-The Telegraph Health ministry asks for 15 SAMples each from five labs and five hospitals in every state every two weeks, which is less than the 5% prescribed for each state The Union health ministry has asked each state to send 150 Covid-positive SAMples fortnightly for genome sequencing, deviating from the original target set by a national research consortium to genome-sequence 5 per cent of positive cases from all states. The move has...

-Newslaundry.com The Standing Committee on Health highlighted shortages of medical oxygen and hospital beds. The government seems to have ignored its report. As the second wave of the pandemic rips through the country, the public is asking two big questions. How prepared was the government? Did it anticipate a crisis of this magnitude to hit India? Turns out, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare produced a report in which it...

-The Indian Express As many as 16 private hospitals in Patna have oxygen stock of less than one to two days, it is learnt. Among these are Park Surgicals, Royal Hospital, SAMay Hospital, Siddharth Hospital, Capital Hospital, Himalaya Hospital, Nidan Hospital and Tara Hospital. Patna: * On Sunday, four Covid-19 patients died at a hospital in Kankerbagh, Patna, allegedly due to shortage of oxygen. * A day before that, a 36-year-old person died...

Forest fires are not just confined to countries like the United States of America (California, 2020), Brazil (Amazon forest, 2019-2020) or Australia (2019-20); they happen every year across many states in India too. Media reports suggest that forest fires have taken place in the recent months in Odisha's Simlipal National Park, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, among other states. Forest fires have also been reported this year in Nagaland-Manipur border (Dzukou...

-Newsclick.in The jacking up of prices of a universal intermediary while at the SAMe time cutting down on subsidies that could potentially insulate segments of the working people from the acceleration of inflation is proof of the fact. The official wholesale price index for March 2021, which was released a few days ago shows it to be 7.39% higher than for March 2020. Such a high rate of inflation has not been...