An interview with Gautam I. Menon, Professor, Departments of Physics and Biology, Ashoka University Gautam I. Menon FOR SOMEONE whose key interest in the past was mostly related to superconductors, Menon is now focused on building models of infectious diseases. While his intellectual pursuits are eclectic, and includes statistical physics, soft condensed matter physics, mechanobiology … Continue reading ‘Indian super model to predict Covid spread lacked clarity’
coronavirus
COVID-19: WHO Under Pressure as Evidence Mounts On Aerosol Transmission
IN ITS ‘SCIENTIFIC brief’ released on March 29th, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Covid-19 can ‘be transmitted through droplets of different sizes: when the droplet particles are <5-10 μm (a micrometre or μm is one-millionth of a metre) in diameter, they are referred to as respiratory droplets, and when they are >5 μm … Continue reading COVID-19: WHO Under Pressure as Evidence Mounts On Aerosol Transmission
Zoom is Bending Over Backwards to Meet Security Targets, But Winning Back User Trust is Easier Said Than Done
Zoom is my lifeline now,” says Navi Mumbai-based yoga coach Pooja Cariappa narrating the story of her adaptation to the world of social distancing and lockdown thanks to the Covid-19 outbreak. She’s not alone. The video-conferencing platform she recently adopted has grown globally to 300 million users from 10 million in the first 12 weeks … Continue reading Zoom is Bending Over Backwards to Meet Security Targets, But Winning Back User Trust is Easier Said Than Done
Can Mahatma Gandhi Offer Us Tips to Beat Lockdown Blues?
In the wake of a raft of inspirational articles popping up in the media during the worldwide lockdown offering lessons from the lives of great men while they were in jail, renowned Gandhi scholar Tridip Suhrud says that the greatest inspiration that needs to be learnt from the father of the nation is that “we … Continue reading Can Mahatma Gandhi Offer Us Tips to Beat Lockdown Blues?
Domestic Abuse Sees a Sharp Rise in the Time of the Covid-19 Lockdown
Kolkata-based women’s rights activist Anuradha Kapoor speaks with a mix of compassion and passion. She founded the women’s rights organisation Swayam 25 years ago and it now covers the entire state of West Bengal. “Domestic abuse has gone up at least 20-30 per cent since the lockdown,” she says bluntly, doing some mental calculation of … Continue reading Domestic Abuse Sees a Sharp Rise in the Time of the Covid-19 Lockdown
Kerala Looks to Buy Cuban ‘Wonder Drug’ Interferon
In a first, Kerala will shortly launch a testing drive to detect community transmission of COVID-19 besides setting up a surveillance mechanism to keep a tab on respiratory disorders using mobile apps, a senior state government official said, adding that the southern state will also approach the Centre to help it acquire Interferon Alpha inhalational … Continue reading Kerala Looks to Buy Cuban ‘Wonder Drug’ Interferon
Blood Plasma Treatment for Covid-19 Ready: Kerala Doctors
Almost a week before the US Food and Drug Administration announced a plan to facilitate the use of plasma of recovered Covid-19 patients to treat new cases, doctors and scientists in Kerala have prepared and submitted a protocol for such a therapy with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). Doctors treating Covid-19 patients in Kerala … Continue reading Blood Plasma Treatment for Covid-19 Ready: Kerala Doctors
“In Kerala, the Fight against Covid-19 Is a People’s Movement” – CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Health Minister KK Shailaja have earned international accolades for their government’s coordinated fight to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, which reported the first case of the fomite-borne disease in India. For a state that tops in remittances from abroad, its links with the Gulf region and the … Continue reading “In Kerala, the Fight against Covid-19 Is a People’s Movement” – CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Coronavirus Impact: Our Behaviour Is Changing Faster than We Thought
DAVID RUNCIMAN WRITES in his book How Democracy Ends that ‘a common complaint against twenty-first century democracy is that it has lost control of corporate power’. But we are in a phase, brief or otherwise, when corporate power is helpless and so is democracy, to an extent, and yet what is public good snatches the … Continue reading Coronavirus Impact: Our Behaviour Is Changing Faster than We Thought
‘The Number of Tests Conducted So Far is Too Low’ – Former Health Secretary K Sujatha Rao
K Sujatha Rao, former Union Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is an authority on Indian public health system. Her vastly detailed book on the subject, Do We Care? India’s Health System, covers communicable and lifestyle diseases and health and drug research in the country. Rao was also the chief of the National AIDS … Continue reading ‘The Number of Tests Conducted So Far is Too Low’ – Former Health Secretary K Sujatha Rao
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