Coronavirus LIVE: 'Totally Fallacious,' Health Ministry Refutes Reports Claiming 'Vastly Undercounted' COVID Deaths In India

Coronavirus LIVE Thursday, July 22: No respite from COVID in Kerala as state continues to have one of the highest levels of daily cases, TPR and active cases in the country.

Background

Coronavirus LIVE Thursday, July 22: Maharashtra reported 8,159 new COVID-19 cases and 165 fresh fatalities on Wednesday, taking the infection tally to 62,37,755 and the death toll to 1,30,918, a health department official said.The official said as many as 7,839 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of recovered cases to 60,08,750.The state has 94,745 COVID-19 patients under treatment, he said.Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate is 96.33 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.09 per cent, the official said.Nandurbar district, once among the worst affected, did not record any new coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, he said.According to the official, Mumbai recorded 430 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 7,32,582, while the death toll increased to 15,800 with the addition of 13 fresh fatalities.A total of 1,451 new COVID-19 cases and 23 fatalities were reported in the wider Mumbai region, which comprises the city and its satellite towns, taking the tally to 16,30,005 and the death toll to 33,890.The national capital on Wednesday reported 62 new COVID cases, and four deaths in the last 24 hours.The daily COVID positivity rate was at 0.9 per cent, according to the Delhi government's health bulletin.There was marginal increase in both daily number of cases and positivity rate in comparison to Tuesday, when 44 cases and a 0.7 per cent positivity rate were reported.Meanwhile, 61 people more recovered from the disease, taking the national capital's total number of recoveries to 14,10,066.With the latest deaths reported on Tuesday, Delhi's COVID death toll has risen to 25,039.Meanwhile, there seems to be no respite from COVID in Kerala, as on Wednesday, 17,481 people turned out positive from 1,45,993 samples sent for testing in the past 24 hours, and the daily test positivity rate (TPR) rose to 11.97 per cent, as per a government statement.The state continues to have one of the highest levels of daily cases, TPR and active cases, which stood at 1,29,640 on Wednesday, in the country.According to a statement issued by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Malappuram district had the highest daily number of cases, at 2,318, followed by Ernakulam with 2,270, Kozhikode with 2,151, Trissur at 1983, and the state capital district had 1,166.There were 105 fresh deaths, taking the total death tally to 15,617.Across the state, there were 4,06,370 people under observation, including 25,054 people in hospitals.With 2,214 patients discharged during the day, recoveries outnumbered 1,639 new COVID cases in Karnataka, while 36 died of the infection, said the state health bulletin on Wednesday."Recoveries shot up to 28,26,411 till date, with 2,214 patients discharged from hospitals over the last 24 hours, while 1,639 new cases were registered on Tuesday, taking the state's COVID tally to 28,88,341, including 25,645 active cases," said the bulletin.As epicentre of the pandemic in the state, Bengaluru, however, reported only 419 fresh cases on Tuesday, taking its COVID tally to 12,23,226, including 9,495 active cases, while 11,97,916 recovered so far, with 963 patients discharged during the day.With 36 people, including 7 in Bengaluru, succumbing to the infection during the day, the state's death toll rose to 36,262 and the city's toll to 15,814 since the pandemic broke out in mid-March a year ago.

22/07/2021 15:43:26

60,92,264 Indians brought back amid COVID under Vande Bharat Mission: Govt

Several foreign diplomats resident in India were affected by COVID-19. All possible medical assistance was promptly provided to the diplomatic missions, which requested for such help for their diplomats and family members: MoS (MEA) Rajkumar Ranjan Singh replies in Rajya Sabha.

The assistance included facilitation in hospitalization, telemedicine consultations, medicines, vaccination, he added.

60,92,264 Indians were brought back from foreign countries during COVID-19 under Vande Bharat Mission as on April 30, 2021: Govt tells Rajya Sabha

 

22/07/2021 14:15:07

Delhi: Govt CVC Slots For COVISHIELD Vaccine Reserved For Second Dose Till July 31

In view of the limited supply of vaccine, all slots, both for online booking & for walk-in vaccination in the sessions being planned in Govt CVCs administering COVISHIELD vaccine will be reserved for the second dose of COVISHIELD with immediate effect till 31 July 2021: Delhi Govt.

22/07/2021 13:39:40

'Totally Fallacious': Union Health Ministry Refutes Reports Claiming 'Vastly Undercounted' COVID Deaths In India

New Delhi: Refuting media reports that alleged India's COVID-19 death count was "vastly undercounted", the government on Thursday said the reports assume that all excess mortality figures are COVID deaths, which is not based on facts and totally fallacious.

Given the robust and statute-based death registration system in India, while some cases could go undetected as per the principles of infectious disease and its management, missing out on the deaths is unlikely, the Union Health Ministry said.

There have been some recent media reports alleging that India's tally of excess deaths during the pandemic could be in millions, terming the official COVID-19 death count "vastly undercounted", the ministry said in a statement.

In these news reports, quoting findings from some recent studies, the US and European countries' age-specific infection fatality rates have been used to calculate excess deaths in India based on the sero-positivity.

"The extrapolation of deaths has been done on an audacious assumption that the likelihood of any given infected person dying is the same across countries, dismissing the interplay between various direct and indirect factors such as race, ethnicity, genomic constitution of a population, previous exposure levels to other diseases and the associated immunity developed in that population," the statement said.

Furthermore, the sero-prevalence studies are not only used to guide strategy and measures to further prevent the spread of infection to the vulnerable population but are also used as another basis to extrapolate deaths.

The studies also have another potential concern that the antibody titers may diminish over time, leading to underestimation of true prevalence and corresponding overestimation of infection fatality rate.

"Further, the reports assume that all the excess mortality figures are COVID-19 deaths, which is not based on facts and totally fallacious. Excess mortality is a term used to describe an all-cause mortality figure and attributing these deaths to COVID-19 is completely misleading," the statement said.

India has a thorough contact-tracing strategy. All the primary contacts, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, are tested for COVID-19. The true detected cases are the ones that test positive with RT-PCR, which is the gold standard of COVID-19 test.

In addition to the contacts, given the vast availability of more than 2,700 testing laboratories in the country, anyone who wants to get tested is able to get the test done. This, coupled with awareness campaigns about the symptoms and access to medical care, has ensured people could reach out to hospitals in case of need.

Given the robust and statute-based death registration system in India, missing out on the deaths is unlikely.

This could also be seen in the case fatality rate, which, as on 31st December 2020, stood at 1.45 per cent and even after an unexpected surge observed in the second wave in April-May 2021, the case fatality rate today stands at 1.34 per cent, it said.

Moreover, the reporting of daily new cases and deaths in India follows a bottom-up approach, where districts report the number of cases and deaths to the state governments and to the Union Ministry on a continuous basis, the statement said.

As early as May 2020, to avoid inconsistency or confusion in the number of deaths being reported, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued 'Guidance for appropriate recording of COVID-19 related deaths in India' for correct recording of all deaths by States/UTs as recommended by the WHO for mortality coding.

In his statement in Rajya Sabha, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has refuted allegations of hiding COVID-19 deaths and said that the central government only compiles and publishes data sent by the state governments, the statement said.

The Union Health Ministry has been repeatedly advising states and UTs for recording of deaths in accordance with guidelines.

The Health Ministry has also regularly emphasised the need for a robust reporting mechanism for monitoring district-wise cases and deaths on a daily basis.

States have been advised to conduct thorough audits in their hospitals and report any cases or deaths that could have been missed with a district and date-wise details so as to guide a data-driven decision-making.

During the peak of the second wave, the entire health system was focused on effective clinical management of cases requiring medical help, and correct reporting & recording could have been compromised which is also evident in a few states such as Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh reconciling their number of deaths recently.

In addition to this reporting, the robustness of statute-based Civil Registration System (CRS) ensures all the births and deaths in the country get registered.

The CRS follows process of data collection, cleaning, collating and publishing the numbers, which although is a time-consuming process, but ensures no deaths are missed out. For the expanse and amplitude of the activity, the numbers are usually published a year later, the statement said. (PTI)

22/07/2021 13:02:21

Kerala planning pharmaceutical park to meet medicinal requirements

In the health sector, Kerala is planning a pharmaceutical park to meet medicinal requirements and manufacture medical equipment and medicines. We've started manufacturing sanitizer, hand gloves and PPE kits required for COVID prevention: Kerala Industries Min P Rajeev in State Assembly.

22/07/2021 12:11:24

US Children Aged Below 12 Yrs Could Be Eligible For COVID Vaccine 'Soon', Says President Joe Biden

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden said that children under the age of 12 could be eligible to receive a Covid 19 vaccine "soon", predicting that his government could green-light the rollout for young Americans in the next few months.

"Soon, I believe," Biden told CNN on Wednesday when he as asked when would children under 12 would be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

"Soon, in the sense that I do not tell any scientists what they should do. I do not interfere. So, they are doing the examinations now, the testing now, and making the decision now," he said, adding that scientists will make a decision "when they are ready" and have "done all the science that needs to be done" to determine the appropriate vaccination for different age groups.

America's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday it was "very likely" that data about Covid-19 vaccines in children under 12 may be available by early winter.

"Very likely when you do the age de-escalation study, so we've gone from 12 to nine, nine to six, six to two and then six months to two years, likely by late fall, early winter, we'll have enough data," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at a Senate hearing.

"But that doesn't mean that then it's all of a sudden going to be allowed to happen. That will be a regulatory decision that the FDA will have to make," he said.

Biden also indicated that he expects the Covid-19 vaccines, which currently are approved under emergency use authorization, to get full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration "quickly".

"The expectation, they're not promising me any specific date, but my expectation talking to the group of scientists we put together ... is that sometime, maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning of September, October, they'll get a final approval saying the (US Food and Drug Administration) said, 'No, this is it. It's good'."

Stressing that he doesn't "tell any scientist what they should do," Biden told CNN that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will likely issue guidance saying "everyone under the age of 12 should probably be wearing a mask in school" .

Currently, none of the three Covid-19 vaccines used in the US is available to children under the age of 12.

With many schools across the US now just weeks from reopening for the fall semester, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are still conducting clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccines in children under 12.

Data for children ages five to 11 could come sometime in September, and depending on the findings, Pfizer told CNN that it could ask the FDA to authorise emergency use of the vaccine that same month.

Data for the two to five-year-olds could arrive soon after.

For the youngest children, Pfizer said it could potentially get data in October or November, and shortly thereafter ask the FDA to authorise emergency use.

So far, almost 4.09 million children in the US have tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to a latest report of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association. (IANS)

22/07/2021 11:36:50

Black Fungus Cases In Delhi

A total of 1,734 cases of Mucormycosis has been reported in Delhi, says MoS (Health) Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar in Rajya Sabha

22/07/2021 10:38:21

India COVID Vaccine Drive

More than 43.79 crore (43,79,78,900) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 40,59,77,410 doses as per data available at 8 am today: Union Health Ministry.

22/07/2021 09:05:36

Global COVID-19 caseload tops 191.9 million-mark

Washington: The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 191.9 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.12 million and vaccinations soared to over 3.71 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 191,923,269, 4,125,810 and 3,713,022,529, respectively.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 34,223,853 and 609,846, respectively, according to the CSSE.

In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 31,216,337 cases.

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (19,473,954), France (5,973,880), Russia (5,955,089), Turkey (5,554,317), the UK (5,586,497), Argentina (4,798,851), Colombia (4,679,994), Italy (4,297,337), Spain (4,219,723), Germany (3,756,497) and Iran (3,603,527), the CSSE figures showed.

In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 545,604 fatalities.

Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (418,480), Mexico (236,810), Peru (195,243), Russia (148,229), the UK (129,182), Italy (127,905), Colombia (117,482), France (111,737) and Argentina (102,818). (IANS)

22/07/2021 08:19:34

New COVID Cases, Deaths And Spread Of Variants All On The Rise, Says WHO

Geneva: While previous months saw decreasing cases of Covid-19 worldwide, the trend has changed this month and last week saw a 12 per cent increase in the number of cases, while deaths and spread of variants are also on the rise, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday.

A total of 3.4 million new cases have been confirmed last week, during which approximately an average of 490,000 cases were identified each day, compared with 400,000 cases the week before. It confirmed that the novel coronavirus is spreading faster in the world, the WHO said in its weekly update.

Last week, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Brazil were the most affected places with respectively 350,273, 296,447 and 287,610 cases, the WHO said.

The Geneva-based organization also reported that if the virus continues to spread at this rate, the global number of Covid-19 cases could reach 200 million in the next three weeks, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Furthermore, new deaths are also increasing, with 57,000 deaths reported last week as the death toll of the coronavirus has reached well over four million people.

Variants are continuing their progression, as the Alpha variant was seen in 180 countries, territories or areas, and 13 new countries, territories or areas reported cases of the Delta variant.

While the Alpha variant is still detected more often than its counterpart, the Delta variant is believed by the WHO to be 50 per cent more transmissible and might become the dominant form of the virus in the next few months. (IANS)