Experts with us share their views on how to mitigate the impact of the crisis in these testing times
In this blog, Dr Nimisha Goel (MBBS, MD), National Program Officer at the Norway India Partnership, explores maternal, newborn and child health in India in the context of post-COVID recovery by focussing on the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the country and advocating for a more integrated and comprehensive model of care.
Himanshu Sikka shares his views with ET-HealthWorld on Covaxin being granted permission for inoculating children in 2-18 age group.
Himanshu Sikka shares his views with The Mint on "India's vaccination drive likely to cross 1 billion this month."
Ashwajit Singh shares his opinion with Financial Express on "Rebuilding the Indian street economy: Why it is important to help covid-hit street vendors".
Himanshu Sikka shares his views with 'The Mint' on WHO weekly epidemiological update on “Hospitalization of covid patients was influenced by government policies”.
Realising the need for increased public-private sector engagement we are also supporting donor initiatives that will help strengthen the vaccine supply chain through our innovative and first-of-its kind blended finance facility that will allow social and market-based solutions to be introduced and scaled rapidly.
Come 2021 and the pandemic is raging like never before. Reeling under the devastating second wave, the migrant workers is once again facing unemployment, food insecurity, a wipe-out of savings and rising debts.
With a vaccination drive that has been faltering and seeing policy shifts, India’s ambitious target of vaccinating at least all its adult population by the end of 2021 seems too optimistic. Approximate calculations indicate that to vaccinate this near 945 million adults, India will need a minimum of 1.89 billion doses.
Dr Harsh Mahajan, founder of Mahajan Imaging said that there will definitely be a third wave of the virus in the country and face masks and Covid-19 appropriate behaviour should strictly be followed by people.
This in way is causing additional pressure on urban health facilities. From some rural parts of the country, news is also coming about wrong diagnosis of Covid cases and often being treated for typhoid in initial days, which is adding to complications.
Both Covaxin and Covishield are approved and equally good. It has been very clear from the beginning that vaccines only reduce the severity of the infection and do not prevent the same. That’s why people need to keep following Covid appropriate behaviour even after vaccination.
The big question that is looming in everyone's mind is how long a lockdown will be required to come out of the current wave.
COVID has brought to light and peeled-off, layer-by-layer, the inefficiencies that mar our health systems. As cases increased, our emergency health systems were exposed and struggled to cope with the pandemic's pressures and needs.
This is not the time to engage in a vaccine diplomacy battle or one-upmanship. Time is critical because the quicker we vaccinate, the earlier we can achieve herd immunity, with a lower risk of new strains.
Pandemics by definition occur in waves and while different parts of the country have, over the last year, seen multiple waves, as a nation we seem now to be heading towards the second major wave. So far, the current spurt has been restricted to a few states such as Maharashtra.
According to Health Ministry data, the number of people inoculated with the first dose of a Covid vaccine stood at 2.1 crore as on March 11.
This is a harsh reminder that we are still very much in the pandemic and facing new challenges of foreign and now possibly local variants of the virus. We would possibly see a third wave if drastic measures to increase awareness among people are not taken.
A majority of Indian cities that were hotbeds for covid seem to be inching towards herd immunity. As we move closer, the case load is expected to come down further. However, this may not stop new centres emerging or a resurge in these areas again after a break-in time.
In many parts of the country, the test positivity ratio has seen a considerable dip in the last few weeks. This clearly indicates that those parts have passed the peak for now, however, it does not indicate that worse is over.
Staggered classes and increasing school time, few classes on a given day would help in tackling most of the issues. Online classes can barely help children remain afloat which is why it is important to gradually and responsibly start opening of schools.
India has the third-largest number of people with HIV, vulnerable populations that lack access to basic health care, and more than 39 million Indians fall into poverty each year due to medical costs.
India on Monday crossed the milestone of having conducted 110 million covid-19 tests, but public health experts warned this wasn’t enough and that India needs to scale up testing rapidly in order to control the pandemic.
There is a clear trend of new Covid-19 infections declining in the country, with 45,321 cases reported in last 24 hours compared to the peak of 97,859 cases on September 16.
It is important to gradually and responsibly start opening schools. This will not only help students to recover but also allow teachers to understand where children currently are in terms of learning levels.
Initially, 1,000 tests per day were conducted, which necessitated a 100x growth rate; now the count has increased to one million tests per day, and so the growth rate required is not that much.
Clinics, hospitals and diagnostic services face the biggest challenge due to Covid and saw 70-80 peer cent drop in patient footfall for selective procedures. Even in case of serious ailments patients were seen to be shying away from visiting health facilities.
The government is increasingly focussing on livelihoods under Unlock 5 and on boosting economic activity as the pandemic rages on. But, health experts warned, the home ministry’s recent decision to open schools and cinemas, and allow festive gatherings and interstate travel may trigger a surge in covid-19 cases.
Amidst reports of a second wave again like the Europe, unlock 5 will have more people around, winters of north India will have more of them huddled into closed spaces, and therefore there is a need to exercise extreme caution and follow all health guidelines especially when vaccine for the 1.3 billion is still a long shot.
The Covid tally in India on October 5 stood at 60,128, the lowest in the past six weeks, since August 24. But daily numbers can be deceptive as the curve for new cases tends to whipsaw, depending on the number of tests conducted.
The study, which was conducted on over 3 million people in 16 global cities found that the average workday increased by 8.2 percent—or 48.5 minutes—during the pandemic’s early weeks. Employees also participated in more meetings, though for less time than they did before COVID-19 sent many workers home.
Even as the number of Covid-19 cases has been surging, India has ramped up testing significantly. This has resulted in the country conducting more tests than other countries such as US, Brazil, Russia and Peru that have ranked high in the total number of cases.
With the Covid-19 recovery rate in the capital up to 88 percent in the first two weeks of July, the recent launch of job portal, Rozgar Bazaar, by the Delhi government is a move to push the economic revival agenda in the capital after a three-month nationwide lockdown.
There are some of the early signs that we are seeing due to COVID-19 pandemic there might be a delay in meeting the nutritional targets that India has set for itself.
In the wake of a sudden pause in the final trials of the Astra-Oxford vaccine AZD1222 after one of the recipients in the UK showed adverse symptoms followed by similar steps by Serum Institute of India what implications does this have on global vaccine trials and, on the economy specifically the Indian scenario?While some experts claim that the pause is a routine one and is the second time that it has been halted.
India’s Covid-19 tally of cases went past 4.2 million with a record 90,802 people being infected in a day to surpass Brazil and become the second worst-hit country after the United States. With increased testing, it could emerge as the top country affected by the pandemic.
Before the end of the week, India will have second highest cases of COVID-19 in the world and by the end of September, may also cross the US tally to claim the pole position.
As the confirmed cases cross 3.5 million, what is required is to raise awareness in smaller towns and villages. Since these parts didn’t see much case surges in the first 4-5 months of lockdown, there is a misconception amongst people that the worst is over.
The pandemic is proving to be a moment of truth for all of us. While on the one hand, it has brought in a renewed sense of urgency to create a momentum around economic revival and health system reforms, on the other, it has highlighted the need to communicate right.
The number of cases will keep increasing in the coming two to three months and may eventually surpass the US as well. The death rate of under 2% and recovery rate of over 70% is a direct result of the lockdown decisions in the [pandemic's] early days.
The spread of COVID-19 in India continues unabated. Over the past six months, the number of confirmed cases has grown to over 28 lakh in the country, the highest in the world after the US and Brazil.
The year 2020 marks the start of the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. From eliminating poverty and hunger to reversing climate change, this period was set to advance a shared vision and accelerate responses to the world’s gravest challenges.
India has fast paced its testing and tracing infrastructure, but much more is required. India’s public and private medical research institutions have responded well to the challenge and with right support have the capacity to scale-up efforts further.
While Andhra Pradesh has been recording over 10,000 cases every day for last five days, Chandigarh’s average growth rate of Covid-19 cases at 4.6% has also surpassed the current growth rate of Delhi (0.8%) and Maharashtra (2.4 %).
India is the third most affected from covid-19 now, but with increased testing, it could emerge as the top country affected by the pandemic. While testing rates have increased by 240% since the beginning of July, covid positive cases have increased by almost 325%.
India can offer these companies reasonable price and quality material which can lead to more foreign investments giving a much-needed impetus to the economy.
High population density coupled with porous city and state borders are some of the key reasons for India not being able to control the virus spread after the lifting of the lockdown.
One of the key challenges faced by the migrant workers in the cities at the beginning of the lockdowns was the lack of food security and a lack of access to foodgrains.
India, which is at the third spot after the US (4,238,500) and Brazil (2,419,091) in covid-19 cases, has been seeing a sharp upward trend of the disease in its cumulative cases average.
Learning AI, agriculture, environmental studies, health & hygiene and many other aspects should be made more rigorous to face and prevent challenges.
As coronavirus-caused Covid-19 pandemic continues to shake up the economies across the world, many big corporate houses are coming forward and leaving no stone unturned to offer help to the people hit by the pandemic.
The Delhi government’s pioneering effort to set up the plasma bank is a welcome step and will go a long way in fighting the unending war against the COVID-19.
Himanshu Sikka said that while India has reached No. 3 in number of cases, the comforting fact is the high recovery rate of over 60% and low fatality rate.
There are a number of potential vaccine candidates—approximately 133 globally, according to the World Health Organisation—that are in various stages of clinical trials; hence, there will not be one single country or company dominating vaccine production, unless companies like Astra Zeneca keep signing deals with governments for supply if their candidate proves successful.
Countries, such as Japan, have indicated their intention to move manufacturing operations out from China to other countries. While global buyers are looking for replacements to source their products, India can offer these companies reasonable price and quality material that can lead to more foreign investments, giving a much-needed impetus to the economy.
Migrant workers constitute a large part of the informal sector which employs close to 93% of workers in India 1 and contributes nearly 50% of economic output 2 .
This in way is causing additional pressure on urban health facilities. From some rural parts of the country, news is also coming about wrong diagnosis of Covid cases and often being treated for typhoid in initial days, which is adding to complications.
Read More
Come 2021 and the pandemic is raging like never before. Reeling under the devastating second wave, the migrant workers is once again facing unemployment, food insecurity, a wipe-out of savings and rising debts.
Read More
Dr Harsh Mahajan, founder of Mahajan Imaging said that there will definitely be a third wave of the virus in the country and face masks and Covid-19 appropriate behaviour should strictly be followed by people.
Read More
Realising the need for increased public-private sector engagement we are also supporting donor initiatives that will help strengthen the vaccine supply chain through our innovative and first-of-its kind blended finance facility that will allow social and market-based solutions to be introduced and scaled rapidly.
Read More
Both Covaxin and Covishield are approved and equally good. It has been very clear from the beginning that vaccines only reduce the severity of the infection and do not prevent the same. That’s why people need to keep following Covid appropriate behaviour even after vaccination.
Read More
The big question that is looming in everyone's mind is how long a lockdown will be required to come out of the current wave.
Read More
COVID has brought to light and peeled-off, layer-by-layer, the inefficiencies that mar our health systems. As cases increased, our emergency health systems were exposed and struggled to cope with the pandemic's pressures and needs.
Read More
This is not the time to engage in a vaccine diplomacy battle or one-upmanship. Time is critical because the quicker we vaccinate, the earlier we can achieve herd immunity, with a lower risk of new strains.
Read More
Pandemics by definition occur in waves and while different parts of the country have, over the last year, seen multiple waves, as a nation we seem now to be heading towards the second major wave. So far, the current spurt has been restricted to a few states such as Maharashtra.
Read More
According to Health Ministry data, the number of people inoculated with the first dose of a Covid vaccine stood at 2.1 crore as on March 11. This means that 20.39 crore of the target population is yet to get the first dose, based on the median target population.
Read More
This is a harsh reminder that we are still very much in the pandemic and facing new challenges of foreign and now possibly local variants of the virus. We would possibly see a third wave if drastic measures to increase awareness among people are not taken.
Read More
A majority of Indian cities that were hotbeds for covid seem to be inching towards herd immunity. As we move closer, the case load is expected to come down further. However, this may not stop new centres emerging or a resurge in these areas again after a break-in time.
Read More
In many parts of the country, the test positivity ratio has seen a considerable dip in the last few weeks. This clearly indicates that those parts have passed the peak for now, however, it does not indicate that worse is over.
Read More
Staggered classes and increasing school time, few classes on a given day would help in tackling most of the issues. Online classes can barely help children remain afloat which is why it is important to gradually and responsibly start opening of schools.
Read More
India has the third-largest number of people with HIV, vulnerable populations that lack access to basic health care, and more than 39 million Indians fall into poverty each year due to medical costs.
Read More
India on Monday crossed the milestone of having conducted 110 million covid-19 tests, but public health experts warned this wasn’t enough and that India needs to scale up testing rapidly in order to control the pandemic.
Read More
There is a clear trend of new Covid-19 infections declining in the country, with 45,321 cases reported in last 24 hours compared to the peak of 97,859 cases on September 16.
Read More
It is important to gradually and responsibly start opening schools. This will not only help students to recover but also allow teachers to understand where children currently are in terms of learning levels.
Read More
Initially, 1,000 tests per day were conducted, which necessitated a 100x growth rate; now the count has increased to one million tests per day, and so the growth rate required is not that much.
Read More
Clinics, hospitals and diagnostic services face the biggest challenge due to Covid and saw 70-80 peer cent drop in patient footfall for selective procedures. Even in case of serious ailments patients were seen to be shying away from visiting health facilities.
Read More
The government is increasingly focussing on livelihoods under Unlock 5 and on boosting economic activity as the pandemic rages on. But, health experts warned, the home ministry’s recent decision to open schools and cinemas, and allow festive gatherings and interstate travel may trigger a surge in covid-19 cases.
Read More
Amidst reports of a second wave again like the Europe, unlock 5 will have more people around, winters of north India will have more of them huddled into closed spaces, and therefore there is a need to exercise extreme caution and follow all health guidelines especially when vaccine for the 1.3 billion is still a long shot.
Read More
The Covid tally in India on October 5 stood at 60,128, the lowest in the past six weeks, since August 24. But daily numbers can be deceptive as the curve for new cases tends to whipsaw, depending on the number of tests conducted.
Read More
The study, which was conducted on over 3 million people in 16 global cities found that the average workday increased by 8.2 percent—or 48.5 minutes—during the pandemic’s early weeks. Employees also participated in more meetings, though for less time than they did before COVID-19 sent many workers home.
Read More
Even as the number of Covid-19 cases has been surging, India has ramped up testing significantly. This has resulted in the country conducting more tests than other countries such as US, Brazil, Russia and Peru that have ranked high in the total number of cases.
Read More
With the Covid-19 recovery rate in the capital up to 88 percent in the first two weeks of July, the recent launch of job portal, Rozgar Bazaar, by the Delhi government is a move to push the economic revival agenda in the capital after a three-month nationwide lockdown.
Read More
There are some of the early signs that we are seeing due to COVID-19 pandemic there might be a delay in meeting the nutritional targets that India has set for itself.
Read More
In the wake of a sudden pause in the final trials of the Astra-Oxford vaccine AZD1222 after one of the recipients in the UK showed adverse symptoms followed by similar steps by Serum Institute of India what implications does this have on global vaccine trials and, on the economy specifically the Indian scenario?While some experts claim that the pause is a routine one and is the second time that it has been halted.
Read More
India’s Covid-19 tally of cases went past 4.2 million with a record 90,802 people being infected in a day to surpass Brazil and become the second worst-hit country after the United States. With increased testing, it could emerge as the top country affected by the pandemic.
Read More
Before the end of the week, India will have second highest cases of COVID-19 in the world and by the end of September, may also cross the US tally to claim the pole position.
Read More
As the confirmed cases cross 3.5 million, what is required is to raise awareness in smaller towns and villages. Since these parts didn’t see much case surges in the first 4-5 months of lockdown, there is a misconception amongst people that the worst is over.
Read More
The pandemic is proving to be a moment of truth for all of us. While on the one hand, it has brought in a renewed sense of urgency to create a momentum around economic revival and health system reforms, on the other, it has highlighted the need to communicate right.
Read More
The number of cases will keep increasing in the coming two to three months and may eventually surpass the US as well. The death rate of under 2% and recovery rate of over 70% is a direct result of the lockdown decisions in the [pandemic's] early days.
Read More
The spread of COVID-19 in India continues unabated. Over the past six months, the number of confirmed cases has grown to over 28 lakh in the country, the highest in the world after the US and Brazil.
Read More
The year 2020 marks the start of the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. From eliminating poverty and hunger to reversing climate change, this period was set to advance a shared vision and accelerate responses to the world’s gravest challenges.
Read More
India has fast paced its testing and tracing infrastructure, but much more is required. India’s public and private medical research institutions have responded well to the challenge and with right support have the capacity to scale-up efforts further.
Read More
The idea of a hybrid workplace (mix of physical and remote) is gaining traction and changing of policies is already underway. Businesses have started thinking about alternative workforce models and leveraging the gig economy.
Read More
While Andhra Pradesh has been recording over 10,000 cases every day for last five days, Chandigarh’s average growth rate of Covid-19 cases at 4.6% has also surpassed the current growth rate of Delhi (0.8%) and Maharashtra (2.4 %).
Read More
India is the third most affected from covid-19 now, but with increased testing, it could emerge as the top country affected by the pandemic. While testing rates have increased by 240% since the beginning of July, covid positive cases have increased by almost 325%.
Read More
India can offer these companies reasonable price and quality material which can lead to more foreign investments giving a much-needed impetus to the economy.
Read More
High population density coupled with porous city and state borders are some of the key reasons for India not being able to control the virus spread after the lifting of the lockdown.
Read More
One of the key challenges faced by the migrant workers in the cities at the beginning of the lockdowns was the lack of food security and a lack of access to foodgrains.
Read More
India’s annual food-subsidy bill is more than 1 trillion rupees ($13.4 billion) -- almost 4% of the national budget -- as the government is required by law to provide 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of rice, wheat and coarse grains at subsidized rates as low.
Read More
India, which is at the third spot after the US (4,238,500) and Brazil (2,419,091) in covid-19 cases, has been seeing a sharp upward trend of the disease in its cumulative cases average.
Read More
Learning AI, agriculture, environmental studies, health & hygiene and many other aspects should be made more rigorous to face and prevent challenges.
Read More
As coronavirus-caused Covid-19 pandemic continues to shake up the economies across the world, many big corporate houses are coming forward and leaving no stone unturned to offer help to the people hit by the pandemic.
Read More
The pandemic should be used as an opportunity to build resilience and intervene in a focused manner, identifying individuals and households that are vulnerable to malnutrition.
Read More
The Delhi government’s pioneering effort to set up the plasma bank is a welcome step and will go a long way in fighting the unending war against the COVID-19
Read More
Himanshu Sikka said that while India has reached No. 3 in number of cases, the comforting fact is the high recovery rate of over 60% and low fatality rate
Read More
There are a number of potential vaccine candidates—approximately 133 globally, according to the World Health Organisation—that are in various stages of clinical trials; hence, there will not be one single country or company dominating vaccine production, unless companies like Astra Zeneca keep signing deals with governments for supply if their candidate proves successful.
Read More
The World Economic Forum report had indicated that the jobs of the future are set to grow by 51 percent in the horizon up to 2020 and had projected 6.1 million job opportunities globally mainly in the adoption of new technologies—giving rise to greater demand for Green Economy jobs and roles at the forefront of the Data and AI economy.
Read More
Countries, such as Japan, have indicated their intention to move manufacturing operations out from China to other countries. While global buyers are looking for replacements to source their products, India can offer these companies reasonable price and quality material that can lead to more foreign investments, giving a much-needed impetus to the economy.
Read More
The health ministry said 5,355 covid-19 patients were cured in the past 24 hours, taking the total number to 109,462, with a national recovery rate of 48.27%. At present, India has 110,960 active cases, and all were under active medical supervision.
Read More
Migrant workers constitute a large part of the informal sector which employs close to 93% of workers in India 1 and contributes nearly 50% of economic output 2 . They lack safe working or living conditions, face forced labour, gender-based discrimination and barely subsist on average INR 500 per day.
Read More
The World Bank and the CMIE estimates were published in late April and early May respectively. Since then the situation in India has only become grimmer, with harrowing images of people making desperate attempts to reach their villages, on crowded buses, the flatbeds of trucks and even on foot or on bicycles dominating media coverage.
Read More
Estimates show 20-25 million migrants are moving from urban to rural areas. India has 120 confirmed cases per million of its population. If we were to apply the same ratio, only 3,000 of migrants should be infected.
Read More
With states allowing companies to open their offices to a limited number of staff, returning employees are finding that the office has changed. Many are mourning the loss of casual chats and catch-ups with colleagues as social distancing is part of the rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Read More
The dual supply and demand shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic are expected to cause a global recession. In the last several weeks, global supply chains have been disrupted as workers are locked down, factories shut, and closed borders and terminals block supplies and cargo.
Read More
The network of frontline workers across the Health and ICDS is an asset as they can reach the last household with vital services, messages and facilitate community participation.
Read More
The network of frontline workers across the Health and ICDS is an asset as they can reach the last household with vital services, messages and facilitate community participation.
Read More
Work and life will never be the same again. The world will see major social, behavioural, and social changes. Amidst all this, what has emerged is that technology will play a key role at every level, both in the public and private sector.
Read More
Machines and algorithms in the workplace were expected to create 133 million new roles, but cause 75 million jobs to be displaced by 2022, as per a WEF 2018 Future of Jobs Report. This means that a net of 58 million new jobs will be created over the next few years which would allow people to work with machines and algorithms to meet the demands of the current demographic shifts and economic changes.
Read More
The rapid spread is dampening both global and Indian economic revival efforts. This sudden economic stop is leading to both a concern and apprehension as more and more countries are going into a total lockdown to manage and mitigate the impact of coronavirus.
Read More
India is, nevertheless, again at the crossroads with a more significant dilemma. Should the government continue to strictly enforce a lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus? Or should it worry about the economy and initiate steps for its revival?
Read More
Imparting information about Covid and ways to prevent it.
Orientation on Covid-19
Vriddhi Teams' Field Work on COVID-19
Municipal Reform in Madhya Pradesh to fight Covid-19
Combating COVID-19 through our work
Disseminating available COVID-19 risk-communications and guidelines among healthcare functionaries and communities
Providing training on precautions at the individual healthcare provider level using self-learning safe delivery Apps
Integrated Command and Control Center - Ujjain Smart City
Ujjain Smart City Project
Geo tagging of COVID – 19 Suspects
Our diverse team in India and across the globe is constantly contemplating
and monitoring the state of affairs in the country with an aim to offer solutions that will not just help
the unprivileged section of the society but will also support the government to eradicate this
pandemic. Here’s a sneak peek to the concerns and opinions of IPE Global’s leaders in addressing and
tackling the global pandemic, COVID-19.
Our experts have been proactively engaged in presenting their stance to the media on the global crisis and, its
impact on the social and economic state of the country.
Ashwajit Singh shares his views with BusinessWorld on the importance required in the Health Sector in India
Ashwajit Singh shares his insights and made critical observation to fight against Covid-19 with BusinessWorld
Ashwajit Singh shares his views on Janata Curfew at NDTV 24*7
You may write to us at crc@ipeglobal.com or reach us at +91 11 4075 5900
