Tag: Covid-19 test

Coronavirus: British PM Boris Johnson admitted to hospital as precautionary step, for tests

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital for tests, 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus. Johnson, 55, “continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus“, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Sunday.

His hospitalisation was described as a “precautionary step” taken on the advice of his doctor.

On the advice of his doctor, the Prime Minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests. This is a precautionary step, as the Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus,” the spokesperson said.

The Prime Minister thanks NHS staff for all of their incredible hard work and urges the public to continue to follow the Government’s advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives, the spokesperson added.

Johnson had extended self-isolation as he gave an update on his health via social media on Friday, which should have marked the end of the stipulated seven-day self-isolation period after his COVID-19 diagnosis last week.

He said he still has a temperature, one of the symptoms associated with coronavirus, and would therefore have to stay in isolation for longer.

“Although I’m feeling better and I’ve done my seven days of isolation, alas I still have one of the symptoms, a minor symptom, Johnson said in a new video message.

“I still have a temperature and so, in accordance with government advice, I must continue my self-isolation until that symptom itself goes,” he said.

Johnson was last seen, still looking quite poorly, when he made a brief appearance at Downing Street on Thursday night to join the national clap for carers applause in appreciation of the hardwork of National Health Service (NHS) workers on the frontline of the fight against the outbreak.

“Remember that incredible clapping again last night for our fantastic NHS. We’re doing it to protect them and to save lives. Let’s focus on doing everything we can. Stay at home folks, protect our NHS, save lives,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19 testing: Focus is on building capacity for home visits, says Ameera Shah of Metropolis

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

In these challenging times of coronavirus outbreak, the one sector that is in focus for  be it an investor or a citizen is pharmaceutical.

Ameera Shah, MD of Metropolis and Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance in an interview with CNBC-TV18 discuss in detail how the drug industry is tackling the challenges and how testing of COVID-19 by private labs was shaping up.

Shah said that they are seeing a lot of demand in cities for patients with prescriptions wanting to test for coronavirus. “A lot of people have similar symptoms to COVID-19, flu like symptoms, sore throat, fever, cough and are wanting to get checked. So, we are seeing demand for testing,” she said.

With regards to testing, she said, “Right now we are focusing on building the capacity for home visits but the biggest challenge that we are having at this point of time is our manpower who are willing to go for home services to people’s houses, we are having a challenge in having enough instrumentation, challenge in having enough reagents and chemicals to do the testing.”

Shah further said they were also facing challenges with respect to supplies for testing due to lack of commercial flights. “Today, while we could collect samples in Delhi, Chennai, or Bangalore, bringing them to Mumbai is becoming a challenge because of lack of commercial flights. So, if these issues can be resolved by the government, then we would be able to ramp-up even more quickly as we move forward,” she added.

When asked if there was a shortage of drugs, Jain said currently they have adequate stock in terms of APIs and drugs. “The stocks are available for 3-4 months requirement. As far as hydroxyquinoline and azithromycin is concerned, we have got the capacity to produce 3-4 million tablets of hydroxyquinoline in the country. So, we are totally prepared and we have got all the capability for production of the goods,” he said.

Jain further added that the spurt in demand for drug hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQS) was unprecedented. He also said that there has been some hoarding, but they are totally prepared to supply it. “Zydus Cadila and IPCA are the world’s largest producers and they can totally prepared to supply whatever the requirement. They are ramping it up and  are in discussions with all the city governments. They are totally prepared for supplying the products,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19 testing: Private labs battle staff, safety, kit supply challenges as cases mount

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Twelve private healthcare laboratories have so far been authorised by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to test for COVID-19, and it is expected that the list will be expanded. However, the laboratories’ resources have been stretched to the limit with increasing number of test requests.

Some of these labs say that they have been overwhelmed by the number of requests for home collection of samples, given constraints of both staff and testing kits, and concerns over safety.

Thyrocare, Metropolis (both Mumbai), Dr Lal PathLabs (Delhi), SRL Diagnostics (Gurugram, Mumbai), Apollo Hospitals (Chennai), Strand Life Science (Gurugram), CMC (Vellore), Unipath Speciality (Gujarat), Neuberg (Bengaluru), and Sir HN Reliance Foundation (Mumbai) are among those on the ICMR list, where one can test for COVID-19.

But there is a condition for testing.

It can be undertaken only if the patient has a prescription from a doctor who certifies that the patient meets the criteria for testing. All major labs have said that this rule will be enforced and that no testing will be undertaken without a prescription.

While private testing will help assess factors such as community spread of COVID-19, the diagnostic firms are facing challenges. Two of the most common challenges are logistics and safety of staff.

Thyrocare’s A Velumani said staff attendance at office is down to 20. Thyrocare has, in fact, had to close down its wellness testing in order to concentrate resources on COVID-19 testing.

Then there is the safety issue as well. A Mumbai-based lab said that out of the 20-25 technicians specifically trained for swab collections (the type of test needed for COVID-19), only a handful have agreed to undertake home collection of samples, and that too at a steep 50 percent revenue share basis.

Similarly, in the same lab around 8-10 versus a normal capacity of over 20 staff have agreed to test COVID-19 samples, but only with a 50 percent hike in salary. Despite protective gear and required safety protocols in place, the rest of the staff don’t believe COVID-19 testing is worth the risk, says an industry official.

That is not the case everywhere though. The head of another lab said that 90 percent of their network of over 150 labs are open with skeletal staff on a rotation basis.

Metropolis’ Almira Shah told CNBC-TV18 that her lab is exploring options such as opening COVID-19 dedicated centres for potential patients and also a possible drive-through system where the swab can be collected from the potential patient while in the car thereby minimising contact. Besides safety, the other key challenge is logistics.

Dr Lal PathLabs CEO OP Manchanda agreed that safety of employees due to potential exposure via home collections is a major challenge.

Manchanda points out there are challenges to keep operations running mainly due to the difficulty in commute, with major cities under lockdown. Shah, in fact, pointed to a graver example of how some private lab staff were roughed up by cops in Mumbai on their way to work, despite identity indicating they are a part of essential services, which have been exempted from curfew.

The other issues being faced by private labs include pricing as well as procurement of kits. Currently, heads of companies manufacturing kits point out that there is a global shortage of supplies due to high demand for COVID-19 tests.

While the numbers vary from company to company, the head of a diagnostic company said that about 200-300 kits are available with private labs on an average. They however expect it increase in the coming days as more testing kits get approved by the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

Pricing on the other hand is just break even at Rs 4,500 that the government has capped for COVID-19 testing. However, industry heads are quick to point out that it is a public health challenge and pricing is not the priority.

But, in a scenario where preventive wellness testing is almost nil with normal business down sharply, they cannot afford to provide tests for free. Shah in fact says they would encourage donations from companies and high-net-worth individual (HNIs) to provide free COVID-19 testing for patients who cannot afford it.

The next few days however will be crucial for the private diagnostic industry to determine the current situation. Questions on the volume of tests one can undertake, the challenges technicians face in home collections and the rate of procurement of test kits are just few of the imponderables.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19: Social distancing derails India’s shared workspace market

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The last couple of weeks — since the number of coronavirus infections started rising in India — have seen added emphasis being laid on social distancing, which some suggest should be adopted as a lifestyle to combat COVID-19. As a result, a number of companies have asked staff to work from home. This has, not surprisingly, impacted India’s fledgling co-working space.

Occupancy rates and footfalls at these premises has taken a drastic hit, both of which have seen a decline according to co-working space companies. “There is an impact of about 10 percent currently, in the whole set-up since people are restricting themselves from coming into work,” said Gurbinder Rattha, Founder and Managing Director at Chennai-based co-working space firm, Workafella.

Not all shared workspace companies are reporting a marginal decline. “Approximately, 32 percent of our members are choosing to work from home. However, we are taking all precautions to ensure that all workers opting to work at our offices, are safeguarded and follow appropriate safety procedures,” said Ashish Goenka, Director at Redbrick Offices.

It’s the same story at larger companies. WeWork has conceded that there has been a drop in footfall — the company did not divulge by how much — but said that business hasn’t been gravely affected, yet. “Since a lot of member companies have given their employees the option of working from home, we have experienced a drop in footfall at our spaces,” said a WeWork spokesperson.

Apart of occupancy levels and footfalls declining, the bigger worry is that the shared workspace market may not be able to sustain itself in the medium-term should the COVID-19 outbreak and the emphasis on social distancing continue. An indication of this is that business enquiries have also suffered at most shared workspace companies, according to aggregator, Flexispaces.com.

“We are observing a 40 percent drop in the footfalls of new inquiries,” said Sandeep Prasad, Founder, Flexispaces.com, “If the situation remains the same or even gets worse, co-working may be one of the most affected industries due to this, and the drop may go up to 70 percent.”

However, shared workspace brand CoWrks said that while smaller companies are logging out of shared workspaces, larger enterprises are seeking smaller cubicles to ensure synergized business continuity.

Heightened precaution continues to prevail. When CNBC-TV18 requested CoWrks to visit one of its shared workspaces in Chennai to get a visual perspective of how COVID-19 had impacted occupancy levels at these offices, we were told of a strict no-visitors-allowed policy being implemented for the time-being. This was understandable given that social distancing is crucial at the moment.

“While we’ve opened up our spaces for people — to make it an extended work-from-home or a temporary workspace, what we’ve done as an added precaution is we have completely cancelled all events and community space utilization,” said Abhishek Goenka, CEO, CoWrks.

This means that almost all shared workspace majors are taking mandated precautions — like temperature-screening of members, frequent swabbing with disinfectant, a blanket ban on visitors, and instituting every measure the government has laid down.

“We are keeping a check on this (government regulations), and making sure that we are there to protect our customers and our teams in this environment,” said Harsh Lambah, Country Manager (India), IWG, “If the government introduces new regulations, we will be adapting to that,” he added.

Luckily for co-working space companies, the Indian government has stopped short of imposing an outright ban on shared work environments, but has issued several advisories on working from home, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling companies to let employees work from home whenever necessary. Nonetheless, it’s a matter of time that we’ll know how this cultural shift will impact companies in the business of letting out work stations.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow