-The Telegraph The pandemic has given surveillance tools legitimacy in the eyes of civil society which at other times might have been more concerned about privacy issues Among the “seven” to-dos that Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed for the country on April 13 while announcing the extension of a nationwide lockdown was a call for citizens to download the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app. It would help “prevent the spread of [the] corona infection,”...

-The Indian Express Industries can start production fearlessly in allowed areas taking adequate precautions: Javadekar The government has withdrawn the clause allowing filing of an FIR against a company and its management if an employee tests positive for COVID-19, following concerns raised by India Inc. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar maintained on Thursday that there was no government directive “for an FIR against a factory.” “There is no mention of sole responsibility fixed...

-The Hindu When testing is done for people within a cluster, the number of positive cases seem to be higher, and vice-versa Generally, the number of positive COVID-19 cases increases when the testing rate increases. However, this is not always the case, as data from Gujarat show. Who gets tested determines the number of positive cases more than how many get tested. In Tamil Nadu, the number of positive cases went up when...

-Livemint.com ICMR advises states not to use the testing kits for the next two days, saying it will issue an advisory after medical teams carry out field validation of the kits NEW DELHI: Test kits for the detection and surveillance of covid-19 cases in India that have apparently been found faulty had been procured by the Indian Council of Medical Research from China from Chinese vendors approved by Chinese authorities, a senior...

-The Indian Express Last week, the ICMR brought out an advisory on pooled testing, ideally in districts where incidence of COVID-19 is low. Faced with criticism about insufficient testing and the reality of limited resources, India has decided go for pooled testing in districts where no cases have been reported. This would on the one hand give data on whether these really are zero-case districts, and on the other, save resources. * What...