Good Samaritans help needy while leaders busy in ‘politics’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a virtual a meeting with chief ministers of worsthit states to take stock of the COVID19 situation But the meeting snowballed into a controversy with the Centre accusing the Delhi chief minister of playing politics by live streaming his interaction with the PM Arvind Kejriwal had raised the issue of massive oxygen shortage in Delhi and said that the Centre should take over all oxygen plants through the ArmyldquoHis entire speech was not meant for any solution but for playing politics and evading responsibility All chief ministers spoke about what they are doing to improve the situation but he had nothing to say on what he is doingrdquo a source told PTIHis office later issued a statement stating that there has never been any instruction on sharing the interaction ldquoHowever if any inconvenience was caused we highly regret thatrdquoMeanwhile Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Centre diverted the medical oxygen supply meant for West Bengal to Uttar PradeshAmid all the political drama happening amid the rapid surge in cases deaths and severe shortage of oxygen good Samaritans are busy doing what is ideally the responsibility of the governments People and social organisations across DelhiNCR are giving a new lease of life to COVID19 patientsInderjeet Singh Monty president of Mayapuri Trading Association told PTI ldquoWe have been helping hospitals and people with free oxygen supply from a Mayapuri plant for the past five days now Everyday over 500600 people come here to get their oxygen cylinders refilledrdquoA gurudwara in Ghaziabadrsquos Indirapuram has opened an ldquooxygen langarrdquo for COVID19 patients and promises to supply oxygen in its premises to them till the time they donrsquot find a bed in hospital They have also launched a helpline number for people book oxygen cylinderIn Bihar Patna resident Gaurav Rai is on a mission to save as many lives as he can Known as the lsquooxygen manrsquo Rai provides oxygen to the critically ill patients for free ldquoIn the second wave 365 cylinders have been provided to those in extreme need of these in Patna itselfrdquo he told PTI Rai 52 who works in a private firm engaged in the manufacture of highsecurity number plates for cars in Patna and his wife Aruna Bhardwaj operate an lsquooxygen bankrsquo with over 250 cylinders of 10 kg eachHelp is coming PMPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Railways and Air Force are being deployed to reduce the transportation time for oxygen tankers and all state governments need to work together to meet requirements of lifesaving gas and medicinesAlso the defence ministry has decided to airlift 23 mobile oxygen generating plants from Germany as several states reeled under an acute shortage of medical oxygen officials said Friday Each plant will have a capacity to produce 40 litres of oxygen per minute and 2400 litres every hourSecond wave could peak in midMayThe second COVDI19 wave in India may peak between May 1115 with 3335 lakh total lsquoactiversquo cases and decline steeply by the end of May according to a mathematical module devised by IIT scientists They said that Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh might already have reached their peak in new casesZydusrsquos Virafin to be used for treatmentZydus Cadila received emergency use approval from the Drugs Controller General of India on Friday for the use of lsquoVirafinrsquo mdash pegylated interferon alpha2b PegIFN in treating moderate COVID19 infection in adults A singledose subcutaneous regimen of the antiviral Virafin will make the treatment more convenient for the patients When administered early on during COVID19 Virafin will help patients recover faster and avoid much of the complications the company saidlsquoTask force didnrsquot meet for over two monthsrsquoWhile India was inching closre to the Our leaders were busy preparing for the Assembly polls when COVID19 cases had started to jump According to a report in the Caravan which quotes two members the Centre did not hold even a single meeting of the task force in February and March ldquoIt became abundantly clear in mid February that India was heading towards a devastating second waverdquo a member of the task force told the magazine According to the report the task force met last on January 11 and then on April 15 and April 21 only after the cases were skyrocketing across the country Another member said a meeting of the task force was called only when the Centre ldquowanted us to rubber stamp some decision already taken by politiciansrdquo Maharashtra was first to see a rapid surge since mid of February ldquoWe knew cases were of a different strain which was killing younger people fasterrdquo said the first member saidAIIMS stops contact tracing of sick staffThe All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi has decided to stop contact tracing of exposed staff and quarantine of asymptomatic contacts amid the current situation that has led to insufficient resources and shortage of staff Only symptomatic healthcare workers will be tested and only those testing positive will be isolated16263695Total no of coronavirus cases in India so far186920Total no of deaths due to the virus in India so far136 48159Total no of patients Recovered and discharged in India so far135478420Total no of people vaccinated so farThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever