people are fully vaccinated. Uptake of booster is also not great. People now do not go to the doctors if they are sick. Last week, the number of new cases has been around 700-2000. In the last 24 hours, it was 1800. The death rate has gone down 0-50 in the whole week. Almost 100,000 total deaths till now. The total number of admissions in the last 24 hours was 2500. Out of these, 90 were ventilated, 250 were in ICU. The recovery rate is 96%. The positivity rate is less than 5%. Beaches and schools are open. RT PCR is still needed on arrival or traveling out of the country. 
• Pakistan Update: Life has eased up and the situation is in control. The partially vaccinated people are 128 million, while the fully vaccinated are 101 million. In the last 24 hours, there were 501,000 vaccinations. About 4.8 million people have taken the booster. The total number of cases is 1.5 million. Yesterday, there were 571 cases. The total number of critical cases are 641. No case was admitted for critical care in the last 24 hours. Total deaths throughout the Covid pandemic are 20,000. Yesterday, there were only six deaths, while there were 1.4 million recovered cases. Total number of tests done is 26 million and 35,000-36,000 tests are done daily. The positivity rate is 1.5%. Life is quite normal. No travel restrictions. The inbound travelers do not need PCR testing. All vaccinated are being accepted. Rapid tests are done on arrival. Those found positive have to quarantine at home. Schools and markets are open; indoor dining in restaurants is allowed. Sports (cricket matches) have resumed, where wearing of masks is mandatory and distancing is advocated. The only fear is that most people are not wearing masks.

Participants

Member National Medical Associations

Dr Alvin Yee-Shing Chan, Hong Kong, Treasurer, CMAAO

Dr Marthanda Pillai, India Member World Medical Council, Advisor CMAAO

Dr Wasiq Qazi, Pakistan, President-elect CMAAO

Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa, South Africa

Dr Angelique Coetzee, South Africa

Dr Akhtar Hussain, South Africa

Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Pakistan 

Dr Ashraf Nizami, Pakistan

Dr Salma Kundi, Pakistan

Dr Md Jamaluddin Chowdhury, Bangladesh 

Invitees

Dr Patricia La’Brooyi

Dr Arun Jamkar

Dr Lawrence HB Soh

Dr EC Ng

Dr S Sharma, Editor IJCP Group

Moderator

Mr Saurabh Aggarwal