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...

-Article-14.com The Centre’s ‘single source of truth’ in easing lockdowns is a database of Covid-19 cases ridden with unverified data, duplicate names and other flaws. States, some protesting at the confusion, use another database and only in five states do the two databases tally. Mumbai: Two of four parameters that the Centre currently uses to decide severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and ease lockdown restrictions are based on an inaccurate database maintained...

-The Hindu Lockdowns alone can’t be effective unless combined with other health measures, says the WHO Chief Scientist. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation, tells The Hindu in an interview that the fight against COVID-19 is likely to be long-term, and lockdowns alone cannot be effective unless combined with other public health measures. Dr. Swaminathan, who has worked in research on tuberculosis and HIV for 30 years, was...

-The Hindu New Delhi travelled to tribal heartland. The expert group offers hope; an opportunity to ensure that the tribals have a say in policies that are framed for them. Earlier this month, a motley group of 50 academicians, government officials and activists gathered at Shodhgram village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. This is an area known for malaria, malnutrition and Maoists, not necessarily in that order. Everyone left technology behind (mobile phones and...

Traditional healing techniques, using indigenous medicinal plants, practiced efficiently for hundreds of years by some of India’s most elusive tribes residing in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is all set to become public. ICMR’s Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) is preparing a unique Community Biodiversity Register (CBDR) for the tribals of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that will document their traditional healing practices, use of medicinal plants, healing record, mode of...