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Briefing

Alternative medicine
Alternatives & advisories
The Ministry of AYUSH keeps pushing its treatment and prophylaxis protocols for COVID-19 even though there is no evidence to suggest that they are effective at keeping the virus at bay.

COVID containment
In search of a strategy
There is a lack of clarity on the epidemiological basis for the extension of the lockdown and an information gap at various levels on containment procedures.

Health care workers
High-risk warriors
Vulnerability of health care workers during the crisis and the lessons to be learnt on their care according to Dr Zarir Udwadia.

ICMR study
ICMR study finds evidence of community transmission
A recent research work published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR), a journal of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has ...

Temperature factor
Temperature not a factor in COVID transmission
With the worldwide spread of COVID-19, which began in November-December 2019 and unfolded into a pandemic in the following months with the number of ...

Politics
Raw deal to States
When cooperation and trust are the keywords for governments in the fight against COVID, the ruling dispensation at the Centre has, against the principles of federalism, undermined even the State governments’ spaces for negotiation.

Interview
‘If government does not spend now, when will it?’
Interview with Keshav Desiraju, former Union Health Secretary.

Interview: Dr Thomas Isaac
'It is going to be a time of big social problems'
Interview with Dr Thomas Isaac, Kerala Finance Minister.

Jammu & Kashmir
'Weaponising' the virus
As the government continues to punish political leaders in Kashmir, including those who have for long fought for mainstreaming of Kashmir’s polity, there are apprehensions that the authorities may be using the public health crisis to exact political allegiance.

Odisha
On the right track
The State has been able to keep a lid on the coronavirus infection through a strategy involving setting up of response teams, enforcing containment measures, ramping up testing, and using effectively the experience gained in handling natural disasters.

Maharashtra
Surprise surge
In Maharashtra, Mumbai is emerging a hotspot, but the people are generally happy with the government’s efforts to contain the virus and ensure that people’s needs are met during the lockdown.

Hotspots in Maharashtra
Mumbai’s ticking bomb
“If we don’t die from the disease, we will die of starvation,” says Lakshmi Umape, 45, who lives in the sprawling Geeta Nagar slum near the World ...

Uttar Pradesh
Season of distress
The lockdown in the middle of the harvest season is bound to have a devastating effect on the State’s economy as most of the COVID-19 “Red Zone” districts lie in western U.P., which accounts for more than half of the State’s overall agricultural production.

Madhya Pradesh
Chief without a plan
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, caught in the middle of a pandemic without a Cabinet, appears clueless with nearly 50 Health Department officials in quarantine, and the BJP’s attempt to help out with a task force only sharpens the criticism as the situation on the ground continues to worsen.

DELHI
In fits and starts
After the initial lethargic response to the sudden migrant onrush, the State government retrieves lost ground to launch containment and surveillance measures, besides providing relief to the stranded migrants.

Karnataka
Community efforts
While non-governmental organisations step up to meet the food needs of migrant workers, the lack of adequate testing and the inordinate focus on Bengaluru remain worrisome.

Alternative medicine
Alternatives & advisories
The Ministry of AYUSH keeps pushing its treatment and prophylaxis protocols for COVID-19 even though there is no evidence to suggest that they are effective at keeping the virus at bay.

COVID containment
In search of a strategy
There is a lack of clarity on the epidemiological basis for the extension of the lockdown and an information gap at various levels on containment procedures.

Health care workers
High-risk warriors
Vulnerability of health care workers during the crisis and the lessons to be learnt on their care according to Dr Zarir Udwadia.

ICMR study
ICMR study finds evidence of community transmission
A recent research work published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR), a journal of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has ...

Temperature factor
Temperature not a factor in COVID transmission
With the worldwide spread of COVID-19, which began in November-December 2019 and unfolded into a pandemic in the following months with the number of ...

Politics
Raw deal to States
When cooperation and trust are the keywords for governments in the fight against COVID, the ruling dispensation at the Centre has, against the principles of federalism, undermined even the State governments’ spaces for negotiation.

Interview
‘If government does not spend now, when will it?’
Interview with Keshav Desiraju, former Union Health Secretary.

Interview: Dr Thomas Isaac
'It is going to be a time of big social problems'
Interview with Dr Thomas Isaac, Kerala Finance Minister.

Jammu & Kashmir
'Weaponising' the virus
As the government continues to punish political leaders in Kashmir, including those who have for long fought for mainstreaming of Kashmir’s polity, there are apprehensions that the authorities may be using the public health crisis to exact political allegiance.

Odisha
On the right track
The State has been able to keep a lid on the coronavirus infection through a strategy involving setting up of response teams, enforcing containment measures, ramping up testing, and using effectively the experience gained in handling natural disasters.

Maharashtra
Surprise surge
In Maharashtra, Mumbai is emerging a hotspot, but the people are generally happy with the government’s efforts to contain the virus and ensure that people’s needs are met during the lockdown.

Hotspots in Maharashtra
Mumbai’s ticking bomb
“If we don’t die from the disease, we will die of starvation,” says Lakshmi Umape, 45, who lives in the sprawling Geeta Nagar slum near the World ...

Uttar Pradesh
Season of distress
The lockdown in the middle of the harvest season is bound to have a devastating effect on the State’s economy as most of the COVID-19 “Red Zone” districts lie in western U.P., which accounts for more than half of the State’s overall agricultural production.

Madhya Pradesh
Chief without a plan
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, caught in the middle of a pandemic without a Cabinet, appears clueless with nearly 50 Health Department officials in quarantine, and the BJP’s attempt to help out with a task force only sharpens the criticism as the situation on the ground continues to worsen.

DELHI
In fits and starts
After the initial lethargic response to the sudden migrant onrush, the State government retrieves lost ground to launch containment and surveillance measures, besides providing relief to the stranded migrants.

Karnataka
Community efforts
While non-governmental organisations step up to meet the food needs of migrant workers, the lack of adequate testing and the inordinate focus on Bengaluru remain worrisome.