The Indian Weekender, 28 May 2021

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14 INDIA Friday, May 28, 2021 The Indian Weekender NEWS in BRIEF India records 300,000 COVID-19 deaths as pandemic rages The number of deaths linked to COVID-19 in India has moved past the 300,000 mark as the country continues to grapple with the pandemic. Experts warn that the real number of fatalities might be much higher as many deaths are not officially recorded. BBC News reports India has recorded 26 million cases - second only to the US - and is now the epicentre of the global pandemic. The country is also only the third in the world to record more than 300,000 deaths - behind the US and Brazil. It took less than a month to record its last 100,000 deaths. A deadly second wave in recent weeks has overwhelmed the country's healthcare system, with hospitals struggling to cope with the influx of patients and with critical drugs and oxygen running out. Nearly half of India's virus deaths occurred in the last three months. In the last 26 days alone, the country has recorded 102,533 COVID-19 deaths. India’s total coronavirus cases cross 27m India’s total coronavirus infections crossed 27 million on Wednesday, swelled by 208,921 new cases over the last 24 hours, while daily deaths from COVID-19 rose by 4,157. The South Asian country’s overall caseload is now at 27.16 million, while total fatalities are at 311,388, according to health ministry data. Zinc use linked to black fungus but more research needed: Experts Amid the spread of 'black', 'white' and 'yellow' fungus in Covid-recovered patients, health experts on Wednesday said that multiple factors are playing a role and the high intake of zinc supplements in the pandemic may also be one of the key factors, but more research is needed on this. Zinc is thought to accumulate iron in the body which can create a breeding ground for mucormycosis, a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes. Mucor growth in a human body depends on multiple host factors. Last year, doctors had seen mucor patients, but the number was less as number of Covid patients was less. "This year, the number of Covid patients is high, virulence of Covid is more and steroids have been used indiscriminately, so several factors are playing a role in the spread of black fungus," Dr Aparna Mahajan said. Mucormycosis has been there in India for decades. Rhinoorbitocerebral mucormycosis is the most common and has been managed by ENT surgeons since several decades. Rare sighting of rescued Himalayan Griffon Vulture thrills Maha bird-lovers An unexpected sighting of a majestic Himalayan Griffon Vulture in the lush green Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra has thrilled bird-lovers in the state and the country. More so, after it emerged that the bird sighted soaring in the skies was actually the once rescued on December 28, 2020, and spending over a month at the Malabar Awareness & Rescue Centre for Wildlife (MARC) in Kerala's Kannur. "This vulture was spotted going for food in the Jungli Jaigad Fort area of Sahyadri on May 9 morning and forest guard Santosh Chalke managed to click it in flight," ornithologist and honorary Wildlife Warden Rohan Bhate said. Chalke provided the vulture's photos to Bhate for further studies which revealed an orange tag on the majestic vulture's right wing which was affixed by MARC scientific and migratory studies before it was released in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary on January 31. After its release, the Himalayan Griffon Vulture was spotted only once on February 28, feasting over a carcass in Kerala with many other vultures, as per a MARC report, and followed by the latest sighting in Sahyadri Tiger Reserve a fortnight ago. Later, the team of Bhate, Chalke, and others kept a vigil for over a week, but it was not seen again. Emirates extends suspension of passenger flights from India UAE flag carrier Emirates has announced the extension of its passenger flights from India until June 14 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the South Asian country. The Dubai-based airline had announced the suspension first on April 24 as a devastating second wave of the pandemic hit India, leading to record high number of daily cases and deaths. In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the airline added: "Furthermore, passengers who have transited through India in the last 14 days will not be accepted to travel from any other point to the UAE. "UAE Nationals, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions who comply with the revised published Covid-19 protocols will be exempt for travel." Earlier this month, the UAE's General Authority of Civil Aviation and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority said that the suspension of entry for travellers from India would be extended, Gulf News reported The Departments said the suspension applied to travellers from India on all flights on national and foreign carriers, as well as for transit passengers coming from India, with the exception of transit flights travelling to the UAE and bound for India. Explained: Why India’s Covid-19 deaths are spiking even as cases go down India coronavirus numbers explained: the daily count of coronavirus-related deaths in India touched a new high, with 4,329 deaths being reported from across the country. That overtook the count of 4,205 deaths recorded a week earlier on May 11. It has been 12 days since the daily count of cases peaked. The cases have been on a decline after that. Since the death curve usually has a two-week lag, it is expected that the death count would also begin to come down in a few days’ time. In the period, however, it is possible that this count goes up further, because lots of states are reporting deaths that happened a few days to a couple of weeks earlier. Maharashtra, for example, more than 1,019 deaths on Monday. Of these, 289 had occurred between Saturday and Monday, while 227 were from the week before that. Another 484 deaths happened more than a week ago, but had so far not been included in the state tally. The state also reported 19 deaths among Covid19 patients that were assessed to have been caused by other ailments. Other states also reported deaths from previous days. There is an administrative lag in reporting of deaths, that sometimes extends to several weeks. The 476 deaths reported by Karnataka, for example, included a few that occurred in March. Several of these were from April. Right now, five states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu – have been reporting at least 300 deaths every day on average. On Tuesday, a relatively smaller state like Uttarakhand reported 223 deaths, though more than 80 of those were from previous days. Twelve states have been reporting 100 deaths or more. Since the start of this month, 66,866 people are reported to have died because of Covid-19, making it the deadliest month during the pandemic. April was the worst month for India in terms of number of infections. Close to 70 lakh infections had been detected during that month. But its impact on mortality is being felt only now. In April, close to 49,000 deaths had been recorded. While Maharashtra’s death toll, close to 85,000, far exceeds that of any other state, it is the neighbouring state of Goa that has recorded the maximum deaths as a proportion of its population. Goa has so far seen 1,475 deaths per million population, while Delhi has 1,301. These are the only two states to have more than 1,000 deaths per million population. India approves opening of first consulate in the Maldives The Indian government on Tuesday approved the opening of a new consulate in Addu City of the Maldives this year to augment the country’s diplomatic presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago. A meeting of the Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the proposal for opening the first such consulate in the Maldives, which has an important place in the government’s “Neighbourhood First” policy. “Opening of a consulate general in Addu City will help augment India’s diplomatic presence in Maldives and make it commensurate with the existing and aspired level of engagement,” an official statement said. “This is also a forward-looking step in pursuit of our national priority of growth and development or ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’. Augmentation of India’s diplomatic presence will... provide market access for Indian companies and bolster Indian exports of goods and services,” the statement added. The opening of the consulate will also have a “direct impact in augmenting domestic production and employment in line with our goal of a self-reliant India or Atmanirbhar Bharat,” according to the statement. India and Maldives share ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious and commercial links steeped in antiquity. Maldives occupies an important place in the ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ and the ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision of the Government of India. Indians are the second largest expatriate community in the Maldives, with an approximate strength of 22,000. About 25% of doctors and teachers in the Maldives are Indians. India is currently implementing large infrastructure projects worth $2 billion, such as ports, roads, bridges, water and sanitation, in the Maldives. Bilateral relations have also benefited from President Ibrahim Solih’s “India First” policy.
The Indian Weekender Friday, May 28, 2021 WORLD 15 Masks, social restrictions return to Australia’s Melbourne after fresh outbreak Australia’s second largest city Melbourne reinstated COVID-19 restrictions as authorities scrambled to find the missing link in a fresh outbreak, prompting New Zealand to pause a “travel bubble” with the state of Victoria. Amid worries the cluster, which has grown to nine cases in two days, could spark a major outbreak, Victoria imposed social restrictions and made face masks mandatory in hotels, restaurants, and other indoor venues from 6 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Tuesday until June 4. The latest outbreak ends Victoria’s run of zero cases for nearly three months and saw New Zealand suspend quarantinefree travel with the state and the neighbouring state of South Australia impose travel restrictions. Australia has avoided the high COVID-19 numbers seen in many developed countries by closing its international borders in the early stages of the pandemic and with lockdowns. It has reported just over 30,000 cases and 910 deaths. Thousands of people in Melbourne have been ordered to self isolate and undergo COVID-19 tests with health alerts issued for several sites, including one of the largest shopping centres in the country. One of the cases had a high viral load while he visited some venues prompting authorities to warn Melbourne’s five million residents to brace for more positive cases in the next few days. Authorities urged Victorians to get vaccinated. “There are right now millions of Victorians that are eligible to be vaccinated. They shouldn’t wait for tomorrow, they shouldn’t wait for next week. They should move now and get vaccinated,” James Merlino, Victoria state’s acting premier, told reporters in Melbourne. Victoria was the hardest-hit state during a second wave late last year, accounting for about 70% of total cases and 90% of deaths in Australia. The state, the country’s second most populous, only controlled the outbreak after one of the world’s longest and strictest lockdowns. Five new locally acquired cases were reported in Victoria on Biden, Putin likely to hold summit in Geneva: Reports US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely hold a summit in Geneva in June, US media reported on Monday. Citing sources familiar with the matter, several media outlets said that the Swiss city of Geneva is expected to be the venue for Biden's first in-person meeting with Putin as President, the Xinhua news agency reported. The reports came as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held consultations with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev. "The meeting was an important step in the preparation for a planned US-Russia summit, the date and location of which will be announced later," the White House said. The meeting between Sullivan and Patrushev was "constructive" despite "outstanding differences," according to the statement. The two officials also discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest, with a high priority given to the topic of strategic stability. "The sides agreed that a normalisation of US-Russian relations would be in the interest of both countries and contribute to global predictability and stability," it added. Relations between Washington and Moscow have been adversarial in recent years. The two sides have obvious differences on issues related to Ukraine, cybersecurity, human rights, and US election interference. The Biden administration noted it seeks "a more predictable, stable relationship" with Russia. During their meeting in Iceland last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov expressed willingness to cooperate while admitting "serious differences" amid the two countries' tense relations. Biden said earlier this month that he expected to meet with Putin during his trip to Europe in June, when he would attend the Group of Seven Summit in Britain and then the NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium. " There are right now millions of Victorians that are eligible to be vaccinated. They shouldn’t wait for tomorrow, they shouldn’t wait for next week. They should move now and get vaccinated,” James Merlino, Victoria state’s acting premier, told reporters in Melbourne. Tuesday, a day after four infections were recorded in Melbourne. All cases belong to one extended family across different households and could be traced back to the variant found in an overseas traveller who returned to Melbourne early this month after completing quarantine in the city of Adelaide. Authorities, however, said they could not yet find how the latest cases contracted the virus from the overseas traveller. New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the ‘travel bubble’ with Victoria has been suspended for three days from Tuesday evening. “New Zealand officials have assessed that the most cautious option is to pause the travel bubble with Victoria as there are still several unknowns with the outbreak,” Hipkins said. Melbourne’s fresh outbreak comes as Australian authorities try to ramp up a sluggish national vaccination drive with health experts worried many people were delaying getting inoculated because of the country’s success in effectively eliminating the virus. Jaishankar offers backing for Guterres re-election, discusses Covid vaccines, terrorism India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has offered India's support to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his re-election during a meeting in New York at which they discussed a range of issues from Covid-19 vaccine to terrorism. In a tweet after the meeting on Tuesday, Jaishankar said that he told Guterres that India "values" his leadership and conveyed its support for his election to a second term. The global crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic featured prominently in their discussions. Jaishankar tweeted that they emphasised the importance of finding "urgent and effective global vaccine solutions" and the critical need to ramp up the vaccine supply chain to "ensure greater production and fairer distribution." With India set to assume the rotating presidency of the Security Council in August, their meeting covered a wide range of issues. In a series of tweets on the meeting, Jaishankar said that they talked about "regional challenges in India's neighbourhood" and "shared our concerns about ensuring that the gains of the last two decades in Afghanistan are adequately protected." US President Joe Biden is pulling out the nation's troops from Afghanistan after a 20-year deployment even as terrorist activities continue raising fears of regional instability. In his tweets Jaishankar said, "Countering terrorism and radicalisation remain priorities for the entire region." Jaishankar said that he "highlighted India's constructive role" in the Security Council and "conveyed priorities of our Presidency in August." He added, "Maritime Security and Technology for Peacekeeping address the needs of the day." NEWS in BRIEF Kuwait's Covid-19 caseload tops 300,000 The Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported 1,240 new Covid-19 cases, raising the total infections in the country to 300,455. The ministry also announced seven more fatalities, taking the death toll in Kuwait to 1,741, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,081 to 286,199, the Xinhua news agency reported. A total of 12,515 Covid-19 patients are receiving treatment, including 145 in the intensive care units, it said. At a meeting of Kuwait's government on Monday, Minister of Health Bassel Al-Sabah said the recovery rate in the country has reached 95.3 per cent along with a drop in daily deaths. Meanwhile, the government urged citizens and residents of the country to continue taking precautions such as avoiding crowds and receiving vaccines. Australian scientists develop new drugs to fight Covid-19 Scientists from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia's Queensland have developed two new drugs to both prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid-19 infection, and also treat people who have been exposed to the virus so they do not develop severe disease. The two early intervention drugs target how human cells respond to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, instead of the virus itself, according to the findings published in the journal Nature Cell Discovery. The first peptide-based drug would be given pre-exposure to the virus and help boost the efficacy of vaccines, while the second drug would stop the spread of the virus in already infected cells. Laboratory tests show the first peptide-based drug reduces infection by cloaking the ACE2 receptor protein on human cells. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein uses the ACE2 receptor to bind to and invade cells. The virus then latches onto the cloaking peptides, which they mistake for human cells -- preventing infection. Moderna says its COVID vaccine is 'highly effective' in teens Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is "highly effective" in adolescents aged 12 to 17. BBC News reports no cases of COVID-19 were seen in a trial involving 3,732 young volunteers who received two doses of the vaccine, compared to four cases in controls who had placebo injections. Moderna says it will soon submit the data to regulators globally to seek approval for use in teens. The Pfizer vaccine has already been approved for use in US adolescents. BBC News reports the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is authorised for use in those aged over 16, is also being tested in children under 12, with the aim of involving babies from just six months old. Moderna's vaccine is currently authorised for people 18 and older. Samoa's first female prime minister sworn into office Samoa's first female prime minister has been sworn into office in a tent after she was locked out of parliament by her opponent, who has refused to step down. Fiame Naomi Mata'afa took the oath of office in a marquee in the parliament's gardens, leaving uncertainty over who controls the Pacific island nation. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who has been Prime Minister for 22 years has ignored a court order to step down. Mata'afa who is 64-years-old arrived at parliament yesterday expecting to be sworn in. But the former deputy prime minister who arrived alongside the chief justice, found herself barred from the building, which had been locked by allies of Malielegaoi in advance of her arrival. Instead, Mata'afa and members of her Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (Fast) party gathered in a marquee in parliament's gardens, in the capital Apia, with supporters looking on and were sworn in one by one. The ad-hoc ceremony was rejected by rivals as unofficial. Malielegaoi called the improvised swearing-in ceremony "illegal and unlawful".
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The Indian Weekender, 28 May 2021

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