Monthly Archives: August 2018

Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26

Amid reports of delivery boys being intercepted by the police during the current lockdown resulting in hardships to common people in getting groceries, medicines and other essential  items, Haryana is set to launch the  process of issuing passes to such people from Thursday.

In an exclusive interaction with The Tribune, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that establishments offering essential services such as grocery, pharmaceutical products and food, including online retailers, will have to apply online for the number of passes they needed.

Haryana launches website for lockdown passes, helpline numbers; wheat procurement from April 20

“The online portal is likely to be launched by Thursday evening itself, and the government will ensure that the passes are issued as soon as possible once the process of applications begins,” Khattar said.

When his attention was drawn towards complaints coming from various districts of the state that the police had been harassing delivery executives, including those going to people to supply essential goods such as medicines, the CM maintained that the police could not be blamed for this, as the cops doing duty on the streets could not differentiate between a delivery person or a common man.

“When they have been mandated to make sure that people do not venture out of their houses in view of the lockdown that has been imposed in the public interest to arrest the spread of the deadly Covid-19, they are supposed to stop everyone who comes out unless the person has a pass authorising one for the purpose one is outside. The passes will serve this purpose and we will make sure that we issue these passes as soon as possible,” he said.

He said that once these people get passes issued by the state government, they will not have any problems, as the police will allow them to move about after seeing their identity proof.

Khattar said the government realised the importance of keeping home delivery of essential commodities and supply chains of online retailers unhindered, as it helped in keeping a large majority of the middle class stay indoors during the lockdown, and the government was left with the task of ensuring supplies to the lower strata of society.

On being informed that the supply of newspapers, including The Tribune, was being hindered in most parts of the state despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauding the role of media in the present situation, Khattar said that newspaper dealers could also apply for passes for their hawkers.

Khattar expressed satisfaction over the implementation of the lockdown so far.

The Haryana Police had on Wednesday assured residents that e-commerce services such as Zomato, Big Basket, Amazon and Flipkart would continue to function during the 21-day Covid-19 nationwide lockdown. There were complaints that policemen were intercepting delivery men and there were even incidents of manhandling.

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Chandrapur, March 26

Amid travel restrictions due to the lockdown, a 26-year-old daily-wager walked over 135 km without food from Nagpur in Maharashtra to reach his home in Chandrapur.

As people started returning to their homes amid lockdown, Narendra Shelke managed to catch the last train from Pune to Nagpur, but was stranded after lockdown.

Left with no option, he started a foot march on the Nagpur-Nagbhid road on Tuesday to reach his village. He walked for two days without food and survived only on water.

On Wednesday night, a police patrol team spotted an exhausted Shelke in Sindewahi tehsil and arranged a vehicle to take him to Jambh village. Shelke has been home-quarantined for 14 days, the police said. — PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 26

As the seriousness of Covid-19 increases, doctors of the armed forces and the network of military hospitals have been told to be ready to help in handling patients and testing samples.

Navy warships are on standby with medical teams, supplies and medical equipment in case any neighbouring country would want it. The Indian Air Force is already flying in planes and helicopters ferrying doctors to remote locations and also flying back with samples from Ladakh for testing at Chandigarh and Delhi.

This morning Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urged the armed forces to gear up their preparedness to provide all required assistance to the civilian administration at various levels.

Instructions have been issued to add more quarantine centre. The forces now have created facility to house some 10,000 persons at various locations.

Army to set up quarantine centres for personnel

New Delhi: The Army has started the process of identifying additional infrastructure for setting up quarantine centres in each station for its personnel to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak, senior officials said on Thursday. The Army is also preparing a plan to “sidestep” medical personnel from lesser virus-affected areas to those severely affected by the outbreak, the officials noted.

The Army, which is the biggest forces with some 13 lakh personnel has been told to identify additional infrastructure for setting up of quarantine facilities which can also be used for own personnel in case of an outbreak.

Plans have been readied to use medical personnel from lesser affected areas to augment civilian health experts in severely affected areas if required.

Rajnath Singh has appreciated the proactive role played by the Armed Forces and various departments of Minitsry of Defence in evacuating Indian nationals as well as foreigners from Covid-19 affected countries and ensuring them proper care at various quarantine facilities.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories have manufactured 20,000 litres of sanitiser and supplied to various organisations, including 10,000 litres to Delhi police. The DRDO has also supplied 10,000 masks to Delhi Police personnel. It is tying up with some private companies to make personal protection equipment such as body suits and also ventilators.

Ordnance Factory Board has also ramped up production of sanitizers, masks and body suits. Bharat Electronics Limited is also engaged in manufacturing of ventilators. Army medical teams deployed in the Maldives have returned after completion of their mission.

The IAF Command Hospital Bangalore has been designated as the first laboratory in the IAF to undertake Covid-19 testing which will greatly enhance the region’s ability to carry out quick testing of suspected cases and allow prompt and timely intervention where required.

A 24×7 crisis management cell has been set up at Air Headquarters and various Command Headquarters to coordinate the aircraft usage.

New Delhi, March 26

An international team, including scientists of Indian origin, has identified 69 drugs and experimental compounds which may be effective in treating Covid-19.

According to the researchers, some of the medications are already used to treat diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and repurposing them to treat Covid-19 may be faster than trying to invent a new vaccine.

“The team took a different approach, targeting host proteins, not viral proteins. Twentysix out of 29 SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins were studied in human cells to find out what human proteins they interact with,” Gina T Nguyen, Assistant Director of Communications & Events, Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the US, said.

Around 332 human proteins were found to interact with the SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins, the researchers, including Advait Subramanian, Srivats Venkataramanan and Jyoti Batra, all from UCSF, said.

These are the proteins that the virus, which has killed over 21,000 people and infected more than 4,71,000 globally so far, relies on to reproduce and carry out the infection in people, they said.

“69 drugs were identified that can target these proteins, of which 25 are already US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved and could be used off-label. The drugs identified include those that are safely taken to treat conditions such as: Type II diabetes, cancer and hypertension,” Nguyen said.

Some viral proteins seemed to target just one human protein, while others are capable of targeting a dozen human cellular proteins, the researchers explained.

They noted that there are currently no anti-viral drugs with proven efficacy, nor are there vaccines for preventing Covid-19.

“Unfortunately, the scientific community has little knowledge of the molecular details of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the team wrote in an abstract.

The identification of host dependency factors mediating virus infection may provide key insights into effective molecular targets for developing broadly acting antiviral therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 and other deadly coronavirus strains, according to the researchers. — PTI

Congress president Sonia Gandhi sought measures to protect doctors, paramedics “who are at the forefront in fight against coronavirus disease”, and ease of the supply chain.