INDIA NEWS
Nov 16-30, 2020 - Vol 1, Issue 10
HEALTH
Consider your mask a vaccine, Global COVID-19 cases says Delhi CM as third wave of cross 50 mn: Johns Hopkins University Covid hits Delhi New York, November 9 (IANS): Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 50 million, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
New Delhi, November 6 (IANS): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on November 6 said wearing a mask is the biggest protection against Coronavirus till the time a vaccine is developed.
The global case count reached 50,052,204, with a total of 1,253,110 deaths worldwide as of 11.24 a.m. local time (1624 GMT), the CSSE data showed on November 8, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Chief Minister was laying the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Rohtak road on November 6. Kejriwal said Delhi is facing a third wave of the virus, and he was extremely hopeful that Delhiites will continue to support the fight against the pandemic. “Earlier, Delhi has successfully defeated dengue. In 2015, dengue cases had reached a new high. Over the past two years, we have not recorded a single death due to dengue,” said Kejriwal, while speaking on the occasion. The CM further said, “To fight Covid, the only protocol to follow is wearing your mask. Till the time we don’t have a vaccine, consider your mask as the vaccine. There is no other way to fight this virus. Covid doesn’t distinguish between demographics. It can happen to anyone. I strongly appeal to all present here, to turn wearing a mask into a movement.” He alleged that when the pandemic was in the initial stage, flights carrying approximately 32,000 Indians from various countries landed in the national capital. “But there was no system of aggressive testing then. Delhi
The United States reported the most cases and deaths around the world, which stood at 9,879,323 and 237,192, respectively. India recorded 8,507,754 cases, ranking second in the world. Brazil
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did not start at 0 in terms of the number of Covid cases. Delhi started at thousands owing to the lack of aggressive testing of people who flew in from international flights. Delhi is the national capital of India and attracts people from all over the world. What we are facing currently is the third wave,” said the CM. Kejriwal said that pollution is also on the rise in Delhi. “We have had a strong hold on pollution control in Delhi. It’s only in the months ahead of winter that we face this issue but that is also due to stubble burning in the neighbouring states. To combat pollution within the city, Delhiites have surpassed every state. The Delhi government sprayed the
decomposer invented by Pusa Institute on all the farmlands in Delhi.” This decomposer is an effective alternative to stubble burning as it turns stubble into manure. This stubble has now turned into an opportunity for the farmers, it is no longer a liability. He said Haryana and Punjab government must also help their farmers just like Delhi did.
This situation gave a unique opportunity to assess the ability to quantify the changes in the regional FFCO2 emissions using atmospheric observations, the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, said. However, there are few reports of observational evidence for CO2 emission reduction due to the Covid-19 lockdown, although a large number of publications have reported reductions in shortlived air pollutants from various parts of the world. In the study, the research team analysed atmospheric CO2 and CH4 concentrations observed at Hateruma Island, Japan, and detected signals related to the FFCO2 reduction in China caused
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by the restrictions associated with the Covid-19 outbreak in JanuaryMarch 2020. “We estimated that the FFCO2 emissions decreased by about 20 per cent during January-February 2020 as a result of the measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 within China and to the outside world,” said study author Prabir K. Patra from Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology ( JAMSTEC) in Japan. While a significant reduction of the atmospheric pollutants has been reported, papers on the atmospheric signals of the FFCO2 reduction are yet to be found in the published literature. “The size of the atmospheric reservoir of CO2 is quite large and the atmospheric CO2 has a relatively long lifetime. These characteristics make the change in the atmospheric CO2 concentrations caused by the Covid-19 influence quite small,” Patra added. To detect such faint signals in the CO2 variations, the research team focused on the relative variation
Countries with more than 1.1 million cases also include Russia, France, Spain, Argentina, Britain and Colombia, while other countries with over 40,000 deaths include India, Mexico, Britain, Italy and France, according to the center. Global cases topped 30 million on September 17, and rose to 40 million on October 19. It took 32 days for the global caseload to jump from 30 million to 40 million, and only 20 days from 40 million to 50 million.
India’s largest Covid hospital reeling under pressure as cases soar
“I sincerely believe that this is the last year when we have to tolerate pollution due to stubble burning. Now, no other state should make excuses for not helping their farmers. If they need help, we are ready to provide them with chemicals,” he said.
Reduction in fossil-fuel CO2 emissions due to Covid-19: Study Tokyo, November 8 (IANS) The Covid-19 pandemic has been affecting the global socioeconomic activity, leading to a significant reduction in fossil-fuel-derived CO2 (FFCO2) emissions and other anthropogenic air pollutants in the world, say researchers, including one of Indian-origin.
followed India with 5,653,561 cases and 162,269 deaths, the world’s second largest death toll.
of the atmospheric CO2 and CH4 observed at Hateruma Island for the past 20 years at daily time intervals. The research team found that the monthly average ratio of the atmospheric CO2 to CH4 variations in January, February, and March tracked the yearly increase in FFCO2 emissions from China during 1997-2019. However, the ratios showed significant decreases in February and March 2020, which coincided with the lockdown period in China. “The relationship between the variation ratio and the FFCO2 emissions from China should be evaluated by using an atmospheric transport model and a set of CO2s and CH4 flux maps,” the study authors noted.
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New Delhi, November 7 (IANS): Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, India’s largest Covid-19 hospital run by the Delhi government, appears to be crumbling under the weight of soaring coronavirus cases, with only 6 per cent ventilator beds vacant in the hospital. According to Delhi government’s Corona application, only 19 per cent of the ICU beds with ventilators are vacant across the city, 22 per cent of ICU beds without ventilators are unoccupied, while only 50 per cent of normal Covid-19 beds are available. The patients are running from pillar to post just to occupy a single bed. LNJP currently has only five vacant ventilator beds, 22 ICU beds without ventilators and 1,398 Covid-19 beds. Speaking to IANS, LNJP Medical Director Suresh Kumar said, “If we run out of beds, we have central allocation. For example, if the beds are full, patients can be sent to Rajiv Gandhi, GTB or other hospitals.” The Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital confirmed that it has been receiving patients from LNJP due to shortage of beds.
Delhi has been witnessing a massive spike in daily Covid-19 cases for the last one week. It had witnessed its highest single-day spike on November 6, when it reported 7,178 cases. Previously, the increase in the number of cases had prompted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to admit that a ‘third wave’ of infection has hit the national capital. Kumar said that admissions to city hospital have doubled over the past few days. He attributed the spike in Covid-19 cases to drop in temperature, which favours the viral replication, over-crowding in markets and flouting of Covidappropriate behaviour. According to Resident Doctors’ Association President Keshave Singh, more than 100 doctors of the hospital have been infected till now, out of which two have succumbed to the disease. The Medical Director of Delhi government-run Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, B.L. Sherwal, also told IANS about the significant spike in the number of admissions in comparison to October.
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