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Tag: SARS-CoV-2

  • #Covid19: Dr WHO gets prescription wrong

    Comparisons, as the proverb goes, are odious. Hence comparing the raging outbreak of Covid19 with any other pandemic of recent times is best avoided. Yet, it is difficult to track the pandemonium unleashed by Covid19 without recalling how the SARS epidemic of 2002-03 had let loose fear, concern and death in a similar manner. Then,…

  • COVID-19 pandemic response: Comparing the Indian and Chinese approaches

    There are four types of endemic human corona viruses in the world—229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1—and people across countries commonly get infected with these. According to experts, SARS-CoV-2 virus is soon becoming the fifth endemic human coronavirus. Once the supply bottlenecks of COVID-19 vaccines are overcome, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is supposed to become yet another…

  • Has Dharavi Model made us lose sight of its real problems

    The eight million residents of Mumbai’s Dharavi are not concerned about whether the ‘Dharavi model’ to tackle the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was science or serendipity. They would rather leave that to the experts and media. The people of Dharavi are, instead, more concerned about issues such as job loss, unemployment, hunger and shortage of…

  • COVID-19: Is WHO fit to lead in times of pandemics?

    As the health, economic and political impact of COVID-19 unfolds the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been under international glare and scrutiny in ways rarely seen throughout its over 70-year history. The basis of the malaise is focused on its (in)ability to sound the alarm at the right time and demonstrate global leadership in helping…

  • Did Dharavi model work? Is it herd immunity or plain luck?

    While 90-feet-road presented a picture of a normal Dharavi, Down To Earth decided to move a bit further north from here. Our fixer, Rajesh Prabhakar, and Dharavi-based volunteer, Arun Kunchikor, insisted we visit areas that rarely attract the attention of either the media or the administration. We reached Rajiv Gandhi Nagar’s Uttar Seva Sangh Chawl.…

  • At the heart of Dharavi model: Basic public health, resolve in community to beat COVID-19

    There was a strange contrast between the sprawling Mumbai metropolis and Dharavi, the iconic ‘slum’ at the heart of it. India’s otherwise-busy financial capital was under lockdown, not Dharavi. Be it the market on 90-Feet Road or the dimly lit bylanes, the place hummed with activity. Nearly 0.8 million people — that’s more than the…