Indias COVID-19 count at 16,95,988, recovery rate stands at 64.53 pc

New Delhi: With 57,117 new COVID-19 cases, Indias coronavirus count reached 16,95,988, said the Union Health Ministry. ,At present, there are 5,65,103 active cases while 764 deaths due to COVID-19 have taken the death toll to 36,511. ,However, the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) stood at 2.15 per cent, the lowest since the first lockdown started. It has been on a decline from around 3.33 per cent since mid-June. ,Meanwhile, with 36,569 patients discharged on Saturday, the total recoveries have jumped to 10,94,374. The recovery rate stands at 64.53 per cent amongst COVID-19 patients. ,The total number of recovered cases is nearly 11 lakh. With 36,569 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, the total recoveries have jumped to 10,94,374. The recovery rate stands at 64.53% amongst COVID-19 patients. ....read more

The Sound of Coronavirus

Reproduced from: India Legal, https://www.indialegallive.com/cover-story-articles/focus/the-sound-of-coronavirus,August 1, 2020New breakthrough technologies have been found by Israeli scientists to initially test for the virus while avoiding going to a lab. These include testing breath, saliva and voice samples ,Testing is a critical part of the “test, trace and isolate” strategy to contain Covid-19. But an end seems nowhere in sight. Cases continue to rise globally including in India. The gold standard test for the diagnosis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is RT-PCR. Specimens used for the test are nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs. However, there are some drawbacks associated with their use. Shortage of skilled staff and/or good quality collection kits or viral transport medium, high costs, sampling errors (leading to false-negative results), patient fear and anxiety are some of them. Healthcare workers are also at great risk of infection due to the production of aerosols during the sampling. ....read more

The message of Rakshabandhan is that of love and purity

India is a land of diverse faith and myriad cultures. The festival of Rakhi, though rooted in mythology and ancient Indian history, has not really been understood for what it actually represents. ,Rakhi traditionally celebrates the bond of love between a brother and a sister. Tying of rakhi, exchanging of sweets, a gift from the brother to his sister/s –this is the common perception and this is how most of us celebrate this festival. ,But how many of us have given a thought to what this bond actually denotes? ....read more

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Can COVID 19 cause persistent chronic loose motions

Healthcare News Monitor

Explained: Why the race for a Covid-19 vaccine is an unprecedented sprint

The Indian Express

The moment China made the genetic code for the SARS-CoV-2 virus available in January, hundreds of companies and academic institutions rushed to develop a vaccine that would create an immune response against it. Today, with Covid-19 having spread across the world, even ravaging some countries, over 160 potential vaccines (that the World Health Organisation knows of) are in various stages of testing. ,The Indian Express delves into the details to understand why this pandemic has spawned one of the hottest vaccine races in history.

Covid-19:What you need to know today

hindustantimes

India’s home minister, and the second most important and powerful man in the country has contracted the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Amit Shah tweeted out the information himself, and said that while his health is fine, he is being admitted to a hospital on the recommendation of doctors. He also asked everyone who met him in the past few days to get themselves tested. This writer wishes Shah a rapid recovery, but his infection is significant because it highlights both the prevalence of the disease in the Capital, and the risks involved in what would have been considered normal before the pandemic.

Pricing Covid-19 vaccines too high could backfire on big pharmaceutical companies

ET Health

Intellectual property is a convenient fiction. It is a right enforced by state power and international agreements, one that’s even more fragile than other forms of property rights since it’s not tangible. We choose to believe this fiction because we also believe that intellectual property adds to general welfare. It permits innovation and growth, and supports writers, artists, inventors — and pharmaceutical companies. ,But crises upend beliefs and we are in a crisis at the moment. We should all hope the tradition of treating intellectual property as a real thing survives the pandemic. That hope must be especially keen among the companies most at risk if the myth breaks down: the pharma industry.