Mumbai and other districts in Maharashtra have reported a sharp rise in measles cases (AFP)New Delhi: Increasing measles cases in several states have raised concern whether it could spread to more areas. Measles cases have been reported from Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala and Maharashtra.Mumbai and other districts in Maharashtra have reported a sharp rise in measles cases, prompting the centre to ask states to consider administering an additional dose of measles and rubella vaccines to children aged nine months to five years in vulnerable areas.Doctors have explained certain steps that could help in preventing the spread of measles.First, at least three doses of measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccination are needed to protect children, say doctors.The first dose is when a child is nine months old. The second is on turning 15 months old. And the third on turning five or six years old.Infected children should be isolated from others to prevent spread of the virus. A good diet, proper hydration and maintaining hygiene along with taking antibiotics will help fight measles infection, say doctors.MMR vaccine in a two-dose schedule has also successfully eliminated measles, mumps and rubella from many developed countries.Mumbai on Thursday recorded 19 new cases of measles and one death.In a letter to all the states and Union Territories, the Health Ministry said the measles case surge is of particular concern.PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com"It is also clear that in all such geographies, the affected children were predominantly unvaccinated and the average coverage of Measles and Rubella Containing Vaccine (MRCV) among the eligible beneficiaries is also significantly below the national average," Health Ministry's Joint Secretary P Ashok Babu said in the letter.As the viral disease is known to surge between November and March, the Health Ministry said a fever and rash surveillance mechanism needs to be worked out for early case identification.Featured Video Of The DayGujarat Elections: Women, Youth And Their 'Mann Ki Baat'
A surge in cases of measles among children have been seen in these three cities. (Representational)New Delhi: The Centre has deployed high-level teams to Ranchi (Jharkhand), Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Malappuram (Kerala) to assess and manage increase in number of measles cases among children there.In an official statement, the health ministry said the teams will probe the rising trend of measles cases.They will assist the state health authorities in investigating the outbreak and facilitate operationalization of requisite control and containment, it said.PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.comA surge in cases of measles among children have been seen in these three cities.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)Featured Video Of The DayWhatsApp's Secret New Feature Will Make Your Life Easier
AHMEDABAD: On Sunday, Civil Hospital recorded 'zero day' for two major infections - Covid and swine flu. Dr Rakesh Joshi, medical superintendent of the hospital, said that after 122 days, the Covid cases got zero at the Covid ward, whereas no new swine flu cases were recorded after over 200 days. "Change in weather, herd immunity and vaccination in case of Covid could be some of the reasons for the phenomenon," said Dr Joshi, adding that one must however not let the guards down with festivities around the corner. Gujarat had 718 active cases of Covid on Sunday, out of which 197 were in Ahmedabad. The city had recorded 21 new cases.
Ahmedabad: On Sunday, Civil Hospital recorded ‘zero day’ for two major infections — Covid and swine flu. Dr Rakesh Joshi, medical superintendent of the hospital, said that after 122 days, the Covid cases got zero at the Covid ward, whereas no new swine flu cases were recorded after over 200 days. “Change in weather, herd immunity and vaccination in case of Covid could be some of the reasons for the phenomenon,” said Dr Joshi, adding that one must however not let the guards down with festivities around the corner. Gujarat had 718 active cases of Covid on Sunday, out of which 197 were in Ahmedabad. The city had recorded 21 new cases. tnn
The Government’s 75-day drive to provide free precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccines ended on Friday with 15.92 crore such doses administered during the period.A commemoration of India’s 75 years of Independence, the drive started mid-July. Before it began, only 8 per cent of adults in the country had received the third vaccine dose. At the end of the drive, that number stands at 27 per cent. Three-fourths of India’s adult population is yet to receive the third dose.During the 75-day period, more than 13.01 lakh vaccination camps organised in the country, including 4,451 organised on the routes of religious yatras, according to data provided by the Health Ministry. Most of the camps — 11.03 lakh — were organised at private and government workplaces.Ever since India started administering the third dose in January this year, it has remained free for those above 60 years of age. It was also available for free to all healthcare and frontline workers. From April, the government has allowed the third dose to be administered to those in the 18-59 age group at private vaccination centres upon payment.Experts say that the reduced fear of a Covid-19 infection, as well as instances of infection — even if mostly mild — despite vaccination have led to low demand for the third vaccine dose. Also lowering demand is the fact that a precaution dose certificate is not mandatory for travel or entry into many places that has required double-vaccination proof.Last week, The Indian Express reported that the coverage of the third dose across states was varied. It ranges from 92.1 per cent coverage in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to 6.11 per cent in Meghalaya.With almost the entire population of the country having received the first dose of the vaccine, the coverage of precaution doses in the states has been calculated considering the number of first dose given to adults to be the total eligible adult population.In Delhi, the only state to provide free precaution dose to all adults even before the Centre’s 75-day drive, the precaution dose coverage stood at 19.6 per cent — behind bigger states such as Odisha (38 per cent), Gujarat (37.7 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (28 per cent), Bihar (23.4 per cent), West Bengal (22.98 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh (24.4 per cent).The coverage of precaution doses in states like Maharashtra and Kerala, which have been dealing with a consistently high number of Covid-19 cases throughout the pandemic, was among the lowest at 10.7 per cent and 11.09 per cent, respectively.
DESPITE A MARKED increase in the number of Covid-19 precaution doses administered after the government started offering the vaccine free to all adults beginning July 15, just over a fifth of the eligible population in the country has taken it. The 75-day drive for those eligible in the 18-59 years age group ends coming Friday (September 30).So far, only 22.24 per cent of the adult population in the country has received the third precaution dose, with the coverage among those above 60 years more than double that of those in the 18-59 years bracket.While only 17.58 per cent of 77 crore persons in the 18-59 years group have received the third dose, it is much higher in percentage terms – 48.5 per cent – in the 60-plus age group which has 13.7 crore persons, according to data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Till mid-July i.e. before the start of the free vaccination drive for adults, only 8 per cent of those in the 18-59 years group and 27 per cent of those over 60 years, had taken the precaution dose.Since the free drive commenced, 14.6 crore precaution doses have been administered; of this, 12.7 crore were between 18 years and 59 years, according to the data. So far, India has administered a total of 20.2 crore precaution doses.Explaining the possible reasons for the low precautionary dose numbers, Dr Suneela Garg, Professor of Community Medicine at Maulana Azad Medical College and a member of the Lancet Commission on Covid-19 in India, said: “You see the number of cases and the severity of the infection has gone down, so vaccination is no longer a priority for people. We always see an increase in vaccination when cases increase. Another reason for the hesitancy is people see that even those who have taken both the doses are getting the infection. To reduce this, we will have to look at newer versions of the vaccines that are better able to protect against infections caused by the current variants in circulation.”NOT many people are queueing up for the third precaution dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. There are many reasons for this, the primary being low number of cases and less severity. To reduce hesitancy, a sharper awareness campaign will help, as also introduction of new effective vaccines against the existing virus variants.A senior official involved in Delhi’s vaccination drive said, “With people needing only primary vaccination certificates for entry to various places or travel, they do not feel the need for getting the precaution dose.”Ever since India started administering the third dose in January this year, it has remained free for those over 60 years – they are at a higher risk of severe disease and death. It was also available free to all healthcare and frontline workers, who are at an increased risk of being exposed to the infection. The government allowed the use of precaution doses in the 18-59 years group at private vaccination centres upon payment in April.During the free vaccination drive, states were asked to make an “ambitious” push by organising camps in big office complexes, industrial establishments, railway stations, inter-state bus stations, and schools and colleges. The announcement for the free drive came days after the Union MoH&FW reduced the duration between the second and precaution doses to six months from nine months. Through its door-to-door ‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ campaign too, the government urged people to take the precaution dose in June-July.While the national coverage of precaution dose stood at 21.54 per cent, the performance of states has been varied –from 91.9 per cent coverage in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to 6 per cent in Meghalaya.With almost the entire population of the country having received the first dose of the vaccine, the coverage of precaution dose in the states has been calculated considering the number of first doses given in adults to be the total eligible adult population. Besides Andaman, the states with the best precaution dose coverage were Ladakh (52.38 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (41.13 per cent), Pudducherry (39.73 per cent), and Sikkim (37.48 per cent).After Meghalaya, the states with the lowest coverage were Jharkhand (7.14 per cent), Nagaland (7.41 per cent), Punjab (7.75 per cent), and Haryana (8.59 per cent), according to data from the MoH&FW.In Delhi, the only state to provide free precaution dose to all adults even before the Centre’s 75-day drive, the precaution dose coverage stood at 19.22 per cent — behind bigger states such as Gujarat (36.84 per cent), Odisha (35.93 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (25.57 per cent), Bihar (22.82 per cent), West Bengal (22.78 per cent), and Madhya Pradesh (22.67 per cent).Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inboxThe coverage of precaution doses in states like Maharashtra and Kerala, which have been dealing with a consistently high number of Covid-19 cases through the pandemic, was among the lowest at 10.63 per cent and 11.03 per cent, respectively.“This is to be expected; the states are the ones that implement the programme. The vaccines are available aplenty, so that cannot be the reason for low coverage. There is a need for aggressive awareness campaigns,” said Dr Garg. People over 60, those with diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, must get the precaution dose, she said.
THE CUMULATIVE number of cattle deaths caused by lumpy skin disease has gone up to 97,435 as on September 23 – almost double from the 49,682 deaths recorded about three weeks ago, according to official data.The data available with the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying shows that the lumpy skin disease has spread across 251 districts in 15 states and affected over 20 lakh animals till September 23.On August 30, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Sanjeev Kumar Balyan had told The Indian Express that the disease has affected 11.2 lakh cattle, including 49,682 cattle deaths, in 165 districts across a dozen states and Union Territories.According to the data, there were 43,759 “epicentres” of the disease across 15 states and UTs — Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar. The number of cattle “susceptible” to the disease in these states stood at 3.60 crore. The data shows that the number of cattle “affected” due to the disease stood at 20.56 lakh and out of these, 12.70 lakh animals have “recovered”.Of the 20.56 lakh affected animals, a maximum number of 13.99 lakh cattle have been reported in Rajasthan, followed by Punjab (1.74 lakh) and Gujarat (1.66 lakh).The most deaths caused by lumpy skin disease have also been reported from Rajasthan, where 64,311 animals have died till September 23. This is followed by 17,721 cattle deaths due to the disease in Punjab. The data shows that 1.66 crore cattle have been vaccinated against the disease till September 23.Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that there has been a loss of livestock because of the disease across several states and the Centre, along with various state governments, was trying hard to control it.Addressing the inaugural session of IDF World Dairy Summit 2022 in Greater Noida on September 12, the Prime Minister said, “Our scientists have developed an indigenous vaccine for lumpy skin disease,” he said, adding that efforts were also being made to control the disease by expediting testing and restricting the movement of animals.
Kolhapur: The animal husbandry department of Kolhapur has appealed to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to come forward and provide isolated shelter facilities for cattle infected with lumpy skin disease.The department is racing against time as every passing day, the cases are rising. In just two to three days, the cases are doubling. So far, nine cattle have died due to the disease. The number is likely to increase further. The department officials are hitting the ground and ensuring that the doctors and staff are moved quickly to the places where the outbreak is being reported.The farmers are finding it difficult to isolate the infected cattle and thereby causing further spread among healthy cattle. Hence, they are demanding the authorities to provide them with safe sheds to isolate the cattle.Y A Pathan, the deputy commissioner of the animal husbandry department, said, “In states like Gujarat and Rajasthan, several NGOs have stepped forward and helping the farmers isolate the infected cows. We expect the same from the NGOs operating locally. Isolating the infected cattle is key to winning the battle against the viral disease. We are trying our best to vaccinate the cattle. Around 35,000 cows and oxen are being vaccinated daily.”Shetti moves High CourtFarmers’ leader Raju Shetti has moved public interest litigation to Bombay High Court seeking directions to the state government to take immediate steps to save the cows and oxen. Shetti said, “The government has no clear policy. Announcing the compensation and packages is just not enough.”
