On the occasion of DMA’s 62 Annual Delhi State Medical Conference (MEDICON 2021) , Delhi Medical Association (DMA) honored the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan for Outstanding Service & Exemplary Work during COVID-19 Pandemic.
“It is a proud privilege and honour for me to be present here at MEDICON 2021 and receiving this award. I have several cherished memories of my time in the prestigious Delhi Medical Association (DMA), which has a rich history of some of the most esteemed medical professionals, not only in India but anywhere in the world.” said Dr. Harsh Vardhan
“COVID-19 Pandemic gave us the opportunity that all of us come together and put India before ourselves. Healthcare Workers (HCWs) & Frontline Workers, not just in this room, but across India, rose to the occasion and sacrificed not only their time with family, but also their own mental, physical and emotional health for this beloved nation. I want to thank you, your colleagues, your friends & family, and everyone else who gave you the strength and encouragement to serve our motherland during the time it needed us the most.” he added
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The Central Government has rushed high level multi – disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab in view of the increase in number of daily new COVID-19 cases. They will be assisting the State Health Departments in surveillance , control and containment measures.
According to the statement released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,“The high level team to Maharashtra will be led by Dr. P Ravindran, Sr. CMO, Disaster Management Cell, MOHFW. While the public health team to Punjab will be led by Dr. S K Singh, Director, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi.”
These teams will visit the States on immediate effect at the hotspot areas in the States and ascertain reasons for the surge.The team will also brief the Chief Secretary / Secretary Health on their observations and remedial measures to control the situation.
“The Union Government has been leading the fight against the Covid pandemic with a ‘Whole of Government’ and ‘Whole of Society’ approach under the umbrella strategy of ‘Cooperative Federalism’. As an ongoing effort to strengthen efforts of various State/UT Governments for COVID management, the Central Government has been deputing Central teams from time to time to visit various States/UTs. These teams interact with the State/UT authorities and get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks, if any. The reports of Central Teams are shared with the states for further follow up action.” Says the statement released by the Union Health Ministry
India reported 16,838 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours and the total number of cases reached 1,11,73,761 on Friday. A total of 113 deaths were reported on Thursday which took the total number of Covid-related deaths in India above 1.57 Lakh, a data by ministry revealed at 8 am today.
In view of this, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal chaired a meeting of the Delhi Delhi Disaster Management Authority Friday and directed authorities to continue with the existing strategy against Covid-19, including cluster-based surveillance, testing and genome sequencing owing to the rise in the number of cases in the country, PTI reported.
Across the country, there are now 1.76 lakh active cases, nearly half of which, more than 86,000, are in Maharashtra. The number of active COVID-19 cases has increased to 1,76,319, accounting for 1.58 per cent of the total caseload, according to the data.
Punjab reported more than 1,000 cases for the first time since November 15. The state found 1,071 cases on Thursday, the highest since October 13. It is also the first state, other than Maharashtra and Kerala, to report more than 1,000 cases since January 10. Maharashtra reported 8,998 cases on Friday.
The Delhi High court has asked Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to disclose about the capacity they have to manufacture Covaxin , Covishield vaccines.A bench Division of the Delhi High Court of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli has directed to the Centre to explain in affidavit rational behind keeping vaccination strict control over class of persons who vaccinated against covid-19 .The court directed the oganisations to file the affidavit to clarify the capacities to produce Covisiled and Covaxin on the basis of as per day/week/ month.
The court has said, “ We are either donating or selling off the vaccines to other countries without looking at our own need.There has to be a sense of urgency about his.”
Mumbai Police has taken action against 58 thousand people walking without masks in the last 13 days. In view of the growing case of Corona in Mumbai, Mumbai Police is now investigating upon anyone found without mask and seizing those found guilty.
With 9,855 new cases in the last 24 hours, Maharashtra’s Covid-19 tally went up to 2,179,185 on Wednesday, according to figures released by the state health department. This is the highest single-day jump since October 17 last year. Of the total new cases, 1,121 came from Mumbai. The western state’s positivity rate has climbed to 13.2 per cent.
Keeping in mind that people have not been taking the precautionary measures seriously, the Maharashtra Police has started imposing fines on those who roam around without masks.
According to the information received from Mumbai Police spokesperson S. Chaitanya, in the last 13 days, the Mumbai Police has procured more than Rs. 1 crore 16 Lakhs from people not wearing masks.
Earlier only BMC used to inquire on people who didn’t wear masks, but in view of the increasing cases, the government also asked Mumbai Police to wear masks and take strict action against those not wearing it.
Where on one hand, the largest vaccine drive crossed 1 crore mark, the number of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra is uncontrollably spiking on the other. A total of 1121 cases came out in the last 24 hours in Mumbai with 6 casualties.
The report is based on the information received from various hospitals and data uploaded by certified labs on GOI ICMR portal/ Covid Portal. In a report by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, it was revealed that the total number of patients recovered and discharged in these 24 hours was 734.
For more updates on Covid-19, stay tuned to www.medicallyspeaking.in
In a research published in the Journal Blood Advances, reported that a series of biomarkers or biological signals associated with the White Blood Cell activation and obesity can predict severe outcomes in Covid-19 patients. The findings indicated that five proteins (resistin, lipocalin-2, HGF, IL-8 and G-CSF) that are associated with neutrophils, a type of WBC, were elevated in the Covid-19 patients who later became critically ill.
Researchers said that many of these proteins had previously been associated with Obesity, but not with Covid-19 or other viral illnesses.
A lead author from the Yale University, Hyung Chun, said, “Patients with high level of these markers were much more likely to require care in the ICU, require ventilation or die due to their Covid-19.”
Previously, a few laboratory studies had identifies possible indicators of severe Covid-19, including D-dimer levels, a measure od blood coagulation, and levels of proteins known as cytokines, which are released as a part of inflammatory responses in the body. However, until now, no laboratory marker could predict which patients with Covid-19 will eventually become critically ill prior to showing clinical signs and symptoms of severe disease.
For the new study, the researchers used proteomic profiling to analyze samples taken from 100 patients who would go on to experience different levels pf Covid-19 severity.
Notably, the elevated neutrophil biomarkers for patients who would go on to experience more serious symptoms were evident before those symptoms appeared.
All Covid-19 patients who were admitted or transferred to ICU had elevated neutrophil elevation markers, while these biomarkers remained low for patients who never developed severe illness and none of the latter died. Having early knowledge of these indicators could significantly improve patient treatment, said researchers.
According to the engineers of Rice University, Covid-19 can now be detected in 55 minutes or less with the help of programmed magnetic nanobeads and a diagnostic tool that plugs into an off-the-shelf cell phone and the results will be delivered into the phone.
The Rice lab of mechanical engineer Peter Lillehoj has developed a stamp-sized microfluidic chip that measures the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein in blood serum from a standard finger prick. The nanobeads bind to SARS-CoV-2 N protein, a biomarker for COVID-19, in the chip and transport it to an electrochemical sensor that detects minute amounts of the biomarker.
Lillehoj said, “What’s great about this device is that it doesn’t require a laboratory. You can perform the entire test and generate the result at the collection site, health clinic or even a pharmacy. The entire system is easily transportable and easy to use.”
The new tool relies on a slightly more complex detection scheme but delivers accurate, quantitative results in a short amount of time. To test the device, the lab relied on donated serum samples from people who were healthy and others who were COVID-19-positive.
The new tool relies on a slightly more complex detection scheme but delivers accurate, quantitative results in a short amount of time. To test the device, the lab relied on donated serum samples from people who were healthy and others who were COVID-19-positive.
A capillary tube is used to deliver the sample to the chip, which is then placed on a magnet that pulls the beads toward an electrochemical sensor coated with capture antibodies. The beads bind to the capture antibodies and generate a current proportional to the concentration of biomarker in the sample.
The potentiostat reads that current and sends a signal to its phone app. If there are no COVID-19 biomarkers, the beads do not bind to the sensor and get washed away inside the chip.
Lillehoj said it would not be difficult for industry to manufacture the microfluidic chips or to adapt them to new COVID-19 strains if and when that becomes necessary.
The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Rice University COVID-19 Research Fund supported the research.
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