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Covid case Update: India logs 11,499 new cases

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

According to data published on Saturday by the Union Health Ministry, India’s total count of COVID-19 cases surged to 4,29,05,844 in a single day, while active cases fell to 1,21,881 with 11,499 new cases being logged in 24 hours.

The death toll climbed to 5,13,481 with 255 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

With this, the country recorded its daily COVID-19 cases under one lakh for the 20th consecutive day.

The active cases comprise 0.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.52 per cent, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 12,354 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.01 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 1.36 per cent, according to the health ministry.

The number of recoveries surged to 4,22,70,482, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive exceeded 177.13 crore.

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Modi to kick off health ministry’s post-Budget webcast tomorrow

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open a webinar on the timely execution of Budget announcements hosted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. Following the inauguration, there will be sessions on the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, E-Sanjeevani, and Telemental Health Programme.

“The objective of the webinar is to involve the stakeholders in taking forward the various initiatives of the government in the health sector. The Prime Minister’s address will set the tone for the post-budget webinars,” said the government’s Press and Information Bureau in a statement. “The sessions are planned in a manner to allow for ample interaction with stakeholders, with a view to evolving a participative approach for time-bound implementation of announcements.”

Union health and Ayush ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Sarbananda Sonowal will chair the valedictory session. V K Paul, member (health), NITI Aayog, will moderate the session on Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. This will follow National Health Authority additional CEO Praveen Gedam’s presentation.

Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health, Upasana Arora, Yashoda Hospital, Ameera Shah, MD, Metropolis Lab, Harsh Mahajan, president, NATHEALTH, and Rajeev Vasudevan of AyurVaid Hospitals will be among the speakers.

K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, will moderate the session on National Tele-Medicine initiatives and E-Sanjeevani. Health and family welfare ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal’s presentation will follow the session.

Pratima Murthy, director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, will moderate the session on Tele-Mental Health Programme, which has been a key focus of this year’s Budget.

National Health Mission director Vikas Sheel will make a presentation on the ministry’s efforts for tele-medicine services.

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Canada got green light for First plant-based vaccination against Covid-19

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

A unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. and Philip Morris International has received approval to utilise the world’s first plant-derived Covid-19 vaccine in Canada, resulting in a novel immunisation to combat the virus.
Medicago Inc., a biopharmaceutical business established in Quebec City and owned by Mitsubishi Chemical and Philip Morris, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc collaborated on the Covifenz vaccine. Adults aged 18 to 64 will be allowed to use it, according to a statement released by Medicago and Glaxo on Thursday.

The approval gives people who are hesitant to take currently available vaccines made by Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc. another option. Many countries are struggling to raise vaccination rates and are requiring citizens to be immunized to get into restaurants, shopping malls trains and planes.

The company hopes Covifenz will generate about $1 billion a year eventually, Mitsubishi Chemical’s Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Gilson said in an interview last week. The vaccine is easier to transport and store than rival mRNA shots, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, since it doesn’t need to be kept at ultra-low temperatures, he said.

Covifenz is made from proteins, grown in plants, that look like the virus that causes Covid-19 to the human immune system, according to Medicago’s website. The vaccine also uses Glaxo’s pandemic adjuvant, a substance that boosts the immune system’s response.

Medicago has a contract with the Canadian government to supply up to 76 million doses of the vaccine and is in talks with other countries about potential agreements, Chief Executive Officer Takashi Nagao has said. The immunization was granted fast-track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February 2021.

The vaccine demonstrated 71% efficacy against multiple variants of the virus in December, Medicago said. It was 75% effective against the highly-infectious delta variant and nearly 89% effective against the gamma variant first identified in Brazil. The omicron variant wasn’t circulating when the trial was conducted, and the company is planning future tests against that strain.

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FORDA writes to Mandaviya in respond to request for risk hazard allowance for resident doctors

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

New Delhi: The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) sent a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday, requesting that resident doctors be given a risk hazard allowance.
The association stated in the letter that resident doctors make up a significant portion of the country’s healthcare workers, with many of them becoming infected with or succumbing to COVID-19 while serving on the front lines in the last two years.

“Through this letter, we once again wish to bring to your notice, the long-pending demand of risk hazard allowance for resident doctors. Though we had submitted our representation regarding the same twice on January 31, 2020, and March 6, 2020, at the onset of COVID-19 Pandemic followed by another representation on January 10, 2022, after dealing with subsequent waves of the Pandemic, there has been no positive response from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) yet,” reads the letter.

“It is pertinent to mention that as per OM No. Z.28015/119/2012-H dated 18/09/2019 issued by MoHFW (Hospital-II Section), Government of India, Hospital Patient Care Allowance (HPCA)/Patient Care Allowance (PCA) under R1H3 cell of Risk & Hardship Matrix of 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) is implemented for Allied healthcare professionals,” the letter added.

The association noted in the letter that though risk hazard allowance is provided to employees/staff in other sectors and doctors should also be entitled to the same.

“We would hereby once again request you to kindly take note of the demand of risk

hazard allowance and take necessary measures for implementing the same,” added the letter.

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AIr Pollution May Put Children At High Risk Of Getting ADHD

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

One of the most frequent neurodevelopment problems in children is ADHD. According to a recent study done by experts at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), children who live in places with more air pollution and less green space have a 62% higher chance of developing ADHD.

The study was published in the journal ‘Environment International’.

It was shown that children living in locations with high levels of PM 2.5 particle pollution and very little green space have a 62% greater chance of having ADHD. Children who live in greener, less polluted places, on the other hand, have a 50% lower chance of getting the illness.
The goal of this research was to look at the probable links between early childhood exposure to greenery, air pollution, and noise and later occurrence of ADHD, one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders that affects up to 5% of children and adolescents.

One of the goals of the study was to evaluate possible joints effects of these exposures in relation to ADHD.

The study used administrative data of births in Metro Vancouver from 2000 to 2001 and retrieved data on ADHD cases from hospital records, physician visits and prescriptions. The percentage of green space in the participants’ neighbourhood was estimated with a novel and precise satellite metric, while the residential levels of two air pollutants-NO2 and PM 2.5–as well as noise levels were estimated using available exposure models. Finally, the possible associations between the three environmental exposures and ADHD were assessed using a statistical model that allowed determined the hazard ratios.

The researchers identified 1,217 cases of ADHD, equivalent to 4.2 per cent of the total study population. The green space analysis revealed that participants living in areas with a greater percentage of vegetation had a lower risk of ADHD. More specifically, the results show that a 12 per cent increase in vegetation percentage was associated with a 10 per cent reduction in the risk of ADHD.

Regarding air pollution, the opposite association was observed with PM 2.5; participants with higher exposure to fine articles had a higher risk of ADHD (every 2.1 ug increase in the levels of PM2.5 translated into an 11 per cent increase in the risk of ADHD).

No associations were found for the rest of the environmental exposures assessed: NO2 and noise.

The results were consistent with previous studies, which found associations between green space and air pollution, respectively, with ADHD. However, most of the research conducted until now focused on the evaluation of single exposures and rarely evaluated joint effects of multiple environmental exposures.

“We observed that children living in greener neighbourhoods with low air pollution had a substantially decreased risk of ADHD. This is an environmental inequality where, in turn, those children living in areas with higher pollution and less greenness face a disproportionally greater risk,” explained lead author Matilda van den Bosch.

“These associations are particularly relevant because exposures take place in early life, a crucial period for brain development where children are especially vulnerable. Importantly, these exposures are modifiable, meaning that the findings should be taken into account for healthier urban planning,” she added.

“Our findings also show that the associations between PM 2.5 and ADHD were attenuated by residential green space and vice versa as if the beneficial effects of vegetation and the harmful effects of PM 2.5 neutralized each other,” said Weiran Yuchi, a researcher at the University of British Columbia (Canada) and first author of the study.

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Moderna’s Covid Jab Gets EU Approval For Kids Aged 6-11

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

Moderna’s anti-Covid vaccination was authorised by the European Union’s medicines authority on Thursday for children aged six to eleven, making it the second vaccine to be licenced for younger children in the 27-member bloc.

“The EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) has recommended granting an extension of indication for the Covid-19 vaccine Spikevax to include use in children aged 6 to 11,” the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency said in a statement.

The jab, developed by US-based pharmaceutical company Moderna, has already been approved for adults and children aged 12 and above.

“As in the older age group, the vaccine is given as two injections in the muscles of the upper arm, four weeks apart,” the EMA said.

Pfizer/BioNTech’s anti-Covid shot called Comirnaty was greenlit for children aged five to 11 in November.

The regulator has so far approved five vaccines for use in the EU: Pfizer and Moderna, which use messenger RNA technology, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, which use viral vector technology, and Novavax, which is based on a spike protein produced in a laboratory.

 

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Covid-19 Gave Rise To Vision-Related Problems Among Children: Health Experts

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), an apex industry organisation, sponsored a webinar on ‘Managing Eye Care’ as part of the ‘Illness to Wellness’ campaign; this also happens to be Low Vision Awareness Month in February. The major goal of the event was to raise awareness about how to prevent low vision difficulties, eye-related serious diseases, and blindness, as well as how to preserve general good vision throughout one’s life.

Throwing light on the rising issue of low vision in India, (Padma Shri) Dr. (Prof) A. K. Grover, Chairman, Vision Eye Centres & Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said that the process of seeing is a gift of nature and the most structural and functional marvel organ in the body. He added, “The human eye has a resolution of 375-mega pixels. It’s a natural camera with a peripheral vision and it transfers the message to the brain to figure out the colours, movements etc.”

He went on to say that the cataract is the most common cause of blindness in India, and that diabetes is to be blamed for the massive number of damaged eyes. Other causes are corneal opacities, cataract surgical complications (including PCO), diseases of retina and glaucoma. The data shows that even though the rate of blindness has decreased through sustained efforts through the National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB) have decreased the prevalence of blindness, a whole lot more needs to be done. “In India, one out of every 50 people over the age of 50 is blind,” he said, adding that the government has made ongoing efforts in collaboration with non-government organisations, but primary eye-care in rural areas remains a challenge. To maintain perfect eye vision, a person should consume antioxidants, fruits, and vegetables, eat a balanced diet, and exercise.

Shri Anil Rajput, Chairperson, ASSOCHAM CSR Council, in his welcome address, said, “Good vision contributes to our improved physical abilities, learning and comprehension skills and a better quality of life. Therefore, keeping an eye on your vision health is undoubtedly an essential component of good health and overall wellness.’’

Highlighting the ill effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the eyes of the children, he said, “The switch to digital learning over the last two years has led to young students staying indoors and spending longer hours in front of their TVs, IPads and mobiles. Therefore, having a balanced diet, along with adequate lighting in the room while studying, correct sitting posture, controlled screen time and regular eye exercises are key points to be kept in mind for maintaining healthy eyes among children.”

Dr. Rajesh Kesari, Founder and Director, Total Care Control, Delhi–NCR moderated the session. He said, ‘’Eyes are our window to the world – it’s only because of our eyes that we can perceive all the beauty of this world. Conversely, eyes are also a window to our body – by looking inside your eyes doctors can figure out a lot that is happening inside your body”.

According to Dr. Subina Narang, Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Government Medical College, Chandigarh, diabetes has reached pandemic proportions in India due to a sedentary lifestyle. Diabetics should undergo routine eye exams every 3-6 months, as prescribed by an ophthalmologist, to detect and treat the illness before any vision loss develops. Around 27% of people with diabetes had retinopathy at the time of their diagnosis. After 45 minutes of reading, she recommends taking a 15-minute break for eye relaxation.

Dr. Reena M Choudhry, Director, (Sankara Nethralaya) Glaucoma Services, Senior Consultant Glaucoma and Cataract Services & Chief Operating Officer, ICARE Eye Hospital and PG Institute, Noida, motivated the audience with an eye organ transplant theory and how it works. People can reach out to the nearest national helpline of Eye Bank Association of India after the demise and can donate the eyes that can help two people at once, she added.

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Mother and Child Care Wing launched by Fortis Hospital

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, has opened a mother and childcare wing to help the hospital meet the specific and expanding needs of mothers and children. The new wing will include services in radiology, diagnostics, obstetric procedures, and an exclusive gynaecology emergency section to address all aspects of mother and child health.

The hospital has introduced best-in-class current technology as part of this infrastructure expansion, which will be overseen by highly qualified clinical professionals in obstetrics and gynaecology, IVF, genetic medicine, neonatology, paediatrics, and paediatric sub-specialties. It will also be supported by a comprehensive tertiary/quaternary care set-up under one roof to deal with any maternal and childcare crises that arise.

Speaking on the occasion, Anil Vinayak, Group COO, Fortis Healthcare, said, “Maternal health and childcare is a critical area in India and needs to be given top priority. The dedicated wing for mother and childcare being launched today is at par with global standards. It reaffirms our commitment to providing best outcomes through latest technology, innovation and highly skilled clinicians. Patient centricity is the ethos at Fortis Healthcare, and we continue to put in our best efforts to meet the healthcare requirements of the community.”

 

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BMC will decide on closing jumbo Covid facilities by next week

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

With daily Covid-19 cases in Mumbai ranging from 100 to 200 and hospital occupancy at a low, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is likely to decide to close some of the city’s big Covid facilities. Three major facilities will be kept, according to sources: Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Byculla (Richardson and Cruddas), and Worli (NSCI), as well as the Seven Hills Hospital in Marol, which will continue to operate as an exclusive Covid centre.

Other makeshift jumbo centres at Dahisar, Goregaon, Malad, Sion and Kanjurmarg are likely to be dismantled. However, a final decision is expected by next week.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani told HT that the civic body will consult the state Covid-19 task force before finalising the decision to completely shut down any of the centres. “The daily occupancy in many of these centres has been in a single-digit since the past few days. While we will ensure that we are prepared for any newer threat, we will take the decision to shut down some of the jumbo centres completely,” he said.

On Thursday, only 739 (3.28 percent) out of the 22,467 hospitals beds, which includes beds in jumbo facilities, were occupied.  Last month, during the peak of the third wave, the hospital occupancy had touched 20 percent. For instance, on January 4, 4,421 of the 22,205 beds in the city were occupied by Covid-19 patients.

The city has a total of nine mega centres. While eight of these centres were erected on open grounds and are considered temporary, the Seven Hills facility was established in an already existing hospital.

The employees at the large facilities were employed on 60 or 90-day contracts. Each jumbo centre has its own set of contract terms and restrictions. Some centres featured a condition that said that the contract may be terminated within 24 hours, while others stated that a week’s notice was required.

In December, before the third wave kicked in, some of the jumbo centres reactivated their wards in phases and hired a limited number of medical, paramedical, housekeeping and other staff.

Altogether, the jumbo centres have over 15,000 Covid beds. The facilities in Malad, Kanjurmarg and Sion were the most recent additions and have been built by MMRDA, CIDCO and MHADA, respectively. A few beds in Malad and Kanjurmarg were commissioned during the third wave but their overall occupancy has been very low.

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Covid case Update: India records 13,166 new cases

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

According to statistics published on Friday by the Union Health Ministry, India recorded 13,166 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 4,28,94,345 and the number of active cases to 1,34,235.

The death toll rose to 5,13,226 with 302 new deaths, according to figures updated at 8 a.m.

For the last 19 days, the daily COVID-19 cases have stayed below one lakh.

The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.49 per cent, the ministry said.

More than 28 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm Thursday. Of these, over 1.3 lakh were precautionary third doses provided to priority groups

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