A man dressed as a clown distributes face masks to children in a slum area, amidst the coronavirus outbreak, in Mumbai, India. | Image: Reuters
Amid fear of the third COVID-19 wave hitting children, a serosurvey conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revealed that 51 per cent of children have developed antibodies against COVID-19. The survey tested blood samples of 2,176 children.
The survey was conducted from April 1 to June 15 across 24 civic wards of the city. The serosurvey was conducted by the BYL Nair Hospital and Kasturba Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory of the BMC. It tested 2,176 blood samples received from the public and private laboratories. While 1,283 samples were from public labs, 893 were from the network of two private labs.
The survey shows improved seropositivity than a study whose results came in March. The overall seropositivity is 51.18 per cent including 54.36 per cent from public labs and 47.03 per cent from private labs. Seropositivity is highest in the age group 10-14 years at 53.43 per cent. The seropositivity rate in the age group of one to four years is 51.04 per cent, in the age group of five to nine years it is 47.33 per cent and in the age group of 15 to 18 years, it is 51.39 per cent.
Suresh Kakani, the additional municipal commissioner said, “There is a raise in seropositivity in the paediatric populace to COVID-19 as compare to the serosurvey 3 conducted in March. The previous survey found 39 per cent seropositivity below the age of 18 years which indicates that a noteworthy percentage of children accessing healthcare services were exposed to the virus during the second wave of Covid-19,” said Sero-surveys in the city so far.
In March, the third serosurvey conducted for all age groups found that seropositivity against COVID-19 increased in non-slum areas and decreased in slum areas. The survey tested 10,197 citizens and found seropositivity in 36.30 per cent of them.
According to the survey, 41.6 per cent seropositivity was found in samples from civic hospitals (slum areas). In the first survey, slums accounted for 57 per cent seropositivity and in the second survey, they accounted for 45 per cent seropositivity.
In the third survey, blood samples from private laboratories (non-slum areas) showed seropositivity of 28.5 per cent. In the first survey, it was 16 per cent. The second survey found 18 per cent seropositivity in non-slum areas.
The first and second serosurvey was conducted in three wards in July 2020 and in August 2020. In the third survey, blood samples were collected from municipal clinics and private laboratories across the city.
Mumbai already has local trains which also happen to be the lifeline of the city. Metro is comparatively very expensive. The metro work is going on, and almost all Mumbai and Thane are expected to be connected by this network. Mumbai got its very first metro line about five years ago that runs between Versova and Ghatkopar. More lines are making the connectivity around the City to an extent of 12 metro lines; some of them are having trial runs too. No doubt the metro work really took good speed and came to a satisfactory end.
The new metropolitan commissioner R A Rajeev is running against time: he aims to make the metro Mumbai’s longest public transport network in five years. That would mean surpassing Central Railway’s CST-Karjat line (122km) and the Western Railway stretch linking Churchgate to Dahanu (123km). The two add up to nearly 250km of track length, but short of the 276-km mark that hopes to conquer.
In range and commencement, the metro is presumed as the future of travel. Its potential can be measured from the fact that the 12 lines, on completion, would provide 250 stations for entry, exit and interchange—as opposed to the 100-odd stops on the suburban railway. Indeed, the consensus among planners is that the metro will have a transformative effect, shaping development, intra-city commute and life on the street in ways that render the network a key determinant of traffic and the economy.
Two of eleven Mumbai’s metro lines are already having trial runs. The Dahisar to DN Nagar line 2A and Andheri East to Dahisar East line 7 are almost on track. 90 per cent of the civil work is completed on these lines and they are having trial runs, but Phase 1 of the fully underground Metro 3, which is Colaba-Bandra-Seepz, is also expected to be operational from 2021.
In a status report by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA), trial runs for three Metro lines will be carried on from December 2021. The lines are Metro 2B (DN Nagar to Mandale), Metro 4 (Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavali) and Metro 6 (Swami Samarth Nagar-Vikhroli). Meanwhile, work on metro lines Metro 10 (Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk) and Metro 11 (Extension of Metro 4 till GPO) are slated to begin by this year.
Their trials are planned for April 2024. The much-awaited trial run for the Metro 8 line (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport-Navi Mumbai international airport) is tentatively estimated to begin by November 2024. Mumbai Metro will be successful like Delhi Metro. Today even though Mumbai Metro has only two operational lines which is Line 1 (Versova – Andheri – Ghatkopar) with a network length of 11.4 km it runs with a high passengers density of 30909 ridership per km since it is the only mode of transportation providing East-West connectivity in Mumbai while Delhi Metro has 12442 ridership per km in its 8 lines.
The current under-construction Mumbai Metro Line – 2 (Dahisar – D. N. Nagar – Mankhurd), Line – 3 (Colaba – Bandra – SEEPZ), Line – 6 (Swami Samarth Nagar – Jogeshwari – Vikhroli), Line – 7 [Dahisar (East) – Andheri (East) – CSIA T2] & Line – 11 (Wadala – CSMT GPO) would provide an alternative to Local Trains of Mumbai connecting various location which are not close to Suburban Stations. Also Line – 3 & Line – 7 would give faster connectivity to Mumbai Airport. Line – 4 (Wadala – Ghatkopar – Thane – Kasarvadavali – Gaimukh), Line – 5 (Thane – Bhiwandi – Kalyan), Line – 9 (Dahisar – Mira-Bhayandar), Line – 10 (Gaimukh – Shivaji Chowk, Mira Road) & Line – 12 (Kalyan – Dombivali – Taloja) would give Mumbai more connectivity to its satellite cities like Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Bhiwandi & Mira-Bhayandar.
Even though the current Mumbai Metro Line – 1 fare prices are quite costly, it was a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project where Reliance Infrastructure has more decision-making power. However, the government constructed the other metro lines, giving them the power to decide fare prices. Today Mumbai urgently needs another new mode of transportation as the Local Trains and BEST Bus are running with more than its capacity & the level of traffic in the city is getting worse day by day leading to a long and time-consuming traffic jam & causing high air & noise pollution.
Travelling by Metro would be little expensive compared to Taxis & App-based Cabs. We can only compare the two metros when they are comparable. Currently we only have 11 Kms of metro rail in Mumbai. Once the alternate reliable method of transport is available to Mumbaikars for their daily commute they will definitely use it.
Also during the Monsoon when the Local Train, BEST Bus, Auto/Taxi gets halted due to excessive rainfall, Mumbai Metro Line 1 which is complete elevated runs normally providing relief to the people who can take it as an alternative option. The only negative point of Mumbai Metro is that currently Line 1 has the most expensive fare compare to other Metros in India but in Delhi too when they increase their fare charges, some number of peoples had turned down Delhi Metro. If Mumbai Metro didn’t increase their fare charge, then its passengers would use it ignoring current fare prices.
Delhi was able to beat this criterion when building the underground metro because most of the construction for the underground metro took place a decade and in small phases. Hence traffic could be managed along with construction. Now the new underground lines can be added by exceeding the old ones. Mumbai Geographically is a linear city hence construction east to west will be small and easy to do but north to south would be a hard task. This means a lot of existing road routes have to be disturbed or re-planned.
Whereas in the case of Mumbai the person living in the Northernmost corner of the city to the southernmost point would have to travel through all the stations in between which would be a time-consuming thing failing the main goal of a metro to reduce travelling time.
QR-code based passes to access local trains, metro and monorail for commuters in Mumbai 4
Mumbai Railways to upgrade its passes for city commuters. The QR-code-based railway pass is the Universal Travel Pass for Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Maharashtra government’s Disaster Management Team has decided to implement its use for the Mumbai suburban local trains.
The railways are working together with the state government and would ensure full support in systematic pass classification once again. There will be five levels and in the entire MMR, people will be able to access local trains, Metro and monorail based on the levels of limits declared by the BMC, which would be the nodal authority. Government employees (local/state and Central) have been allowed to travel in locals at all levels of restrictions.
All the passes have typical classifications in levels up to which people can travel. For instance, if it mentions Level 3, then the holder may travel if the level of restrictions under force is 1, 2 or 3. If it mentions Level 2, then the bearer may travel only if the level of restrictions under force is 1 or 2. The passes for Level 5 shall allow the bearer to use the pass across all levels.
The QR code on the pass can be scanned through any Smartphone using a QR code reader and it would instantly display whether a particular one is genuine. This would make it impossible for people to travel on fake passes, a letter written by the State Disaster Management Authority to the railways stated. Also, all public transport authorities, including rail authorities, have been empowered to collect fines.
“Given that a large number of travellers need passes, we will make them mandatory from a date, which will be communicated with the railways later. Till then, the current system of checking and regulating will continue for travellers who do not possess the universal pass,” the letter adds.
A Central Railway spokesperson confirmed that the railways had received the letter and said, “We have launched an intensive drive against fake ID cards and irregular travellers, permitting only those categories of people as identified by the state government.”
Fourteen mainstream Jammu and Kashmir leaders from eight political parties, including four Chief Ministers, attended the three-hour meeting aimed at getting the political process back on course in the region after it lost its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019 and was downgraded from a state to two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The PM assured that the statehood would be restored “at an appropriate time” but urged the parties to get on board with delimitation or the redrawing of assembly constituencies to enable elections. Elections can happen soon after delimitation, it was said, and “most participants expressed willingness for it. Right time will be after delimitation and colonization in select areas, like what Israel has done in Palestine?
Whosoever lives in the world has basic needs to be safe from trial, hatred, violence and get a proper job. Arabs have been Jews/no religious converted to Christianity after Jesus sermons and then converted to Islam. In India’ Buddhists converted to Hinduism after Aryans came and then many converted to Christianity Islam Sikhism etc. Therefore, religious issues should not matter. We must give freedom to all with no prosecution.
This was the Centre’s first major outreach since August 2019 towards political leaders who have been severely critical of the Article 370 decision. Many of the leaders attending the meeting had been detained as part of security measures to prevent any protests over the sweeping changes.
At the meeting, it was also decided that the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha would set up a committee to review cases of political prisoners, be it those released – like the Abdullahs and Ms Mufti – and those still in detention.
Omar Abdullah, however, told reporters that “almost all leaders” were unhappy with delimitation only in Jammu and Kashmir. In other states, delimitation will be taken up in 2026, why has Jammu and Kashmir been singled out? We told the PM delimitation is not needed, trust has broken between the Centre and Kashmir”.
The Centre can’t tame these persons; delimitations would be nothing but to cut off the areas in specific constituencies to the advantage of BJP but impossible because of the mindset of the leaders invited. Their only motive had been to participate and discussion furthered then these leaders would ask for statehood first which would irritate the Centre. It took them more than 2 years to meet the legitimate representatives of the Kashmiri people in the most important constitutional decision made in the last 6 years.
If you look at Kashmir, late 80s to early 90s the situation was very violent which event resulted in about five Lakh Kashmiri Pandits having to leave the valley. But the first term of NDA between 1998–2004 was mostly incident free. In fact during this period, a lot was done to control militancy, people started participating in elections, people began to trust the electoral process (remember in the 80s elections were believed to be rigged). The street violence only came back to the valley during the Amarnath Agitation in 2008 and Congress was in power both at Centre as well as state.
But what is happening now is probably because of different reasons. The Modi govt has set into action many initiatives in that area. Will they bring results? Is this method correct? Those are questions that time will answer, but certainly, some of these initiatives have rattled the separatists and what we see is a reaction to that. Many friends who understand Kashmir better than me say that Modi’s initiatives won’t yield too much, but I think Modi/Doval is also well informed about these things.
But when I hear Amit Shah or Ram Madhav speak on Kashmir, I get a feeling that they know what they are doing. In Amit Shah’s recent interview with India TV, he mentions that there will be a time when some strong decision will be taken on the happenings at Kashmir. So, this is definitely not going to be straightforward, there is going to be chaos. Given the measured reaction in the Indian Govt/Army, there must be a strategy at work.
Kashmir chaos is historical. Pakistan wants to break away Kashmir from India as revenge. As a first step, they managed to drive away Hindus. This they could do by the local population because Dar-Ul-Islam concept i.e Islamic state is widely believed by Muslims all over the world, Kashmiri included. It became easier because of the special status they enjoy. No outsider can do business in Kashmir but Kashmiri are doing roaring business in all-star hotels in India. This all happened since Independence no matter who is in power in Delhi. Now BJP has no existence in Kashmir valley. There it is state within a state. Rulers of that state refused to see the delegation of Secular and Liberal parties who enjoy blaming BJP and pleading for the agitators sitting in AC studios in Delhi.
Illness and its treatment costs are not uniform across India. For the same disease, it could vary vastly between different cities located in different parts of the country. Common people prefer to give up on life when it comes to medical expenses. The treatment charges of few common diseases like cancer, kidney failure, cataract, etc. are way unaffordable and above all the medical syndicate that sucks the common man to the core. In such adversities, One Rupee Clinic like ventures is blessings to the common public.
As the pandemic has spread, so have demands for the Indian government to regulate the rising costs of healthcare in private hospitals, which provide the bulk of the country’s medical treatment. India has nearly twice as many private hospitals as public ones—an estimated 43 487 versus 25 7781—despite about 85.9% of India’s rural population and 80.9% of its urban population having no health insurance.
Treatment at public medical facilities is free, but the quality of care varies greatly among states, and covid-19 has exposed the lack of government investment in terms of equipment, facilities, and staff. Existing vacancies haven’t been fulfilled, even as government run hospitals struggle without adequate manpower. Most ventilators are available only in private hospitals, and even then, they’re concentrated in just seven states. All of this serves to drive desperate patients towards private healthcare—if they can afford it.
Dr Rahul Ghule got the stirring idea of working for poor patients’ way back in 2014 while he was working as a medical officer at JJ hospital. He opened a charitable clinic in a slum in Colaba. He wanted to expand his services. Unfortunately, one day his mother met with a road accident and due to unavailability of timely medical treatment she was left paralysed. This incident made him realize the need to set up clinics at the most vulnerable place of MUMBAI; the railway stations. And when the government planned to start medical facilities at railway stations, he wasted no time to grab the opportunity. He started with around eight such clinics. Presently, there are more than 20 such affordable medical facilities, operative in and around MMR.
Ghule’s team of passionate doctors working for the noble cause are well trained and qualified MBBS/ BAMS specialists providing the best care. Committed to providing high quality preventive, promotive and curative health services, all we are is a few steps away from you. You get personal attention specific to your healthcare needs and truly, there can’t be anything better at the negligible cost. For the first time in India, Magicdil has come up with a noble concept of 1 RupeeClinic for the common man.
The one-rupee clinic was established in 2017, in a Joint Collaboration with the Government of India and Ministry of Railways, and was started at numerous local train stations in Mumbai metropolitan region. It not only provides a health checkup facility to the locals and commuters but also works as an emergency unit in case of rail accidents. Dr Rahul Ghule had kept a token charge of rupee one as a consultation fee along with very nominal rates of diagnostic tests.
Diseases and potential health risks won’t go unnoticed or unattended to, due to high expenses either. In a country, where 35% of the deaths are caused due to non – communicable and lifestyle related diseases, this visionary approach for providing health checkups and medical facilities at railway stations, in collaboration with the Govt. of India and Railway Ministry, is indeed a leap towards a healthier India.
In this time of COVID 19 crisis, Dr Rahul Ghule and his qualified team of One-rupee clinics, comprising of 750 medical staffs are tirelessly managing around ten Covid care centres in and around Mumbai. These care centres are set up by local civic bodies. Dr Rahul Ghule and Magicdil health are also managing a 165 bedded Covid hospital at Mira Road.
Approximately they are managing over 2500 Covid patients and that’s a commendable task. Ghule and his organisation not only takes proper care of their patients but they ensure that their team members are duly awarded for their duty. Additionally, he sees to it that all his One-rupee clinic doctors, nurses and even ward boys are paid handsomely and are duly insured. Moreover, the institution looks after their free accommodation and food for all their staff. This is the reason why these Covid warriors are working so efficiently under such tremendous pressure.
Intriguingly, hours afterword of his attempted suicide became the subject of news reports, Dr Rahul Ghule posted a tweet saying that all issues that had purportedly troubled him had been resolved, with the help of certain politicians he named. He said that those who were guilty have been punished, and added that 50 Aapla Davakhana clinics will open soon.
TMC’s 'Aapla Davakhana' project forced Dr Rahul Ghule to attempt suicide? 9
The overstressed Dr Rahul Ghule, who is helping society and authorities with his utmost sincere contribution to medical services, is been harassed by politicians, journalists and his business partners. He believes there is nexus to extort and finish him.
Dr Rahul Ghule is the founder of One Rupee Clinic, in a series of tweets posted, which he later removed, Dr Ghule had stated that the TMC had not paid his bills for the past six months. He also claimed that a “nexus of political agents” had taken Rs 29 lakh from him and further forced him that he invests Rs 1 crore in TMC’s Aapla Davakhana project. He had claimed that he had taken the extreme step due to the pressure he was facing from a “nexus” of political leaders, Thane Municipal Corporation officials and certain journalists.
He posted his tweet stating “No bills from TMC since 6 months, time to suicide for common man in such situation. Thane supremo knows everything. There is no justice to me. I have small family I request don’t harass then. Keep our hard-earned money to you all (sic),” followed by another tweet saying that he was admitted to the hospital after taking 30 pills.
In response to a question asked to him by another Twitter user, Dr Ghule later said that he had deleted the tweets for the sake of his family.
TMC spokesperson Sandeep Malvi said, “Dr Ghule came to meet me on Wednesday morning. I have assured him of all help, as we do not want anyone to suffer. I am also instructing the TMC Commissioner to look into the matter and take action. We will investigate the claims made by Ghule and take appropriate action. Ghule had undertaken some work for the Aapla Davakhana project with a partner and has some dispute with him, which caused him stress.”
Maharashtra and Mumbai reported a surge in daily detections of Covid-19 cases 11
The state cabinet held a discussion on the Delta-plus variant cases found in the state. The ministers were of the opinion that the five-level unlock plan should be reviewed and if required, stricter restrictions should be brought back to keep the spread of the highly virulent and transmissible strain in check. After a gap of one week, Maharashtra reported over 10,000 cases, while Mumbai reported a 30% jump in cases as compared to Tuesday (568).
On Wednesday, 10,066 cases were reported in the state and 864 in Mumbai, the highest in 19 days. The city saw 23 deaths. Wednesday’s case tally was the highest since June 4 (968) and the death toll highest in 12 days.
“The third wave in most countries has been fuelled by the Delta-plus strain. With 21 cases in the state it is a matter of concern. We have requested the CM to hold a meeting with the task force to review the unlock plan and consider adding some restrictions to keep the spread in check,” said a minister, who attended the meeting.
Health minister Rajesh Tope said, “Daily cases in the state have been fluctuating between 8,000 and 10,000 for the last 10-12 days and are not reducing as fast as they should…we are trying to understand the reason for this slow decline.” The state’s total caseload rose to 59.9 lakh and the death toll touched 1,19,303. As many as 345 unreported deaths were also added to the cumulative as part of the reconciliation exercise. Similarly, the total cases in Mumbai touched 7.2 lakh and deaths 15,338.
BMC officials said the fluctuations are not alarming and could be the function of more tests (37,905) done in the last 24-hour period. The state has tested over 2.4 lakh people in the last 24 hours taking the total tests conducted since the outbreak of the pandemic to 4 crore, nearly 30% of the 12-crore population of Maharashtra. The BMC is setting up paediatric wards in its hospitals in preparation for the third wave.
In jumbo centres, BMC has decided to make separate enclosures for Covid-negative parents of Covid-positive children admitted there. “The parents cannot stay with the infected child, but on compassionate grounds, we will ensure they are in the same facility,” said BMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani. India reported 54,069 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and the daily positivity rate dropped to 2.91 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry. The daily positivity rate has been below 5 per cent for 17 consecutive days.
The active cases further declined to 6,27,057, taking the weekly positivity rate to 3.04 per cent, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.61 per cent. With the fresh cases, the country’s tally of cases has climbed to 3,00,82,778, as per Union Health Ministry.
The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,91,981 with 1,321 fresh fatalities in the last 24 hours.The recoveries in last 24 hours, taking the recovery tally to 2,90,63,740.
Owing to the threat of the more virulent Delta Plus variant, the government is likely to go back to uniform restrictions across the states instead of the current policy of unlocking, which is based on the availability of oxygenated beds and the test positivity rate. The state Cabinet was shown a presentation on the new variant and since then they have strained their guns in prevention.
There are several new variants, more being found every day. Most of them are said to be the more infectious, meaning each patient tends to infect more people, which leads to more cases, which leads to more deaths even if the individual outcomes are no worse than garden variety original Chinese COVID. These particular variants spread quicker so more people are getting infected.
However, no one is sure if this increase in exposure is being measured and reported to interested health organizations, scientists and researchers. We are still in the dark about so many aspects of this virus. However, currently, there is no evidence to suggest that the new strain causes severe illness. Studies suggest that there have been instances in the past where the viruses have mutated to strains that may spread faster but resulted in milder illness. We have to wait and look at patient outcomes linked with the new strains to understand its implications better.
The mortality of the new variant is not different to the old variant. But the new variant is more infectious. And that means the measures used to contain the old variant are not sufficient to contain the new variant. It’ll not be sufficient to close some shops and require people to wear masks all the time – be prepared for hard lockdowns in the near future.
Mumbai hasn’t upgraded to the next level of unlocking despite qualifying for it, but other places are back to normal with people giving utter disregard to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. So far, 21 cases of the new variant have been found across seven districts, with coastal Ratnagiri topping the list. The cabinet expressed serious concern when it was told that Delta Plus escapes antibodies, thus making vaccinated people vulnerable. Re-infection can also occur despite antibodies that the recovered Covid-19 patient may have developed.
The focus has now shifted to the unlock management, which has lifted curbs in several districts based on prescribed parameters and weekly reviews. The Centre has asked the state to be extra vigilant since the variant spreads faster and affects people more than the Delta variant. The Centre is being informed about the development on a regular basis.
The Cabinet was also informed about the current status of the pandemic in general on Wednesday. Delta Plus is also the reason for reducing next month’s Monsoon legislative session to two days from a full-length affair.
Government told the media, Delta is highly dangerous and escapes antibodies. Fortunately, none of the Delta Plus patients in Maharashtra died because of infection. According to the Maharashtra health minister, the index cases are under close watch though most of them have been discharged. The active cases are in isolation and being observed carefully. Their travel history and vaccination record are noted and re-infection, if any, is also reported.
The contacts – both high and low risk – have been traced or are being traced. Their samples will also be sent for the whole genomic sequencing. It was the whole genomic sequencing that the consortium of laboratories participated in and helped find the Delta Plus variant. A hundred samples from each district were sent for sequencing.
About the overall pandemic situation, the minister said the state has plateaued at 8,000 cases per day from the peak of 65,000, but it isn’t very encouraging because the number still isn’t reducing as expected. “We’re at the 15th place in per million cases. The daily 8,000 number has been constant for the past week. The number should dip further.
The Cabinet has decided to tell the State Election Commission that it would be unable to provide manpower for holding the by-elections of the local self-government bodies in which the Other Backward Class (OBC) seats have been scrapped by the apex court. The SC had told the SEC to conduct elections. The dates in July have been announced. But the OBCs are up in arms against the decision and the government’s inaction in presenting the case in the court. Protests have been organised and the BJP met the Governor to seek his intervention. The Cabinet discussed the issue and as a feasible solution, decided to deny SEC manpower in view of the pandemic.
COVID-19: Delta plus variant around 40 cases found in India 14
The government sent a warning to Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh on Delta Plus cases found there. There are over 40 cases in the country of the new Delta Plus strain, which has been tagged as a “Variant of Concern” by the government.
There are 21 cases in Maharashtra, six in Madhya Pradesh, three in Kerala, three in Tamil Nadu, two in Karnataka and one each in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu, according to sources.
Cases of the new strain, a mutation of the Delta strain or B.1.617.2 variant first detected in India, are not confined to these states although there is “no significant increase” in prevalence.
Delta Plus cases, still a small number, are rising as large parts of India are ending severe lockdowns and limits with Covid cases on the decline after a fierce second wave ambushed the nation’s health infrastructure in April-May. INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia), a consortium of 28 labs tasked with genome sequencing of the virus causing Covid, says properties of the Delta Plus are still being investigated. It is characterized by a mutation in the spike protein, which helps the virus gain entry into human cells.
“Currently the number of such Delta plus variants in India are only few but the distribution/detection in various states during past two months indicate that it is already present in some states and states may need to enhance their public health response by focusing on surveillance, enhanced testing, quick contact-tracing and priority vaccination,” it says.
According to the government’s advisory on Tuesday, Delta Plus cases have been found in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri and Jalgaon; in Palakkad and Pathanamthitta in Kerala; and in Bhopal and Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh.
Maharashtra says it is collecting data like travel history and vaccination status of those who have reported this version of the virus.
“The Centre has sent an advisory to these states about their public health response. The measures, while broadly remaining the same as have been implemented by them earlier, have to become more focused and effective. We don’t want this small number to take a bigger form,” VK Paul, the head of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration, told media.
Very little is known about this strain, which is now in nine countries – US, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Russia and China besides India. According to the government, the Delta Plus, much like the Delta strain that has spread to 80 countries, is highly infectious and fast-spreading.
According to INSACOG, the Delta Plus shows “increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and potentially reduced monoclonal antibody response”.
DTP centres under scanner, Western Railway nabbed several fake ID card holders 16
With the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Maharashtra government and the local trains still not open for the commoners, many people are seen getting using fake ID cards of medical, hospitals or essential services from local DTP centres and Xerox centres to commute in the local trains, considered the lifeline of Mumbai.
Sidharth Desktop Publishing Centre in Borivali closed its business overnight because they were flooded with demands for fake ID cards. When asked the centre owner how they create these bogus cards he said under the condition of anonymity, “We download different logos of utility services from the internet, they have all their details online. The contact authority, address and number. We design tentative I-cards for those firms and sell them. It depends from time to time, but on average we charge Rs 1000 per card. People are jobless and panic, commuting is a problem, they don’t mind investing Rs 1000 for that travel permit.”
Similarly, Vinayak DTP centre of Mumbai suburban said, “We get raided, but bribe bails us out. They also know how people are helpless and they are not travelling for fun.”
There are regular ticket checking activities at railway stations. Many passengers get caught at various stations with a forged Identity Card. During the course of questioning, most of them are fined and left. Hundreds of persons are carrying these fake emergency passes for travelling.
Many individuals were nabbed at Borivali station for carrying fake ID cards issued by the same agent. The agent was arrested and is now out on bail. In another checking activity at Mira Road, another person detained with a suspicious ID card confessed to obtaining a fake ID card of cleaning staff of BMC at the cost of Rs 1000 and has been handed over to the GRP after cross-examination.
Indian Railways’ Western Railway (WR) zone has said that some people are using fake ID cards to travel in the local trains in Mumbai. All these incidents are just the tip of the iceberg and Western Railway is trying its best to unearth this big scam. At present Western Railway runs 506 special suburban services for Essential Services Staff as notified by the Government of Maharashtra.
Looking at the present scenario of the pandemic, WR has said that only specific essential staff categories as notified by the Government of Maharashtra, should travel in these special suburban services. However, in the latest development in this regard, Western Railway has detected several cases of fake ID card holders who have been travelling in the special suburban services.
Total 4,555 cases of without ticket and unbooked Luggage cases have been detected and an amount of Rs. 23.24 lakhs have been recovered as a penalty. Indian Railways started the operations of the suburban services in Mumbai on 15 June only for the specific essential staff categories as notified by Govt. of Maharashtra.
According to a railway official of Western Railway zone, “On an average, daily 20 cases of dubious/suspicious ID cases have been detected and penalized every week. Indian Railways’ Western Railway zone has detected several cases of fake ID card holders who have been travelling in the special suburban services in Mumbai.
