North East

13 Jun

UGC asks colleges to go back 100 years to rate Covid-19 handling

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June 13, 2020: The University Grants Commission has asked campuses to do comparative studies of India’s handling of the Covid-19 and Spanish flu pandemics, triggering charges the Centre is seeking kudos by pitting its performance against a 102-year-old benchmark from medically backward times. Academics, one of whom derided the exercise as “moronic”, also slammed the higher education regulator’s increasing tendency to issue diktats to universities and colleges despite being an advisory body. In a letter on Thursday, the commission asked every university and college to conduct two studies each, one by asking villagers how they were handling the Covid-19 challenge…

13 Jun

Punjab conducts its first plasma therapy successfully

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Punjab on Friday successfully performed its first convalescent plasma therapy on a critically ill Covid-19 patient at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College & Hospital, Faridkot. The therapy was performed by Dr Ravinder Garg, Department of Medicine, Dr Neetu Kukar, Department of Blood Transfusion, Dr Neerja Jindal, Department of Microbiology, and Dr Divya Kavita, Department of Critical Care. Punjab Medical Education and Research Minister O P Soni said that the patient is gradually improving. This hospital has become one of the pioneer institutes in the country to initiate this therapy, as a part of National Clinical Trial under the ICMR (Indian Council of…

13 Jun

Our strategy is trace, quarantine, test, isolate and treat

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June 13, 2020 : K K Shailaja, Kerala Health Minister, has made global headlines for the state’s handling of Covid-19. In this E-Xplained episode before a nationwide audience on Zoom, she discusses how Kerala kept the numbers down, and looks at the challenges ahead. Edited excerpts: On Kerala’s robust Panchayati Raj and healthcare systems In Kerala we implemented [Panchayati Raj] in a democratic way. Our local self-governments are fully charged with power and the distribution of money is also like that… Our Primary Health Centres are now under the panchayat, local-level panchayat. They are well planned; they are implementing so many novel…

13 Jun

65% deaths in 21-60 age group

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13 June, 2020: Amid the spike in the number of Covid-19 deaths in Uttar Pradesh, another concern is growing —more people below the age of 60 without known comorbidity have died of Covid-19 in the state. Despite the assessment that healthy youngsters are at lesser risk from SARS-CoV-2 and only elderly people with underlying conditions have increased risk of severe infection, the latest data from Uttar Pradesh show otherwise. Out of the 321 deaths reported in the state till Wednesday, 209 — roughly 65 per cent — were in the 21-60 years age group. In the remaining cases, 101 (31.5…

13 Jun

J&K: Two militants killed in encounter with security forces.

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Two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district in the early hours of Saturday, police said.Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Nipora area of Kulgam in south Kashmir following specific information about the presence of militants there, a police official said. Earlier this week, security forces killed 14 militants in three major operations in South Kashmir. According to official data, more than half of the militants killed since January 1 were affiliated to Hizbul and most slain militants were local residents.

13 Jun

PM Modi to Interact with C.M of all States , UTs next week.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding extensive talks with all the Chief Ministers of states and Union Territories (UTs) on June 16 and 17. This will be Modi first interaction with the Chief Ministers ever since 'Unlock1' was declared. He earlier had rounds of discussions with the Chief Ministers. On June 16, the Prime Minister is scheduled to hold a video conference with Chief Ministers of 21 states and UTs including Punjab, Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Ladakh, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim. The exercise has been planned amid steady…

12 Jun

Srinagar: Reopens 50% of Shops from Saturday.

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Over two-and-a-half months after the Covid-19 lockdown was implemented here, markets, including non-essential business establishments, will open in the summer capital on Saturday. However, only 50 percent shops will be allowed to run on alternate days. As per an order issued by the district administration Srinagar headed by Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary, a copy of which is with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), in view of multifarious dimensions involved, suggestions and recommendations were obtained from SKIMS Srinagar, Govt Medical College Srinagar, SKIMS Medical College Bemina and Directorate of Health Services Kashmir, and sector-specific SOPs have been devised…

12 Jun

1 Indian Killed , 2 Injured in Firing by Nepal Police near Bihar Border.

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One person was killed and two others were injured when armed police of Nepal opened fire near Lalbandi border outpost on Friday morning.The incident took place around 8.45am when some residents of Jankinagar village under Sonbarsa police station in Sitamarhi district were working in an agricultural field. The deceased, Vikesh Kumar Rai, 25, and the injured, Umesh Ram and Uday Thakur, are Indian nationals. One Lagan Rai is said to have been detained by the Nepal police. Locals said the firing took place after a clash between some people working in their agricultural field at the Lalbandi-Janki Nagar border in…

12 Jun

Kejriwal is a ‘failure’: BJP on Delhi govt’s handling of Pandemic.

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Citing the Supreme Court's sharp comments on the Delhi government's handling of COVID-19 cases, the BJP on Friday said the national capital's "truth" is out and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been a "failure". Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court termed as "horrific" the state of affairs in Delhi hospitals, with dead bodies being stacked next to COVID-19 patients. It sought responses from the Centre and different states as it took suo moto (on its own) cognisance of the treatment being meted out to patients and the handling of bodies. However, amid harrowing accounts of people struggling to get…

12 Jun

India is now the fourth worst-hit country

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Jun 12, 2020: India has overtaken the United Kingdom to climb the fourth spot in the list of nations worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a website that tracks the number of cases across the world. Worldometer data on Thursday evening showed that India had 295,772 cases against 291,588 infections recorded by the UK and it took just 18 days for the Asian country to reach the fourth spot. India’s number of infected people has increased to 297,538 and the death toll has risen to 8,498 on Friday, according to the Union health ministry. India was among the…