Buses to run half-full after 5 months

Buses to run half-full after 5 months

Masks A Must For Travelling; Offices To Have 100% Staff

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 31.08.2020

Five months after the first lockdown was announced to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, city streets will regain life starting Tuesday as bus services will resume and malls, hotels will reopen. Offices have been permitted to function with 100% staff in attendance. Metro rail services will also resume on September 7 and Chennai will no longer be the city with the most restrictions in the country as only colleges, schools, cinemas and parks will remain closed.

As the city continues to log more than 1,000 fresh Covid-19 cases daily, MTC authorities, malls and hotel managements will take precautions to ensure safety of patrons. Measures — a mix of technology and manual enforcement — will be taken to prevent crowding and ensure social distancing in buses, malls, hotels and metro trains.

Anticipating a huge rush of commuters on the first day, MTC will run its entire fleet of 3,000 buses. A transport department official said due to social distancing restrictions, they will be running more buses. “We will first see the crowd, and based on that, we will increase services in the subsequent days.”

Buses can take in only 50% passengers and none can travel standing, and everyone must wear masks. “Buses have 44 seats, so now only 22 passengers can board and only one person can sit in a two-seater, in order to maintain social distancing,” said a senior official from the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC). The crew will wear masks and gloves, and there will be a hands-free sanitiser dispenser stand at the entrance of every bus for the public to use.

Until further government orders, MTC buses will not ply in Chengalpet, Arakkonam, and areas outside the corporation limits.

Metro rail, which has already readied a standard operating procedure, is expected to finetune it based on fresh guidelines from the Centre. An official said issuing of tokens will be dispensed with and QR code-based ticketing will be introduced in addition to the smart cards to ensure contactless entry and exit at the stations. The services were suspended at the end of March.

Sources said services may be stopped earlier than usual. “We are yet to take a decision on what all SOPs to follow,’ said an official.

Making the most of the opportunity to resume business, star hotels have started to reassure its customers about their safety standards. Zubin Songadwala, general manager of ITC Grand Chola, said, “Our safe practices start with prearrival check-in, safe car ride, security personnel in PPE, hand sanitisers at touchpoints, luggage sanitisation, remodelled receptions with WelcomSeparators, deepcleaned and sanitised room allotment.” He also said restaurants will follow contactless dining while food will be delivered to rooms on sanitised IRD trolleys.

India becomes 1st country to cross 80k cases in a day

India becomes 1st country to cross 80k cases in a day

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:31.08.2020

India added a record 80,092 fresh Covid cases on Sunday, becoming the first country in the world to cross the 80,000-mark in a single day since the outbreak of the pandemic, even as the week ending August 30 turned out to be the worst week of the month. The growth rate in both fresh cases and fatalities in this week not only increased after a dip, but more than doubled compared to the preceding week.

The highest peak of 80,000-plus cases comes on a Sunday when the number of fresh infections have been lower than other days of the week because of a lull in testing during the weekends. The highest peak of fresh cases on a Sunday was last recorded on August 9 with 63,851fresh cases.

However, more alarming than the new peak in fresh infections is the growth rate of both fresh cases and fatalities shooting up in the last week of August after a dip which was seen in the earlier weeks of the month.

India’s first woman cardiologist dies at 103

India’s first woman cardiologist Dr S I Padmavati died of Covid-19 on Saturday. The 103-year-old was admitted 11 days ago to the National Heart Institute, which she founded in 1981. A severe infection in both lungs caused the death. P 8

Covid-19: AP emerges as second worst-hit state, pushes TN to 3rd

With more than 76,000 fresh cases being registered daily for five consecutive days, the growth rate this week at 13.1% was almost three times the 4.7% growth registered the previous week. This was 5.9% in the preceding week and 10.9% in the first week of the month (Aug 3-9).

Similarly, with 1,000-plus fresh deaths recorded for four consecutive days, the growth rate in fatalities this week, at 3.9%, was more than double of 1.7% recorded in the previous week.

Sunday’s peak of fresh cases came on the back of Maharashtra recording its second highest surge with 16,408 infections – more than 16,000 cases for the second consecutive day – as well as five other states registering their highest peaks. Maharashtra registered its highest peak with 16,867 new cases just a day ago.

On Sunday, the states/ UT which registered their highest peak were Uttar Pradesh (which crossed the 6,000-mark for the first time with 6,233 new cases), Rajasthan (1,450 fresh cases), Madhya Pradesh (1,558), Chhattisgarh (1,471), and Jammu & Kashmir (786).

With 970 fresh deaths on Sunday, India’s toll inched closer to the 65,000-mark at 64,550. Maharashtra, the worst affected state, registered 296 fresh deaths on Sunday, taking the toll to 24399, which is nearly 38% of the country’s total fatalities.

While the cumulative caseload of the country crossed the 36-lakh mark on Sunday at 36,16,730, the number of patients who have recovered is 27,67,412. The number of active cases is close to the 8-lakh mark at 7,84,768.

Andhra Pradesh emerged as the second worst affected state in the country, with 10,603 new infections in the country taking the state’s caseload to 4,24,767, thereby pushing Tamil Nadu to the third place with a caseload of 4,22,085.

TOUGH TESTING: A woman gives sample at mobile Covid testing bus at ENT hospital in Visakhapatnam on Sunday

› Nashik currency press stops ops over Covid, P 8

TN scraps e-pass, allows buses within dists, opens up shrines Edu Institutes, Cinemas Will Remain Shut

TN scraps e-pass, allows buses within dists, opens up shrines

Edu Institutes, Cinemas Will Remain Shut

D.Govardan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:31.08.2020

In line with the Centre’s unlock 4.0 norms, the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday announced that from September 1 e-passes would not be needed for travel within the state, buses could ply within districts, and malls, hotels, resorts, clubs and places of worship were free to open. The intense lockdown on Sundays, which had little meaning with people crowding market places on Saturday, too will go.

Schools, colleges and cinema theatres, including multiplexes in malls, will, however, remain closed.

In Chennai, metro rail services will resume operations from September 7, while suburban train services will remain shut. Passengers arriving by domestic and international flights, as well as those entering the state in private vehicles and trains would still need to apply for e-pass, which will be sanctioned to all automatically.

Parks and sports stadia will be open for undertaking training, but members of the public will not be allowed inside stadiums. Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the relaxations were to boost overall economic activity and growth and had been decided after discussions with officials and health experts.

While Section 144 that prevents unlawful assembly of more than five persons will remain in force, no relaxations of any type will be applicable for containment zones.

No public meetings or religious gatherings or processions will be permitted. All industries as well as IT/ITeS sector can have their operations with 100% employees.

State government offices to function with all employees

But the IT sector is being advised to encourage WFH for most, barring the critical areas of operations. State government offices will function with 100% employees from September 1, while skill development centres and ITIs will function from September 21.

People visiting hill stations such as Nilgris, Kodaikanal and Yercaud should apply for e-pass from the respective district collector.

Film shootings are permitted to resume, but with a maximum of 75 people. Members of the public will not be allowed to be present at shooting spots. “It has come as a breather for an industry bogged down by inaction for five and half months. While challenges remain, production houses will resume shooting in a couple of days,” said S R Prabhu, vice president, Tamil Film Active Producers Association said.

“Operation of intra-district bus transport will help. But, we urge the government to considering early resumption of suburban train services, since MSME workers will have to shell out more for travel by buses from other parts of same districts. If metro rail is for white-collar jobs, suburban trains are for blue-collared workers and they are important if industrial units have to run with 100% employees,” said M Balachandran, president, AIEMA.

“It will only aid then economy, which has taken a hit,” Hari K Thiagarajan, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu told TOI. “We are relieved. We are in a state of readiness to open the mall in a couple of days,” Mukrim Habeeb, director, Grand Marina Mall on OMR.

People visiting hill stations such as Nilgris, Kodaikanal and Yercaud should apply for e-pass from the respective district collector

Why women feel worse after breakup sex

Why women feel worse after breakup sex

Canela Lopez 30.08.2020

Breakups come along with a flurry of emotions packed into a small period of time, which can be pretty confusing. It’s no surprise that a little breakup sex may occur in the heat of it all. But sometimes, it can really hard to pinpoint exactly why we do it.

A team of researchers put together a paper published in Evolutionary Psychology, which includes two studies on how men and women differ in their approach to breakup sex — which they defined as sex with your ex two weeks or less after breaking up — and how it makes them feel when everything is said and done.

They found that both genders have breakup sex for vastly different reasons.

The first study in the paper surveyed 212 college students in the Northeast, who were predominantly white and almost entirely heterosexual, and asked how they felt after having breakup sex.

Overall, women typically felt better about their relationship but worse about themselves after breakup sex, while men felt better about themselves.

“It is due to women being more likely than men to express regret over having a one-time sexual encounter as prior research by others has documented,” Dr. T. Joel Wade, Professor of Psychology at Bucknell University and coauthor of the paper, told Insider.

The second study asked a group of 292 college students, predominantly white and entirely heterosexual, to choose from a list of what motivated them to engage in breakup sex and rank the reasons.

According to Wade, men typically had breakup sex for “hedonistic reasons” — like “wanting to feel good, the opportunity occurred, missed having sex, and wanting to satisfy their needs.”

Women, on the other hand, tended to do so for more emotional and loving reasons.

The research hypothesizes there is an evolutionary aspect to why men and women differ in their decisions to have breakup sex. The evolutionary theories for breakup sex that were explored included doing so a mate-retention tool (way to entice your partner to stay) and as a mate-coping strategy (way to give the possible dissolution of your relationship).

While evolution was the main focus of this set of research, the authors said social factors like sexism could also play a role.

One limitation of the data was the sample groups used for the studies. Both groups were predominantly White and almost entirely heterosexual.“The data cannot speak to LGBTQ+ individuals. It is hard to say how queer people would engage,” Moran, lead author of the paper, told Insider. BUSINESS INSIDER.IN

GENDER DIFFERENCE: Men have breakup sex for hedonistic reasons, while women do so for emotional and loving reasons, a new study claims

Your phone knows when you’re drunk

Your phone knows when you’re drunk

30.08.3030

By detecting changes in the way one walks, a smartphone can tell when a person has had too much alcohol, suggests the findings of a new study.

The study was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Having real-time information about alcohol intoxication could be important for helping people reduce alcohol consumption, preventing drinking and driving or alerting a sponsor for someone in treatment, according to lead researcher Brian Suffoletto, M.D., who was with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine when the research was conducted and is now with Stanford University School of Medicine.

“We have powerful sensors we carry around with us wherever we go,” Suffoletto says. “We need to learn how to use them to best serve public health.”

But for Suffoletto, this research is much more than academic. “I lost a close friend to a drinking and driving crash in college,” he says. “And as an emergency physician, I have taken care of scores of adults with injuries related to acute alcohol intoxication. Because of this, I have dedicated the past 10 years to testing digital interventions to prevent deaths and injury related to excessive alcohol consumption.”

For the study, Suffoletto and colleagues recruited 22 adults aged between 21 to 43. Volunteers came to a lab and received a mixed drink with enough vodka to produce a breath alcohol concentration of .20 per cent. They had one hour to finish the alcohol.

Then hourly for seven hours, participants had their breath alcohol concentration analysed and performed a walking task. For this task, researchers placed a smartphone on each participant’s lower back, secured with an elastic belt. Participants walked a straight line for 10 steps, turned around, and walked back 10 steps.

The smartphones measured acceleration and mediolateral (side to side), vertical (up and down), and anteroposterior (forward and backward) movements while the participants walked. About 90% of the time, the researchers were able to use changes in gait to identify when participants’ breath alcohol concentration exceeded .08%, the legal limit for driving in the US.

Although placing the smartphone on the lower back does not reflect how people carry their cell phones in real life, the research group plans to conduct additional research while people carry phones in their hands and in their pockets.

And although it was a small investigation, the researchers write that this is a “proof-of-concept study” that “provides a foundation for future research on using smartphones to remotely detect alcoholrelated impairments.” ANI

WALK TELLS ALL: A smartphone can tell when someone has had too much alcohol because of their walk

Govt revives 2-year PG medical diploma course

Govt revives 2-year PG medical diploma course

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:30.08.3030

With an aim to address the shortage of specialists in district hospitals and in rural India, the health ministry has allowed two-year post-graduate (PG) diploma courses that applicants can pursue after completing their MBBS.

This will enable National Board of Examination to start eight post graduate speciality diploma courses in obstetrics and gynaecology, anaesthesiology, paediatrics, tuberculosis and chest disease, family medicine, ophthalmology, radio diagnosis, and ENT.

The health ministry issued the order after consultation with the Board of Governors (BoG) in suppression of the Medical Council of India.

Candidates can pursue these courses by clearing the NEET-PG exam after completing MBBS.

Hospitals with a minimum of 100 operational beds are eligible to seek accreditation with NBE for the diploma courses.

TOI had reported about this proposal being considered by the government in March.

The move assumes significance in view of the pandemic which has restricted movement because of fear of infection. The dearth of specialist doctors in rural and remote areas have become more challenging for the healthcare system now than ever as critical patients are unable to travel to cities and metros to seek tertiary care.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) had in 2019 converted its diploma courses into degree courses to overcome the shortfall of teaching faculty in the country.

Hospitals with a minimum of 100 operational beds are eligible to seek accreditation with NBE for the diploma courses

3 paediatricians die in a day of Covid-19 in Maharashtra

3 paediatricians die in a day of Covid-19 in Maharashtra

Rapid Health Deterioration A Common Factor

Chaitanya.Deshpande@timesgroup.com

Nagpur:30.08.3030

Three paediatricians from Akola, Buldhana and Bhusawal, who were treating Covid-19 patients at different places, died of coronavirus infection on Friday. Very rapid deterioration of health was the common factor in all the three deaths.

As per central government data, 292 health care workers have died in Maharashtra. According to state figures, 26 government doctors have died due to Covid-19 in Maharashtra till date. According to Indian Medical Association (Maharashtra), more than 90 private practitioners have died of Covid-19 in Maharashtra.

In Vidarbha region, 3 doctors in government service have died of Covid-19. More than 10 private practitioners have died in region due to the virus, according to the IMA.

Dr Vivek Phadke, 55, who died on Friday was the chief medical officer of the Covid care centre in Murtizapur in Akola district since the last five months. He died within 44 hours of admission. The other two were private practitioners.

Dr Phadke got himself admitted to Akola GMCH on August 26 after he developed Covid symptoms. “He was otherwise fit but had some lifestyle-based comorbidities like diabetes. His condition was very good when he got himself admitted. But his health deteriorated suddenly,” said Dr Ranjeet Deshmukh, his long-time companion, from Neighbouring Buldhana district witnessed a death of young private practitioner Dr Gopal Kshirsagar, 37, who used to run a hospital in Janefal town of Mehkar tehsil. Dr Kshirsagar got admitted in a private hospital in Aurangabad on August 5.

Senior paediatrician from Bhusawal, Dr Umesh Manohar Khanapurkar, died on the same day in Mumbai. He was known as ‘garibanche doctor’ (doctor of poor people) in Bhusawal. Family members of Dr Khanapurkar are also reputed doctors in the region. Dr Khanapurkar tested positive on August 11 and was admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai. Dr Deshmukh said that Dr Phadke was one of the “finest in government setup”. “He worked with dedication and never got into private practice. After working for more than a decade in Akola, he was working in Murtizapur for the last several years,” he said.

“He was doing well during initial days of treatment. But his condition suddenly deteriorated,” he added. Dr Khanapurkar, practising since 1988, is credited to have saved hundreds of critically ill babies. “He was providing health services to the poor during lockdown,” said Dr Ashutosh Kelkar from Bhusawal.

Dr Ravi Wankhedkar, treasurer of World Medical Association, said that doctors dying due to Covid is a serious cause of concern. “Over-bureaucratization of Covid-19 crisis and non-involvement of health experts in decision-making has worsened the situation,” he said. He added that health care workers need more protection.

Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj stopped, quarantined in J’khand

Bokaro:

BJP’s Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj was stopped by Jharkhand police en route to Dhanbad on Saturday for allegedly violating Covid-19 protocol and put in 14-day institutional quarantine in Giridih. Sakshi Maharaj had arrived early in the morning and spent two hours with his ailing 97-year-old mother.

While the MP accused the JMM-Congress-RJD government of forcibly quarantining him, Giridih DC Rahul Kumar Sinha said there was nothing political about the decision. TNN