Operations of Oxygen Express trains expanded to Haryana and Telangana

Operations of Oxygen Express trains have been expanded to Haryana and Telangana after Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Continuing the momentum, there are three more trains on the run either carrying Liquid Oxygen or on the way to the loading plants. It is expected that cumulative liquid medical oxygen (LMO) carried by Indian railways will reach almost 640 metric tonne in the next 24 hours.
 
Haryana will receive its first Oxygen express as a train with two tankers from Angul in Orissa. The continuous stream of Oxygen trains to Haryana will ensure oxygen replenishment to the Covid-19 patients in the state. Telangana government has also requested Indian Railways for Oxygen Express. An empty rake is on its way from Secunderabad to Angul with 5 empty tankers and is expected to reach Angul today.
 
Uttar Pradesh received its Oxygen Express no. 5 carrying 76.29 metric tonne of liquid medical oxygen yesterday in 5 tankers. One Tanker was offloaded in Varanasi while the remaining 4 tankers are offloaded in Lucknow. Train no. 6 is already on its way to Lucknow and is expected to arrive today carrying 33.18 metric tonne LMO in 4 tankers.
 
Railways is in full preparedness for providing oxygen transportation services to all the states in need. In the ongoing operation, States provide tankers to the Railways. Railways then proceeds in fastest feasible mode to bring the Oxygen supplies from the locations and delivers it the requisitioning State. The deployment and use of this Oxygen is done by the State Government.

IRDAI asks insurers to settle Covid related cashless insurance claims within 1 hour

Insurance regulator IRDAI has directed insurers to approve Covid-related cashless claims within 60 minutes of receiving appropriate documents from the claimant. IRDAI announced the new rules after Delhi High Court directed it to inform insurers to hasten the process of cashless claims so that hospital beds can be freed quickly for new patients.
 
IRDAI also said that the decision on authorization for cashless treatment for COVID-19 claims shall be communicated to hospital within a period of 60 minutes from the time of receipt of authorization request. Decision on the final discharge of patients covered in COVID-19 claims shall be communicated to the network provider within a period of one hour from the time of receipt of the final bill along with all necessary requirements from the hospital. It was earlier reported that network hospitals are turning back Covid patients with cashless insurance.

More than 15 crore 21 lakh doses of Corona vaccine administered in the country so far

India has administered over 15 crore 21 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the country so far. These include over 93 lakh 85 thousand Healthcare Workers who have taken the 1st dose and more than 61 lakh Health care workers who have taken the 2nd dose, over one crore 24 lakh Frontline Workers have taken the 1st dose and more than 67 lakh front line workers have taken the 2nd dose.
 
India had launched the world’s largest Vaccination Drive on 16th January this year. Union Health Ministry said that more than 20 lakh 84 thousand beneficiaries were inoculated with Covid-19 vaccine doses till 8 PM yesterday. Out of which around 12 lakh beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and more than nine lakh beneficiaries received 2nd dose of the vaccine. The total registrations on Co-Win portal for Phase-3 Vaccination has crossed two crore 28 lakh in just two days.

Prices of Covaxin for State govts reduced from 600 to 400 rupees

Bharat Biotech reduced the cost of COVAXIN vaccine for State governments. It will now cost 400 rupees per dose for State Governments instead of earlier announced price of 600 rupees per dose. 

Bharat Biotech has said the decision has been taken recognising enormous challenges being faced by the public health care system. The COVAXIN will cost 1200 rupees per dose for Private Hospitals. The price of vaccine for export is 15 to 20 dollar. Earlier, the price of Covishield vaccine for states was also reduced from 400 to 300 rupees.

Health Ministry issues revised guidelines for home isolation of mild, asymptomatic Corona patients

Union Health Ministry has issued revised guidelines for Home isolation of mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. As per the guidelines, the patients who are clinically assigned to be mild or asymptomatic are recommended for home isolation. As per the guidelines, for home isolation, the patient should be clinically assigned as mild or asymptomatic case by the treating Medical officer and such cases should have the requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and for quarantining the family contacts.
 
It says, a care giver should be available to provide care and a communication link between the caregiver and hospital is a prerequisite for the entire duration of home isolation. It also said that elderly patients aged more than 60 years and those with co-morbid conditions shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer. It said, patients suffering from immune compromised status like HIV, Transplant recipients and Cancer therapy are not recommended for home isolation and shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer.
 
According to the revised guidelines, the Health Ministry has said that patient must isolate himself from other household members, stay in the identified room and away from other people in home, especially elderlies and those with co-morbid conditions. The patient should be kept in a well-ventilated room with cross ventilation. Patient should at all times use triple layer medical mask. The patient has been advised self-monitoring of blood oxygen saturation and health and must be in communication with a treating physician and promptly report in case of any deterioration.
 
The decision to administer Remdesivir or any other investigational therapy must be taken by a medical professional and administered only in a hospital setting and not attempt to procure or administer Remdesivir at home. As per the guidelines, patient under home isolation will stand discharged and end isolation after at least 10 days have passed from onset of symptoms or from date of sampling for asymptomatic cases and no fever for three days. The Ministry said, there is no need for testing after the home isolation period is over.

Thank you all for reading me.

PM Modi to chair Council of Ministers meeting today to review Covid-19 situation in country

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting of Council of Ministers at 11 am today to review the COVID-19 situation in the country. This will be the first meeting of the Council of Ministers in the aftermath of the second wave of the pandemic. During the meeting, the ongoing vaccination drive, which has now been opened for those in the 18 to 45 age group, is likely to be discussed among others.
 
Health Secretary yesterday submitted a report to the Home Secretary regarding the Corona situation in the worst-affected nine states. Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh are some of the worst affected states and major contributors to the sharp rise in COVID cases in the country.
 
PM Modi has been holding a series of meetings with several stakeholders and key personnel to continuously review the COVID-19 situation in the country. He previously held meetings with chief ministers of states, vaccine manufacturers, top brass of the pharmaceutical industry discussing various aspects of how to bring the COVID-19 under control. The prime minister also held a meeting with oxygen manufacturers across the country to discuss the ramping up of oxygen generation and its transport amid the shortage of oxygen reported in several states.
 
The vaccine manufacturers have been asked to ramp up their production as well as attract new national and international players. The manufacturers have been directed to release 50 per cent of their stock for the state governments and in the open market at a pre-declared price. At present 45 years and above are eligible to administer vaccine the COVID-19 vaccine, while the vaccination for 18 years and above will begin from May 1 as the registrations for the same have begun on CoWIN portal and Aarogya Setu app.

Thank you all.

True name: On Armenian genocide

Us president recently  has fulfilled a long-pending American promise byrecognising the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-16 as “an act of genocide”, but the move has clearly infuriated Turkey, a NATO ally. In 2019,both Houses of the U.S. Congress passed resolutions calling the slaughter by its true name, but former President Donald Trump, like his predecessors, stopped short of a formal recognition of the genocide, mainly because of Turkish opposition. Ankara has challenged the “scholarly and legal” basis of Mr. Biden’s announcement and warned that it will “open a deep wound”. Up to 1.5 million Armenians were estimated to have been killed during the course of the First World War by the Ottoman Turks. When the Ottoman Empire suffered a humiliating defeat in the Caucasus in 1915 at the hands of the Russians, the Turks blamed the Armenians living on the fringes of the crumbling empire for the setback. Accusing them of treachery, the Ottoman government unleashed militias on Armenian villages. Armenian soldiers, public intellectuals and writers were executed and hundreds of thousands of Armenians, including children, were forcibly moved from their houses in eastern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) to the Syrian desert. Many died during this exodus and many others, after reaching the concentration camps in the deserts. Turkey has acknowledged that atrocities were committed against Armenians, but is opposed to calling it a genocide, which it considers as an attempt to insult the Turks.

Mr. Biden’s move comes at a time when the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey has been in steady decline. In 2016, Ankara accused the U.S.-based Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen of being the mastermind of a failed coup, and asked the U.S. government to extradite him, a demand Washington paid no attention to. Turkey’s decision to buy the S-400 missile defence system from Russia, despite strong opposition from the U.S., prompted American leaders to oust Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet training programme and impose sanctions on their ally. When Mr. Biden assumed office, Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan had sent feelers for a reset, saying Turkey needed help from the West to resolve the Syrian crisis. But Mr. Biden’s move on the Armenian killings appears to have widened the cracks. For Turkey, this overreaction to anyone calling the Armenian massacre a genocide is not doing any good in foreign policy. Instead of being defensive about the crimes of the Ottoman empire, the modern Turkish republic should demonstrate the moral courage to disown the atrocities. It shouldn’t allow the past to ruin its present interests.