Centre Advises People to Wear Masks at Home Too

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Apr 26: As India scaled yet another new height with 3.52 lakhs new Covid-19 cases and over 2,800 fatalities in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, the centre has come up with a new idea asking the people to wear masks even at home. “It’s time people started wearing masks inside their homes as well to keep the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at bay as the country is battling the second wave of the pandemic,” Dr VK Paul, Niti Aayog’s member (health), said while briefing the press.

The statement comes at a time when India is dealing with the deadlier, more infectious new wave of the pandemic, with hospitals in several states across the country reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds in view of the rising number of infections.

In view of the worsening oxygen crisis in India, the central government said that rational use of oxygen is important, as are appropriate prescriptions for drugs such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab. Dr Randeep Guleria, the chief of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, said “misuse” of oxygen was a major factor contributing to “unnecessary panic” among people over oxygen, causing a rush outside hospitals and a shortage of essential drugs and oxygen. “If the saturation is 94% or above, then there’s no need to worry,” the doctor said during a press briefing over the ongoing Covid-19 situation in the country.

To drive home the idea that the second wave of the pandemic is considerably more infectious than the last, officials from the Union health ministry said inability to follow proper physical distancing measures can result in one individual infecting 406 people in the span of just 30 days. Dr Paul urged citizens not to go out until absolutely necessary and wear masks even when amongst family members. He also cautioned against inviting outsiders into family homes.

India’s new coronavirus infections hit a record peak for a fifth day on Monday, as countries including Britain, Germany, and the United States pledged to send urgent medical aid to help battle the crisis overwhelming its hospitals.

India recorded over 3.52 lakh new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Monday, taking the country’s total infections to over 1.73 crore. Out of these, over 28 lakh cases are currently active while 1.43 crore people have recovered after testing positive. With 2,812 new fatalities, the death toll is now over 1.95 lakh.

Ten states—Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh—account for 74.5% of the total Covid-19 recoveries in India.

Meanwhile, amid demands for medical oxygen coming in from various states, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday claimed that India has enough oxygen stock but the issue is its transportation. Assuring that there is absolutely no need to panic for oxygen, the MHA said “We are trying to resolve issue of its transportation. The government is monitoring oxygen-carrying tankers on real-time basis through GPS, making them available to hospitals as early as possible.”

National carrier Air India on Monday brought 328 oxygen concentrators to India in its New York-Delhi flight, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. “All efforts to strengthen India’s fight against the pandemic are on,” Puri said.

While the BJP government in Karnataka decided to impose a 14-day lockdown in the state from Tuesday despite the centre’s advice otherwise, the Maharashtra government claimed “improvement in the situation” considering that the rate of discharge was higher than the rate of new admissions to hospitals.

In 15 out of 36 districts in Maharashtra, the number of people getting discharged is much higher than patients getting admitted in hospital for COVID- 19, which is a “satisfactory and comforting indication,” state medical education minister Amit Deshmukh said. He said the state government had set up jumbo treatment facilities, ramped up testing and ensured effective home isolation to tackle the second wave of the infection, which was “unprecedented and four times stronger than the first one”. On the drop in numbers and the recovery rate climbing up steadily, the minister told reporters, “This is a satisfactory and comforting indication. I feel restrictions are working and the second wave numbers will soon come down if all of us adhere to COVID-19 norms.” The state government was planning to get vaccines from the international market to carry out a massive drive covering as many people as possible in a short period of time, the minister added.

Discouraging all out lockdown, the Centre has put out guidelines for states on enforcing containment zones to try and flatten the curve amid spiraling Covid cases. The rules say it is time for restrictions when the positivity rate is 10 per cent or more for a week and when more than 60 per cent hospital beds are occupied.

States have been urged to go for an intensive, local and focused containment network in districts, cities and areas based on the parameters specified by the Union Home Ministry.

Where or when to go for a lockdown, or what the home ministry calls a “large containment zone”, has to be based on evidence and analysis of the population affected, the geographical spread, hospital infrastructure, manpower and the ease of enforcing boundaries, says the home ministry note.

States have been given a broad framework for an “objective, transparent, and epidemiologically sound decision-making” on imposing a lockdown.

The main criteria are when positivity is 10 per cent or more for a week – meaning one in 10 samples are testing positive – and if more than 60 per cent beds, either oxygen-supported or ICU, are occupied by Covid patients.

Restrictions have to be enforced for at least 14 days.

Once identified for containment, the next steps, according to the home ministry are:

• Night curfew – Movement banned at night except for essential activities. The local administration will decide the duration of curfew.
• Banning social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious, festival-related and other gatherings — the guidelines say “the spread of the infection has to be controlled by restricting the mingling of people, the only known host for the COVID-19 virus”.
• Weddings to be limited to up to 50 participants and funerals, 20 people.
• Shopping complexes, movie theatres, restaurants and bars, sports complexes, gym, spas, swimming pool and religious places will be closed.
• Only essential services should continue in both the public and private sector.
• Public transport like railways, metros, buses and cabs can operate at up to half their capacity.
• No restrictions on inter-state and intra-state movement including the transport of essential goods.
• Offices can function with up to half their staff.
• Industrial and scientific establishments can be allowed subject to distancing rules. They will be tested through Rapid Antigen Tests from time to time.

But the centre says states should make careful analysis of the local situation, areas to be covered, and probability of transmission and decide on their own.

The Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, however,  announced a 14-day lockdown that will come into force in the state from 9 pm tomorrow to curb the spread of infections. No public transport will be allowed to ply on the roads, but shops selling essential commodities will remain open from 6 am to 10 am every day, Yediyurappa said.

“From tomorrow night for 14 days, there will be a full shut down in the whole state,” Yediyurappa said, after chairing a cabinet meeting. The CM said industries, other than the garment sector, could function during the shutdown. “Bars and restaurants can provide takeaway service. Detailed orders will be issued later in the day,” the chief minister said.

Yediyurappa indicated that inter-state and intra-state travel, other than movement of goods and cargo, will not be permitted during the shutdown. The government will seek postponement of all polls in the state for six months, he said.

The Chief Minister also announced free Covid vaccine for all those between 18-44 years of age in the state. Last Thursday, he had approved the purchase of one crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines at a cost of Rs 400 per dose.

Karnataka has already been under a semi-lockdown state over the past five days with hotels, restaurants, gyms, bars, clubs not allowed to have customers. The city of Bengaluru has been under a night curfew and a weekend curfew since April 19.

Since the Covid cases were increasing in Karnataka and Bengaluru city, few members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which held a meeting on April 24, had advised the government to impose a two-week lockdown.

In Chennai, the Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami on Monday wrote to the Centre opposing the “differential price mechanism” for the COVID-19 vaccine.

He “asked the Centre to procure and supply the entire required quantity of vaccine for administering it to all age groups including from 18-45,” media reports said.

Meanwhile, the largest cargo flight operator from China to India, the Chinese state-owned Sichuan Airlines has suspended its services to India for 15 days because of the surge in Covid-19 cases.

It is likely to disrupt frantic efforts by Indian private companies to import medical supplies including oxygen concentrators to fight the pandemic from China.

The suspension comes despite Beijing’s repeated offers of “support and assistance” to India to fight the pandemic.

The airlines operated 10 flights on six routes to four India cities comprising Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

In a letter to the sales agents on Monday, the Sichuan Chuanhang Logistics Co. Ltd, part of the Sichuan Airlines said the airline has suspended its cargo flights on all six routes – Xi’an-Delhi, Xi’an-Mumbai, Chengdu-Chennai, Chongqing-Chennai, Chengdu-Bangalore, and Chongqing-Delhi – for 15 days,

The airlines said “…in the face of sudden changes in the epidemic situation (in India), in order to reduce the number of imported cases, it is decided” to suspend the flights.