India coronavirus dispatch: The lessons for India's health system

From a safe return to business, to actions for controlling the Covid spread, and how many others a patient is infecting in India - read these and more in today's India dispatch

Here is a round-up of important coronavirus-related coverage from across Indian publications. From a safe return to business, to actions for controlling the Covid spread, and how many others a patient is infecting in India — read these and more in today’s India dispatch.

Expert Speak

Can India’s workforce have a safe return to business? What are the priorities to mobilise the economy during the pandemic? As the lockdown phase draws to a close, can workers return to their jobs safely? What are the concerns for the economy for productivity, with such special requirements and the contraction? What would the components of a health survival package for workers be today? Read this interview with Dr T Jacob John and Prof Arun Kumar to get answers to some of these questions. Read more here

Managing Covid-19

Restrictions eased, what Maharashtra needs to do to control Covid spread: What needs to be done to contain the spread of the disease, especially in Maharashtra? With travel restrictions considerably relaxed, would the containment strategies still work? Dr Vineeta Bal, an immunologist and a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune, explains how Maharashtra can tackle the Covid spread. Read more here

The state of international air travel in India and the world: The aviation sector has been among the worst hit during the coronavirus pandemic. While easing lockdowns, several countries have resumed air travel but with restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. India is yet to resume international flights, but it has already released guidelines for passengers arriving in the country from abroad. Read more here

Surgeries held up, how long to clear the backlog? In the US, a new study by Johns Hopkins University researchers has found that it may take between seven and 16 months for surgeons to complete the backlog of elective orthopaedic surgeries. This accounts for more than a million surgeries in the US for spinal fusion and knee and hip replacements. Read more here

Women’s access to menstrual hygiene products hit, says survey: The ongoing lockdown to contain the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is severely challenging women’s and girls’ access to menstrual hygiene products and toilets for managing menstruation, especially given the presence of male and older family and community members, the Menstrual Health Alliance India (MHAI) observed in a recent survey. Read more here

Many states have reported fewer TB deaths during the lockdown. Here’s why this is bad news: India went into a lockdown starting March 24 midnight to contain the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The eight weeks since then have been marked by reports of patients struggling to access healthcare and medicine. Yet, several states have reported a sharp decline in the number of tuberculosis deaths during this period. Read more here

Opinion

Why do we treat internal and international migrants differently? The country has terribly failed to aid stranded internal migrants, despite the fact that this endeavour should be logistically easier. Since the nationwide lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19, there have been countless reports of the acute distress facing India’s millions of internal migrants. This indifference arises because of lack of adequate understanding of the importance of migration. Read more here

What lessons does the Covid-19 pandemic hold for India’s health system? While we debate official decisions taken during the novel coronavirus epidemic in India, we need to use the experience generated in this process as a source of learning, both for the present and the future. Read here about the health system aspects of this epidemic, which has produced the most devastating public health emergency in the last century of human history. Read more here

Understanding Covid-19

How many people does one Covid-19 patient infect in India? If the R0 or R of a disease is greater than one, it means that the number of cases is growing fast and can cause an epidemic. If the R0 or R is equal to one, the disease is growing slower but is still dangerous and many could contract it. If the R0 or R is lower than one, that is, one person infects fewer than one other person on average, the disease will slowly die out. India’s current R is 1.23, which means the disease is still growing fast. Read more here

Covid vaccine makers may need to infect subjects to get results: Drugmakers sprinting to deliver potential Covid-19 vaccines say they are facing a new hurdle: declining infection rates that could make it hard to test their shots. If the disease ebbs further in some regions, not enough people will be exposed to the coronavirus to make studies possible, according to AstraZeneca Plc Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot. Researchers might have to consider deliberately infecting healthy volunteers with the virus, though it was still too early to take that step, he said. Read more here