Home clusters contribute to spurt in Covid cases in state

FIGHTING COVID-19

Home clusters contribute to spurt in Covid cases in state

Preetu.Nair@timesgroup.com

Kochi:31.07.2021 

It is not community clusters but home clusters that are becoming the major cause of Covid-19 infection spread in the state. Public health experts said that it is no surprise then that despite lockdown restrictions in place, Kerala is seeing an increase in cases. Unlike in the past, now family members of an infected person are neither tested nor placed in home quarantine.

As on July 29, about ,54,080 people are under observation in Kerala. Of these, 4,26,600 are either under home or institutional quarantine and 27,480 ho- spitalized. Majority are now in-home quarantine with most of the CFLTCs now dysfunctional.

“If Kerala government wants to bring down the cases, then the focus has to shift from lockdown restrictions and complete lockdown to contact tracing and testing of infected persons and strict quarantine for all contacts too. This was done in the initial phase of Covid, but now there is no mechanism to ensure this,” said Dr Jayakrishnan A V, chairman of Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) committee on Covid vaccines and vaccination strategy.

Officials in the health department admit that it is technically more difficult to avoid home clusters than community clusters because interactions leading to community clusters can be limited by government intervention, but the same is not possible when it comes to home clusters. With cases surging, some of the local bodies through Asha workers are trying to reach out to those in-home quarantine and check on their family members too.

“What we can partially do is that if even one person at home is tested positive, then the rest of the family members must wear mask for seven to 10 days, especially during interactions at home, because we don’t know who is in the incubation period,” said Dr Anish T S, associate professor, community medicine, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and public health consultant with the disaster management authority.

Added with this, now vaccinated people are also silently spreading the infection to other unvaccinated people at home.

“In Kerala, people’s mask wearing rate has always been high. But the reason for the spread of cases is socially meeting relatives and friends. We are social beings and can’t stay in isolation for long. Therefore, we need to continue to wear masks, ensure social distancing and absolutely avoid mass gatherings until the vast majority are vaccinated. If our intensive care and oxygen beds start filling up meanwhile, further restrictions will become necessary,” added Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, lead researcher of IMA-Kochi’s national survey on post-vaccination symptoms and experiences of Healthcare Workers in India.

Kejriwal: Entire med fraternity should get Bharat Ratna

Kejriwal: Entire med fraternity should get Bharat Ratna

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:31.07.2021 

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded in the Delhi assembly on Friday that the Indian medical fraternity be collectively given the Bharat Ratna. While recommending the same, the assembly also unanimously passed a resolution recommending that doctors and paramedical personnel in the city who served during Covid-19 be nominated by Delhi government for the Padma awards.

“We all have seen how not just our country but the entire world has been suffering because of the pandemic. During this period, our doctors and paramedic staff put their lives at stake to serve the nation. We are aware of how some doctors could not visit their homes for six-odd months and served humanity without caring for their families and themselves,” Kejriwal reiterated his demand during a discussion on a motion moved by AAP legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj for the Padma awards. “In such a time, it is the duty of the whole society to thank the medical community,” the CM said.

Bharadwaj underlined that the doctors couldn’t be thanked enough for their contribution.

Full report on www.toi.in

Longest serving Maharashtra MLA passes away at 94

Longest serving Maharashtra MLA passes away at 94

Kolhapur:31.07.2021 

Ganpatrao Deshmukh, the longest serving MLA in Maharashtra, passed away on Friday. He was 94.

Deshmukh, fondly known as 'Aba,' was admitted to a private hospital in Solapur a few days ago for gallstones treatment. He is survived by two sons, one of them is active in politics.

Deshmukh contested from Sangola first in 1962 and won 11 times, successively.

He was minister of state twice during the Sharad Pawar-led Progressive Democractic Front government in 1978, and in 1999 when the newly formed Nationalist Congress Party and Congress came into power.

His party Shetkari Kamgar Paksha (Peasants and Workers Party) had supported the government. TNN

CBSE topper leads high-scorer club with 1 mark short of 500

CBSE topper leads high-scorer club with 1 mark short of 500

Arts Rubs Shoulders With Science, Comm In Top Bracket

Jhimli.Mukherjeepandey@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:31.07.2021 

One mark short of 500, Archisman Bandyopadhyay from South Point High School is perhaps the highest scorer of CBSE XII this year in the country. This is the second time this year that Bengal witnessed such an achievement; the first was a few days ago when the Higher Secondary results were declared and Rumana Sultana from Kandi in Murshidabad stopped short of the perfect score by just a mark.

South Point, celebrating Archisman’s achievement, will soon see him off as he leaves for the US to study mathematics as his intended major at the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He bagged admission to six reputable US universities but chose this campus because of its high global rank.

“I want to remain in the academics and pursue mathematics in higher studies,” he said.

Not too far behind was Megha Abedin, who topped DPS Ruby Park with 99.2%. It was an especially proud moment for her because she is from the humanities stream and scored much higher than the rest of the neartop scores from the science stream. “I want to stay back in Kolkata and study history in either Presidency or JU and then prepare for my civil services exams,” she said.

Nearly 47% candidates from DPS Ruby Park have scored above 90%. Abedin’s high score was shared by Lokesh Somani from the commerce stream at Birla High School and Sanchit Mukherjee from the science stream at BDM International School. Commerce students have reportedly fared better than those from the two other streams at Birla High School. “I am looking forward to studying economics honours at Delhi University, if I get a seat there. The experience of studying in Delhi will give me added confidence. The application process will start from August 2,” Lokesh said. With 56 boys placed above 95%, the school is overjoyed.

Ritu Kulshreshtha has topped her school, Shri Shikshayatan, scoring 99% in science. “My dream is to study computer science engineering at IIT Kharagpur. I have written the JEE Mains and I hope to be able to sit for the JEE Advanced, too,” she said.

Many schools are happy that while it is traditionally believed the toppers are mostly from science or commerce, several from humanities this year have bagged the top slot. Ronjinee Chattopadhyay from the humanities stream at BDM International has scored 99%. “I want to study sociology and will apply at Jadavpur University, Presidency and St Xavier’s College. I don’t want to leave the city just yet. I am not sure about what I wish to do after graduation and I hope the next three years will help me firm up my plans,” she said.

At Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, too, humanities pipped commerce and science this time, as Sakshi Singhania topped the school with 98.4%. The school has 49 students in the 95-plus category.

Delhi HC gives FB, WhatsApp till Aug 27 to respond to CCI

Delhi HC gives FB, WhatsApp till Aug 27 to respond to CCI

New Delhi:31.07.2021 

The Delhi high court said on Friday it will hear on August 27 the appeals filed by Facebook and WhatsApp against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI's) probe into the instant messaging app’s new privacy policy.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh listed the matter for August after additional solicitor general Balbir Singh, representing CCI, sought some time to respond to the pleas. Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing WhatsApp, contended that if the CCI wants time, the petitioners have no objection as long as the commission does not insist on filing a reply to its June 4 notice by August 5 asking it to furnish certain information in relation to the probe.

WhatsApp and Facebook, also represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, have challenged the CCI’s June 4 and 8 notices, respectively. TNN

Door-to-door vax drive for aged starts, 37 get the shots at home

Door-to-door vax drive for aged starts, 37 get the shots at home

Sumitra.DebRoy@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:31.07.2021 

An 83-year-old Meera Barve broke into a smile when the nurse injected her with the vaccine on Friday. Since the pandemic broke out in 2020, the octogenarian has met her daughter, who lives 200kms away in Dapoli, just twice. The last time a few months ago, she sat at arm’s length wearing a mask. “I was eager to get vaccinated,” said Barve, hoping to meet her daughter more often now.

Barve was among 14 bedridden inmates at the Home for the Aged in Jogeshwari (east) to be inoculated on day 1 of the door-to-door immunisation drive. A total of 37 people from K east ward, including slums in Chakala and Sakinaka, were vaccinated by members from NGO Project Mumbai and civic teams who criss-crossed the city’s second most populated ward in an ambulance. All recipients had to produce a fitness certificate and a consent letter.

The drive started with Daya Joshi (79), a resident of Vijay Nagar in Andheri E, who has been rendered immobile by her heart condition, diabetes and weakness. Her son, Dr Nitin Joshi, said everyone in their house was fully vaccinated except her. “It’s a great initiative and people should sign up without fear,” he said.

Friday’s drive will be reviewed to start it across Maharashtra. For now, producing a fitness certificate and ensuring the presence of a doctor for the 30-minute observation period appear to be the biggest hindrances, said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner. While over 200 requests for home vaccination have come from K east, barely 25-30 were able to arrange a fitness certificate, said Dr Urmila Patil, ward’s medical officer of health.

Under the guidelines, those interested in home vaccination must also provide a consent letter. Dr Niranjan Wagh, who runs the Jogeshwari home along with wife Sumangala, a nurse, said barring a few inmates, almost all families have given their consent for vaccination. “Since the pandemic started, we have cut down physical visits from relatives. We hope with vaccination things will be closer to normalcy,” he said.

At least a dozen vaccinations were carried out in slum colonies inside Sakinaka, Chakala and MIDC, said Shishir Joshi, founder of Project Mumbai. Of the four vials opened, barely a few doses were wasted, said Joshi, as they had micro-mapped the ward to save travel time. “We are calling people beforehand and asking them to keep documents ready. From Monday, we intend to vaccinate 50-75 people daily,” he said.

TIMES VIEW: Door-todoor vaccination is a great initiative to take immunisation to the last person in the community. However, some of the requirements such as a fitness certificate or a physician's letter endorsing the health condition of a bed-ridden person may be challenging to obtain. The state and the BMC must be open to tweak the norms based on feedback and experiences emerging from the real world.

Upset over scaling down of marks to reference year: CBSE XII high scorers

Upset over scaling down of marks to reference year: CBSE XII high scorers

Sandhya Nair & Hemali Chhapia TNN

Mumbai:31.07.2021  

CBSE on Friday announced Class XII results of close to 13 lakh students, much to the disappointment of high scorers who said their marks were scaled down. The all-India success rate was 99.37% and Maharashtra’s 99.41%. Despite their disappointment, there was an 81% jump in 95%-plus scorers to 70,004 students across the country from 38,686 last year, which itself was a 55% increase from 2019.

A labourer’s daughter, Ansuiya, a Humanities student of Vidya Gyan Bulandshahr, a free residential school by the Shiv Nadar Foundation for economically underprivileged meritorious students from rural Uttar Pradesh, emerged the topper with the perfect 100%. Ansuiya aspires to be an IAS officer.

The results of 65,184 students, including from around 1,050 new schools, are under process and will be declared by August 5. A number of schools in Mumbai, too, did not get their results on Friday. In all, 58 Kendriya Vidyalaya schools of Mumbai had a total of 4,234 candidates in Class XII—their success rate was 99.98%, up from the previous year’s 94.9%.

While girls did better than boys by 0.5%, transgender students had a 100% success rate this year compared with 66.7% last year and 83.3% in 2019.

Thiruvananthapuram region continued to top among the 16 regions in the country with 99.89%. Pune region carved out last year maintained its 10th position this year too. Till 2019, Maharashtra was in the Chennai region.

Principals told TOI about having to scale down marks of high scorers. “High scorers felt they could have done better in a written exam. Above-average students benefited the most with the marking system adopted by the board,” said one.

CBSE examination head Sanyam Bharadwaj told TOI, “I know a lot of heads of schools had to scale down their results to be in line with their best reference year. I also feel schools have done a lot of hard work. But our decision was appropriate and the performance of schools across India has improved.”

Schools were given a reference year— 2018, 2019 or 2020—to evaluate students. “We had an extremely bright student in the subject ‘entrepreneurship’. Last year, our reference year, there was no top scorer for entrepreneurship, so this year’s student lost marks,” said a principal.

Nikita Bajaj, principal of R N Podar School, said, “Scaling down the results to bring them on par with the reference year was tough for teachers as we had some exceptionally bright students. For instance, while our reference year was 2018, it was when we also shifted from elective English to core English. So, we felt students would have done better if we had our own reference year for that subject.” Her school had 207 candidates or 44% students with over 90%.

Across Ryan Group of Schools,144 students or 28% of the total strength across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai scored over 90%.

Some said it was the best solution considering the pandemic. “If continued performance of a child over three academic sessions is brought into the mainstream, students will give a more focused and improved performance instead of waiting for one exam,” said Madhu Singh, principal, Billabong High International School, Malad. In Mumbai, eight schools’ results were not declared, including four new ones. Schools awaiting results include Kendriya Vidyalaya in Powai, Somaiya School, New Bombay City School, Radcliffe School, Kharghar, and Datta Meghe World Academy.

(With inputs by B B Nayak)