White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement that it is imperative that the report be independent and free from “alteration by the Chinese government”, echoing concerns raised by the administration of former President Donald Trump, who also moved to quit the WHO over the issue.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy fired back with a strongly-worded statement, saying the United States had damaged multilateral cooperation and the WHO in recent years, and should not be “pointing fingers” at China and other countries that supported the WHO during the Covid-19 pandemic.

China welcomed the U.S. decision to reengage with the WHO, but Washington should hold itself to the “highest standards” instead of taking aim at other countries, the spokesperson said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday said all hypotheses were still open about the origins of Covid-19, after Washington said it wanted to review data from a WHO-led mission to China, where the virus first emerged.

A WHO-led mission, which spent four weeks in China probing the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak, said this week that it was not looking further into the question of whether the virus escaped from a lab, which is considered highly unlikely.

The Trump administration had said it suspected the virus may have escaped from a Chinese lab, which Beijing strongly denies.

Sullivan noted that U.S. President Joe Biden had quickly reversed the decision to disengage from the WHO, but said it was imperative to protect the organization’s credibility.

China refused to give raw data on early Covid-19 cases to the WHO-led team probing the origins of the pandemic, according to one of the team’s investigators, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the outbreak began.

The team had requested raw patient data on 174 cases that China had identified from the early phase of the outbreak in the city of Wuhan in December 2019, as well as other cases, but were only provided with a summary, Retuers reported.

The post US expresses ‘deep concerns’ about WHO COVID-19 report appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective and should be deployed widely, including in countries where the South African variant of the coronavirus may reduce its efficacy, a World Health Organization panel said on Wednesday.

The benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University outweigh any risks and the shot should recommend for use, including in people aged 65 and older, the WHO panel said.

Earlier South Africa stopped part of its roll out of the AstraZeneca vaccine after data small trial showed it did not protect against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 variant of the coronvirus now dominant in the country.

The WHO said it expected by mid-February to finalise its review of the shot for emergency use approval under COVAX agreement.

The post WHO panel recommends wide use of Oxford- AstraZeneca Covid vaccine appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

In the factsheet, US claims to have evidence that several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick in autumn of 2019, before the first identified case of the coronavirus outbreak, with symptoms consistent with the both COVID-19 and common seasonal illness. US maintain its claims that the virus may have escaped the controversial Wuhan lab.

According to the factsheet , the department says that the virus could have emerged from human contact with infected animals or through a laboratory accident. The report says, “Scientists in China have researched animal-derived coronaviruses under conditions that increased the risk for accidental and potentially unwitting exposure”.

US released the fact sheets as 13 international experts of the World Health Organisation (WHO) arrived in China to probe the origin of the coronavirus.

Major claims

The fact sheet highlights three major elements about the COVID-19 virus- illness inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology(WIV), Research at the WIV and Secret military activity at WIV.

The factsheet claim that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in 2019 before the first outbreak was reported. This raises the questions about the credibility of WIV senior researcher Shi Zhengli’s public claim that there was “zero infection”among the WIV’s staff and students of SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-related viruses, the report says. It also mentioned about how accidental infections in Chinese labs have contributed to previous virus outbreak.

The US also claimed the involvement of Chinese military in secret military experiments in Wuhan lab since 2017.The report says, “The WIV has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017″. It added, “The United States and other donors who funded or collaborated on civilian research at the WIV have a right and obligation to determine whether any of our research funding was diverted to secret Chinese military projects at the WIV”.

The US asserted that the WHO investigators must have access to the records of the WIV’s work on bat and other coronaviruses before the coronavirus outbreak.

“As part of a thorough inquiry, they must have a full accounting of why the WIV altered and then removed online records of its work with RaTG13 and other viruses,” the US fact sheet said.

The post US releases fact sheets on Wuhan lab appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Matshidiso Moeti told reporters that a larger rollout of the millions of doses from COVAX is expected by June – the second major vaccine announcement this week for the African continent of 1.3 billion people as infections surge for a second time.

The African Union chair on Wednesday said 270 million doses have been secured from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca via the Serum Institute of India. Doses of the vaccines are expected to be allocated to countries based on population size and the severity of the outbreak, with health workers considered the highest priority after thousands have been infected.

The African continent is now recording about 30,000 new virus cases daily. More than 5,400 deaths were reported last week in Africa. The continent has more than 3.1 million confirmed virus cases as the second wave of infections is hitting hard.

The case fatality rate in Africa is now 2.4 percent, above the global rate of 2.2 percent. Some 20 African countries have case fatality rates above the global average, including Sudan at 6 percent, Egypt at 5.5 percent, Mali at 3.9 percent, Congo at 3.1 percent and South Africa at 2.8 percent.

South Africa,one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa is now dominated by the highly infectious variant of the virus. The country has more than 1.2 million cases including 35,000 deaths.

The post Africa to get first COVID vaccine doses from COVAX in March 2021: WHO appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

In a tweet on November 1 (Sunday), Tedros Adhanom said that he has been identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive for coronavirus and that he was under self-quarantine.

“I have been identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive for #COVID19. I am well and without symptoms but will self-quarantine over the coming days, in line with @WHO protocols, and work from home,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.

I have been identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive for #COVID19. I am well and without symptoms but will self-quarantine over the coming days, in line with @WHO protocols, and work from home.

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 1, 2020

Tedros has been at the forefront of the United Nations health agency’s efforts to battle the pandemic since it was reported in China.

“My @WHO colleagues and I will continue to engage with partners in solidarity to save lives and protect the vulnerable. Together!” Tedros tweeted.

The WHO chief stressed on Twitter that “it is critically important that we all comply with health guidance”. “This is how we will break chains of #COVID19 transmission, suppress the virus, and protect health systems,” he said.

The 55-year-old former Ethiopian minister of health and foreign affairs has for months reiterated that each person has a role to play in halting the spread of the virus.

The WHO urges all individuals to be careful about hand-washing, wearing masks and keeping a distance, while it calls on authorities at various levels to work to find, isolate, test and care for cases, then trace and quarantine their contacts.

The post WHO Chief in quarantine appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

India also witnessed a dip of 8448 in its active cases in the last 24 hours. As of Wednesday morning, there are 7,40,090 active cases of coronavirus in India.

For the fifth consecutive day, the active cases of coronavirus remained below 8 lakh in India.

India has a recovery rate of 88.8 percent. Six states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal- account for 64 percent of the country’s total active cases.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 9,72,00,379 samples have been tested up to October 20 with 10,83,608 samples being tested on Tuesday (October 20).

However, a top ICMR official warned that a person may get reinfected with Covid-19 if the antibodies against the infection diminish in the body in five months’ time after recovery.

Officials at the World Health Organisation reiterated the importance of adhering to quarantine rules for those who test positive and those who have come in contact with a positive case, as Europe faces a surge in numbers.

Globally, the infections have topped 40.2 million, with over 1.1 million deaths. Soaring cases in US battleground states pose a challenge for President Donald Trump two weeks before the election.

The post India reports 54,044 fresh coronavirus cases appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

The survey of 130 countries provides the first global data showing the problematic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the access to mental health services and underscores the urgent need for increased funding. It evaluated how the provision of mental, neurological and substance use has changed due to the pandemic, the types of services that have been disrupted, and how countries are adapting to overcome these challenges.

The findings was published ahead of WHO’s ‘Big Event for Mental Health’, scheduled on October 10. The events will bring together world leaders, celebrities and advocates to bring awareness on mental health and the need for mental health investments in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Previously WHO had highlighted the underfunding of mental health and said that the countries were spending less than 2 percent of their national health budgets on mental health. Bereavement, isolation, loss of income and fear are triggering mental health conditions or exacerbating existing ones. Many people may be facing insomnia and anxiety.

Meanwhile, coronavirus itself can lead to neurological and mental complications, such as delirium, agitation, and stroke. People with pre-existing mental, neurological or substance use disorders are also more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and may stand a higher risk of severe outcomes and even death.

As the pandemic continues, there will be a greater demand on national and international mental health programmes, especially for those countries that have suffered from years of chronic underfunding.

The WHO has issued guidelines to countries on how to maintain essential services – including mental health services – during the coronavirus pandemic and recommends that countries allocate resources to mental health as an fundamental component of their response and recovery plans.

According to studies, those who invest in mental health will have greater advantages. Pre-coronavirus studies reveal that nearly US$1 trillion in economic productivity is lost annually from depression and anxiety alone. Hence every US $1 spend on evidence-based care for depression and return US$5.

The post COVID-19 pandemic disrupts mental health services in majority countries: WHO appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

“One million is a terrible number and we need to reflect on that before we start considering a second million. Are we prepared collectively to do what it takes to avoid that number? If we don’t take those actions… yes, we will be looking at that number and sadly much higher,” WHO emergency director Michael Ryan told reporters.

The United States is one of the worst hit countries due to the coronavirus outbreak, and the country has recorded more than seven million positive cases, and 2,08,000 deaths. India is also facing the wrath of the coronavirus pandemic, and the country is all set to touch the six million positive cases mark. In India alone, coronavirus has claimed the lives of more than 93,410 people.

A few weeks back, Anthony Fauci had claimed that coronavirus is a perfect storm with no end in near sight. The recent warning from WHO indicates that Fauci’s words are turning true.

“We are living, right now, through a historic pandemic outbreak. And, we are, right now, in a situation where we do not see any particular end in sight. It’s the perfect storm. We often talk about outbreaks and pandemics, be they influenza or other pathogens, that have to have a few characteristics that make them particularly formidable. Well, this particular virus has that,” said Fauci.

In the meantime, British prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed that the United Kingdom will not return to normalcy in the next six months, as the coronavirus cases in the country started resurging again.

The post Coronavirus deaths could cross two million, warns WHO appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

More than 170 countries are in talks to participate in the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, which aims to speed vaccine development and secure doses for all countries and distribute them to the most high-risk segment of each population.

The plan, which is co-led by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the vaccine alliance, was of interest to some members of the Trump administration and is backed by traditional US allies, including Japan, Germany and the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union.

But the United States will not participate, in part because the White House does not want to work with the WHO, which President Donald Trump has criticised over what he characterised as its “China-centric” response to the pandemic.

“The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organisations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organisation and China,” said Judd Deere, a spokesman for the White House.

The Covax decision, which has not been previously reported, is effectively a doubling down by the administration on its bet that the United States will win the vaccine race. It eliminates the chance to secure doses from a pool of promising vaccine candidates – a potentially risky strategy.

“America is taking a huge gamble by taking a go-it-alone strategy,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University.

Kendall Hoyt, an assistant professor at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, said it was akin to opting out of an insurance policy.

The United States could be pursuing bilateral deals with drug companies and simultaneously participating in Covax, she said, increasing its odds of getting some doses of the first safe vaccine. “Just from a simple risk management perspective, this [Covax decision] is shortsighted,” she said.

The US move will also shape what happens elsewhere. The idea behind Covax is to discourage hoarding and focus on vaccinating high-risk people in every country first, a strategy that could lead to better health outcomes and lower costs, experts said.

US nonparticipation makes that harder. “When the US says it is not going to participate in any sort of multilateral effort to secure vaccines, it’s a real blow,” said Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

“The behaviour of countries when it comes to vaccines in this pandemic will have political repercussions beyond public health,” she said. “It’s about, are you a reliable partner, or, at the end of the day, are you going to keep all your toys for yourself?”

Some members of the Trump administration were interested in a more cooperative approach but were ultimately overruled.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun had interest in exploring some type of role in Covax, a senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision-making.

But there was resistance in some corners of the government and a belief that the United States has enough coronavirus vaccine candidates in advanced clinical trials that it can go it alone, according to the official and a former senior administration official who learned about it in private discussions.

The question of who wins the race for a safe vaccine will largely influence how the administration’s ‘America first’ approach to the issue plays out.

An unlikely worst-case scenario, experts said, is that none of the U.S. vaccine candidates are viable, leaving the United States with no option since it has shunned the Covax effort.

Another possibility is that a US vaccine does pan out, but the country hoards doses, vaccinating a large number of Americans, including those at low risk, while leaving other countries without.

Experts in health security see at least two problems with this strategy: The first is that a new vaccine is unlikely to offer complete protection to all people, meaning that a portion of the US population will still be vulnerable to imported cases – especially as tourism and trade resume.

The second, related problem is that a US recovery depends on economic recovery elsewhere. If large parts of the world are still in lockdown, the global economy is smarting and supply chains are disrupted, the United States will not be able to bounce back.

Proponents of a multilateral approach to global public health would like to see all countries coordinate through Covax. Perhaps unsurprisingly, interest is strongest from poor countries, while some larger economies are cutting deals directly with drugmakers.

WHO officials have argued that countries need not choose — they can pursue both strategies by signing bilateral deals and also joining Covax.

“By joining the facility at the same time that you do bilateral deals, you’re actually betting on a larger number of vaccine candidates,” Mariângela Simao, a WHO assistant director for drug and vaccine access, said at an August 17 briefing.

If nothing else, the United States could pledge surplus vaccine doses to Covax to ensure they are distributed in a rational and equitable way, experts said.

Some cautioned against a focus on ‘winning’ the race. Given the complexity of supply chains, vaccine development will necessarily be a global effort, regardless of whether countries want to cooperate.

The decision to steer clear of Covax comes at a time of tremendous change for health diplomacy.

The United States has long been the biggest donor to the WHO and a major funder of vaccine initiatives.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump praised both China and the WHO for their handling of the outbreak. But as the crisis intensified in the United States, he turned on the UN health agency.

In April, he announced a freeze on new US funding. Not long after, the State Department started stripping references to the WHO from fact sheets and rerouting funds to other programs.

By July, the administration had sent a letter signalling its intent to withdraw from the WHO.

But untangling the United States from the agency it helped found and shape is not simple — and the terms of the separation are still being assessed.

It is not yet clear, for instance, whether a US withdrawal means the United States will just stop its contributions to the WHO or whether it will stop funding any initiative linked to the agency in any way.

For instance, the White House no longer wants to work with the WHO, but the United States is a major supporter of Gavi, which co-leads the Covax project.

Asked to comment on the Covax decision, a State Department spokeswoman pointed to US funding for Gavi, as well as money for such programs as UNICEF and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the White House could still reverse course and join Covax, or at least let the Senate fund through Gavi – a political workaround.

“This just shows how awkward, contradictory and self-defeating all of this,” he said. “For the U.S. to terminate its relationship with the WHO in the middle of a pandemic is going to create an endless stream of self-defeating moments.”

The post US not to join WHO-linked effort to develop, distribute COVID-19 Vaccine appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

As the entire global healthcare sector is busy containing the coronavirus pandemic, a UK health expert has warned that coronavirus will stay here, even if we succeed in developing a vaccine. These remarks are being made by Sir Mark Walport, a key member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group.

According to Walport, COVID-19 is not like smallpox which can be wiped out from the world using vaccination. He also made it clear that the coronavirus could stay in the world in one form or another, and the only possible way to stay away from infection is by taking annual immune boosters.

Earlier, Soumya Swaminathan, a top WHO official had also revealed that vaccination is not capable enough to completely eradicate coronavirus from the planet. Soumya believes that humans should learn to live with the virus, as a complete safe haven in the near future is completely impossible.

A few weeks back, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had suggested that coronavirus is a perfect storm with no end in near sight. He also added that the virus will resurge whenever it gets a chance, and it is highly necessary to adopt healthy social distancing norms to stay away from the pandemic.

Amid all the attempts to contain this pandemic, coronavirus is continuing its killing spree in all nooks of the world. According to the latest statistics, there are 23 million positive cases in the world, and the total number of deaths has already crossed 8,12,000.

In India alone, there are more than 3.1 million recorded positive cases. The number of deaths in India has crossed 57,000, and this count is expected to go up in the coming days, considering the rate at which this pandemic is spreading in the rural areas of the country.

The post Coronavirus is here to stay even in the presence of effective vaccine, says health expert appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

“There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future. There is a lot to be concerned about,” Tedros said, in some of his strongest comments of recent weeks.

The coronavirus pandemic raging around the globe will worsen if countries fail to adhere to strict healthcare protocols, WHO warned.

“Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing from the UN agency’s headquarters in Geneva.

“If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go – it is going to get worse and worse and worse.”

The US and Brazil are the worst hit countries.

Tedros, whose leadership has been heavily criticised by US President Donald Trump , said that of 2,30,000 new cases recorded on July 12, 80 percent were from 10 nations and 50 percent from just two counties.

A WHO advance team has gone to China to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, first discovered in the city of Wuhan. The team members are in quarantine as per standard procedure, before they begin work with Chinese scientists, WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan said.

The post No return to normal for foreseeable future, WHO appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Later on, the Mumbai Civic body thanked WHO for acknowledging their community efforts and promised to continue their initiatives till they beat COVID-19 completely.

Dharavi was a hot spot in June, but since July the number of new cases has dropped. The total number of cases in Dharavi now stands at 2359, with 166 active cases.

The post WHO appreciates Mission Dharavi’s efforts in combating COVID-19 appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

The US can exit the WHO on a one year notice after fully meeting all financial obligations. The administration sent the letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on July 6, making the US withdrawal official.

However, many slammed the Trump administration’s move and said it would not help Americans. Democrats say this move will leave Americans sick and alone. Meanwhile, Joe Biden promised that if he gets elected, then he would reverse Trump’s decision and return the US to the WHO. The US has been a member of the WHO for more than 70 years.

The post US to formally quit WHO by 2021 appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

“The possibility of airborne transmission in public settings cannot be ruled out,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead, said. “There is some evidence emerging but it is not definitive. We acknowledge that there is emerging evidence in this field and therefore we believe we have to be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding transmissions and precautions,” she said.

More than 200 scientists on July 6 have outlined evidence that novel coronavirus can spread in tiny airborne particles. The details were revealed in an open letter to the Geneva-based agency, published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal. However, it is clear that scientists still lack a complete understanding of the respiratory disease even after several months into the pandemic.

The WHO has previously said the virus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sink to the ground.

The term ‘airbone’ refers to the transmission of a pathogen through tiny respiratory droplets(aerosols) that can remain in the atmosphere, as opposed to large droplets that fall to the ground within a few feet.

Any change in the WHO’s assessment of the risk of transmission could affect its current advice on keeping 1-metre (3.3 feet) of physical distancing. Governments, which rely on the agency for guidance policy, may also have to adjust public health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus.

The post WHO acknowledges evidence of airborne spread of COVID-19 appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

WHO has said that the coronavirus disease spreads primarily from person to person through droplets from the nose or mouth, which are expelled when a person with covid-19 coughs, sneezes or speaks.

In an open letter to the agency, which the researchers plan to publish in a scientific journal next week, 239 scientists in 32 countries supported the evidence showing smaller particles can infect people. Whether carried by large droplets that zoom through the air after a sneeze, or by much smaller exhaled droplets that may glide the length of a room, the coronavirus is borne through air and can infect people when inhaled, the scientists said.

However, WHO officials said the evidence for the virus being airborne was not convincing as it was not supported solid evidence.

The post WHO downplaying risk of airborne spread of COVID-19, scientists says appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Kerala government has issued revised discharge guidelines for COVID-19 patients, based on the recent analysis of the epidemiology of the patients in the state and considering the guidelines of the World Health Organisation(WHO), and Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The discharge policy is revised based on WHO and ICMR guidelines with the following principles: duration of stay in hospital, the first test result negative and symptoms status.

The asymptomatic patients will be tested on the tenth day of admission and people with first test negative will be discharged with seven days home quarantine.

In Kerala, COVID-19 tally has reached 4593 with 24 deaths, and 2439 recoveries.

The post Kerala Govt issues revised discharge guidelines for COVID-19 patients appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Praising Kerala for the way it has handled the coronavirus surge, Nobel-laureate and economist Amartya Sen said COVID-19 would be a transformatory movement in the state and it has dealt with the pandemic combating bureaucracy and red tape.

Sen was speaking during a webinar on development titled ‘Kerala Dialogue’, organised by the Kerala government, to bring together thinkers, policy-makers, professionals, scientists and the public to a space where they could rethink and re-imagine development for a world disrupted by the pandemic. Sen appreciated the public healthcare system and the high level of literacy in the state.

Sen came down heavily on the “unplanned and unstructured lockdown” in India and said it caused distress and hardship. However, the government implemented the lockdown in an authoritarian manner.It was a disaster for the daily wage labourers,” Sen said.

Well-known philosopher and social critic, Noam Chomsky, who also participated in the talk, said the way Kerala responded to the Covid-19 pestilence was a surprise to the whole world.

“The differences in the way between Kerala and the rest of India, and the rest of most of the world, on how they reacted to the crisis was quite startling.Not many places have dealt with it the way Kerala has.This pandemic has brought out very sharply the extraordinary inequality that has been, of course always there, but greatly exaggerated through the neo-liberal period,” Chomsky said.

Asked if there will be a fundamental change in the world at the end of the pandemic, Chomsky claimed countries like the US are trying to prolong the current situation and move to more dictatorships, restrictions and people-watching.

“But there are movements all over the world to counter this.Coordinating this can be a huge force.They can make changes and they are all trying to create a new world,” Chomsky said.

Sen also pointed out that the collapse of the public system, which has happened in Europe, has not happened in Kerala. “Though Europe had a tradition of public sector intervention it is not there now but that kind of reliance on the public sector can still be seen in Kerala,” he added.

WHO Chief Scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan said countries, which responded to the early warning issued by the World Health Organization, were better prepared to face the pandemic.
“On January 30, WHO issued an emergency alert for global Covid-19 defence. But Kerala had already started preventive measures in early January, anticipating potential problems. That is why the first cases from Wuhan could be discovered.Following this, Kerala was able to locate, quarantine those who had contact with them and contain the outbreak. Kerala has been able to contain the disease as fast as possible due to proper preventive measures,” Swaminathan said.

Chomsky said Vietnam has confronted this pestilence and not a single Covid related death was reported there. He also pointed out that South Korea has also effectively controlled the pandemic without even a lockdown. “Taiwan, Hong Kong and New Zealand are other countries that dealt with the disease. In Europe, Germany was able to prevent the spread of the disease in a good way.What saved them was that Germany did not adopt a commercial hospital system like the US,” he said.

Chomsky said it was doctors from “poor Cuba, who have been the victims of the US economic assault for more than six decades”, who moved to Italy to help them out.  “This pandemic was able to show the extraordinary inequality of the world. In the United States, it was most pronounced….Blacks and their descendants from Spain and South America suffered the most in the United States,” he claimed.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also participated in the discussion, said Kerala was starting a new conversation on development. “The Left Front is launching the Kerala Dialogue to bring new concepts and sustainable development models,” Vijayan said.

The post Amartya Sen, Noam Chomsky praise Kerala fight against COVID-19 appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

With the highest single day spike of 15,968 cases and 465 deaths in the last 24 hours,India’s COVID-19 count reached 4,56,183 on Wednesday.According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW),14,476 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country. As the number of active cases stood at 1,83,022 ,there has been an improvement in the recovery rate.There are 2,56,685 cured patients and India’s recovery rate is now 56.70%.The health ministry said on Tuesday that India has one of the lowest deaths per-lakh population in the world a citing report by the World Health Organisation(WHO).

Most of India’s Covid-19 cases came from Maharashtra,Delhi,Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, which have seen a steady rise in the number of infections and deaths.Maharashtra has recorded 1,39,010 Covid-19 cases and 6,531 deaths.Delhi ,the second worst-affected,with 66,602 infections with more than 40% of these recorded in the last 10 days and 2,301 fatalities. On June 23, Maharashtra had reported its highest single-day jump in fatalities with 248 deaths, even as Mumbai, the worst-hit Indian city, recorded 824 new cases.

In Tamil Nadu, which has enforced a lockdown in its worst-hit districts, 64,603 infections have been witnessed and 833 people have succumbed in the southern state.Gujarat also has seen a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases and has recorded 28,371 patients and 1,710 deaths so far.

The post COVID-19 : 15,968 cases reported in India in last 24 hours appeared first on The Gulf Indians.