Pvt labs try to procure RT-PCR kits which can spot Omicron variant

Pvt labs try to procure RT-PCR kits which can spot Omicron variant

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:05.12.2021

Private labs in the city have been trying to procure RT-PCR test kits targeting the S gene, following concerns over the Omicron variant.

Currently available RTPCR kits can detect Covid-19 positivity in a person, but can’t specifically say if it is Omicron or some other variant, say experts.

Testing kits look for specific genes to confirm the presence of SARS-Co-V2 in a sample. While N gene points to the presence or absence of the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-Co-V2 in a given swab sample, the ORF1 gene searches for the polyprotein. Mutations in the latest variant — B.1.1529 — have occurred in the S gene that encodes the spike glycoprotein. If a sample is negative for S gene, then it is an indicative marker of the presence of Omicron variant, which needs to be further confirmed through genomic sequencing.

Dr Sujay Prasad, medical director, Neuberg Diagnostics, said conventional Covid RT-PCR test kits in use at present have reagents that detect the presence of N and ORF1 genes, but not the S gene.

“It is now established that the Omicron variant escapes the S gene. But RT-PCR testing kits that we have now don’t contain the reagent for S gene. If the test shows negative for the presence of S gene in a given sample, it is an indicator that the person may have been infected by the Omicron variant,” said Dr Prasad.

“We need to find out if a given sample shows negative or positive for S gene. If negative, such samples must be immediately sent for genomic sequencing,” said Prasad.

Dr HM Venkatappa, chairman of Bangalore Diagnostics Centres’ Association, said labs will now have to procure test kits with S gene. “We are in the process of finding out test kits that help us in early identification of the Omicron variant. But if we use the new kits, the government’s price cap of Rs 800 at private labs and hospitals can’t be adhered to...,” he said.

‘Genomic sequencing can point to specific strain’

Dr CN Manjunath, nodal officer for Covid testing, said the currently available kits are good enough to detect viral positivity in a patient and it is genomic sequencing that can point to the specific variant.

Only one testing kit produced by Thermo Fisher has a Covid-19 diagnostic product with S gene detection, which is being highly sought after by private laboratories now.

Some of the government laboratories in Karnataka are using the kit, where swab samples of vulnerable persons from clusters and those of international passengers are being tested.

CURBING SPREAD: A BBMP worker collects a swab sample at Bengaluru’s KSR railway station

A marketing gimmick: Virologist

Dr V Ravi, virologist and member, Technical Advisory Committee, said all RT-PCR test kits are spike-gene independent and variantproof. “We have been detecting Delta, which has so many mutations in the spike protein. Nobody raised these issues then. It’s more of a marketing gimmick. Indian kits are not missing Omicron. However, if any cluster shows the variant, we should think of replacing the testing kits. Ultimate proof will come from genomic sequencing,” he said.

HC says no student, staff can be allowed entry without vax dose

HC says no student, staff can be allowed entry without vax dose

Bengaluru: 05.12.2021

No students, teachers or staff will be permitted to attend school or college without being vaccinated, the high court said on Saturday, dismissing the PIL that challenged the government order in this regard.

“We are of the considered view that no students, teachers or staff who have not received vaccines shall be permitted to attend school or college where students gather in large numbers. As such no directions can be issued to permit teachers, students or staff who have not received at least one dose to attend colleges in terms of the government order dated July 16, 2021,” a division bench headed by chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said.

Dr Srinivasa B Kakkilaya, a medical practitioner from Mangaluru, a couple of professors teaching in Ayurveda colleges and a student had challenged the circular/GO seeking directions for modification.

The petitioners had claimed the circular makes the Covid-19 vaccination process mandatory in nature and further discriminates on the basis of status of vaccination of a person, thus violating the fundamental rights of citizens.

Contending that the circular is coercive in nature, they pointed out even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has held that vaccines do not prevent spread of the disease from person to person and thus had little potential of stopping the pandemic or preservation of the public health. The circular violates the dictum of the Supreme Court in Common Cause Vs Union of India (2018) case which recognised the right, choice and liberty of an individual to prefer the medicine of his/her choice, it was argued. TNN

Chaos outside malls as visitors struggle with vax certs for entry

Chaos outside malls as visitors struggle with vax certs for entry

Some In Queues Question Mandate, Others Say It Will Ensure Safety

Farheen.Hussain@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:05.12.2021

For many Bengalureans, a favourite weekend activity is hanging out with friends and family members in shopping malls. But several citizens stared at long queues in front of the establishments on Saturday. Reason: Visitors were being checked for double vaccination certificates.

With the state government announcing that entry to malls and theatres should be granted only to double jabbed individuals, malls across the city saw lines of confused visitors struggling to produce their vaccine certificates. In some malls that STOI visited, verbal arguments were witnessed between shoppers and security guards who were stopping the latter to show proof of vaccination.

“Am I travelling internationally? When a majority of the elected representatives are moving around shamelessly with their masks down, why am I being forced to show the certificate? Should we stop coming to malls?” a visitor argued outside a mall while the guard tried to calm him down. He claimed though he had received both shots, it took him time to download the certificate.

The security personnel later told STOI that there are always some visitors who have issues. “It is a government mandate and we are doing it for their own safety. They hold up the queue and make it difficult for others,” the guard said, announcing loudly to people to keep the certificate and an ID ready before their reach the entry. She said the long lines are because of the weekend crowd.

BBMP chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta, while explaining the decision to grant entry to the double vaccinated, stated: “The state government has implemented regulatory measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and its new variant Omicron. We request everyone to follow Covid protocol and safety precautions at all times.”

Several visitors at a mall in Yeshwantpur, who were unaware of the regulatory measure, were surprised but quick to follow it. Krishnaprasad said it took him 15 minutes to download the certificate on his new phone. “This is for our own safety so I stepped aside, downloaded it and rejoined the queue,” he said, adding he will share the details on his social media platforms so that people will know that a vaccine certificate is a must to enter shopping malls.

Confusion will abate; no impact on footfall: Establishments

Shopping malls in the city said that the confusion on the first day will subside as people will get to know about the measure. Manoj Singh, cluster director (Karnataka), Nexus Malls, said it took a little longer on Saturday for customers to enter the mall as they had to produce their vaccination certificates. However, it did not affect footfall as the vaccination rate in Karnataka is high. “Most of the patrons are eligible to gain entry into malls as per the new advisory. We have also realised that people have been very self-aware. Malls are the only places which provide a controlled and hygienic shopping environment,” Singh said.

Sunil Munshi, AVP, operations, Orion Malls by Brigade Group, said: “Since this is the first day, we have faced a few challenges in terms of queues as customers took some time to download the certificates on their mobile phones, but going forward as awareness spreads, we do not see this as a point of concern. We have put up notifications and made announcements at all entry points of our malls to inform our customers on the new Covid directive,” he said explaining there has been no impact on footfall.

ENFORCING NORMS: As per state guidelines, entry to malls should be granted only to double-jabbed individuals

In some malls, verbal arguments were witnessed between shoppers and security guards who were stopping the latter to show proof of vaccination. Many visitors took some time to download their certificates

Why Qutub Minar has been closed for 40 yrs

TOI + EXCLUSIVE

Why Qutub Minar has been closed for 40 yrs

45 Visitors, Many Of Them Students, Died In A Stampede Inside The Minar on Dec 4, 1981

Abhilash.Gaur@timesgroup.com

Years ago, Friday used to be the busiest day of the week at Delhi’s Qutub Minar because entry was free and schools and colleges brought their students to picnic in the morning. On December 4, 1981, a Friday, the Qutub grounds were abuzz with tourists and there was a crowd at the minar door trying to get inside.

While public access to the minar’s top had been stopped in the 1950s, to prevent suicides, tourists were still allowed to go up to the first balcony, which is roughly as high as a 10-storey building.

By 11am busloads of tourists were inside the spiral staircase that leads up to the balcony. Around 11.30am – reports from that day say – the power supply tripped and the lights inside went out. The minar has large vents at regular intervals for air and light, but as scared visitors sought safety close to the staircase wall, they cut out the daylight. Then, as the crowd tried to exit desperately, a stampede occurred. Within minutes, dozens of people lay dead and injured in the darkness.

Anil Kumar, a student of Delhi’s Aurobindo College at the time, was inside the minar with seven of his friends when the stampede occurred. He told TOI they were descending the dark stairs in a single file when they suddenly “found themselves sliding down uncontrollably”. He survived with chest injuries.

Trapped behind jammed doors

The minar gate had heavy steel doors that opened inwards. As the number of people inside swelled, the chowkidar had pulled the doors shut. But when hundreds of people tried to barge outside at once, the doors jammed against the frame. Rescuers couldn’t enter through the gate because of the mass of people behind it.

Luckily, a scaffolding had been built behind the minar to carry out repairs, and local hawkers and tourist guides used it to enter the minar through the vents. They extricated many survivors and bodies over an hour.

By the time police and the fire brigade arrived, the dead had been laid out in the Qutub lawns and the injured rushed to AIIMS and Safdarjung hospitals in the tourist buses that had brought them in the morning.

At 3.30pm, then home minister Giani Zail Singh informed Lok Sabha that 45 persons had been killed and 21 injured.

A team of 12 doctors formed to do the autopsies finished its work around 1.30am on December 5. They said most of the deaths were due to suffocation and trampling, not bleeding. Few bodies had external injuries.

What caused the stampede?

Survivors that day gave different accounts of what had happened. Some said a group of unruly boys had misbehaved with women tourists in the dark, and the stampede started when those women tried to rush downstairs. Others said someone had slipped in the dark and set off a chain reaction while trying to regain balance.

Next day, Delhi Police denied receiving any complaint of molestation, but news reports from the time say two tourists from New Zealand, Jackie and Marie, had alleged they were molested. One of them was seen leaving the Qutub compound wearing a borrowed lungi and shirt. Later, district and sessions judge Jagdish Chandra’s inquiry report in the case also made a mention of their harassment.

Overcrowding was an old problem in the minar, especially on holidays.

There had been another stampede on August 15, 1978 when a man had fainted from suffocation in the packed staircase. Twelve people were injured that day, six of them seriously.

After the December 1981 tragedy, education minister Sheila Kaul told Lok Sabha a system of crowd-control had been in place since the 1950s, when tickets were introduced at the Qutub. There are 155 steps up to the first balcony, so 300 visitors were allowed in at a time. They walked up single-file, looked around from the balcony, which had space for 40-50 persons, and then descended single-file. When 50 visitors exited the tower, 50 more were sent inside.

Ensuring that the tourists ascended and descended the steps – which are about 5 feet wide at the base and narrow to 4 feet at the balcony – in an orderly double spiral was crucial for safety, but on Fridays and other holidays this was impossible. By some accounts, more than 500 people were inside the minar on December 4, 1981.

‘Qutub is falling…’

Just as the police denied reports of molestation, the Delhi municipal corporation at first said there had been no power outage at the minar between 10.50am and 12.30pm on December 4. A truck had dashed against an electricity pole, tripping power at 9.15am, but supply had been restored by 10.50am, it said.

But the Chandra Commission report found power failure to be one of the major causes of the tragedy, and held Delhi Electricity Supply Undertaking responsible for it. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was held equally culpable for the “very bad and dangerous condition” of the steps, which had “dangerous depressions and contours” because they had never been repaired, it said.

The inquiry commission concluded that the stampede had occurred when a girl – not one of the New Zealand tourists – slipped near the minar’s 8th ventilator and some boys raised a false alarm: “Qutub is falling...go down, go down.”

RT-PCR report must for Vaishno Devi visit

RT-PCR report must for Vaishno Devi visit

05.12.2021

Reviewing precautionary measures taken in view of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) has mandated for all visiting devotees to have verifiable RT-PCR reports not older than 72 hours, reports Sanjay Khajuria. Urging those taking up the pilgrimage not to let down their guard in the wake of a recent spike in Covid cases, SMVDSB chief executive officer Ramesh Kumar has appealed to the devotees to adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour and carry valid RT-PCR reports with them.

Indian spouses were losing jobs because of H4 delays so we decided to go to court

FOR THE RECORD

Indian spouses were losing jobs because of H4 delays so we decided to go to court

For spouses of H1B visa holders, the American dream wasn’t all rosy. Not only did they need employment authorisation to work in the US, but it had to be renewed every two years with the process taking months or even a year. After a brush with this system, an Indian-origin couple from Canada decided to take the matter to court and won a landmark settlement agreement. Amandeep Shergill, lead plaintiff in the Shergill vs Mayorkas lawsuit, and her husband Ripan Shergill spoke to Sonam Joshi about why they took up this battle

Can you tell us about your journey from Punjab to Canada and now Seattle?

Ripan: I studied at Panjab University and moved to Canada in 2001 as a permanent resident. We got married in 2003 and settled in Toronto. In 2015, we relocated to Seattle as Canadian citizens. US law is brutal and archaic, it only considers your country of birth. So, though we are Canadian citizens, we had to join the Indian immigration queue. We never thought being on H1B would be so stressful. Every three years, you have to renew it. I changed multiple companies and every time, you don’t know who is adjudicating your visa renewal. Someone in a cranky mood could find some technicality to deny your visa. My son is in 12th grade. In the last four years, every time this paperwork renewal came, we’d have a conversation about whether he’d be going to the same school next year, or whether we’d be moving lock stock and barrel. Every Indian American can relate to that situation.

Aman, what were the challenges you faced as a spouse on an H4 visa?

Aman: I have a MSc degree from Punjabi University. In Canada, I was working fulltime as a teacher but here an H1B spouse can only work if the employer sponsors a green card. It was very frustrating to stay at home doing nothing. I had even taken classes and got my license to work as a realtor. It took two years but in 2017, his employer did that and I got the H-4 Employment Authorisation Document (EAD) or work permit. But that wasn’t the end of it.

How did the pandemic impact your EAD?

Aman: The Trump administration had made it harder for immigrants. Then Covid happened, and everything was backlogged. A process that used to take two to four months started taking six to twelve months. So many others too were in the same boat, forced to give up their full-time jobs and stay home. I was upset because I was doing very well and had 20-30 clients that I had to give up because I couldn’t work for 25 days till the EAD came through. It is so unfair because all other visas have automatic extension.

What prompted you to file a lawsuit?

Ripan: For Aman, the EAD delay was only 25 days but we still wanted to proceed, so no one else has to go through this mess. There is no reason for USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to sit on an application that just takes two minutes to approve. As Canadian citizens, it’s easy for us to renew our H4 visa. All we have to do is drive across the border, make a U-turn to return and get the stamp. That’s not a privilege those holding Indian passports have. In the end, litigation was the only way because you have to fight for your rights.

Who were the other plaintiffs?

Ripan: It was just 15 of us who connected on a WhatsApp group to share our experiences. Around 13 were Indian, one was Polish, and we were Canadian. Some women were on the brink of losing their jobs, some had lost their jobs waiting for the EAD to come through. The case was filed under Aman’s name. When we were told they want to settle, we decided to expand the benefit into a class action that solves a bigger problem for everybody, and gets rid of this nonsense of making people wait, lose their jobs and create upheaval in their lives.

Tell us how this settlement changes lives and the challenges ahead?

Any Indian H4 spouse born in India and applying for a standalone H4 will benefit from this settlement. Apart from H4, many Indian IT companies send their executives on L2 visas. Their spouses are the biggest winners as they are authorised to work from the day they land in the US. Prior to this, they had to apply and wait. But the fight isn’t over for the larger Indian diaspora. Common sense reform needs to happen. When this H4 benefit was initially bestowed in 2015, H4s and H1Bs were adjudicated immediately at the same time. Then came Trump with his hardline approach separating the two applicants. This was just red tape introduced to discourage Indian professionals, because largely H1Bs are from India. Should the Biden Administration go back to adjudicating H4 applications concurrently with H1Bs in a 15-day timeframe — as it was before the Trump administration — it will solve a problem for all Indian H4 spouses.

US returnee flees with swab from airport in Jharkhand

US returnee flees with swab from airport in Jharkhand

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jamshedpur:05.12.2021

A 28-year-old man who flew into Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur from the US on Friday created ruckus at the airport Covid test centre and eventually fled with his swab sample. Health department authorities got in touch with him over the phone on Saturday and requested him to come for the test, additional chief medical officer Sahir Pall said.

Not just this man, several other foreign returnees to Jamshedpur and the rest of East Singhbhum are not cooperating with health officials when it comes to Covid tests, sources said. Health officials have sought police help in making sure that the US returnee comes to a Covid test centre. Some returnees are switching off their phones soon after leaving the airport. Some others are sharing their international numbers with the authorities, sources said.