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People recovered from Covid more prone to Omicron than Delta, says WHO

by Medically Speaking Team January 8, 2022

According to the World Health Organization, those who have recovered from Covid-19 are three to five times more likely to re-infect with the Omicron version than those who have recovered from Delta (WHO).

According to Hans Henri P Kluge, the WHO’s Regional Director for Europe, Omicron variant can evade previous immunity in people. “So it can still infect those who have had Covid-19 in the past, those who are unvaccinated, and those who were vaccinated many months ago,” Kluge said in a recent note. “There are three things that we need to do urgently: protect ourselves through vaccination, prevent further infections, and prepare health systems for a surge in cases”.

Kluge said that health authorities must strengthen capacity, increase testing and trace capacities, engage primary health care in case management, prepare hospitals for a surge, and support health and frontline workers. “Two years in, our health worers are being severely tested once again. It is deeply worrying that one in 5 is suffering from anxiety and depression from the pandemic. Their concerns must be addressed and their need for manageable working conditions supported,” the WHO executive had stressed. Europe witnessed Covid cases cross 1 million for the first time this week. Europe has recorded over 100 million Covid cases, more than a third of all infections worldwide, since the start of the pandemic.

January 8, 2022 0 comment

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New Registration not required for Covid vaccine booster shot, Centre claims

by Medically Speaking Team January 8, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced on Friday that recipients of the precautionary COVID-19 vaccination dosage do not need to register again.
From January 10, healthcare and frontline workers, as well as individuals over 60 years old with co-morbidities, will get the preventive COVID-19 vaccine shot.

Anyone who has received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine is entitled to make an appointment or walk-in to any COVID immunisation centre.

“Schedules will be published on January 8. The online appointment facility will also start by Friday evening. Vaccination with onsite appointment starts on January 10,” said the Union Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Centre has already said that the precautionary COVID-19 vaccine dose will be the same vaccine as administered previously in the first two doses.

January 8, 2022 0 comment

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NEET Counselling 2021 dates to be released soon, key points to application

by Medically Speaking Team January 8, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will announce the counselling dates soon after the Supreme Court upheld the centre’s decision to provide 27% reservation for OBCs in NEET UG and PG and 10% reservation for EWSs in NEET UG and PG. The final ruling will be decided on a final hearing by March 3, 2022.

“Counselling Schedule for NEET-PG and UG 2021 counselling will soon be uploaded on Official website of MCC, DGHS,” the MCC said in a statement issued on January 7.

Reservation in the all India quota seats for admission to UG and PG medical seats will be as follows:

SC: 15 per cent
ST: 7.5 per cent
PwD – Horizontal reservation as per MCC norms: 5 per cent
OBC (Non-creamy layer) as per the central OBC list: 27 per cent
EWS (As per central government norms): 10 per cent

While the MCC has introduced some changes to the AIC NEET counselling scheme, the process will remain same as previous years for central institutions. “The proposed modified scheme of Online 4 rounds of counselling will be in tune with the prevailing norms of counselling (including the fees and security deposit) being followed for Central Institutes/Universities,” the MCC said earlier.

The MCC said candidates will not be allowed to apply for upgradation of seats or free exit after round 1. This means after round 1 seat allotment result, candidates can apply for upgradation of seats in round. However, after round 2, they can not apply for upgradation in the mop-up round and so on. Moreover, if candidates join the allotted seats in round 2, they can not resign the seats and participate in the further rounds. However, if they do not join the allotted seat in round 2, they can apply for the mop up round if they forfeit the security deposit and register fresh.

How To Register For AIQ NEET UG, PG Counselling

Go to mcc.nic.in
Click on the PG or UG counselling tab
The link for registration will be displayed. Click on it
Enter the required information and register
Now login and fill the application form
Upload documents, pay the registration fee and submit
Take a printout of the application form

January 8, 2022 0 comment

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Symptoms of Covid not as mild as you think, experts say

by Medically Speaking Team January 8, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

While most specialists agree that an Omicron infection is milder than a Delta infection, other experts believe that the symptoms of the new variety of concern are nothing to sneeze at.

Speaking to CNN, Dr Shira Doron, an epidemiologist and infectious disease physician at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, says those with minor illness due to coronavirus can feel quite “uncomfortable” and may develop the dreaded “long Covid”, or when symptoms persist for months and may damage the vital organs.

In recent days, as the Omicron variant sends cases skyrocketing worldwide, more and more testimonies have piled up of people being diagnosed with mild Covid infection but still feeling like death. Even people who are fully vaccinated or have taken booster shots are susceptible.

“When we or when the CDC or the NIH says ‘mild,’ we really mean it didn’t make you sick enough to go to the hospital,” Dr Doron told CNN. “But when you get a flu-like illness that puts you in bed, that’s not mild to you.”

Dr Doron thinks the “mild” term that experts throw around may need to be redefined. Moreover, calling the disease “mild” may lull people into not taking Covid-19 seriously, which could only lead to more cases and put further strain on the healthcare system.

Although the patient may be feeling crappy, the symptoms are a positive sign as they indicate that their body’s immune system is fighting the virus. Such symptoms aren’t dangerous and do not require medical care or hospitalisation, Dr Doron says.

Dr William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, stresses that those with minor symptoms should not ignore it and get tested for Covid. “So they know to watch for worsening symptoms that need medical care. A test will also tell them if they need to isolate themselves so they don’t spread the coronavirus to others,” he told CNN.

The doctor also added that people shouldn’t skip vaccines or boosters just because Omicron has become the dominant variant and causes less severe illness as compared to the strains that came before. The unvaccinated who contract an Omicron infection can still end up in the ICU and “never get back their lives”, according Dr Claudia Hoyen of UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

January 8, 2022 0 comment

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US based experts predict about the third wave peak in India

by Medically Speaking Team January 8, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

According to a US-based health specialist, India would see a peak in the number of COVID-19 cases by next month, with the expectation of reporting five lakh instances per day. However, “the severity of the variation will be less this time in the nation than Delta variant,” he said.

Dr Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and Chair of the Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington said: “You are entering the Omicron wave, as many countries around the world are, and we expect that there will be more cases per day at the peak than you had in April last year for the Delta wave, but Omicron is much less severe.”

“So, while you will have many cases and set records probably for cases. It should be less of an impact on the severity of the disease. We currently have in the models that we will release later, we expect about five lakh cases at the peak, which should come in during the next month,” he added.

As many experts in India say that the country has hybrid immunity due to which Omicron will be less effective, Dr Murray said: “What we know from a place like South Africa where there was a tremendous amount of prior infection, both Delta as well as Beta. Vaccination doses provide considerable protection for severe disease, from hospitalisation and death, which is why we think there will be many Omicron cases in India, but much less hospitalization and death than you had in the Delta wave.”

Speaking about the number of hospitalizations and severity due to the variant, he said: “We expect that 85.2 per cent of infections will have no symptoms. They will be asymptomatic, but amongst the cases, we still expect quite a number of them to end up in hospitals and in terms of death, cases will be much reduced. So we expect that the peak of hospital admissions in India will be about a quarter of what you had for the Delta wave, and deaths should be less of what you saw for Delta.”

According to some experts, further spread of Omicron may lead to other mutations. Talking about it Dr Murray said: “The thing about mutations is that they’re random. So, the more transmission there is, the more potential there is for mutations to occur. But in the setting of this rapid transmission of Omicron, it’s going to be very difficult in the next month or two for a new variant to meet Omicron because it’s so transmissible.”

Dr Christopher Murray further spoke over the new variant with multiple mutations in France.

“There are mutations all the time, and you can identify variants with many mutations but the thing that we look for, is that within, you know, 30 to 45 days after a new mutation appears, has it spread as it spread like Omicron, so far, that mutation has been around for quite some time in France. And it has not spread so we are not currently learned about that mutation.”

“Omicron is 90 to 95 per cent, less severe, but there is still a segment of individuals, particularly older individuals who will get sick. So, there will be an increase. It’s just a much smaller increase in hospitalizations,” he said.

January 8, 2022 0 comment

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BioGenex Life Sciences launches Direct RT-PCR Kit to detect all variants of Covid-19 including Omicron double quick

by Medically Speaking Team January 7, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

BioGenex Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, a Hyderabad based the USA headquartered company developed a RT-PCR kit for Covid-19 diagnosis, which detects COVID 19 caused by SARS COV 2 variants including “OMICRON” plus other variants. The kit detects Omicron without RNA extraction in half the time than standard PCR DR . Krishan Kalra, CEO of the company in a press note issued in Hyderabad today. The product is launched nationally at Hyderabad now, he added.

The National Institute of Biologicals(NIB), Noida, an ICMR designated lab, examined the performance of this kit and found that it performed with 100% accuracy &100% sensitivity which means no false negatives or positives, which will significantly control the pandemic through accurate diagnosis. The kit detects the Omicron variant in half the time than the standard RT-PCR tests.

The National Institute of Biologicals is an APEX autonomous Institute under the administrative control of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India engaged in Quality Control Evaluation of various biological products like vaccines, blood products, blood reagents, sera, Immuno-diagnostic kits etc. produced and imported into India.

The cost of the kit is Rs 150 plus taxes.

The TRIPLEX COVID-19 RT-PCR Direct is a real-time RT-PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 directly from the upper respiratory swab, nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs, collected in preservative media, (VTM/UTM), pH 7.2-7.4 to provide the molecular diagnostic basis for infected patients.

Due high sensitivity with specially protocol test analyses samples in VTM directly without the need for RNA extraction step. It helps scientists for rapid tracking of disease prevalence and aid in treatment insight (e.g. hospital beds, oxygen ventilators and expensive medications) for healthcare systems in making appropriate measures to combat COVID-19.

There are many challenges associated with ramping up testing capacity, due to supply chain delays and shortage of extraction reagents, this situation call-up for alternative protocols to ensure the continuity of testing in laboratories. Due to an increased demand in SARS-CoV-2 variants screenings, alternative protocol with similar sensitivity is required, said DR. Krishan Kalra, CEO BioGenex. “Sustained surveillance is essential for public health. Our latest tests reduce the cost of testing and turnaround time for the result.

As we learn from the pandemic, we are partnering with concerned organizations to understand and strengthen our diagnostic portfolio to develop-deliver reliable and sustainable diagnostic solutions in the future to help control the spread of Covid-19

January 7, 2022 0 comment

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2021 was a Year of Better Health Decisions, 25% Surge in Patients Choosing Yoga and Naturopathy as their Lifestyle

by K R Raghunath January 7, 2022

written by K R Raghunath

As the world continues to adapt itself to the ‘new normal’, one of the critical learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic has been the importance of a robust immune system and overall good health. Hence, globally there’s an attempt to explore practices that boost the body’s immunity and encourage an overall healthier lifestyle. This has evoked an amplified interest in alternative therapies like naturopathy and yoga. According to one of the leading naturopathy institutes, Jindal Naturecure Institute, there’s been a substantial rise of almost 25% in the queries the team receives online and offline for the Naturopathy treatments. This is because people have understood the importance of health and immunity, which naturopathy and yoga focus on as their main principle.

The COVID-19 pandemic and following the lockdown measures have disrupted our lives in many ways. Restrictions in many countries and across the globe resulted in people being confined for months in their homes. As the need of the hour, people are increasingly becoming more conscious about their health. It’s not just the physical fitness that people are concerned about but also their mental wellness. During lockdown and in its after-effects, a lot of people have turned to yoga and naturopathy to regain balance and strength. Many people took to their mats during lockdown to calm their minds and lift their spirits. This has resulted in the growing importance of yoga and naturopathy to post-pandemic well-being and its revival in the present times has come as a boon to mankind.

Though we had to close our institute for a few months following the lockdown measures enforced by the government but we conducted free online yoga classes and free webinars with our naturopathy doctors and the response on Social Media has been overwhelming; the online engagement has increased significantly. The increase in social media engagement has been significant as we have grown our social media engagement over the last 2 years by approximately 24%. We resumed our operations from November 2020 with strict sanitisation and hygiene protocols put in place for the safety of our patients, doctors and staff. We have also vaccinated our whole staff. We utilised the downtime to ensure a sanitised environment, put safe practices to govern the new normal and train our staff to follow the highest safety standards. Even though there is an increase in inquires, we have restricted admission for the safety of the patients.

January 7, 2022 0 comment

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Covid case Update: India reports cases over 1 lakh after 7 months

by Medically Speaking Team January 7, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

According to data released by the Union health ministry on Friday, India has reported 1,17,100 new cases in the last 24 hours, up 28.8% over the previous day. The overall number of cases now stands at 3,52,26,386.

On June 6, 2021, India’s daily case count surpassed one lakh for the first time.

Maharashtra leads the way with 36,265 cases, followed by West Bengal with 15,421, Delhi with 15,097, Tamil Nadu with 6,983 cases, and Karnataka with 5,031 cases.

As many as 302 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the total reported death count to 4,83,178. Maximum casualties were reported in Kerala (221), followed by West Bengal with 19 daily deaths.

India’s recovery rate now stands at 97.57%. A total of 30,836 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, which brought the total number of recoveries to 3,43,71,845 across the country.

India’s active caseload now stands at 3,71,363.

India administered a total of 94,47,056 doses in the last 24 hours, which took the total tally of doses administered to 1,49,66,81,156.

January 7, 2022 0 comment

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Molnupiravir approved, but not recommended

by Medically Speaking Team January 7, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

Molnupiravir, an antiviral medicine manufactured by US firms Merck and Ridgeback, has been removed off the Indian Council of Medical Research’s recommended treatment plan just a week after it was authorised for early-stage Covid-19 patients (ICMR). The medicine posed “major safety concerns,” according to Dr. Balram Bhargava, the chairman of the ICMR. As a result, an embarrassing scenario has arisen: The substance is legal to take, but it is not advised.

Molnupiravir is a repurposed Covid drug, originally developed to treat influenza. It is meant for mild or moderately ill Covid-19 patients who are at risk of developing serious illness. The pill, if administered during the first five days after contracting the infection, has the potential to prevent serious illnesses.

The pill is among the first few therapeutics now being deployed for treatment of Covid-19. Molnupiravir was first cleared for use in the UK in November, and more recently in the US.

There have been concerns on two counts — low effectiveness, and some potential side-effects. Both were taken into account by drug regulating agencies while approving them.

Molnupiravir was found to be only 30% effective in trials, much lower than earlier indications. Besides, there have been been worries over its mechanism: The drug molecule incorporates itself into the RNA of the virus, inducing mutations with the objective of hampering replication. But this carries the risk of introducing mutations that can make the virus stronger and more dangerous. A bigger worry is the risk of the drug creating mutations in the human DNA itself.

These risks, very low by all accounts, have been considered by the drug regulators while approving the drug, which means that these have not been assessed to be significant enough. The prescribed five-day dosage is not considered large enough to pose any serious health concern.

Also, N K Ganguly, former head of ICMR, pointed out, there are several drugs for other diseases in the market that pose similar risks.

“Those drugs are frequently prescribed in specific situations based on the clinical assessment of the patients, if the benefits from the drugs are considered by the doctor to be outweighing these risks,” he said.

In the case of molnupiravir, it seems, going by the argument of Dr Bhargava, the benefits do not very clearly outweigh the risks, considering the low effectiveness of the drug.

January 7, 2022 0 comment

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Omicron not to be considered ‘mild’, Killing people around the globe: WHO

by Medically Speaking Team January 7, 2022

written by Medically Speaking Team

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), warned in a press conference on Friday, 7 January, that the Omicron version of the coronavirus should not be disregarded as “mild,” and that it is killing people all over the world.

Tedros went on to say that while Omicron is less severe on fully vaccinated persons than the Delta version, the increase in infections is placing strain on healthcare systems throughout the world.

“While Omicron does appear to be less severe compared to Delta, especially in those vaccinated, it does not mean it should be categorised as mild,” said Tedros, as per the AFP report.

He added, “In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick, that it is overwhelming health systems around the world.”

The WHO chief warned that these numbers are an approximation due to the pause in testing during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

Tedros slammed the rich nations for hoarding vaccines and said that a few booster shots in smaller nations will not end the pandemic but ensuring vaccination of the billions, who do not have access to it, will.

The WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove reminded people not to be sloppy and step up the measures they were already taking to protect themselves against the virus. She added that it was shocking that people were not wearing masks properly.

“”It needs to cover your nose and mouth… wearing a mask below your chin is useless,” she said.

January 7, 2022 0 comment

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