Covid India updates: Busting myths of coronavirus and vaccination

The addition of a simple processing step to saliva samples before testing may improve Covid-19 detection rate, eliminate the challenges of nasopharyngeal testing and facilitate mass surveillance, researchers say. The researchers, including Ravindra Kolhe from Augusta University in the US, found that an innovative protocol that processes saliva samples with a bead mill homogeniser before real-time PCR (RT-PCR) testing results in higher sensitivity compared to NPS samples.

"Saliva as a sample type for Covid-19 testing was a game-changer in our fight against the pandemic. It helped us with increased compliance from the population for testing along with decreased exposure risk to the healthcare workers during the collection process," said lead investigator Kolhe.

The study, published in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, included samples from a hospital and nursing home as well as from a drive-through testing site.

-- IANS

Delhi on Saturday reported 213 new Covid cases, the lowest since March 1 when 175 people were found Covid positive in the national capital, according to the daily health bulletin issued by the Delhi government. With 28 more fatalities getting reported in the last 24 hours, Delhi's overall Covid death toll mounted to 24,800, according to the bulletin.

On a positive note, 497 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries in the national capital to 14,02,474.

Delhi presently has an active caseload of 3,610, of which 1,123 are under home isolation.

There appears to be no substantial evidence to suggest that children will be more affected or have greater illness severity due to COVID-19 in the anticipated third wave, according to a new report. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission India Task Force prepared the report after convening an experts group comprising leading paediatricians from the country to examine the issue of ‘paediatric COVID-19’ in India. It said the infection’s symptomatology in children in India appears to be globally comparable.

Read full report here

Dr Harsh VArdhan, Minister for Health & Family Welfare, took to Twitter to share that India is putting up a strong fight against COVID 19 and updated that over 23 crore samples have been tested across the country. 

The central government on Saturday once again made it clear that there were baseless claims about alleged hacking of India's vaccine registration portal CoWIN, and data leak. Chairman of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (EGVAC) R.S. Sharma has clarified that "the claims of so-called hackers on the dark web, relating to alleged hacking of the CoWIN system and data leak, is baseless".

"We continue to take appropriate steps as are necessary, from time to time, to ensure that the data of the people is safe with CoWIN," Sharma said.

He also said that the matter of the alleged hacking of the CoWIN system has now been investigated by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MietY). The Centre on Thursday also refuted the claims through a statement after reports surfaced that CoWIN has been hacked and the database of 15 crore people is up for sale.

The government then said that its attention has been drawn towards the news circulating on social media about the alleged hacking of the CoWIN system.

-- IANS

Health experts have said that the third wave could be prevented if Covid-19 appropriate behavior is followed. It includes wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, getting vaccinated and others. However, the vaccination has process hasn't begun yet for small children. In this situation, many questions are being raised like- What are the symptoms of COVID-19 in children? Which test should be done? or Can a COVID-19 positive mother continue breastfeeding her child? Here are some important questions answered about Covid19 in children.

The coronavirus situation in India appears to be stabilizing as the country recorded 84,332 new Covid cases, and 4,002 deaths due to the virus in the last 24 hours, according to data released by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Saturday.

This is the fifth consecutive day when India has reported less than one lakh Covid cases and also the lowest in 73 days. India's overall tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 2,93,59,155 with 10,80,690 active cases and 3,67,081 deaths so far.

After battling a brutal second wave for weeks, fresh Covid cases came down below the three lakh-mark for the first time on May 17 after touching record high of 4,14,188 on May 7

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There were some media reports recently alleging misreporting of deaths due to Covid in India, and a sudden hike in the number of daily deaths. It is clarified that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare reported a total of 6148 deaths on 10th June 2021. This spike in deaths was on account of 3971 deaths reported by Bihar on that date is on account of reconciliation done by the State.

The Union Health Ministry has regularly emphasized the need for a robust reporting mechanism for monitoring district wise cases and deaths on a daily basis. In the instant case, the Union Government has written to the State of Bihar to provide a detailed date and district wise break-up of the reconciled number of deaths to the Union Health Ministry.

Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog has assured that there is no need for panic on the need for an immediate change in the dosage interval. 

He has stated that "There is no need for any panic, suggesting need for immediate switchover or change in the gap between the doses. All these decisions must be taken very carefully. We must remember that when we increased the gap, we had to consider the risk posed by the virus to those who have received only one dose. But the counterpoint was that more people will then be able to get the first dose, thereby giving a reasonable degree of immunity to more people.” Dr Paul further added that “We need to balance these concerns. So, please remember, that we need to necessarily have this debate and discourse in the public domain; however, the decision has to be taken by appropriate fora comprising eminent people who are knowledgeable about this."

According to the Ministry of Rural Development, spitting in public places or in the open can put you and the people around you in danger. So wear a mask and maintain social distance.