The COVID-19 outbreak, since it originated in Wuhan, China towards the end of 2019, has spread globally since January of 2020. Since then, the disease has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. More than a year on since this declaration, the disease has spread across the globe, claiming more than […]
COVID-19
Global Health Newsletter XVII
It’s been just a year since the first anti-COVID-19 vaccine surfaced. And the virus has again turned up as a complicated avatar, its fifth since the original emerged from Wuhan in China two years ago. The World Health Organization (WHO) has christened it Omicron. Since its emergence in South Africa on 24 November, cases have […]
Global Health Newsletter XVI
There is a new version of COVID-19 and the World Health Organisation has labelled it a “variant of concern.” First identified in South Africa on 25 November, preliminary evidence suggests that it carries a greater risk of reinfection than other strains. (www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/11/26/a-new-covid-19-variant-has-emerged) Just a day after its emergence, the world turned hyper. The EU imposed […]
Does Omicron threaten India’s COVID-19 decline?
The news of a new strain of COVID-19 — designated as Omicron, or B.1.1.529, that was first detected in South Africa — has put recent news of India’s consistent decline in COVID-19 cases into question. With a new strain on the horizon, will India continue its success story in keeping COVID-19 under control? A […]
Global Health Newsletter XV
The more things change the more they remain the same or, what you gain in the swing you lose on the roundabout. Despite the vaccine, Europe is back where it started, becoming the focal point of the Covid-19 pandemic just as it was in the spring and summer of 2020. However, thanks to the vaccines, […]
Global Health Newsletter XIV
Confronted by the challenge of COVID-19, everybody and his uncle got together to fight back. In the field of vaccines and therapeutics this often meant a private-public partnership with governments in the Western world, particularly the US, doling out astronomical sums of money as advance payments for vaccines still under development. Not only did […]
COVID-19 in India, is the worst over?
Just 9,283 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. Such figures are encouraging, indicative that after a period of being the most heavily affected nation, India has turned the tables. “Even after Diwali, we are not seeing a surge,” Dr M D Gupte, former director […]
Global health news: The latest
It’s going to take years for the world to come to grips with the impact of COVID-19. Moving slightly away from the immediate effect of the disease, there are numerous medical issues that have arisen during the pandemic. Shortages in hospital facilities and medical personnel are most prominent among them. This has, in turn, led […]
IP and breakthrough infections: Global Health Today
This is the third in a series of newsletters, offering the expert insight of Lalita Panicker – consulting editor, views, Hindustan Times, New Delhi – into some of the most pressing health issues of the day. This edition highlights vaccines – specifically, the IP debate and so-called breakthrough infections. To read the first, click here. COVID-19 […]
Booster shots, the polio programme: Global Health Today
This is the second in a series of newsletters, offering the expert insight of Lalita Panicker – consulting editor, views, Hindustan Times, New Delhi – into some of the most pressing health issues of the day. To read the first, click here. Booster shots: To boost or not to boost Faced with a rising tide […]