School kids to take tests from home

School kids to take tests from home

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: 02.0702020

At a time when state education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama announced the cancellation of all college exams in the state, the government said it has decided to conduct exams for primary school students.

The state education department on Tuesday directed all governmentrun, grant-in aid and private schools in the state to conduct exams for primary school students in the last week of July.

The periodic evaluation test is meant to check the progress of the child and will be conducted from the comfort of their homes under the supervision of the parents, a media statement said.

The test will be on the main language and maths. Each test will be of 25 marks and the schools have to make arrangements to ensure that question papers reach the students’ homes by July 28 at the latest. The parents have to submit the answer sheets to the schools by July 31. The question papers will carry five questions of five marks each.

Earlier this month, to ensure that the new academic session is not affected by the pandemic, the government had initiated a ‘Home Learning’ programme.

Students are provided ‘weekly learning material’ through various social media platforms.

Schools have been shut since March due to the coronavirus pandemic and school students have been promoted en masse for the 2019-20 academic year.

In support of Centre’s ban, TikTok users now seek Indian alternative

In support of Centre’s ban, TikTok users now seek Indian alternative

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:02.07.2020

While they are in complete support of Centre’s move to ban TikTok, users of the app are now wishing for an Indian alternative at the earliest. They say that other platforms such as Instagram or Youtube serve a different purpose and cannot be a replacement to a creative app like TikTok.

“People found it funny when I made music videos in that app. I love music and I am passionate about making the videos. I am living my life the way I wanted to by putting out everything I wanted to in public domain. However, at the same I am a responsible person,” said Kalyani Gorre, an environmentalist, who is also pursuing her Ph D. In a very short time she got more than 10,000 followers and put out 1,500 videos. “Sometimes I would put out a social message asking people to plant trees, or simply make sound tracks and act it out,” said Kalyani, a resident of Lingampally.

While Kalyani is pursuing her own goals, Eshwar of Kavadiguda was had high hopes and believed that the app would take him to higher places. The 27-year-old has been marketing his videos and hoped to gain an entry into films. He imitates Tamil actor Dhanush, son-inlaw of Rajnikanth, as he has an uncanny resemblance to him. “I myself was shocked when one of my videos got 11.9 millions views,” Eashwar Dhanush, as he calls himself, told TOI. “I put out only 340 videos in the last two-and-ahalf years but people liked what I did,” he said.

The Centre’s decision to ban TikTok does affect creative people but Yugandhar Munagala, who is popular on the app agrees that the interest of the nation should come first. “I must admit that I got my identity by doing videos where I showed off my beard,” Yugandhar, who has already forayed into tinsel town, said. The 28-year-old, who is a post-graduate in microbiology, works for a Germany-based seeds company. With two lakh followers, Yugandhar, a resident of Suchitra said that the need of the hour is to come up with an Indian app that matches TikTok or has better features.

A CREATIVE OUTLET FOR MANY

Vikarabad man makes it ‘app’en after TikTok ban

Vikarabad man makes it ‘app’en after TikTok ban

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 02.07.2020

Banking on the void created by the ban on Chinese social networking platform TikTok, a 29-year-old man from Vikarabad has developed a similar video sharing app.

‘ChatPat’, which was put up on Google Playstore on June 28, already has 15,000 downloads and been given 4.2 stars out of five. The app specifically mentions that it is made in India.

The developer of the app, Naskanti Srinivas, said that the ban on TikTok incidentally coincided with the release of ‘ChatPat’. “I was working on the app for the last 15 days because I felt an Indian app should be available to people instead of a Chinese one. Incidentally, with the ban on TikTok, my app started getting huge traffic,” Srinivas of Nawabpet village in Vikarabad told TOI.

Srinivas studied B.Com (computers) and has so far created six apps, including an online shopping platform. While the rest of his creations did not get adequate attention, ‘ChatPat’ was an instant success. He has said that he learnt everything about app development from YouTube. “I now have to increase the server capacity so that many people will be able to download and work on it,” Srinivas said.

Chevella MP Ranjith Reddy has congratulated Srinivas. “What Srinivas has come up with is commendable and I have assured him to give any support that he needs,” said Reddy.

One of the first users of the app is one Shiva of Vikarabad. He has identified himself on his ‘ChatPat’ account with the name @Madapathi814744276. “Naskanti Srinivas you did a great job. All the best for your furture,” he said while appreciating the developer of the app.

Some of the users have also posted their old TikTok videos on the new platform.


I was working on the app for the last 15 days because I felt an Indian app should be available to people instead of a Chinese one. Incidentally, the ban on TikTok came at the time when I put up ‘ChatPat’ on Google Playstore and my app started getting huge traffic

Naskanti Srinivas| APP DEVELOPER

Plea in HC against huge Covid bills

Plea in HC against huge Covid bills

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:02.07.2020

Dealing with a petition that wanted the court to direct the state government to restrain private hospitals from overcharging the patients in the name of Covid-19 treatment, the Telangana high court on Wednesday gave the petitioner two weeks’ time to furnish evidence and also make the hospitals as respondents in the case.

A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said this while hearing a PIL filed by DG Narasimha Rao, general secretary of Patnam, an NGO working in health and environment areas. The petitioner, in his petition, annexed newspaper reports published in prominent dailies from Hyderabad, detailing how the corporate hospitals were collecting nearly Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per day from Covid-19 patients depending on severity of the case even after the government imposed a cap in the range of Rs 4,000 to Rs 9,000 per day.

“The private and corporate hospitals are swindling patients and profiteering in the name of treating ovid-19 patients in Hyderabad and other parts of the state,” said V Mallik, counsel for the petitioner. He sought a direction to the state to take over at least 50% of beds in private, corporate and teaching hospitals and evolve a transparent web-based mechanism in allotting the beds to patients who are in need and provide treatment at the rates fixed by the government.

The judges noticed that none of the private hospitals was made as a respondent and directed the petitioner to implead them because allegations were made against them about collection of exorbitant treatment charges.

The petitioner pointed out that none of these hospitals was implementing the rates fixed by the government and charging exorbitantly. He charged that these hospitals were cashing in on the anxiety of the kin of the patients while rushing them to hospitals.

The bench posted the case to July 10.

Govt issues new directives to hospitals

Govt issues new directives to hospitals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: 02.07.2020

The state government on Wednesday issued certain guidelines while permitting hospitals with a 100-bed capacity to treat Covid-19 patients.

The guidelines state that the hospitals should set up separate admission and exit routes for suspected Covid-19 patients and must have exclusive wards and rooms to place them under isolation. The government has also instructed the staff to take necessary precautions while testing and treating suspects.

The guidelines alsostatethat the patients,whotest positivefor Covid-19, should be regularly examined by physicians. Cardiologists, pulmonologists and anesthesiologists have been asked to conduct regular video consultations. In case of a death due to infection, the hospital is to strictly follow the rules while shifting the body and performing the last rites. In other clinics and hospitals, only four patients per hour should be given appointments, the notification said. “If patients with symptoms are given an appointment in the outpatient department, they should be examined in a different room,” it said.

Young fatalities: Virus could be attacking heart

Young fatalities: Virus could be attacking heart

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

02.07.2020

Bengaluru: Globally less than 1% of Covid-19 fatalities are those below 40 years, a trend in Karnataka too. Over the past four days, four men below the age of 40 have suddenly died of acute breathlessness, prompting doctors to suggest it could be a sign of viral myocarditis.

A 32-year-old was brought dead to a hospital in Belagavi on Monday, while a 29-year-old died soon after being admitted in Mysuru the same day. A day previously, a 31-year-old from Ballari died of breathlessness soon after hospitalisation, and a 40-year old from Ramanagara died hours after being admitted. None of the four had comorbidities.

Doctors say patients suddenly collapsing and dying suggest viral myocarditis, a condition where the virus attacks heart muscles, disrupting electrical pathways that are vital for the heart to pump properly. While doctors suspect viral myocarditis, it cannot be scientifically established as autopsies of Covid-19 fatalities are not allowed.

To better understand cardiac manifestations in Covid-19 patients, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research Institute (SJICSR) had provided Covid-19 dedicated hospitals of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute with an ECG and Echo cardiogram machines each.

“It is possible that like other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 too is leading to viral myocarditis,” said Dr CN Manjunath, director, SJICSR. “First infection, followed by inflammation of the heart muscle and then clotting (thrombosis) is a typical pattern of viral myocarditis. In some patients, the virus may have caused acute respiratory distress due to infection in the lungs as well.”

Experts say host immunity matters in a viral infection and hence the experience of patients differs. The largest study to examine the association between cardiac involvement and Covid-19 was performed in Wuhan, China. Of 416 patients at Renman hospital in Wuhan University, 82 (19.7%) had cardiac injuries. Mortality among those with such injuries was significantly higher (51%).

“A heart biopsy will show inflammation in the heart muscle,” said Dr Rahul Patil, head of the project, Young Age Heart Attack, SJICSR. “Inflammation is secondary to viral infection. It might mimic a heart attack, but confirmatory tests are cardiac MRI, myocardial biopsy and Covid-19 testing if the patient is brought dead.”

Covid-19 hospitals here are not multispeciality centres, so we do not have a setup to constantly check Echo and ECG of patients. Studies done in the US say three of 1,000 patients had viral myocarditis and it could be true in India too. However, some brought dead cases had comorbidities, so we can’t draw definite conclusions

Dr Ramesh Revanna PULMONOLOGIST, B’LORE MEDICAL COLLEGE & RESEARCH INSTITUTE

We have so far seen at least 10 brought-dead cases. The virus has multiorgan involvement so we can’t categorically say death is due to viral myocarditis. There could have been concurrent renal failure or end stage sepsis

Dr KV Trilok Chandra NODAL OFFICER, CRITICAL CARE, TELE ICU TEAM

Probe test data leak, say doctors

Probe test data leak, say doctors

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

02.07.2020

Bengaluru: Ten employees of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICSR), who had tested positive last week, received messages on their phones two days ago stating they were negative for the infection. Confused, the patients underwent a retest due and were found positive. The tests were done at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO).

“The negative result messages were not sent from the government portal and this has led to suspicion. We have no clue how lab data is being accessed by miscreants. It needs cybercrime police investigation,” said Dr CN Manjunath, director, SJICSR and nodal officer, Covid 19 taskforce for lab testing.

The staff tested positive on June 26 and they received contradictory messages two days later. “Mischief mongers appear to be hacking data. Because of the confusion, I made sure they were all tested again,” said Dr Manjunath.

A technician from Nimhans who tested positive also received a message on his phone saying he is negative. A re-test confirmed an infection. The lab faced a similar situation again on Wednesday, when a cancer patient from Kidwai, who tested positive on June 29, received a message later saying she was negative.

“We upload lab reports on the ICMR portal. We do not send messages,” said Manjunath Siddappa, director, Bangalore Medical System, who runs the lab in KMIO. “If there is a data leak, it is not from our end.”

The lab has conducted 48,000 tests since April 28 and tests 1,200 samples a day. When contacted, Dr C Ramachandra, director, KMIO, said he was unaware of the matter. The government recently issued a notification banning all labs from sharing Covid-19 results with patients. Labs were told that the report must be communicated to the patient only through district administration.