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  • COVID-19: Peak of second wave may come in second week of May

    Srinagar: THe model created by IIT scientists, between 14 and 18 May, the number of active cases of corona infection in India can be between 38 to 48 lakhs. Scientists say that the peak of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in India may come in two-three weeks.

    According to a report published in the newspaper The Hindu , the peak may come between May 14 and 18, during which the total number of active cases in the country can go up to 38 to 48 lakhs.

    According to a model made on the basis of data from IIT scientists, between May four to eight, 4.4 lakh cases of infection can be reported every day.

    On Monday, a record 3,52,991 cases of corona infection were recorded in the country while 2,812 people died due to it. On Monday, the total number of active cases in the country reached 28,13,658.

    Scientists from IIT Kanpur and Hyderabad have created a model based on the probability of being infected, the possibility of virus not being detected in the test and the probability of positivity. On the basis of which he has said that by the end of the second week of May the active cases can increase up to one million. (PTK)

  • Covid resurgence: Srinagar bears brunt, records over 6,400 positive cases in a fortnight

    5,489 active positive cases in district, Admin notifies 48 areas as Micro Containment Zones

    Srinagar: The active positive cases in Srinagar have crossed 5400-mark on Saturday with official data revealing that the summer capital of the Union Territory has recorded over 6400 cases in the last 15 days. The district administration has also declared 48 localities across Srinagar as Micro Containment Zones in the last nearly one month.

    According to the data available with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the toll of active positive cases of COVID-19 cases has reached to 5489. The data also added that the summer capital has recorded 6,464 positive cases in the last 15 days.

    On April 11, Srinagar recorded 362 cases of COVID-19 while on April 12, Srinagar recorded 303 positive cases. According to the data 423 cases were recorded on April 13 while 388 positive cases were recorded on April 14.

    Srinagar reported 418 and 407 positive cases on April 15 and 16 respectively, the data said, adding that On April 17, Srinagar recorded 319 positive cases while on April 18 and 19, 520 and 383 positive cases respectively have been detected in the summer capital.

    On April 20, Srinagar recorded 647 positive cases while on April 21, the summer capital recorded 612 cases. The data revealed that 590 COVID cases were recorded on April 22 while 501 cases were recorded on April 23.

    Srinagar recorded a total of 591 cases today, thus adding the number of cases from the last 15 days to 6,464.

    According to the data, the district has a total of 5489 active positive cases at present.

    With the recovery of 363 people today, the overall toll of recovered patients so far has mounted to 32025 in the district. A total of 500 deaths have also been reported so far across the district, the data said.

    Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Syed Muhammad Hanief Balkhi told KNO that at total of 48 localities across Srinagar have been declared as Micro containment Zones till Friday evening.

    He said that declaring areas as Micro Containment Zones helps is aimed at preventing the virus from spreading. “The localities are being declared as Micro Containment Zones after over four COVID cases are being detected from the particular area. A series of preventive measures are being taken forthwith to ensure that the virus is prevented from spreading in the locality,” he said—(KNO)

  • Imam and others test Covid positive: Makdhoom Sahab shrine yet to be sanitized

    Srinagar, Apr 24: The management of Makdhoom Sahab (RA) shrine Saturday appealed Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to sanitize and fumigate the shrine as the head Imam and others have been tested positive for Covid-19.

    One of the members of Management told KNT that besides Imam of Ziyarat Makdhoon Sahib (RA), half a dozen people related to shrine have been tested positive, but still Wakaf Board has done nothing to sanitize the Shrine.

    “We informed Wakaf Board but our requests have gone to deaf ears. Now we have appealed SMC and hopefully one of the officials there assured that shrine will be sanitized and fumigated,” he said.

    The shrine of Sufi mystic Hamza Makhdoom Kashmiri who was popularly known as Makhdoom Sahib is located in the foot hills of Hari Parbat Srinagar. (KNT)

  • Meet Muneeba Bashir, a self-taught calligraphy artist from Shopian

    Srinagar: A teenage ‘self-taught’ artist is winning hearts of people with her calligraphy work which she uploads on different social media platforms.

    Muneeba Bashir(19), daughter of Bashir Ahmad Khan resident of Malikgund village in Imamsahib belt of Shopian, who is Laboratory Technician student, has so far made hundreds of calligraphy pieces.

    Muneeba, while talking to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that she was interested in making sketches and other arts since her childhood, however, last year due to some family issues and lockdown, she was feeling alone and depressed.

    “To beat anxiety and depression, I started making calligraphy pieces and within just few days I learned this art and started making calligraphy pieces,” she said. “Once I started spending time in calligraphy, I was feeling relaxed and it was giving me a peace of mind and since then I spent one to two hours in calligraphy work every day.”

    She said that this work isn’t affecting her studies but instead this art work gives her freshness and if she even spends time in art work in evening hours, she feels fresh.

    Muneeba said that the youth of J&K are very much talented but there is need direct them properly towards their goal and youth must work hard and show steadfastness in order to achieve any goal—(KNO)

  • Those above 18 eligible to get Covid vaccine from May 1: Centre

    All adults will be vaccinated in “a liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination”, the government said in a statement on a day India reported a new record high of 2.73 lakh cases in a day.

    New Delhi: Vaccinations will be opened to all above 18 from May 1, the government announced today after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of meetings over India’s response to record daily surges in Covid cases.
    All adults will be vaccinated and states can buy vaccines directly from makers in the “liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination”, the government said on a day the country reported a new high of 2.73 lakh cases in a day.

    India began inoculating people in January using two Covid vaccines – Serum Institute of India’s Covishield developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech’s made-in-India Covaxin. So far, the government had allowed vaccinations only for health workers, frontline workers and those above 45 in a centrally controlled process.

    In recent weeks, states like Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab had called for opening up vaccinations and had also complained about running out of vaccine stocks.

    In a comment that became controversial in the state versus centre tussle, a senior official said: “The aim is never to vaccinate whoever wants it, but always whoever needs it.”While vaccinations have been slow compared to the centre’s target, the country has clocked over two lakh cases daily in the past few days.Recently, the government fast-tracked approvals for foreign vaccines cleared in other countries.

    In his meetings today, PM Modi stressed that vaccination was “the biggest weapon” in the fight against the coronavirus and urged doctors to encourage more and more patients to get vaccinated.

    “The government has been working hard for over a year to ensure that maximum numbers of Indians are able to get the vaccine in the shortest possible of time,” said the PM.

    Pricing, procurement, eligibility and administering of vaccines will be flexible in the latest round of the world’s largest vaccination drive.

    Vaccine manufacturers have been incentivized to scale up their production and release up to 50 per cent of their supply to states and in the open market at a declared price.

    States can now get additional vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers.

    Here are key points in the liberalized vaccination rules:

    • Vaccine manufacturers will supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the central government and will be free to supply the remaining 50% doses to state governments and in the open market.
    • Manufacturers will declaration prices in advance for the vaccines supplied to state governments and in open market.
    • Based on this price, state governments, private hospitals, industrial establishments can buy vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
    • Vaccinations at central government centres, provided free of cost, will continue for previous categories – health workers, frontline workers and those above 45.
    • The Centre will allocate vaccines from its share to States or Union Territories based on the number of cases. Vaccine wastage can affect the quota of a state.
    • The second dose for existing priority groups will be priority.

    With inputs from the NDTV

    (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.).

  • Covid-19 Virus is Predominantly Transmitting Through Air: Report

    ANI

    Colorado: A new assessment in the medical journal Lancet has found “consistent, strong evidence” that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is predominantly transmitted through the air.

    Therefore, public health measures that fail to treat the virus as predominantly airborne leave people unprotected and allow the virus to spread, according to six experts from the UK, USA and Canada, including Jose-Luis Jimenez, a chemist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the University of Colorado Boulder.

    “The evidence supporting airborne transmission is overwhelming, and evidence supporting large droplet transmission is almost non-existent,” Jimenez said. “It is urgent that the World Health Organization and other public health agencies adapt their description of transmission to the scientific evidence so that the focus of mitigation is put on reducing airborne transmission.”

    The team of experts, led by the University of Oxford’s Trish Greenhalgh, reviewed published research and identified 10 lines of evidence to support the predominance of the airborne route.

    At the top of their list: Super-spreader events such as the Skagit Choir outbreak, in which 53 people became infected from a single infected case. Studies have confirmed these events cannot be adequately explained by close contact or touching shared surfaces or objects.

    Moreover, transmission rates of SARS-CoV-2 are much higher indoors than outdoors, and transmission is greatly reduced by indoor ventilation.

    The team highlighted research estimating that silent (asymptomatic or presymptomatic) transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from people who are not coughing or sneezing accounts for at least 40 per cent of all transmission. This silent transmission is a key way COVID-19 has spread around the world, “supporting a predominantly airborne mode of transmission,” according to the assessment. The researchers also cited work demonstrating long-range transmission of the virus between people in adjacent rooms in hotels; people who were never in each other’s presence.

    By contrast, the team found little to no evidence that the virus spreads easily via large droplets, which fall quickly through the air and contaminate surfaces.

    “We were able to identify and interpret highly complex and specialist papers on the dynamics of fluid flows and the isolation of live virus,” lead author Greenhalgh said. “While some individual papers were assessed as weak, overall the evidence base for airborne transmission is extensive and robust. There should be no further delay in implementing measures around the world to protect against such transmission.”

    The new work has serious implications for public health measures designed to mitigate the pandemic. First, “droplet measures” such as handwashing and surface cleaning, while not unimportant, should be given less emphasis than airborne measures, which deal with inhalation of infectious particles suspended in the air.

    If an infectious virus is primarily airborne, someone can potentially be infected when they inhale aerosols produced when an infected person exhales, speaks, shouts, sings, or sneezes. So airborne control measures include ventilation, air filtration, reducing crowding and the amount of time people spend indoors, wearing masks whenever indoors (even if not within 6 feet or 2 meters of others), attention to mask quality and fit, and higher-grade PPE for healthcare and other staff when working in contact with potentially infectious people.

    “It is quite surprising that anyone is still questioning whether the airborne transmission is the predominant transmission pathway for this virus or not,” said co-author Professor Kimberly Prather, an aerosol scientist from the University of California San Diego. “Only by including inhalation of aerosols at both close and long range can we explain the many indoor outbreaks that have occurred around the globe. Once we acknowledge this virus is airborne, we know how to fix it. There are many examples of places that have fared much better by acknowledging this virus is airborne from the start. The world needs to follow their lead as soon as possible.”

    (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.).

  • Opinion | Legal action must be taken against this man for thrashing a young student

    (Recieved and Posted)

    Watch Video:

    https://twitter.com/meenwhile/status/1382269533730258944?s=20

    Disclaimer:

    This video is not a work by Kashmir Today staff, No copyright infringement intended.

  • Pak denies backchannel talks with India

    Says India needs to create enabling environment for talks.

    Islamabad: Pakistan stopped short of categorically denying its involvement in some kind of backchannel talks with India though Islamabad has been insisting publicly that New Delhi should create an “enabling environment” for “meaningful dialogue”.

    Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry at the weekly press briefing was asked by several journalists about reported backchannel talks with India.

    Instead of rejecting it outrightly he said: “States have their ways and means to communicate which remain available even during wars. Therefore, whether any talks are taking place between India and Pakistan is not important.”

    He added that the real issue was what should be discussed between the two countries and how the dialogue could be made meaningful and result-oriented dialogue.

    As for talks, Pakistan has never shied away from talks with India and has always maintained for the need of a meaningful dialogue’ and peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir dispute, he said, adding that durable peace, security and development in the region hinge on peaceful resolution of the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

    But to keep up the public posturing, he once again asked India to create a proper environment for talks.

    India has vitiated the atmosphere, and the onus is on India to create an enabling and conducive environment for talks between the two countries, he said.

    In New Delhi, asked about media reports that backchannel talks between India and Pakistan were going on for more than a year, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi did not give a direct reply.

    “If you talk about channels of communication on this issue, let me just recall that our respective high commissions exist and are functioning. So that is a very effective channel of communication,” Bagchi said on Thursday.

    India has told Pakistan that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Islamabad in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence. India has said the onus is on Pakistan to create an environment free of terror and hostility.

    Responding to a question the Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman said that no decision was made as yet about the appointment of High Commissioner.

    Chaudhry also said that SAARC was an important organisation for enhancing regional cooperation and Pakistan was ready to host the summit whenever artificial obstacles created in the way of SAARC Summit are removed.

    Talking about the role of the US in talks between Pakistan and India, he said Pakistan never shied away from talk and the international community can play a role in it.

    As for the role of third parties, including the US is concerned, we believe that the international community has an important role to play in averting risks to peace and stability in the region and facilitating a just and lasting solution to the Jammu & Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions, he said.

    Responding to a question about Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails, he said Pakistan takes up these issues on a regular basis with the Indian side through an established mechanism that is in place between the two countries.

    “We continue to underscore the need for a humanitarian approach in handling the prisoners’ issues,” he said.

    To a question about Afghan peace, he said that Pakistan supports “orderly” and “responsible” withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan as a precipitous withdrawal would create a vacuum for spoilers.

    Talking about the visit to Russian foreign minister he said Pakistan desires a long-term, multi-dimensional and strategic partnership with Russia and enjoys close cooperation with Russia in a number of fields including trade, industrialisation, defence & security, and energy & infrastructure development.

    During the recent visit of the Russian Foreign Minister, both countries reaffirmed their commitment to enhance cooperation in a range of areas including in the fields of counter-terrorism, defense training and defense equipment, he said. PTI

  • People question Govt’s night curfew decision, say Kashmiris have ‘no night life’

    Srinagar April 09: Government’s decision for imposing night curfew has not gone well with people questioning it when tourist spots are open in Kashmir and won’t contain the virus.
    Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has ordered an imposition of night curfew in the urban areas of eight districts, including Jammu and Srinagar, to check the spread of the soaring coronavirus cases.
    However, experts and common masses have questioned the decision saying it won’t stop spread of COVID-19 infection as there is no night life in Kashmir.
    “It beats logic to have restrictions at night when most of the crowds are during the day,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement to news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
    “One wonders how night curfew will help in curbing the spread, when people go about their business during the day hours,” he said.
    “We have no night life in Kashmir. There is no movement at all during the night hours. Life comes to a standstill in the night.”
    “All activities happen during the day and that is the time when virus transmission occurs,” DAK President said.
    “It is during daytime that huge crowds are seen in markets, large gatherings are seen at social and public functions which is the main cause behind the spread of Covid-19 infection in the community.”
    Kashmir is reeling under the grip of a raging second wave of Covid-19 with surge in number of cases and hospitalizations too.
    J&K Government yesterday has announced imposition of night curfew from April 09 in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.
    “The virus does not take rest during the day and becomes active during the night. It doesn’t work like that,” Dr Nisar said.
    “There is no data to support the use of night curfew to reduce the virus transmission.”
    “Even union health ministry has written to states like Maharashtra that night curfew has not much impact on virus transmission.”
    “Instead of applying night curfew, we need to make people understand that corona is still here and they need to be cautious,” he said.
    Abdul Hamid, a school teacher said that imposition of night curfew was a bizarre move by the government. “We have no night life in Kashmir then how can night curfew help to contain the COVID-19,” he said.
    Similarly, on last Sunday, authorities announced closure of schools in Kashmir upto class 9th for two weeks and one week for class 10th, 11th, and 12th. The decision was taken after around 200 students were tested positive for COVID-19 in schools across Kashmir.
    At the same time, people have questioned the government’s move saying tourist spots have been kept open where tourists and locals visit without wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.
    Tulip Garden and Badamwari in Srinagar have become a main attraction of tourists and locals, where people in large numbers throng these days.
    “Government announced closure of school for safety of students but those children are now visiting Tulip Garden. I fail to understand for what purpose schools were closed when thousands of people visit gardens without even wearing masks,” Abdul Gani Bhat, a resident of Dalgate told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
    On last Saturday, the tulip festival was thrown open by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in presence of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan.
    An official of the Floriculture Department said over 1.10 lakh people have visited Tulip Garden since it was thrown open on March 25. (KINS)

  • Experts predict second COVID wave to peak between April 15-20 and worse than last year

    Srinagar April 09: What should be a cause of concern, experts have predicted second COVID-19 wave to peak between April 15 and worse than last year in India.
    Scientists, including Prof. Manindra Agrawal from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, applied the model to predict the trajectory of the current surge in infections and found that the number of daily new infections was likely to peak in mid-April for this ongoing pandemic wave.
    Prof. Agrawal in the IIT’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, was involved with the national ‘super model’ initiative, and said that the peak is expected to see between 80,000-90,000 new infections per day.
    “We will cross the peak (during April 15-20) and then there will be very a sharp drop over the next 15-20 days,” said Agrawal.
    They have predicted after using a mathematical model that the ongoing second-wave of COVID-19 pandemic across the country may see a steep decline by the end of May.
    During the first wave of Covid-19 infections across India, the mathematical approach, named ‘SUTRA’, predicted that the initial surge of infections in August would peak by September and lower in February 2021.
    The national ‘super model’ had in October last year predicted the pandemic can be controlled by early 2021 with “minimal active symptomatic infections” in February.
    “Second waves of pandemics have been harsher,” DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
    “We have witnessed in the past how second wave of 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was deadlier than the first one. The first wave occurred in the spring which was relatively mild. A far deadlier second wave erupted in the fall months which infected 500 million and killed 50 million people globally.”
    “Covid-19 is following the same suit,” DAK President said.
    “The second waves of coronavirus in United States and Europe were uniformly worse than the first.”
    “Kashmir is currently under the grip of a second wave and the cases are rising and hospitalizations too,” he said.
    “And if countermeasures are not put in place, we could end up having a situation which could be worse than what we saw last year.”
    “This is because vast majority of people in the valley are still susceptible to the virus and the virus will go where it is given room to run, and will find people who are vulnerable to infection,” Dr Nisar said.
    “People have got pandemic fatigue. They are tired of restrictions, wearing masks, being away from family and friends, and increasingly fed up with the new normal routines.”
    “They have thrown caution to the wind,” he said.
    “Many people don’t wear masks and don’t care for social distancing.”
    “This behavior would facilitate transmission of the virus that could reignite an outbreak,” said Dr Nisar.
    “Another factor that could make the new wave worse is the emergence of new variants.”
    “Some of the variants can make the virus more infectious, deadly, or even resistant to vaccines and treatment,” he said.
    “We should not take much comfort from the fact that so far in the second wave, the incidents of severe cases and deaths are considerably lower than the first spike. The second wave is infecting young people in larger proportion than the first one. And, after a couple of weeks, many of them are likely to infect the elder members of their family and when that happens, serious illnesses and deaths will go up,” said Dr Nisar. With inputs from agencies (KINS)