Covid patient stopped from boarding flight

Covid patient stopped from boarding flight

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Amritsar:

The medical staff at Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport, Amritsar, prevented a Covid-19 patient from boarding a flight to Sharjah on Wednesday.

Sources at the airport said Sarabjit Singh (31), a resident of Sarhala Kalan village in Garhshankar tehsil of Hoshiarpur district, was found with high fever during thermal screening of passengers.

When his medical report was checked, he was found positive for Covid-19.

Covid-19 nodal officer at the airport Dr Lalit Singhania said Sarabjit was sent to the isolation ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.

Masks for Covid may end up eliminating TB by 2025 target

Masks for Covid may end up eliminating TB by 2025 target

Better Cough Etiquette Also A Covid Impact

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai:  27.08.2020

The simple face mask — mandatory in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic — may just help India’s fight against one of the oldest pestilence: tuberculosis. “If masks become routine in India, just like they are in Japan, then we could well meet our target of eliminating TB by 2025,” said pulmonologist Dr Sanjeev Mehta.

The World Health Organisation has set a deadline of 2030 to eliminate TB, but the Indian government announced an earlier deadline of 2025. As India is home to 25% of all TB patients in the world, public health experts felt the 2025 deadline was ambitious.

“But if we continue using masks and remember to follow cough etiquette, the deadline no longer seems ambitious,” added Dr Mehta.

TB has been one of the most discussed topics during the pandemic because of the “protection” provided by the TB vaccine (BCG) against the novel coronavirus.TB patients, though, have suffered due to lack of medicines and the difficulty in travelling to treatment centres during the lockdown. TB detection rates dropped in the early phase of Covid in March, but health officials said the services are now inching back to normalcy.

A private sector doctor said there are fewer new cases because of the lower risk of transmission.

“People are staying home or moving out with masks, resulting in a lower risk of transmission. Moreover, families are now likely to pay attention to a cough that lasts more than two weeks and seek tests and scans that will detect TB early,” he said.

A senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official associated with the TB programme refused to comment on Covid’s impact on TB detection and treatment. The official said that as both the diseases spread via droplets, the use of masks should benefit the TB drive as well. “But we haven’t had time to study Covid’s impact on TB,” the official added.

Compared to the Covidspreading coronavirus, the tuberculosis mycobacterium is big. “The TB bacillus spreads through droplet released when a person coughs or sneezes. The microbe travels at the speed of a Ferrari across the room, but even a handkerchief (as against face masks that have tinier pores and have two- to threeply material) can stop it instantly,” said Dr Lalit Anande, medical supervisor of a BMC-run TB hospital.

No passes needed to enter Noida from Delhi

No passes needed to enter Noida from Delhi

Shikha.Salaria@timesgroup.com

Noida:  27.08.2020

Commuters between Delhi and Noida-Ghaziabad no longer need to show passes to cross the border, a rule that had been in place for the past three months and led to severe inconvenience among those who needed to travel between the cities regularly. A green status on the Aarogya Setu will be enough to allow entry into the UP cities from Delhi.

The move follows a UP government directive doing away with every restriction on movement of people and goods across state borders. The state order is in line with a central government directive a few days earlier. Officials, however, clarified that the restrictions on movement would resume on the two days of weekend lockdown in UP. Noida district magistrate Suhas LY confirmed that anybody wanting to enter the UP city must have a green status on the Setu app.The DM said the requirement of a travel permit or a pass to enter Noida had been done away with a few days ago.

NEET test centres doubled, frisking of students banned JEE (Main) From Sept 1 To Sept 6

ROW RAGES OVER GOVT’S DECISION TO HOLD JEE AND NEET EXAMINATIONS

NEET test centres doubled, frisking of students banned

JEE (Main) From Sept 1 To Sept 6

Ramendra.Singh@timesgroup.com

Bhopal:  27.08.2020

In order to follow the Covid norms and keep the students away from unnecessary contact, physical frisking of the NEET aspirants before entering the exam centre will not be done. Instead, candidates will have to go through a metal detector. In Madhya Pradesh there will be 144 NEET centres this year where 58,860 students will appear.

There were 84 centres last year where 54,445 students had appeared. This year the number of centres in Bhopal has been doubled. Last year, there were 15 exam centres across the state capital.

Several students in Bhopal on Wednesday downloaded their admit cards for the NTA NEET 2020, which is scheduled to be held on September 13.

Like previous years, this year also the majority of the centres in the state capital are in CBSE schools. Some of the exam centres in Bhopal are IES Public School, Red Rose School, Gyan Ganga School, Campion School and Sharda Vidya Mandir. On the condition of anonymity, owner of a school whose school has been made an exam centre told TOI that there will be around 35 centres in Bhopal where 18,000 students are expected to appear. Notably, last year around 12,000 students appeared in 15 centres.

“National testing agency (NTA) has not left a single stone unturned when it comes to the safety of the students appearing for exams at these centres,” said a school owner without quoting his name.

Nearly 16 lakh candidates across the country had registered for the medical-based entrance exam.

Last week, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea seeking the postponement of the entrance exam. However, several political leaders have objected to it and have demanded the cancellation of exams. JEE (Main) will be held from September 1 to 6 and the hall ticket can be download at the website- jeemain.nta.nic.in.

Medical, paramedical students can pay fees in 4 instalments

Medical, paramedical students can pay fees in 4 instalments

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  27.08.2020

Students pursuing medical, dental and paramedical courses can pay annual fees in four instalments, the state government said on Wednesday. The decision was taken to provide them relief amid the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

This will be applicable to students studying in the 515 government, grant-inaid and self-financed colleges of the state. Students will have to pay the first instalment (25%) of annual fees in September, followed by three instalments in the subsequent three months.

However, those who are financially well-off can pay the entire fees at once, a government statement said.

Deputy CM Nitin Patel said that a total of 35,151 students will get relief as they can now pay fees in four instalments.

Of these, 12,307 students are from medical and dental courses, while 22,844 are from paramedical courses like nursing, BSc Nursing and physiotherapy.

The annual fees for MBBS students in Gujarat range from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.

A total of 5,360 MBBS students of six government medical colleges, eight GMERS colleges, three colleges run by municipal corporations and 11 self-financed colleges can avail of the relief, a government release said.

The statement added that students can pay the first instalment of fees by September 30, the second by October 31, the third instalment by November 30 and the fourth instalment of fees by December 31.

Delaying entrance tests indefinitely will further disadvantage the batch of 2020

Conduct NEET, JEE

Delaying entrance tests indefinitely will further disadvantage the batch of 2020

27.08.2020

A campaign has begun demanding postponement of the medical and engineering entrance exams – NEET and JEE – slated for September, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge. However, there is no knowing how long this situation will continue; recall the Spanish flu took two years to abate. Keeping qualifying examinations in abeyance isn’t in the interest of nearly 2.5 million enrolled candidates.

The National Testing Agency, which conducts both exams, has announced social distancing measures such as more testing centres, fewer students per room, more shifts for the JEE (main) computer test, and staggered entry and arrival. NEET and JEE are the culmination of two years of intense study by higher secondary pass outs. Interminable delays blunt their preparedness. Moreover, note the wholly voluntary nature of the exercise – one can skip a round of exams to take the next one if one wishes, which is much harder to do for, say, board exams. It’s also common for a candidate to repeat an exam, perhaps to get admission to more preferred streams.

Despite all this Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, and several others have joined a populist chorus demanding postponement. Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal must not buckle before the protesters, as that would enable a vocal minority to override the interests of the silent majority that wants to enrol in college soon. Further delay would be self-defeating as herd immunity could be a long time away. By then the next batch would be ready to sit for these examinations, creating an untenable situation. Minimising tech glitches in generating online admit cards etc – as had happened in other recent exams – is important, lest they cause more stress and chaos on exam day.

Onus also rests on the Centre and states to restore transport services so that students can travel without difficulty to venues. Railways services and bus transport remain greatly restricted. Metro and local trains are yet to restart. By now it is accepted that well-ventilated rooms – a common enough feature of college and school classrooms – and wearing masks greatly retard Covid spread. Authorities must amplify the reassuring messaging to students and parents that safe conduct of the exams is in their interest, especially with politicians and even an international teen activist joining the cancel bandwagon. China’s gaokao and Germany’s abitur entrance tests were conducted overcoming Covid fears. India must not dither either.

7 oppn CMs want NEET, JEE put off, will seek SC rethink

7 oppn CMs want NEET, JEE put off, will seek SC rethink

AAP & BJP Ally AIADMK Oppose Sept 1 Date Too

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  27.08.2020

Five states and a Union territory where Congress and its allies are in office, as well as West Bengal, will petition the Supreme Court against the holding of NEET and JEE examinations from September 1, flagging concerns of Covid infection risk and seeking a postponement till the situation improves.

In a virtual meeting chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday, Congress CMs of Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry; CMs of Maharashtra and Jharkhand — where the party is in alliance — and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee felt while the SC okayed the holding of exams, it had in the past shown consideration for students in sensitive situations.

While Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal didn’t attend the meet, his government said the tests shouldn’t go ahead now.TN government, led by BJP ally AIADMK, has been asking for the exams to be deferred.

The 7 CMs interact with Cong chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday

Will go ahead with NEET, JEE: K’taka govt

Deputy CM CN Ashwath Narayan dismissed students’ appeal for postponement of NEET and JEE 2020 due to the pandemic and said, “Certain groups want seats to be allocated through an opaque system rather than merit. Some vested interests have been trying to disrupt NEET and JEE.” He said the Karnataka government will go ahead with NEET and JEE following the experience of conducting CET for 1.9 lakh students without a glitch. TNN

If Centre can’t go to SC, we can: Mamata

The debate on whether the entrance exams to engineering and medical colleges should be held or deferred has become a polarising one with the opposition also wading in. On social media, comments flew thick and fast, including allegations of hashtags and trends being manipulated. The discussion appeared to have split opinion even as the government and the National Testing Agency said arrangements have been made keeping the needs of social distancing and sanitation in mind. The Supreme Court had recently dismissed appeals against holding of the exams noting that “life should move on. We have to go ahead. Precious one year of students will go waste”.

Banerjee said she has written two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for the Centre to approach the Supreme Court to defer the exams. “If the government of India cannot go to court, we, as elected state governments, can approach the court on behalf of lakhs of students whose future is at stake,” she said. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh said, “I endorse Mamata Banerjee’s view that we should collectively approach the Supreme Court again.”

On Tuesday, Sonia Gandhi reached out to Banerjee and Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray among other leaders to hold a meeting of opposition chief ministers.

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren said, “Exams must happen but we are in too much hurry. In my state, we have very few centres. To accommodate these students, we will have to open all hotels and buses.”

The meeting was politically significant as the CMs of three key regional parties— Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) and JMM (Hemant Soren)— and Congress (Ashok Gehlot, Amarinder Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, V Narayanasamy) decided to forge a common platform to fight “injustice” at the hands of BJP and also resolved to meet the President and PM.