The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 1st April’20 | PDF Download

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• With any big crisis comes great responsibility.
• Extraordinary set of circumstances.
• A reasonable restriction on citizens’ rights may come into play on invoking provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act.
• Every individual must respond responsibly during this time.
• Tablighi Jamaat conference in Nizamuddin, Delhi
• TRACE THEM ALL: It is indeed a Herculean task, and may even be considered impossible.

NEWS:

•  With at least 24 of its occupants testing positive for the novel coronavirus, an Islamic centre in the national capital has turned out to be the latest hotspot of COVID-19.
• More than 400 people with symptoms were admitted to different hospitals and over 1,100 shifted to government-run quarantine facilities in Delhi alone over Monday and Tuesday, officials said.
• Hundreds of others who returned home after staying at the centre over the last fortnight might have carried the virus to several States, authorities fear.
• The Delhi police on Tuesday registered a case against Maulana Saad and others from Tablighi Jamaat under Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, read with Sections 269, 270, 271 and 120-B of the IPC, for violation of government directions in respect of restriction of gatherings and safety measures, including physical- distancing.

Beyond social distancing to fight COVID-19

• How social distancing actually works in the periphery?
• The COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea.
• The transmission of the disease from Wuhan to South Korea because of frequent travel among cult members.
• Iran became a leading COVID-19 hot spot in West Asia due to a unique set of circumstances.
• The initial hub of disease transmission in Iran was Qom, a popular pilgrimage centre for Shiite Muslims.
• The onset of the COVID-19 epidemic in India and Sri Lanka has a lot to do with
• tourism and labour migration, processes intimately connected with globalisation.
• Both migrant workers and tourist guides already experience discrimination of various kinds because of their occupations and the risks involved.It appears as if the much publicised problems of a run-away world have been finally crystallised in this deadly global epidemic.
• Weaker, later
• Sport can never exist in a vacuum and it needs a functional society to serve as its bedrock.
• Olympics remains the world’s greatest congregation adhering to its eternal ‘faster, higher, stronger’ motto.
• A postponement is a first in the chequered history of the modern Olympics since its inception at Athens in 1896.
• But worse has happened, especially the cancellations, during 1916, 1940 and 1944, when the World Wars drew vicious lines of hate.
• There were also the Cold War years when the United States and its allies boycotted the Moscow Games in 1980 and the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics retaliated along with the Eastern Bloc by skipping the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles.
• The most heart-rending was the ‘Munich Massacre’ during the 1972 edition in then West Germany when a Palestinian terrorist group, Black September, killed 11 members of Israel’s squad.
• Seen through that prism of a bloodied past, the latest postponement seems a mere quibble. Who is the President of the International Olympic Committee __________?

An eye each on containment and welfare

• COVID-19 pandemic: 204 countries/regions/territories so far
• First case in India: Kerala, January 30, 2020
• First case in Tamil Nadu: March 7, 2020
• The Tamil Nadu government made a life-saving decision on March 24, which was announced by me in the Legislative Assembly — of a complete ‘lockdown’ and the imposition of Section 144 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure throughout the State till March 31.
• Our call for social distancing was further strengthened when the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India made the announcement of a national-level lockdown till April 14, 2020 on the same evening which was intended to break the infection chain.
• Around 43,537 people are under home quarantine and observation as on date for a period of 28 days.
• They have also been given medical advice and counselling.
• The first exclusive block to treat COVID-19 patients has been set up at Chennai’s Omandurar Government Medical College Hospital, with a capacity of 500 beds; ₹10 crore has also been allocated for the required medical equipment.
• The Health Department has earmarked about 17,000 beds in isolation wards; 3,018 of those are equipped with ventilator facilities.
• An immediate and comprehensive relief package of ₹3,280 crore has been announced.
• All rice card holders will receive rice, sugar, dhal and edible oil free for April along with ₹1,000 each.
• Pavement vendors will get an extra ₹1,000 each.Also, migrant workers from other States will receive the commodities in equal measure.For those migrant labourers who are without shelter, community halls/marriage halls are being utilised, where hot, nutritious cooked food is being provided, apart from medical facilities.

 The cost of a cure for COVID-19

• The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared COVID-19 an orphan disease, or a rare disease.
• Which of these statements is true? As of March 23, it seemed both.
• In the U.S., under the Orphan Drug Act, 1983, companies are provided incentives to develop therapies, or orphan drugs, for rare diseases.
• The idea is that without these incentives, companies would find it difficult to recoup their R&D costs given the small number of people suffering from the rare disease.
• The Act allows 7 years of market exclusivity and financial incentives to innovators of these drugs.
• As a result, orphan drugs are often exorbitantly priced.
• Gilead is reported to have said that it intends to make the drug accessible and affordable around the globe.
• While the orphan drug status of Remdesivir would have no impact on India, Gilead Sciences does hold a patent in India, which it is likely to claim for this use.
• As far as its patent rights are concerned, Indian law permits the government to issue a compulsory licence in certain circumstances of a public health crisis under Section 92 of the Patents Act.
• This would allow third parties to manufacture a patented drug without permission of the patent holder.
• The firepower under this provision has never been deployed before. If the government does not exercise its powers to issue a compulsory license if required, Indian manufacturers would not be able to manufacture generics (without challenging the patent).

 NEWS

• Treat migrants humanely, SC tells officials
• Three quasi-subspecies of virus in circulation, says ICMR
• A mixture of three quasi-subspecies of SARS-CoV-2 is in circulation in India, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Tuesday.These imported variants showed no differences from how they behaved in the place of origin. Scientists are yet to classify a SARS-Cov-2 variant as an Indian strain.
• Govt. cuts interest rates on NSC, PPF
• The government on Tuesday slashed interest rates on small savings schemes, including National Savings Certificate and Public Provident Fund, by up to 1.4% for the first quarter of 2020-21, in line with the moderation in bank deposit rates.
• Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis.
• Hydroxychloroquine combination allowedThe Union Health Ministry has allowed the use of Hydroxychloroquine in combination with Azithromycin under close monitoring for patients with severe disease and requiring ICU management as per the revised Guidelines on Clinical Management of COVID–19.

• Doctors suspect community transmission in Indore
• As most COVID-19 patients in Indore, where 17 persons tested positive on Tuesday, have no contact or travel history, health workers are grappling to identify the source, indicating the most populous and largest city of Madhya Pradesh may already be witnessing the community transmission stage.
• Spain reports record 849 deaths in a day
• Once again, Spain hit a new record with 849 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours on Tuesday although health chiefs said the rate of new infections was continuing its downward trend.
• Iran reports 141 deaths, raising total to 2,898
• U.S. death toll crosses 3,500
• The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 climbed past 3,500 on Tuesday, eclipsing China’s official count.
• New York was the nation’s deadliest hot spot, with about 1,550 deaths statewide, the majority of them in New York City.
• Indonesia declares state of emergency
• Indonesia on Tuesday declared a state of emergency as COVID-19 deaths in the world’s fourth most populous country jumped again.
• Export of medical items to Serbia triggers debate
• Despite reported shortfalls of necessary items for medical professionals, India exported a major consignment during the weekend.

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