For a country where people often get reduced to statistics given the humongous population, India hardly has any effective data measurement tools that can be relied upon and swung into action amidst a pandemic, as the ongoing Covid-19 crisis has exposed. The Indian administration doesn’t have data on how many migrant workers lost their lives … Read more
According to official data, the app has traced more than 8.5 million Bluetooth contacts so far. Out of these, around 1.5 million people have been tested and around 4,00,000 were found positive. Synopsis Central government authorities who built the app claim that contact tracing through Aarogya Setu yields a positivity rate of close to 27%, … Read more
Illustration / Peter Hamlin; LONDON: Contact tracing apps are unlikely to contain the spread of Covid-19 without proper public health control measures such as physical distancing and closure of indoor spaces, according to a review of studies. The systematic review, published in the journal Lancet Digital Health on Thursday, shows that evidence around the effectiveness … Read more
NOIDA/LUCKNOW: Kerala Police’s decision to trace contacts of Covid patients with their call detail records (CDR) has attracted widespread criticism, with many saying that the procedure amounts to breach of privacy. But cops in Uttar Pradesh have for months been relying on CDRs to strengthen the health department’s contact-tracing measures. Described as a “secondary” tool, … Read more
It took six months for the world to reach 10 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus. It took just over six weeks for that number to double. The worldwide count of known COVID-19 infections climbed past 20 million on Monday, with more than half of them from just three countries: the U.S., India and Brazil, … Read more
NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on labour has said that the work of ASHA and Anganwadi workers must be formalised, their wages made specific and they should not be treated as honorary workers. Hundreds of ASHA workers have been on the frontline of Covid-19 related screening and contact tracing and have held protests in … Read more
Ravina Kullar, PharmD, infectious disease expert. JAMA Network Open: “Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Screening Strategies to Permit the Safe Reopening of College Campuses in the United States.” CDC: “Interim Considerations for Institutions of Higher Education Administrators for SARS-CoV-2 Testing.” University of Georgia: “Plans for Surveillance Testing and Notification.” News conference, Sarah Fortune, chair, Harvard Department … Read more
By Heesu Lee In May, when a coronavirus outbreak hit nightclubs in the South Korean capital of Seoul, health officials quickly unleashed their version of the Navy Seals — elite teams of epidemiologists, database specialists and laboratory technicians. An old-school, shoe-leather investigation showed the virus had jumped from a night-club visitor, to a student, to … Read more
NEW DELHI: Delhi’s sero-surveillance has revealed that 22.86% of the people have been affected by Covid-19 in the city. The survey, which was conducted from June 27 to July 10 by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in collaboration with Delhi government, also indicated that a large number of infected persons remain asymptomatic. The … Read more
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday attacked the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the rapid rise in coronavirus cases, alleging that the disease has taken a “gigantic form” as the Yogi Adityanath dispensation did not pay attention to key containment measures such as testing and contact tracing. The Congress general secretary … Read more