State of reforms: States, hit by the coronavirus pandemic, have enacted a slew of reforms over a relatively short period of time. These range from shifting focus to green economic recovery, laws concerning migrant labourers to providing relief over electricity payments. The pandemic added to the fiscal burden of states which then introduced reforms to inspire investor confidence. Disbursing relief packages to MSMEs is one example of proactive state-level response. Wide-ranging labour law reforms were also brought in by some. However, this momentum can be sustained only with the Centre’s backing. The states will need to engage with the Modi government for fiscal expansion. Read more here.

Ahmedabad’s OPD vans: Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is using Dhanvantri Raths, OPD vans, to ramp up testing in the city. The van travels to different localities and tests residents voluntarily. Of AMC’s 15,000 Covid management health paramedics, 500 are involved with Dhanvantri Raths. Officials on duty say they sometimes face resistance from residents who either do not allow them to enter the locality or do not complete the whole procedure — probably out of panic. The service began in May with RTPCR testing but was eventually changed to RAT in July. Further, the government mobilised personnel from other districts since a shortage of workers was noticed after private clinics shut down. Read more here.

Long Read

Disruption in health care: The disruption in non-civid healthcare has been worse than previously estimated. Between March and April access to maternal health services was a huge problem, data shows. The number of women receiving benefits under the government’s programme for expecting mothers also reduced drastically. Further, immunisation services were also badly hit. The number of children who got Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine in April was half of January’s numbers. Similarly, outpatient attendance dipped in April to half of January’s numbers. Doctors now warn that when these patients start returning for checkups and follow-ups, their condition may no longer be manageable. In June, there was a 60 per cent decline in men screened for HIV while the number of patients registered for TB treatment decreased by 45 per cent. Read more here.

Comment

GDP and mortality: The Covid-19 death toll is 58,000 and growing. In all probability this devastating march will not stop even after the outbreak stops, says the columnist. A recent SBI report stated that, on an average, states would see a 16.8 per cent decline in their GDP in FY21. The report further warns that a drop of even a tenth of GDP may lead to a hike in mortality rate of 0.6 to 3.6 percentage points. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, a contraction in GDP will push mortality rate by a startling 3.4 per cent. The writer further says that poor preparedness while imposing lockdowns and a lack of strategy is likely to exacerbate this issue. Countries that imposed lockdowns at around the same time as India have already flattened the curve. The fact that the pandemic is now spreading in rural hinterlands may make things worse. Read more here.

Understanding Covid-19

Anti-microbial resistance: With surging use of antibiotics to treat Covid-19 in order to obtain quick results could result in increased resistance to drugs’ benefits in the wider population. Muhammad Hamid Zaman, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at Boston University, in his latest book Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens, argues that the presence of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) can aggravate complications from Covid-19. He said this will be a significantly difficult situation to manage. The resistance to antibiotics arises when common-causing bacteria stops responding to antibiotic drugs which happens in a particular type of pollution that evolved from pharmaceutical waste from several resources reacted with water. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 declared AMR as one of the top 10 threats to global health with the potential to become a pandemic adding worries to the current scenario for the treatment of coronavirus patients. The article puts forth the arguments that to avert such a pandemic apart from the ongoing one, water and sewage treatment needs to be more mechanised coupled with large-scale public awareness measures. Read more here.

Flu season amid pandemic: With flu season around the corner, experts are now wondering what it will be like amidst a raging pandemic. The good news is that the overall flu rates may go down because of the precautionary measures that everyone is taking to prevent infection by coronavirus. But the other side of the story is that vaccination has gone down and hence more number of people are vulnerable to Flu viruses. The worst fear is that many people will confuse flu symptoms for Covid-19 ones. This would be bad news especially for already-overwhelmed health care infrastructure. Read more here.

Vaccine nationalism: Even as we continue to battle the pandemic, countries have begun signing pacts to hoard vaccines. This adds to the worries of countries like India that have huge populations and limited resources compared to the developed nations. The US has entered into 6 deals with at least pharmaceutical companies for assured 800 million doses of vaccines that the companies are developing. The UK on the other hand has entered deals for 340 million doses. An ideal situation would be to make the vaccine first available to whoever needs it the most. Read more here.