Unfortunately the Indians will never learn, can't they see the stage is being set for Bihar elections? Leaders in India will use every oppurtunity to politicize issues. Corona will be used for Bihar elections. That's the reason why that Rabbish Kumar was talking in Bhojpuri. Just wait and watch.
I first heard about that labor union game from my Mallu friends. Didn’t know it has spread to Bangalore as well.
I knew for a fact that if the Chinese virus didn't get you, the self quarantine definitely would. Always a border line case for a shrink, it seems you're suffering from PTSD without even undergoing any Extremely stressful event, Paddy . Unless of course, in your case, Self quarantine qualifies as an extremely stressful event.
It's mostly where communist unions rule the roost. It's here in Mumbai & Maharashtra too. It's called varai. @STEPHEN COHEN began his career with these guys.
Trump touts India-sourced malaria drug as coronavirus ‘game changer’
By Kashish Parpiani
Mar 31 2020
Even as experts urge caution on the drug’s efficacy against COVID-19, production of chloroquine in India is being ramped up to cater to US demand
As the world continues to grapple with the novel coronavirus, diagnosed cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease has surpassed 700,000. With little breakthrough on a prospective vaccine, preventive social containment strategies continue to remain as the primary prescription of medical professionals.
Amidst the resultant anxiety of cities under lockdown, US President Donald Trump has been touting a combination of medicines to be efficacious. Earlier this month via a tweet, the US president said, the combination of hydroxychloroquine and the common antibiotic azithromycin can be "one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine”. Since then, Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine — a less potent version, has continually been touted by Trump in his daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings. The drug is commonly used to treat malaria and at times, prescribed against lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Absent of clinical trials however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reported to have reached out to drug manufacturers on “ramping up production of the drugs to handle a spike in demand and to ensure that people with life-threatening conditions such as lupus can still obtain it.”
Ramping up production in India
Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) includes chloroquine on its list of "essential medicines” — meaning “it should be kept affordable and accessible at all times”, drug manufacturers are ramping up production as the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists recently listed the drug on its shortage list.
This has triggered US manufacturers to rely on subsidiaries or partner producers in India, as Indian imports “accounted for 24 percent of medicines and 31 percent of medicine ingredients” in the US (as per 2018 FDA data). Hence, after having received “five times as many orders as usual” for chloroquine this month, New Jersey-based Rising Pharmaceuticals for instance, announced that it “is ramping up production in India to meet demand, purchasing “extraordinary amounts” of more active ingredients, bottles and labels.”
On anti-malarial drugs especially, India is known to be “self-sufficient” owing to the prominence anti-malaria efforts hold in the country’s national health initiatives. As a result, Ipca Laboratories and Zydus Cadila have reportedly received orders to produce chloroquine for the American market.
Furthermore, in line with the Trump administration’s announced plan to "eliminate outdated rules and bureaucracy" on procurement and testing, the FDA lifted the “three-year-old ‘import alert’” on Ipca to seek the import of hydroxychloroquine sulphate and chloroquine phosphate. Three Ipca facilities had been under an FDA ‘import alert' since 2015, after inspectors “discovered multiple violations of its manufacturing guidelines, including “systemic data manipulation” in tests meant to ensure the drugs’ efficacy and safety.”
Moreover, India’s ban on exporting the drug may not apply to these instances as the ban does not apply to cases where the “outbound shipment is made to fulfil export obligation under any advance authorisation license issued on or before the date of” March 25, 2020.
These measures by the US seem to have been triggered at the hands of President Trump’s relentless advocacy of those drugs in the fight against coronavirus.
Trump’s advocacy spurring US dispensations to follow through
In a recent tweet, the US president shared a New York Post report of a Florida man diagnosed with coronavirus, claiming to have been “saved” by chloroquine. Moreover, Trump recently also said, "The nice part is," that chloroquine has been “around for a long time, so we know that if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody.”
With continued questions over its efficacy, Trump’s relentless advocacy eventually even triggered the FDA to announce fast-track testing of the drug. Moreover, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn also announced that the drug would be available for “compassionate use” i.e. using "a drug off-label when other treatment options aren't available.”
Trump even went on to announce: “At my direction, the federal government is working to help obtain large quantities of chloroquine”. Concurrently, it was reported that multinational pharmaceutical giant Bayer has “donated 3 million doses of Resochin, its brand name for chloroquine” to the US federal government.
State-level dispensations have also begun to procure the drug, and that has spurred Trump to even commend his otherwise political critics. Recently, the US president hailed two clinical trails announced by Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
As New York has emerged as the American epicentre of the outbreak, the two leaders have clashed over states assuming a heightened role in face of an inadequate federal response. However, one of the announced trails, which would combine the antibiotic zithromax (azithromycin) and hydroxychloroquine, prompted Trump to acknowledge Cuomo as having “been working very hard". Following through, the Cuomo dispensation is reported to have acquired 750,000 doses of chloroquine and 70,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine.
Absent of large-scale definitive clinical trials to support Trump’s claims, experts have cautioned against overpromising on chloroquine.
Claim triggers panic-buying and self-medication
The consequence of overstating the drug’s efficacy — without commensurate trials, has led to people scrambling to get their hands on the drug, and even self-medicate.
Dr. Anthony Fauci — Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a central member of the Trump administration’s Coronavirus Task Force, has tempered Trump’s positive outlook on the drug by underscoring that there is no “magic drug” to treat coronavirus. He has also referred to evidence that the drug could be helpful as being merely "anecdotal."
Further, Dr. Deborah Birx, US Vice President Mike Pence's coronavirus response coordinator clarified that the drug has to-date only shown “promise in the test tubes.” Lastly, testing of chloroquine warrants long-term follow-ups as it is known to trigger side-effects like seizures, nausea, vomiting, deafness, vision changes and low blood pressure.
However, across the world, panic-buying has ensued. For instance, Nigeria’s government recently reported three people to have been hospitalised after overdosing on chloroquine, and its city of Lagos reported running out of stock. Similar events were also reported in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and Pakistan.
Even in the US, attempts to dampen panic-buying and self-medication have borne little effect. According to a recent report, American hospitals’ orders for chloroquine were “up 3,000%”.
Furthermore, a man in Arizona died and his wife was put under intensive care after the couple sought to self-medicate with chloroquine. The woman reportedly told NBC News that the couple got the idea to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus via Trump’s televised Coronavirus Task Force briefings. She added, “Don’t believe anything the president says… And his people. Because they don’t know what they’re talking about”.
In India, a death possibly linked to the use of chloroquine was recently reported. The deceased, who was a doctor in Assam was known to have self-medicated with hydroxychloroquine. That report closely followed the Indian Council of Medical Research issuing an advisory on permitting the use of Hydroxychloroquine only for “restricted use in emergency situations” only. Possibly, it is now time to also consider a campaign advising the common populace to refrain from panic-buying and self-medicating.
Trump touts India-sourced malaria drug as coronavirus ‘game changer’ | ORF
By Kashish Parpiani
Mar 31 2020
Even as experts urge caution on the drug’s efficacy against COVID-19, production of chloroquine in India is being ramped up to cater to US demand
As the world continues to grapple with the novel coronavirus, diagnosed cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease has surpassed 700,000. With little breakthrough on a prospective vaccine, preventive social containment strategies continue to remain as the primary prescription of medical professionals.
Amidst the resultant anxiety of cities under lockdown, US President Donald Trump has been touting a combination of medicines to be efficacious. Earlier this month via a tweet, the US president said, the combination of hydroxychloroquine and the common antibiotic azithromycin can be "one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine”. Since then, Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine — a less potent version, has continually been touted by Trump in his daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings. The drug is commonly used to treat malaria and at times, prescribed against lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Absent of clinical trials however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reported to have reached out to drug manufacturers on “ramping up production of the drugs to handle a spike in demand and to ensure that people with life-threatening conditions such as lupus can still obtain it.”
Ramping up production in India
Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) includes chloroquine on its list of "essential medicines” — meaning “it should be kept affordable and accessible at all times”, drug manufacturers are ramping up production as the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists recently listed the drug on its shortage list.
This has triggered US manufacturers to rely on subsidiaries or partner producers in India, as Indian imports “accounted for 24 percent of medicines and 31 percent of medicine ingredients” in the US (as per 2018 FDA data). Hence, after having received “five times as many orders as usual” for chloroquine this month, New Jersey-based Rising Pharmaceuticals for instance, announced that it “is ramping up production in India to meet demand, purchasing “extraordinary amounts” of more active ingredients, bottles and labels.”
On anti-malarial drugs especially, India is known to be “self-sufficient” owing to the prominence anti-malaria efforts hold in the country’s national health initiatives. As a result, Ipca Laboratories and Zydus Cadila have reportedly received orders to produce chloroquine for the American market.
Furthermore, in line with the Trump administration’s announced plan to "eliminate outdated rules and bureaucracy" on procurement and testing, the FDA lifted the “three-year-old ‘import alert’” on Ipca to seek the import of hydroxychloroquine sulphate and chloroquine phosphate. Three Ipca facilities had been under an FDA ‘import alert' since 2015, after inspectors “discovered multiple violations of its manufacturing guidelines, including “systemic data manipulation” in tests meant to ensure the drugs’ efficacy and safety.”
Moreover, India’s ban on exporting the drug may not apply to these instances as the ban does not apply to cases where the “outbound shipment is made to fulfil export obligation under any advance authorisation license issued on or before the date of” March 25, 2020.
These measures by the US seem to have been triggered at the hands of President Trump’s relentless advocacy of those drugs in the fight against coronavirus.
Trump’s advocacy spurring US dispensations to follow through
In a recent tweet, the US president shared a New York Post report of a Florida man diagnosed with coronavirus, claiming to have been “saved” by chloroquine. Moreover, Trump recently also said, "The nice part is," that chloroquine has been “around for a long time, so we know that if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody.”
With continued questions over its efficacy, Trump’s relentless advocacy eventually even triggered the FDA to announce fast-track testing of the drug. Moreover, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn also announced that the drug would be available for “compassionate use” i.e. using "a drug off-label when other treatment options aren't available.”
Trump even went on to announce: “At my direction, the federal government is working to help obtain large quantities of chloroquine”. Concurrently, it was reported that multinational pharmaceutical giant Bayer has “donated 3 million doses of Resochin, its brand name for chloroquine” to the US federal government.
State-level dispensations have also begun to procure the drug, and that has spurred Trump to even commend his otherwise political critics. Recently, the US president hailed two clinical trails announced by Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
As New York has emerged as the American epicentre of the outbreak, the two leaders have clashed over states assuming a heightened role in face of an inadequate federal response. However, one of the announced trails, which would combine the antibiotic zithromax (azithromycin) and hydroxychloroquine, prompted Trump to acknowledge Cuomo as having “been working very hard". Following through, the Cuomo dispensation is reported to have acquired 750,000 doses of chloroquine and 70,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine.
Absent of large-scale definitive clinical trials to support Trump’s claims, experts have cautioned against overpromising on chloroquine.
Claim triggers panic-buying and self-medication
The consequence of overstating the drug’s efficacy — without commensurate trials, has led to people scrambling to get their hands on the drug, and even self-medicate.
Dr. Anthony Fauci — Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a central member of the Trump administration’s Coronavirus Task Force, has tempered Trump’s positive outlook on the drug by underscoring that there is no “magic drug” to treat coronavirus. He has also referred to evidence that the drug could be helpful as being merely "anecdotal."
Further, Dr. Deborah Birx, US Vice President Mike Pence's coronavirus response coordinator clarified that the drug has to-date only shown “promise in the test tubes.” Lastly, testing of chloroquine warrants long-term follow-ups as it is known to trigger side-effects like seizures, nausea, vomiting, deafness, vision changes and low blood pressure.
However, across the world, panic-buying has ensued. For instance, Nigeria’s government recently reported three people to have been hospitalised after overdosing on chloroquine, and its city of Lagos reported running out of stock. Similar events were also reported in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and Pakistan.
Even in the US, attempts to dampen panic-buying and self-medication have borne little effect. According to a recent report, American hospitals’ orders for chloroquine were “up 3,000%”.
Furthermore, a man in Arizona died and his wife was put under intensive care after the couple sought to self-medicate with chloroquine. The woman reportedly told NBC News that the couple got the idea to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus via Trump’s televised Coronavirus Task Force briefings. She added, “Don’t believe anything the president says… And his people. Because they don’t know what they’re talking about”.
In India, a death possibly linked to the use of chloroquine was recently reported. The deceased, who was a doctor in Assam was known to have self-medicated with hydroxychloroquine. That report closely followed the Indian Council of Medical Research issuing an advisory on permitting the use of Hydroxychloroquine only for “restricted use in emergency situations” only. Possibly, it is now time to also consider a campaign advising the common populace to refrain from panic-buying and self-medicating.
Trump touts India-sourced malaria drug as coronavirus ‘game changer’ | ORF
Gloves from Kerala to protect Serbians from Covid-19 threat
Shenoy Karun | TNN | Updated: Mar 31, 2020, 17:08 IST
Photo: The surgical gloves are being loaded on a TranAVIAexport Airlines cargo plane at the Cochin International Airport.
KOCHI: As part of fighting the Covid-19 crisis, the health authorities of Serbia is sourcing 69 lakh pairs of surgical gloves from Kerala, expected to be sufficient for the southeastern European country’s entire population.
St Mary’s Rubbers Ltd, a firm based in Kanjirappally of Kottayam district and specialised in surgical examination gloves, has already sent 35 lakh pairs by air on Saturday through the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL).
A TranAVIAexport Airlines cargo plane is waiting in the background to load the surgical gloves at the Cochin International Airport Ltd on Saturday.
Serbia, which has a population of nearly 70 lakh, has identified 741 cases of Covid-19 and registered 13 deaths, according to the data from the Coronavirus Resource Centre of Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, US.
The rubber surgical examination gloves being produced at the manufacturing facility of St Mary’s Rubbers at Kanjirappally.
The first lot of the order, packed into more than 7,000 boxes weighing a total of over 90,000 kg, was sent on a Boeing 747 of the TranAVIAexport Airlines, the cargo air lifter of the Belarusian national airline on Saturday. The rest of the order, 34 lakh pairs, will be air-shipped within ten days.
St Mary’s Rubbers, an exporter of rubber surgical gloves under the brand Medismart, is situated in Kanjirappally, the heartland of rubber plantations of Kerala.
“We have a capacity of five lakh pairs per day and employ nearly 600 people locally,” said Sunny Jacob, managing director of the firm.
The group also runs a large centrifugal latex factory, an award-winning export facility in its category. The firm had been exporting gloves to 40 countries globally, which includes the US, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Greece, Tunisia, the UAE and other major African countries.
“Though we had exported to Serbia earlier, it is for the first time that the health authorities are buying directly. Also this is the single largest export order the company has received yet,” said Subin Jose, manager-marketing of gloves division at St Mary’s Rubber.
Currently, the firm is producing gloves for the state government-owned Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL), the central procurement agency for essential drugs and equipment for all public healthcare institutions under the department of health and family welfare, Kerala.
Gloves from Kerala to protect Serbians from Covid-19 threat | Kochi News - Times of India
Shenoy Karun | TNN | Updated: Mar 31, 2020, 17:08 IST
Photo: The surgical gloves are being loaded on a TranAVIAexport Airlines cargo plane at the Cochin International Airport.
KOCHI: As part of fighting the Covid-19 crisis, the health authorities of Serbia is sourcing 69 lakh pairs of surgical gloves from Kerala, expected to be sufficient for the southeastern European country’s entire population.
St Mary’s Rubbers Ltd, a firm based in Kanjirappally of Kottayam district and specialised in surgical examination gloves, has already sent 35 lakh pairs by air on Saturday through the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL).
A TranAVIAexport Airlines cargo plane is waiting in the background to load the surgical gloves at the Cochin International Airport Ltd on Saturday.
Serbia, which has a population of nearly 70 lakh, has identified 741 cases of Covid-19 and registered 13 deaths, according to the data from the Coronavirus Resource Centre of Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, US.
The rubber surgical examination gloves being produced at the manufacturing facility of St Mary’s Rubbers at Kanjirappally.
The first lot of the order, packed into more than 7,000 boxes weighing a total of over 90,000 kg, was sent on a Boeing 747 of the TranAVIAexport Airlines, the cargo air lifter of the Belarusian national airline on Saturday. The rest of the order, 34 lakh pairs, will be air-shipped within ten days.
St Mary’s Rubbers, an exporter of rubber surgical gloves under the brand Medismart, is situated in Kanjirappally, the heartland of rubber plantations of Kerala.
“We have a capacity of five lakh pairs per day and employ nearly 600 people locally,” said Sunny Jacob, managing director of the firm.
The group also runs a large centrifugal latex factory, an award-winning export facility in its category. The firm had been exporting gloves to 40 countries globally, which includes the US, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Greece, Tunisia, the UAE and other major African countries.
“Though we had exported to Serbia earlier, it is for the first time that the health authorities are buying directly. Also this is the single largest export order the company has received yet,” said Subin Jose, manager-marketing of gloves division at St Mary’s Rubber.
Currently, the firm is producing gloves for the state government-owned Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL), the central procurement agency for essential drugs and equipment for all public healthcare institutions under the department of health and family welfare, Kerala.
Gloves from Kerala to protect Serbians from Covid-19 threat | Kochi News - Times of India
Oh the devil media. For every criminal inaction - please media will say bad things about me, please don't ask me to act, media will tarnish my carefully built image.
Which media are you talking about BTW? TOP NEWS CHANNELS-
Aajtak - nobody knows where they are, top anchors leaning BJP.
ABP News - no particular ideology but anchors very sympathetic towards BJP.
Zee News - BJP's MP channel.
India Tv - Rajat Sharma founder is staunch overt BJP supporter, close friend of Modi and Jaitely.
NDTV - CPIM mouthpiece.
News 18 - Reliance ownership.
Republic Bharat - overtly right wing.
Republic TV - overtly right wing.
Times Now - right leaning.
India Today - no particular ideology top anchors leans anti BJP.
Now check out the rating chart, the only two channels that are anti BJP are almost non existent. Infact they are thankful that slaves keep them relevant otherwise they would have died long time back.
With almost 70% rating media overtly right wing, 20-25% with no visible ideology you are telling me a party with 300MP wet their pant because their is NDTV and Rajdeep in India Today?
For every inaction and incompetence it's somehow media to be blamed. If you can't handle media, if you are so touchy why the fk are you in power? Let muslims block road for months cuz media will hurt us, let muslims run riot cuz media will hurt us, let muslims defy lockdown and spread corona virus cuz media will hurt us.
This is what happens when your whole system is dependent on media only, you get these touchy a$$ clowns that decided everything on media value and not on responsibility. Send all your media dogs to UP and see if they can even make dent to Yogi's danda.
Reading some slaves it feels like it's first time India is dealing with protests and somehow some broken skulls will be the disaster.
So what should I do? How is it relevant to me? US didn't shut down because they can handle, they have better equipped hospitals, we don't, so we proceeded with precaution and shut down. Stop comparing US to India, they are not even in same league, please use some common sense if you don't have any idea of ground realities of India.
Can India be an outlier in the spread of Covid-19? | Opinion
Indians may have genetic advantages, but these need more studies. Meanwhile, fully enforce the lockdown
Updated: Mar 31, 2020 20:07 IST
By Narinder Kumar Mehra
To this end, the images of crowds gathering in several places whether for panic buying or interstate movements are disturbing. They could jeopardise all efforts and mitigate whatever natural advantages we enjoy. The State must act fast to enforce the lockdown, even forcibly if necessary(Gurpreet Singh / Hindustan Times)
The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) first appeared in the Wuhan district of Hubei province of China in early December 2019. The first case was reported by China on January 7, 2020, and this aroused variable interest worldwide, with most countries initially ignoring the novel infection. Fortunately, Indian health authorities sensed the danger, largely because the country has always been alert to new infections. The scientific think-tank at the Indian council of Medical Research (ICMR) became active immediately and the first laboratory confirmed case was identified at ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, sometime towards the end of January.
A look at the world Covid meter shows that there is striking variation in mortality rates across countries, ranging from 0.2% to 15% depending on age, the smoking habit and pre-existing co-morbidities. It may be too early to tell, but in general, countries in the Northern hemisphere have faced the maximum brunt, and those in the Southern hemisphere (and those located proximate to the Equator) have so far escaped high infection numbers.
Three factors seem to be playing a role in the observed lower numbers in India with almost zero occurrence of severe Covid-19 cases (until now). First, broad-based immunity in the population due to the extensive microbial load. The Indian population has been exposed to a vast variety of pathogens, including bacteria, parasites and viruses leading to the generation of broad specific memory T-cells in the system, ready to attack additional foreign invaders.
For example, the three main killers of Tuberculosis, HIV and Malaria have plagued India, Africa and several countries in the Southern hemisphere much more than the European and North American nations. In the context of CoV-2 coronavirus, the beneficial role of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine has been much talked about and debated, while there has already been an extensive usage of this drug at the community level in India -- this too may ultimately prove beneficial.
Second, epigenetic factors that include environment and food habits may also play a beneficial role for countries such as India; much literature is already available in Ayurveda and other Indian systems of medicine on the definitive beneficial effects of Indian spices in augmenting immunity.
Third, and most important, is the possible role of immune response genes in the Indian population. These genes are collectively referred to as comprising the human leucocyte antigen system or simply, the HLA genes. Their main biological function is to present invading foreign antigens to the immune systems, since T-cells, which act as the body’s soldiers come into play only when pathogens are presented to them in a more formal manner in association with HLA genes. In other words, the pathogen must first attach to compounds created by HLA genes before T-Cells attack it. If no such compounds are produced by the body, then the T-Cells are ineffective. As a consequence of the microbial load, the Indian population possesses a high genetic diversity of HLA, much more extensive than Caucasian populations. Indeed, studies by the author at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, over several decades revealed the presence of several novel HLA genes and their alleles in the Indian population, most of which do not occur in other ethnic groups. Such genetic diversity of HLA could affect viral fitness.
The question then is: Why should genetic variation in HLA genes play a role in the Covid-19 progression? One hint comes from earlier studies in related viral diseases: Certain genetic variants of the HLA system provide protection against such viruses, while others increase genetic susceptibility to them. Another source of indirect evidence comes from recent clinical Covid-19 studies which showed that rapid T-cell response appears to be crucial for recovery from Covid-19, and reduced functional diversity of T cells in peripheral blood could predict progression of Covid-19.
The big question is: Does this give Indians a better chance at fighting the virus effectively? From the epidemiological data so far, it seems so (although much more extensive research is required). However, it is important for us to keep viral loads in check and below the threshold levels. In this context, the complete lockdown announced by the government is highly timely and most desirable. It is imperative that the virus replication cycle gets disrupted as early as possible before it gains numbers that may become difficult for us to counter.
To this end, the images of crowds gathering in several places whether for panic buying or interstate movements are disturbing. They could jeopardise all efforts and mitigate whatever natural advantages we enjoy.
The State must act fast to enforce the lockdown, even forcibly if necessary. India may be the outlier in fighting the coronavirus infection and succeed in keeping the overall numbers lower than the rest of the world with minimal deaths.
Narinder Kumar Mehra is the ICMR National chair and former Dean of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
The views expressed are personal.
Can India be an outlier in the spread of Covid-19? | Opinion
Indians may have genetic advantages, but these need more studies. Meanwhile, fully enforce the lockdown
Updated: Mar 31, 2020 20:07 IST
By Narinder Kumar Mehra
The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) first appeared in the Wuhan district of Hubei province of China in early December 2019. The first case was reported by China on January 7, 2020, and this aroused variable interest worldwide, with most countries initially ignoring the novel infection. Fortunately, Indian health authorities sensed the danger, largely because the country has always been alert to new infections. The scientific think-tank at the Indian council of Medical Research (ICMR) became active immediately and the first laboratory confirmed case was identified at ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, sometime towards the end of January.
A look at the world Covid meter shows that there is striking variation in mortality rates across countries, ranging from 0.2% to 15% depending on age, the smoking habit and pre-existing co-morbidities. It may be too early to tell, but in general, countries in the Northern hemisphere have faced the maximum brunt, and those in the Southern hemisphere (and those located proximate to the Equator) have so far escaped high infection numbers.
Three factors seem to be playing a role in the observed lower numbers in India with almost zero occurrence of severe Covid-19 cases (until now). First, broad-based immunity in the population due to the extensive microbial load. The Indian population has been exposed to a vast variety of pathogens, including bacteria, parasites and viruses leading to the generation of broad specific memory T-cells in the system, ready to attack additional foreign invaders.
For example, the three main killers of Tuberculosis, HIV and Malaria have plagued India, Africa and several countries in the Southern hemisphere much more than the European and North American nations. In the context of CoV-2 coronavirus, the beneficial role of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine has been much talked about and debated, while there has already been an extensive usage of this drug at the community level in India -- this too may ultimately prove beneficial.
Second, epigenetic factors that include environment and food habits may also play a beneficial role for countries such as India; much literature is already available in Ayurveda and other Indian systems of medicine on the definitive beneficial effects of Indian spices in augmenting immunity.
Third, and most important, is the possible role of immune response genes in the Indian population. These genes are collectively referred to as comprising the human leucocyte antigen system or simply, the HLA genes. Their main biological function is to present invading foreign antigens to the immune systems, since T-cells, which act as the body’s soldiers come into play only when pathogens are presented to them in a more formal manner in association with HLA genes. In other words, the pathogen must first attach to compounds created by HLA genes before T-Cells attack it. If no such compounds are produced by the body, then the T-Cells are ineffective. As a consequence of the microbial load, the Indian population possesses a high genetic diversity of HLA, much more extensive than Caucasian populations. Indeed, studies by the author at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, over several decades revealed the presence of several novel HLA genes and their alleles in the Indian population, most of which do not occur in other ethnic groups. Such genetic diversity of HLA could affect viral fitness.
The question then is: Why should genetic variation in HLA genes play a role in the Covid-19 progression? One hint comes from earlier studies in related viral diseases: Certain genetic variants of the HLA system provide protection against such viruses, while others increase genetic susceptibility to them. Another source of indirect evidence comes from recent clinical Covid-19 studies which showed that rapid T-cell response appears to be crucial for recovery from Covid-19, and reduced functional diversity of T cells in peripheral blood could predict progression of Covid-19.
The big question is: Does this give Indians a better chance at fighting the virus effectively? From the epidemiological data so far, it seems so (although much more extensive research is required). However, it is important for us to keep viral loads in check and below the threshold levels. In this context, the complete lockdown announced by the government is highly timely and most desirable. It is imperative that the virus replication cycle gets disrupted as early as possible before it gains numbers that may become difficult for us to counter.
To this end, the images of crowds gathering in several places whether for panic buying or interstate movements are disturbing. They could jeopardise all efforts and mitigate whatever natural advantages we enjoy.
The State must act fast to enforce the lockdown, even forcibly if necessary. India may be the outlier in fighting the coronavirus infection and succeed in keeping the overall numbers lower than the rest of the world with minimal deaths.
Narinder Kumar Mehra is the ICMR National chair and former Dean of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
The views expressed are personal.
Can India be an outlier in the spread of Covid-19? | Opinion
India is not an outlier but it is following trajectory of UK. India on 28th was at the same place where UK was on 17th or so. This is after compensating for undertesting we have done.
To be honest, its not TOO bad. India won't become US or Italy, most likely.
Markaz leadership resisted, then NSA Ajit Doval dropped by at 2 am
The operation has moved into Phase 2. In this, security officials say the effort is to trace all the foreigners who are in India, get them medically screened and then take a close look at violation of the visa norms.
Updated: Apr 01, 2020 09:51 IST
By Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times New Delhi
National security advisor Ajit Doval is on a first name basis with virtually all the Muslim ulemas and spends time with them to form a national strategy for India. (HT Photo)
When Maulana Saad, head of Nizamuddin Markaz, refused to yield to pleas from Delhi Police and security agencies to vacate the Banglewali Masjid, Home Minister Amit Shah requested National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval to get the job done.
According to top Home Ministry officials, Doval reached around 2:00 am on March 28-29 night at the markaz and convinced Maulana Saad to get the occupants to be tested for the Covid-19 infection and be quarantined. Shah and Doval knew about the situation building up since the security agencies had tracked down the nine test positive Indonesians at Karimnagar, in Telangana, to the markaz on March 18 itself.
The security agencies had sent an alert on the markaz infection the very next day to all state police and subsidiary offices.
While the markaz allowed 167 Tablighi workers to be hospitalised on March 27, 28 and 29, it was only after the intervention of Doval that the Jamaat leadership yielded to cleaning up of the masjid. Doval, for the past decades, has built very close connections with the various Muslim movements in India and abroad. He is on a first name basis with virtually all the Muslim ulemas and spends time with them to form a national strategy for India.
The operation has now moved into Phase 2. In this, security officials say the effort is to trace all the foreigners who are in India, get them medically screened and then take a hard look at violation of the visa norms. There were 216 foreign nationals in the markaz in Delhi but there are over 800 more in different parts of the country. Most of them are nationals of Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
Since January, the home ministry has said, about 2,000 foreigners have attended the markaz congregation. Initial reports indicate almost all of them violated their visa conditions by entering India on visas for tourists, not missionaries.
This, officials said, had happened despite the government’s repeated reminders to file visa requests under the missionary category. They will be blacklisted from entering the country again.
Apart from the foreigners, a massive effort is also afoot to identify all Indians who attended the congregations in Delhi or came in close contact with people who did. They are also being screened for Covid-19 and placed in quarantine.
The Tablighi Jamaat was founded by Maulana Ilyas Kandhlawi, great grandfather of Maulana Saad, in the Mewati region. The Tablighis, then comprised of Muslim converts of Mewati rural population, fought with Rana Sangha of Mewar against Babur in Battle of Khanwa near Bharatpur against Mughal ruler Babur in 1527 after the first Battle of Panipat. The Jamaat purely focuses on Quran to preach on how to be a good Muslim with the objective of proselytisation.
The movement has now been split into many factions with Pakistan using the Tablighis to take control of the group in South Asia and use it for spreading radical preaching.
Markaz leadership resisted, then NSA Ajit Doval dropped by at 2 am
The operation has moved into Phase 2. In this, security officials say the effort is to trace all the foreigners who are in India, get them medically screened and then take a close look at violation of the visa norms.
Updated: Apr 01, 2020 09:51 IST
By Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times New Delhi
National security advisor Ajit Doval is on a first name basis with virtually all the Muslim ulemas and spends time with them to form a national strategy for India. (HT Photo)
When Maulana Saad, head of Nizamuddin Markaz, refused to yield to pleas from Delhi Police and security agencies to vacate the Banglewali Masjid, Home Minister Amit Shah requested National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval to get the job done.
According to top Home Ministry officials, Doval reached around 2:00 am on March 28-29 night at the markaz and convinced Maulana Saad to get the occupants to be tested for the Covid-19 infection and be quarantined. Shah and Doval knew about the situation building up since the security agencies had tracked down the nine test positive Indonesians at Karimnagar, in Telangana, to the markaz on March 18 itself.
The security agencies had sent an alert on the markaz infection the very next day to all state police and subsidiary offices.
While the markaz allowed 167 Tablighi workers to be hospitalised on March 27, 28 and 29, it was only after the intervention of Doval that the Jamaat leadership yielded to cleaning up of the masjid. Doval, for the past decades, has built very close connections with the various Muslim movements in India and abroad. He is on a first name basis with virtually all the Muslim ulemas and spends time with them to form a national strategy for India.
The operation has now moved into Phase 2. In this, security officials say the effort is to trace all the foreigners who are in India, get them medically screened and then take a hard look at violation of the visa norms. There were 216 foreign nationals in the markaz in Delhi but there are over 800 more in different parts of the country. Most of them are nationals of Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
Since January, the home ministry has said, about 2,000 foreigners have attended the markaz congregation. Initial reports indicate almost all of them violated their visa conditions by entering India on visas for tourists, not missionaries.
This, officials said, had happened despite the government’s repeated reminders to file visa requests under the missionary category. They will be blacklisted from entering the country again.
Apart from the foreigners, a massive effort is also afoot to identify all Indians who attended the congregations in Delhi or came in close contact with people who did. They are also being screened for Covid-19 and placed in quarantine.
The Tablighi Jamaat was founded by Maulana Ilyas Kandhlawi, great grandfather of Maulana Saad, in the Mewati region. The Tablighis, then comprised of Muslim converts of Mewati rural population, fought with Rana Sangha of Mewar against Babur in Battle of Khanwa near Bharatpur against Mughal ruler Babur in 1527 after the first Battle of Panipat. The Jamaat purely focuses on Quran to preach on how to be a good Muslim with the objective of proselytisation.
The movement has now been split into many factions with Pakistan using the Tablighis to take control of the group in South Asia and use it for spreading radical preaching.
Markaz leadership resisted, then NSA Ajit Doval dropped by at 2 am
These are web portals not media, RW also have such portals, some quality ones some as crappy as these.
That audio is authentic, it was actually shared in whatsapp group of Jamat and from there was forwarded to others. It's not a secret recording but a broadcasted message from their leader to encourage defying lockdown.