India recorded 6,422 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs on Thursday.
India’s active caseload currently stands at 46,389, which accounts for 0.10 percent of the total cases. The recovery rate currently is at 98.71 percent.
As many as 5,748 recoveries were made in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 4,39,41,840.
The country has recorded a daily positivity rate of 2.04 percent.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the government of India has been supporting the States and Union Territories by providing them with COVID-19 vaccines free of cost.
In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 percent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to the States and UTs.
So far, under the nationwide vaccination drive, 215.98 crore total vaccine doses (94.48 cr Second Dose and 17.92 cr Precaution Dose) have been administered, of which 31,09,550 doses were jabbed in the last 24 hours alone. (ANI)
Dr Mridul Sharma, 24, from Amritsar, says our leaders lecture others on Covid-appropriate behaviour but fall short of following the protocols themselves
No matter where the Covid-19 has come from, it is certain that it will go very far in destroying the health of millions. And we doctors and other frontline healthcare professionals are the first line of defence when the virus attacks. The Delta variant has shown just how devastating the effects of the mutated virus can be and I am pretty sure the Omicron variant is going to cause as much, if not more, damage. The third wave is a certainty and we should brace ourselves for it.
People have no idea how much pressure healthcare workers come under, when the cases surge and peak. Not only are we ill equipped to fight the virus, as it is mutating faster than we can understand it, we are also overwhelmed with the volume of cases.
Conducting a political rally when the third wave is imminent, isn’t a good idea. In fact any gathering is not a good idea, be it a marriage or funeral, but political rallies are the worst. A big rally is scheduled for January 5 in Punjab and in my opinion by January 15, there are chances of the third wave striking in force. I wish people understood the situation.
I myself contracted the virus twice, once in August 2020 and the second time during the second wave. And since I live alone, it gets difficult to manage the infection on one’s own. My oxygen saturation levels went dangerously low while I was infected. On Covid duty during the second wave, I had to take up rented accommodation near the hospital, so that I didn’t have to commute much and there were lesser chances of me infecting someone else.
Sharma lost his grandfather to post-Covid complications but had little time to grieve his death
Most other people can cope with the slow recovery but a healthcare professional, especially a doctor, has to get back on one’s feet immediately. I lost my grandfather aged 86 to post-Covid complications in April. He was full of life and someone with a healthy lifestyle and yet it was difficult for him to fight the long Covid complications. As healthcare professionals we don’t even get time to grieve our loved ones. When people conduct election rallies they must understand that human lives at stake.
My sister is a dentist and during the second wave, healthcare professionals from other streams were also asked to pitch in to enhance resources. My parents get anxious to see both their children stand in the frontline. I wish governments understood that individual families get impacted when prevention isn’t done well and each story ends up differently.
Tamam umr sarkarein yahi bhool karti rahi, dhool chehre pe thi aur aaina saaf karti rahi. (Governments commit this mistake all the time: find fault in others’ behaviour, forget to check their own record). Political leaders should lead by example so that the public knows how to behave and follow Covid protocols. As the virus mutates, the complications are also getting severe: the Guillane-Barre syndrome, body paralysis, long Covid etc. And people with co-morbidities have it tougher.
India has better immunity than most countries because of our food habits, but we also have enormous numbers. We are bracing ourselves to report on Covid duty once again. Even if we report on duty for one day, we have to quarantine ourselves for a fortnight. It isn’t easy to be confined for that long every few days. And when we are called on duty, the workload is beyond overwhelming. We all need to take the right decisions every step of the way to fight the virus.
Yogendra Chaudhary, 30, a chemist shop owner in Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh), is scared of the looming third wave and urges people for Covid-appropriate behaviour in public places
I am a pharmacist and opened a medicine shop about the same time when the dread of Covid-19 was setting in. In a matter of a few months, the number of people visiting our pharmacy increased by nearly 50% which meant coming in contact with more and more strangers with every passing hour and day. Moreover, we had no idea about the immunity levels of these individuals that we were coming in contact with.
Needless to say, I caught the dreaded virus around April 2020, when everyone was just flailing around for solutions. Even though mine was a mild case and I escaped with only a mild fever, the uncertainty about when the infection might flare up, can leave people agonised. I resumed work after the required quarantine period and only after I ensured I had tested negative. One may recover from Covid, but the immunity isn’t as robust as before.
Back then, there was not even a murmur of vaccines being developed. Apart from the usual masks, gloves and sanitizers we had no protection at all. Even when all other services were halted amid strict lockdown, ours was the most essential service of it all, which meant we have been open throughout the pandemic. Day in and day out. There might have been days where hospitals and chemists must have been the only ones functioning. It’s an eerie feeling to be the only businesses open when everything else is shut down.
While people were scared when the first wave struck, the fear vanished as the cases began to subside. The Covid-appropriate behaviour went for a toss and quite a few of them would come to our pharmacy without masks. Then there were people who were following the protocols for the sake of it. If you ask me, what I feared the most was every time people would take out their phones (to make or receive calls) in between the purchases and after that directly take out cash to pay us. Phones are anyway considered dirty as few take the time to clean them properly.
Online transactions were cool though, but in small towns not everyone does online transactions. If you remember, Moradabad was declared a hotspot during the first wave, with so many people even refusing to get tested.
Indeed, it did not take long for the second wave to knock in. And what a wave it turned out to be. No hospital beds, no oxygen, dead bodies flowing in the Ganga. But yet, we haven’t learnt our lessons. The tragedies are all but forgotten, and we are back to our Covid-inappropriate selves. Experts say the third wave is upon us, sooner or later. And being in the middle of it all being a chemist, I am scared. But if you look around, the public behaviour seems as if we care a hoot.
Prevention is definitely better than cure when it comes to the coronavirus. When people don’t take precautions, it is frontline workers like us chemists and our families who are at a major risk of infection and reinfection. I had never expected the pandemic to go on for so long and I wish I seen the end of it for good. The spectre of ill-health looming over people day in and day out is too much. The second wave was so heart-breaking as well as scary. The mutated virus was even more deadly, and to think it can be kept at bay (mostly) using the simple measures of masks, sanitisers and social distancing.
Vaccines have come as a much-needed relief but people still need to be careful. We should do everything in our might to keep the third wave at bay and we can’t fully be at rest until the virus is defeated altogether. After all our own lives and that of our loved ones are at stake.
Meera Singh, 36, who worked as a cashier at an upscale shopping mall in Gurgaon, explains why she quit her job in Delhi-NCR and went to her native place in Deoghar
I moved to Delhi-NCR in 2007, and in 2015 I joined Sapphire Mall, Gurugram as a cashier for a boutique with international clientele. Besides managing the clients, I handled their GST and other finance-related bills for the boutique. It was a comfortable job till the pandemic struck in March 2020. In June the same year, I decided to quit, and return to my native place in Deoghar (Jharkhand). In spite of several calls to rejoin work, I have no plans to return to Delhi. Let me explain why.
When the pandemic struck, no one had any idea what was going on or what was the way forward. We wondered what the future held finance-wise or when the lockdown would get over. From March 23 (when the lockdown was announced) until June we were on tenterhooks.
Even when the Unlock began, and I rejoined work, it was stressful. In every shopper who came in I saw a potential virus carrier. And since I was the one at the forefront handling cash (cash would be transferred from one hand to another) I felt I was under a lot of risk. Our international clientele base (mainly NRIs) also left me worried, because it were people who travelled from the West to India were considered the biggest risks.
Even though we followed all Covid protocols to the tee, like regular sanitisation, wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, the virus was making its way into people’s lungs and lives. The media reports of crowded hospitals and overflowing crematoriums made it worse. With the constant pressure of staying safe in a public place, the stress soon began to tell.
Finally when talks of a pay-cut began doing the rounds, my husband and I decided it was not worth the risk. The pandemic had taught us about the fragility of life; I didn’t want to be away from my children, who were with their grandparents, or my ageing parents and in-laws anymore.
First my husband, an engineer, left for our hometown and I followed shortly after on June 21. It required some effort to manage a seat on the flight from Delhi to Patna. A fortnight was spent in quarantine and then I started thinking about the future. With my expertise in handling retail business at a big mall in a big city, I decided to start my own retail business.
In September 2020, I opened up a small unit that sell cosmetics, and other knick-knacks. I feel I am more in control here because unlike in Gurugram, people who come to my shop are part of a tight-knit community and listen to us more readily when we suggest they follow Covid measures. Plus, you feel secure that your family is right there and you don’t need to travel (which is a huge fight in itself in these times) anywhere. And most importantly, I get to be with my children every day. There’s no wealth in the world bigger than the health and happiness of your kids and other family members.
Saroj Kumar, 49, a family welfare counsellor and frontline worker amid Covid-19 in Uttar Pradesh, is feeling relieved after receiving the vaccine on the first day of the immunisation drive
I work as family welfare counsellor at a Community Health Centre in Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) and I can proudly say that healthcare sector workers like us have been the backbone of India’s fight against coronavirus. We faced the virus day in and day out without fear, hours on end.
It was therefore a big relief when the government announced that health professionals and other frontline workers would be vaccinated on priority. As a healthcare professional I was among the people to be vaccinated on January 16, the first day of the immunisation drive.
We had been asked to register ourselves a day prior to the vaccination and post-registration, I was told to reach the designated health centre for the serum shot. I reached the centre at 12:30 pm where my temperature and oxygen levels were checked the first thing at the gate. Next, I was given hand sanitisers and waited for my turn.
Once I was administered the vaccine jab, which hardly took a minute, I was kept under observation for around half an hour at the centre. Two girls who were making a note of the entry and exit timings of the vaccine beneficiaries, also checked if any of the vaccinated person showed any discomfort or adverse reaction. We had been told that there could be mild side-effects.
Saroj Kumar (wearing a facemask and inset) took a selfie while waiting for the vaccine
My workplace (the very centre I was vaccinated at) is nearly 60 km from home. On the vaccination day, I took the regular bus and faced no discomfort per se on the way. However, I ran mild fever after reaching home around evening. The fever lasted overnight and in the morning my body temperature returned to normal. I am feeling fit as a fiddle now.
During the pandemic when public transport wasn’t available, reaching my workplace was tough. So I had requested to be temporarily allowed to work at a health centre nearer home. The authorities were considerate and I was assigned work at the Chief Medical Office’s office closer home.
My new role was to take calls at the Help Centre. Since it was the beginning of the pandemic, we had to field hundreds of calls each day. So, I can tell you there was much anxiety among people and patients about both the pandemic and its prospective treatment or vaccine.
Now, I have been working with Covid-positive patients who are isolating at home. Every morning, a doctor, I visit these patients in our district and administer medicine to them as well as monitor their condition. Covid is contagious, but for most people, not deadly. Yet, people are scared as it has caused so many deaths.
I am glad that people like us will now feel completely free and safe after the twin vaccination shots, since we meet many Covid positive patients every day. I am not scared of the virus, but I do have a family of four to take care of. The vaccination process has brought me a lot of mental relief. Given how successful our polio vaccination programme was in the past, across the length and breadth of our country, I am sure we will win the fight against Covid too.
Sanjeev
Thakur, a 32-year old healthcare professional, braved a mob attack when his
team went to quarantine a family in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh on April 15
I work as a pharmacist at the Community Health Centre, Thakurdwara, in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. I was part of the team which made national news after coming under attack from a stone-pelting mob on April 15 when we had gone to quarantine a family. Here is how things unfolded on that day.
Around 12 pm, we were informed by our
seniors to go to an area called Nawabpura and put on quarantine a 22-strong extended
family, which had lost a 49 year-old male member to Coronavirus. We had heard
stories of health workers being mistreated when enforcing quarantine, but it never
thought it could happen to us.
A five-member medical team, led by Dr SC
Agarwal and comprising two pharmacists and two ambulance staff reached the spot
along with 12-14 policemen, including the Nagphani Station House Officer. This
is a standard procedure after health workers were targeted elsewhere in the
state.
The affected family requested us to
quarantine the females and children at home while the adult would come to the government
quarantine facility with us. Since their consent was secured, the SHO left to
attend another urgent matter.
Our team had drawn attention and a few people came to enquire about the disease. Dr Agarwal was answering the queries of a few locals and the potentially infected men from the family were entering the ambulance, when suddenly people a few houses apart from the spot started pelting us with stones. They were shouting abuses and threatening us.
A little later, the womenfolk also joined the stone-pelting. I was aghast over the fact that the police and medical staff were being targeted by the same people whom they had come to save. I called the SHO and requested him to rush back immediately to Nawabpura as the mob surrounding us had swelled to about 500 people. We were scared for life.
As the stones rained, Dr Agarwal got hit
and badly injured. I somehow managed to put him inside the police vehicle. My
colleague Atar Pal Singh was also injured and I also suffered a few blows over my
back. Thankfully, the SHO and police team returned to the spot.
The ambulance staff were still missing so I
requested the police vehicle to take Dr Agarwal immediately while I would locate
the rest of my team members. I soon found that the staff had escaped to safety and
the men who were to be quarantined had also gone home. I guardedly paced on
foot to Zia Hospital, where Dr Agarwal had been taken.
Meanwhile, the news of attack on our team
spread like fire. There was a deluge of calls on my phone from family, friends
and relatives. In my seven years of sarkari
duty, this was the toughest day I had ever seen. The incident had left me
shaken.
At our Centre, the Chief Medical Officer
took cognizance of the matter and sent another medical team to Nawabpura again
to bring the suspects to the quarantine facility. This time a Rapid Action
Force (RAF) team accompanied them. This time things went smoothly.
I merely wish to tell people that they must
not panic in such times and have faith in the medical staff. We are all in the
fight against coronavirus together. Coronavirus is as new for the medical
fraternity as it is for the common man. Do not listen to rumours. Trust your government
for information and resolve.
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