-The Hindu Malappuram, the most densely populated district of Kerala, epitomises the challenges the State faces in controlling the rising number of COVID-19 infections. Abdul Latheef Naha and C. Maya explain how the State, which seemed to have a grip on the pandemic, has been faltering “Two people have died. Please come and pack the bodies,” a nurse tells the cleaning staff who are on a break. Within a few minutes, cleaning...

-The Hindu More than 2 lakh such beneficiaries vaccinated so far. The Union Health Ministry has said that ownership of a mobile phone is not a prerequisite for COVID-19 vaccination and production of address proof for availing vaccination is not mandatory. In a release issued on Wednesday, the Ministry said it was also not mandatory to pre-register online on Co-WIN for availing vaccination. “For easy understanding of users, Co-Win is now available in 12...

-PTI/ NDTV.com "The National Human Rights Commission has taken a serious view of the chaining of a 92-year-old prisoner to a bed during treatment in Etah district hospital, Uttar Pradesh," it said in a statement. New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over the chaining of a 92-year-old prisoner to his hospital bed during treatment at the Etah district hospital, officials said...

-The Hindu The universalisation of social security remains an unfulfilled aspiration in the new code on social security As COVID-19 destroys lives and livelihoods, an unprepared government has rendered low-paid, informal workers, who constitute 91% of the workforce, totally hapless, pushing them further into poverty. Imagine if these same informal workers had social security (including free basic curative care in public clinics and hospitals, the Elderly had old age pensions, the dying...

In the month of April this year, there has been an unprecedented upsurge in daily new cases and daily new deaths in the country due to Covid-19. States, which reported large increases in daily new cases and daily new deaths, are Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, to name but a few.   Data accessed from https://www.covid19india.org/, which is a crowdsourced platform and an independent aggregator of daily Covid-19 figures and...