Nod to plasma therapy Ph-III

Nod to plasma therapy Ph-III

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 07.06.2020

The capital has received the Centre’s approval for starting the third phase of plasma therapy trials, under which 200 patients would undergo the procedure. In the second phase, 20 patients underwent the trials and recovered.

“The phase two trial of plasma therapy has been completed and its findings have been submitted to the Centre. The results have been quite encouraging. We have got the permission to start phase three trial, which will begin sometime next week. Earlier we saved lives of 20 people, and now I hope that we manage to save the lives of 200 patients,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said during an interview to a private news channel.

The first novel coronavirus positive patient who was given plasma therapy in a Delhi government hospital was timely discharged after recovering completely. He had been admitted to ICU when the therapy was administered on him, with the results turning out quite positively for the patient.

The Aam Aadmi Party government had endorsed the use of plasma therapy but later a few statements on behalf of the Union government caused people to believe that plasma therapy would be halted in the capital. The central government said that only states, which have been permitted by the Centre, should conduct the plasma therapy trials. The results of the plasma therapy are, at the moment, based on trials.

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PATIENTS WILL UNDERGO PLASMA THERAPY IN THE THIRD PHASE OF TRIALS

Revenue dip may nudge T’gana to raise retirement age

Revenue dip may nudge T’gana to raise retirement age

Roushan.Ali@timesgroup.com  07.06.2020

Hyderabad: With revenues taking a big hit due to the economic slowdown and subsequently the lockdown due to coronavirus, the Telangana government’s decision to raise retirement age from 58 to 60 is now looking more likely. The move is estimated to save the government as much as ₹4,000 crore per annum.

Should the move materialise, the government will not have to pay gratuity, leave encashment, commutation and other retirement benefits in lump-sum thus resulting in huge savings. The finance department is currently working out the details and will send a report to chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who will then take a decision.

Many had been expecting most retirements to take place in the months of February and March instead of June.

Telangana non-gazetted officers’ association president K Ravinder Reddy told TOI that it was high time for the chief minister to implement his promise of enhancing retirement age.

Full report on www.toi.in

Retired AI pilot dies, suspected cause corona

Retired AI pilot dies, suspected cause corona

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:07.06.2020

An Air India pilot, who retired from the airline about a month ago, passed away on Friday night and the cause of death is suspected to be coronavirus.

An airline official said: “The senior captain, 58, had retired in April-end and had not flown in AI after that. We spoke to his family and they are saying it is not Covid, although the building (where the pilot lived) people are calling it corona.”

The senior captain operated the Airbus A320. During his career, he had also served as flight operation inspector in the DGCA. His demise has raised concern within the airline as a significant number of pilots and cabin crew are grappling with coronavirus.

“We have three-four symptomatic and 30-40 asymptomatic Covid-19 cases. Besides, we have 150 quarantined pilots and cabin crew members. In all about 200 of our crew members are either Covid positive or quarantined after passenger/s on the flights they operated tested positive,” said the official. Worryingly, the curve is rising in recent times, he added.

AI pilots are very agitated. They say while they risk their lives to operate Vande Bharat evacuation flights — the only international flights to and from India at the moment — the airline is not even paying them salary. The flying allowance (which accounts for over 70% of total pay) is due for March, April and May, and the basic of May is yet to be paid.

In the last two days, the pilots have been holding meetings with the AI management on the issue of pay. The aviation ministry is learnt to have asked the management to pay the pilots as per actual flying hours.

“When we leave our homes to operate flights, many of us face troubles from our RWAs or neighbours. We risk our lives for performing a service for the nation by flying stranded Indians from foreign countries home. On top of that the ministry and the management are showing no concern for us. No one even knows when and if we will be paid,” said a senior pilot.

Meanwhile, two pilots of Vistara have tested positive for Covid-19.

Ambulance charges ₹8K to go 200m between hospitals

Ambulance charges ₹8K to go 200m between hospitals

Mohammed.Wajihuddin@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:07.06.2020

A Covid-19 patient was recently charged ₹8,000 by a private ambulance to transport her from one hospital to another 200 metres away in Kurla. A relative of the patient made a video of the driver insisting on the ₹8,000 and it went viral.

On Monday, Kurla resident Kabirun Nisa was admitted to Habib Hospital with symptoms of novel coronavirus infection. The next day, when the middle-aged patient’s reports came positive for Covid-19, the hospital told her relatives to take her to another hospital as Habib did not have the facilities to treat her.

“I called Just Dial and enquired about a private ambulance as the government ambulance was not available. I was directed to contact Mobile Care, an ambulance service in Jarimari. They sent an ambulance and said they would charge ₹10,000,” Mohammed Mudassar Shaikh, Nisa’s brother-in-law, said.

Shaikh, who had fought the BMC election on aSamajwadi Party ticket and lost from Ward No. 168, Kurla, in 2017, said the patient needed oxygen and a regular vehicle was risky. So, he bargained and brought the fare down to ₹8,000.

Nisa was transported in the ambulance from Habib Hospital to Fauzia Hospital, 200 metres away. After Shaikh got Nisa admitted to Fauzia Hospital, which has facilities to treat Covid-19 patients, he came down to pay the ambulance driver. “I told him to take a little less. We were ready to pay even for the PPE kits the driver had used. His owner, Mohammed Ismaeel, would not take less than ₹8,000,” Shaikh said.

Owner Ismaeel said most drivers had left the city in the lockdown and costs were high.

A relative of the patient made a video of the driver insisting on the ₹8,000 and it went viral

Covid forces advocate, a first gen graduate, back to weaving baskets

Covid forces advocate, a first gen graduate, back to weaving baskets

Vincent.Arockiaraj@timesgroup.com  07.06.2020

He burned the midnight oil to become an advocate, but the coronavirus has shattered his dreams forcing him back to his traditional job of making bamboo baskets.

K Uthamakumaran, 34, who hails from the tribal malai kuruvar community, is a first-generation graduate of his family. After completing his law graduation in 2010, he had been practising at the Pattukottai court in Thanjavur. He has been unable to earn anything for the past two months as all courts were closed due to the lockdown. With his last bit of savings of ₹10,000 exhausted, Uthamakumaran was left penniless by the end of May. He stays at Thennankudi in Peravurani taluk with his wife and seven-year-old son.

“Since I had to eke out a living, I was ready to do any work. But the only other work Iknow was my ancestral vocation of weaving baskets from wild date palm fronds. After completing Class XII, I was helping my father Kalimuthu in the business as it was my family’s source of income. So, I started to make baskets,” he added.

Besides using it to store things in villages, such baskets are used to filter water from cooked rice at functions. “People come over to our house to buy various things made of palm fronds. Then we started to sell in weekly sandhai (markets). I made 10 baskets. Normally a basket is sold for ₹100 to ₹120. If two people are engaged in it, we can make 12 baskets a week and earn ₹1,200 to ₹1,500,” he says. He admits it is not enough to run the family as he has been earning about ₹25,000 a month as an advocate.

Around 2 lakh malai kuravars live across the state made a living from weaving baskets or sharpening grinder stones. “The government must provide some financial assistance to the community,” he said.

BACK TO ROOTS: As a lawyer, K Uthamakumaran earned ₹25,000 a month. He barely makes ₹1,200 a week now

Restaurants told to use disposable menu cards, napkins

Restaurants told to use disposable menu cards, napkins

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.06.2020

The state government on Saturday advised restaurants to use disposable menu cards, and encourage online and QR code-enabled payment methods wherever possible to avoid cash transactions due to Covid-19. Air conditioners or air coolers should not be used, instead all windows should be kept open.

Releasing a standard operating procedure for restaurants — just ahead of resumption of dine-in facilities with 50% seating capacity from June 8 — the government gave a slew of instructions to be followed by customers, owners, managers and workers, including thermal screening and hand wash at the entrance, and providing hand sanitisers on all dining tables. “In order to maintain strict social distancing in restaurants, seating arrangements should be made in such a way that 1sqm distance is maintained between each table,” the order said. Total number of dine-in customers should be displayed on a board prominently at the entrance.

Good quality disposable paper napkins must be used instead of cloth napkins, use of escalators with one person on alternate steps will have to be encouraged, while gaming arcades/ children play areas will remain closed in restaurants. CCTV camera surveillance is a must at the entrance and at other places for tracing contacts if need be later.

Customers having cough, cold or fever should not be permitted and those with comorbidities should avoid visiting restaurants, the government has advised. “Biometric attendance system should be avoided in restaurants. People above 65 years of age, those with comorbidities, pregnant women and children below the age of 10 years are advised to stay at home except for essential runs and medical needs,” the order said. Take aways should be encouraged instead of dine-in, and food delivery personnel should leave food packets at customers’ doorsteps.

Restaurants should ensure physical distancing of at least 6ft is maintained within and while queuing up to enter their premises.

In another order for shops and other establishments, the government said hand wash facilities should be made available with soap and water or sanitisers at the entrance. “At a time, only one person should be allowed to buy the goods and a minimum of four to five people shall be allowed to wait in the marking area,” the order said. Customers should not touch products at the shops “unnecessarily” and should wash their hands once they reach home.

Shops, other establishments must allow only one customer at a time, says government in latest order

Children’s home new Covid hotspot in city

Children’s home new Covid hotspot in city

Corpn Seals Facility; 35 Kids, 3 Staff Tested +ve

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.06.2020

Greater Chennai Corporation on Saturday sealed a children’s in Tondiarpet after 15 children tested positive for Covid-19. Nineteen children had tested positive on Thursday.

All 81 children in the home, under the social defence department, have been shifted to hospitals and various quarantine facilities.

One block in the home had 24 children — temporary inmates including those rescued from railway stations — while the other had 57 permanent inmates.

On May 30, a boy from the reception block tested positive days after developing fever. It was found he had contracted it from a caretaker who showed symptoms of the infection. Later, all the inmates including the staff were tested. Nineteen children tested positive on June 4 and another 15 including three teachers tested positive on Saturday.

One child has been isolated at the Chennai Trade Centre in Nandanam, 19 were shifted to the Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondiarpet and 13 kids are in hospital quarantine as they showed mild symptoms but tested negative. Thirty-three other children are at Vivekananda School. The home has been converted into a quarantine facility, with a doctor regularly checking the remaining children.

A senior Tondiarpet zone official said the home was disinfected daily. “The first case was found after a surveillance worker reported that a child had symptoms. There are 11 other homes in the zone and we are checking on them every day. We have instructed the caretakers of the homes to ensure they don’t come in contact with those who go out to buy essentials.”

Sources said the children couldn’t be taken for tests to fever camps due to lack of transport and social distancing at the small home was impossible. A guard tested positive after he showed up at an Urban Primary Health Care Centre and the children at the home were tested.

Corporation commissioner G Prakash said officials had begun testing children in other homes as well as inmates of old age homes. “Since the guards and caretakers come from other areas, there is a chance of spread. We have fever surveillance workers who check on them every day and if anyone shows symptoms, we will test them,” he said.

The shelter is being disinfected daily for the past four days