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Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic continues to cast its long shadow as 2022 ends, with the virus again seeing a resurgence globally, especially in neighbouring China, prompting India to take several proactive steps to pre-empt the fourth wave as 2023 rings in. But Covid-19 was not the only health news that hogged the limelight this year. From monkeypox, now called mpox, to remove the stigma attached to it and which killed over 25 people globally, including one in India, to a lumpy skin disease outbreak that killed over 80,000 cattle, and a measles outbreak, it has been a constant struggle to cope with diseases.
Adding to the woes were frequent videos flooding social media of sudden cardiac deaths, especially among young adults, some even dying while singing, dancing, walking or gyming. The phenomenon, being linked to Covid, is now being studied by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
India, which has reported the third highest number of Covid deaths at 530,690 after the US (108,00,10) and Brazil (692,461) till Dec 23, has all the Omicron sub-lineages seen in China, but in fewer numbers, which hasn’t led to drastic surge or clustering so far. According to experts, India will be able to ride the Covid wave due to hybrid immunity until and unless a highly infectious variant emerges in the coming months.
The union health ministry has warned that the next 40 days would be crucial and a surge is likely in January. Thus leaving nothing to chance, the ministry swung into action as it announced carrying out random testing of two per cent of international travellers from hotspots nations and heightened vigil and surveillance, with some states, like Karnataka, making masks mandatory in public spaces.
It has also made Covid-negative RT-PCR report taken 72 hours prior to flight for all international travellers from these nations mandatory. In its war against Covid, the government, which is pushing for booster doses as only 27-28 per cent of the eligible population have taken it till now, approved Bharat Biotech’s iNCOVACC, India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine, which will now be available by January-end at `800 at private market and `325 in government hospitals.
The year began with the fear of the third Covid wave, driven by Omicron, going the same way as the one seen in 2021 more devastating than the first, as many died in the wake of shortages of oxygen cylinders – a fact pointed out by a parliamentary panel, which asked the union health ministry to “audit deaths due to oxygen shortage”, scarce hospital beds and medical supplies.
But even as the authorities were battling Covid-19, war clouds gathered when Russia attacked Ukraine in February this year. The direct hit was thousands of medical students. The government evacuated nearly 20,000 medical students, bringing to the fore the scarcity of excellent and cost-effective medical colleges in India, which the government plans to plug as it has announced one medical college in each district.But the hopes of these thousands of returnees to become doctors are yet to be fulfilled.
NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic continues to cast its long shadow as 2022 ends, with the virus again seeing a resurgence globally, especially in neighbouring China, prompting India to take several proactive steps to pre-empt the fourth wave as 2023 rings in. But Covid-19 was not the only health news that hogged the limelight this year. From monkeypox, now called mpox, to remove the stigma attached to it and which killed over 25 people globally, including one in India, to a lumpy skin disease outbreak that killed over 80,000 cattle, and a measles outbreak, it has been a constant struggle to cope with diseases.
Adding to the woes were frequent videos flooding social media of sudden cardiac deaths, especially among young adults, some even dying while singing, dancing, walking or gyming. The phenomenon, being linked to Covid, is now being studied by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
India, which has reported the third highest number of Covid deaths at 530,690 after the US (108,00,10) and Brazil (692,461) till Dec 23, has all the Omicron sub-lineages seen in China, but in fewer numbers, which hasn’t led to drastic surge or clustering so far. According to experts, India will be able to ride the Covid wave due to hybrid immunity until and unless a highly infectious variant emerges in the coming months.
The union health ministry has warned that the next 40 days would be crucial and a surge is likely in January. Thus leaving nothing to chance, the ministry swung into action as it announced carrying out random testing of two per cent of international travellers from hotspots nations and heightened vigil and surveillance, with some states, like Karnataka, making masks mandatory in public spaces.
It has also made Covid-negative RT-PCR report taken 72 hours prior to flight for all international travellers from these nations mandatory. In its war against Covid, the government, which is pushing for booster doses as only 27-28 per cent of the eligible population have taken it till now, approved Bharat Biotech’s iNCOVACC, India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine, which will now be available by January-end at `800 at private market and `325 in government hospitals.
The year began with the fear of the third Covid wave, driven by Omicron, going the same way as the one seen in 2021 more devastating than the first, as many died in the wake of shortages of oxygen cylinders – a fact pointed out by a parliamentary panel, which asked the union health ministry to “audit deaths due to oxygen shortage”, scarce hospital beds and medical supplies.
But even as the authorities were battling Covid-19, war clouds gathered when Russia attacked Ukraine in February this year. The direct hit was thousands of medical students. The government evacuated nearly 20,000 medical students, bringing to the fore the scarcity of excellent and cost-effective medical colleges in India, which the government plans to plug as it has announced one medical college in each district.
But the hopes of these thousands of returnees to become doctors are yet to be fulfilled.
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