HC Bench to hear cases only through video conferencing

HC Bench to hear cases only through video conferencing

It will hear urgent and emergent matters only

07/06/2020, B. TILAK CHANDAR,MADURAI

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court which had only recently resumed staggered open court functioning will now hear urgent and emergent matters only via video conferencing from Monday, after three of its judges in the Principal seat in Chennai and one judge in the High Court’s Madurai Bench tested positive for COVID-19.

According to a High Court notification, in the High Court Bench, one Division Bench and three Single Judges will hear cases through video conferencing from their residences for the time being till June 30. The working of the court staff will also be minimum.

In view of the decision taken by the Administrative Committee of the Madras High Court, filing of cases will be made through e-mail only. Requests for urgent motion shall be made through e-mail thamilj1968@gmail.com to the Registrar (Judicial), High Court Bench, who in turn will place the matter before the portfolio judges concerned and the matter will be listed subject to the convenience of the judges.

Apart from the High Court Judge in the Madurai Bench, the judge’s personal security officer has also tested positive for COVID-19. Following this, the High Court Bench campus was sanitised and disinfected. The advocate chambers on the court campus have also been closed.

Thoothukudi GH gets new COVID-19 equipment

Thoothukudi GH gets new COVID-19 equipment

07/06/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Minister for Information ‘Kadambur’ C. Raju on Saturday inaugurated fully automated electrochemiluminescence immunoassay analyser (EIA) at Government Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital for COVID-19 management.

The hospital is the first in a southern district to get the ₹25-lakh facility, which was introduced in Chennai.

The analyser provides the result of a parameter (IL 6), which analyses the risk of progression of COVID-19 patients to a more serious disorder at an early stage. This helps in initiation of specific treatment at an early stage and helps reduce mortality rate.

Due to faster analysis, test results are provided in just 18 to 27 minutes and can be used to estimate four other parameters (ferritin, Trop T, Procalcitonin, Vitamin D) that are essential for management of COVID-19. It can also be used for other parameters such as hormones, tumour markers and for diagnosis of HIV and hepatitis infection.

India’s COVID tally fifth highest in world

India’s COVID tally fifth highest in world

Country overtakes Spain in numbers even as study finds that infectivity rose from lockdown 1.0 to 3.0

07/06/2020, JACOB KOSHY,NEW DELHI

Registering a new high in the number of daily cases detected — 10,313 — India on Saturday overtook Spain to become the country with the fifth highest confirmed COVID-19 infections (2,46,520). The rise in cases comes despite the fact that 1,37,938 samples were tested on Saturday, down from 1,43,661 on Friday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The death toll increased by 294 to 6,941, even as the recovery rate remained at close to 48%. Cases have steadily risen, doubling every 17 days, among the fastest in countries with the most infections.

The surge in infections is reflected in a study led by officials at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), a Union Health Ministry body, tasked with disease surveillance.

The study found that India’s reproduction number (R0), or the average number of people a single COVID-positive patient infects, has increased between lockdown 1.0 and the beginning of lockdown 3.0. Moreover, India needs 621 million ‘recoveries’ to achieve ‘herd immunity’ at current rates of disease transmission, said the study that appeared online on June 2 in the peer-reviewed Indian Journal of Public Health (IJPH).

India reported its first 100 cases on March 15, and its effective transmission rate then was 2.51. That means, on average, every two infected persons are infecting five others. However, not everyone spreads the virus equally. Some may have a higher viral load, some a reduced load and yet others may be more mobile and spread it wider than more sedentary persons.

To factor these varying rates of spread, epidemiologists compute reproduction rates in a population as an average. For a pandemic to end, this number must dip below 1.

The initiation of the lockdown reduced the R0, the authors said. “On April 2, eight days after Phase 1 lockdown, the estimated Rt (the R0 at a particular period) decreased to 1.91. At the end of Phase 1 (April 14) and Phase 2 (May 3) of lockdown, Rt was 1.28 and 1.83. As of May 4, 2020, latest Rt of 2.04 was estimated,” the authors said. May 4, or the beginning of lockdown 3.0, saw easing of restrictions in public activity. Since May 4, India’s COVID count has multiplied five-fold as have deaths.

‘We must be prepared to live with the virus for a long time’

‘We must be prepared to live with the virus for a long time’

07/06/2020, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,TEHRAN

Hassan Rouhani.AFP-

President Hassan Rouhani warned Iranians on Saturday to prepare to live with the novel coronavirus “for a long time”, as the country gradually rolls back restrictions imposed to curb the outbreak.

People should not assume that “this disease will be eliminated in 15 days or a month: we must therefore follow the instructions for a long time,” Mr. Rouhani said during a weekly meeting of the coronavirus taskforce.

“We must end all gatherings, be it marriage, mourning, or family visits, until told otherwise by the Health Minister,” he added.

Authorities have progressively lifted restrictions imposed to tackle the virus, and activity has almost returned to normal in most of the country’s 31 provinces.

The rising trajectory of infection figures since a low in early May and the lack of observance of physical distancing measures have authorities worried. According to Mr. Rouhani, there is no “second path” for Iran and economic activity across the country must continue.

With 1,458 cases, T.N. tops 30,000-mark

With 1,458 cases, T.N. tops 30,000-mark

Nineteen deaths take toll to 251; 633 patients discharged from hospitals after treatment

07/06/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

With Tamil Nadu reporting 1,458 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the State’s tally has crossed the 30,000-mark.

While 633 patients were discharged from hospitals, the toll climbed to 251, with 19 persons succumbing to the infection in the last two days.

Saturday’s case count, which marked yet another high for the State, took its tally to 30,152*. Chennai continued to report 1,000-plus cases. With 1,146 new infections, the city’s case count rose to 20,993. Chennai accounts for 197 deaths so far.

As of date, 16,395 persons have been discharged from hospitals across the State. The recovery rate is around 54%, while there are 13,503 active cases.

Deaths in Chennai

All the 19 deaths reported on Saturday, including 10 in private hospitals, occurred in Chennai.

Three of the deceased were in their 30s. One of them — a 30-year-old man — died within 10 minutes of being admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) on June 4. His sample, which was lifted at a private laboratory on June 3, returned positive for COVID-19 on June 5. He died due to cardiopulmonary arrest, acute abdomen/perforation peritonitis and septic shock.

A 39-year-old man died in RGGGH on June 5 due to cardiopulmonary arrest and COVID-19 pneumonia, while a 31-year-old man, who was admitted to a private hospital on June 5 with hyponatremia, acute pancreatitis and decompensated chronic liver disease, died on the same day due to septic shock and viral pneumonia.

A 43-year-old man died in RGGGH on June 5 due to cardiopulmonary arrest, grade I COVID-19 pneumonia, type I respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Chengalpattu reported 95 new cases on Saturday, while Tiruvallur recorded 79. There were 16 new cases in Kancheepuram and 14 in Thoothukudi.

A total of 35 persons who had returned from abroad and other States tested positive on Saturday. Among them were five returnees from Saudi Arabia and one from the UAE. Twelve persons who had returned from Maharashtra by road/train also tested positive for COVID-19.

A total of 1,808 persons who had returned to Tamil Nadu on international and domestic flights and trains, by road and via seaports, have tested positive so far.

As of date, a total of 1,638 children aged 0 to 12 and 3,129 persons aged above 60 have tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu.

The number of samples tested so far stands at 5,76,695, including the 16,022 samples tested on Saturday.

Till date, a total of 5,50,643 individuals have been tested in the State.

Web portal

The Health Department has put up details of beds (total number available/in use/vacant), Intensive Care Unit beds and ventilators in private hospitals and private medical college hospitals in and around Chennai on its website - stopcorona.tn.gov.in. On Saturday, the details of 15 hospitals, along with contact numbers, were displayed on the page.

(*This is inclusive of two deaths cross-notified to other States and one patient who died after testing negative for the infection)

Country is still at risk, says WHO expert

Country is still at risk, says WHO expert

07/06/2020, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA,UNITED NATIONS

COVID-19 has not “exploded” in India, but the risk of it happening remains as the country moves towards exiting the lockdown that was imposed in March to contain the disease, according to a top WHO expert.

WHO Health Emergencies Programme executive director Michael Ryan on Friday said the doubling time of cases in India was about three weeks at this stage. So the direction of travel of the epidemic was not exponential but it was still growing, he said.

The impact of the pandemic was different in different parts of India, and varied between urban and rural settings.

“In South Asia, not just in India but in Bangladesh and ... in Pakistan, other countries in South Asia, with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded. But there is always the risk of that happening,” Mr. Ryan said in Geneva.

Tamil Nadu varsity predicts 1.5 lakh Covid cases in Chennai by mid-July

Tamil Nadu varsity predicts 1.5 lakh Covid cases in Chennai by mid-July

Mathematical projections can prompt governments to decide on intervention strategies to contain the spread of the disease, but long-haul projections can be widely off the mark.

Written by Arun Janardhanan | Chennai | Updated: June 5, 2020 4:58:21 pm

Epidemiologists at the state-run Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has predicted, based on mathematical projections, that Chennai city may witness 1.5 lakh Covid-19 cases and up to 1,600 deaths by July second week at the current rate of growth.

The university controls the medical education and medical colleges in the state, and its projections are used by government for active surveillance and preparedness.

Dr G Srinivas, professor and head of the department of epidemiology at the university, said their projection shows the number of cases in Chennai will touch 1.5 lakh by July 15 and will peak in mid-October. The university began projections from April 18, and submitted it to the government in May first week. “The disease continues to spread. However, the government is currently well-prepared to handle the number of cases with enough number of beds, isolation facilities, ICUs and such crucial infrastructure,” he said.

His team’s projection says the state may record 1.3 lakh Covid-19 cases and 769 deaths by June 30.

In 19 days, Covid cases in state jumped from 10,000 to 27,256 on Thursday. The city has 9,066 active cases, and reported 1,072 cases Thursday. Of the total cases reported in Tamil Nadu since March 7, 18,693 cases were from Chennai.

Coronavirus Explained

The university in the second week of April predicted that Covid cases will go up from 3,097 to 5,442 in the first 10 days of May. The real figures rose from 2,526 to 7,204 between May 1 and 10. Projection of Covid death number for May 10 was 38 and the actual figure was 47.

Mathematical projections can prompt governments to decide on intervention strategies to contain the spread of the disease, but long-haul projections can be widely off the mark. These projections can also throw up very different scenarios depending on the models used and the assumptions made.

Dr R Ramakrishnan, a senior scientist and former director of the National Institute of Epidemiology said: “Neither are scientists gods nor is this guess work. Just because their projections had been true for the past two months, we cannot say, it can still go wrong in coming months as there are many social factors. But these are indications that deserve to be taken seriously,” he said.

When outstation bus and train services resume, things may change suddenly, he said. “Or if we get a better clarity about clinical symptoms and treatment for Covid-19 from a research abroad or here, all these projections will become insignificant. But like lockdown, which was not to combat the virus but to buy time for the government to prepare, these forecast for July or October also should be taken into consideration,” Ramakrishnan said.

The university’s projections for Chennai were accurate. Their mathematical model had projected 83 deaths on May 25, which came true. Their forecast of cases for the same day — 11,119 —just fell short of 12 cases. When the forecast for June 3 said there will be 17,738 cases and 156 deaths, actual figures were 17,598 and 153.

State disaster management commissioner J Radhakrishnan said 9,034 people have recovered so far in the city. “About 1,000 containment zones (or streets) have not reported a single case in the past 14 days. Highest number of cases are in Chennai but it does not mean the entire city is affected. Maximum number of cases are concentrated in a few localities such as highly congested residential neighbourhoods and slums in Royapuram, Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam.”