Covid 19 Pandemic In Asia

"Keep asking on the vaccine plan. How much vaccine? By what date? What %age of pop vaccinated by May 31, June 30,July 31? Real numbers. Abuse me, troll me, demean my work, doubt my intentions, mock me. But keep asking on the vaccine plan. For the sake of my country. 🙏🏻"

"Firefighting is good. That's what's happening right now. But solution is in vaccines. Enough vaccines.It's not which vaccine. Our vaccine. Their vaccine. It's enough vaccines. If we don't have enough, mayhem won't stop. Swallow pride. Accept mistakes. Get 'enough' vaccines."

"Top-3 national priorities right now, where the entire country should be focused: Vaccine. Vaccine. Vaccine."

"The best news of the day. Pfizer vaccine (a major trial was under progress) is 90% effective. Victory for science and humanity. Stock markets soaring across the world. Seems like the real deal this time."

"World’s leading vaccine manufacturer, now vaccine shortage across states. No vaccinations in Mumbai for next 3 days. So much for starting 18 plus vaccine drive from May 1. On vaccines, Centre has made just too many botch ups. Will anyone say Mea culpa?"

"People elected him to govern, they presumed the Prime Minister will rise to the occasion to help people in crisis. What has Modi done to expand vaccine production? There are 13 vaccines available in the world; has the Prime Minister talked to those manufacturers for making them available in India? Has he any concern for the people?"

"After failing as a part-time politician, has Rahul Gandhi switched to full time lobbying? First he lobbied for fighter plane companies by trying to derail India’s acquisition programme. Now he is lobbying for pharma companies by asking for arbitrary approvals for foreign vaccines."

"Reports from across the country speak of the scarcity of Covid-19 vaccine as also of important life saving drugs including Remdesivir in different parts of the country."

"Vaccines are our foremost hope. Sadly, most of the states are left with a stock of just three to five days. While it will be necessary on one hand to substantially ramp up our domestic production capacity, it will also be prudent to allow emergency use authorisation of all the vaccine candidates that have the required clearances without any further delay."

"All equipment, instruments, medicine and support infrastructure required to deal with Covid-19 crisis should be made completely exempt from GST. Even ventilators, oximeters and oxygen cylinders currently attract GST as do key life-saving drugs like Remdesivir and Dexamethazone."

"While it will be necessary on one hand to substantially ramp up our domestic production capacity, it will also be prudent to allow emergency use authorization of all the vaccine candidates that have the required clearances, without any further delay."

"Because the vaccine is for everyone. Because the government should pay more attention to the public than organising events. Because everyone has the right to know where the PM Care funds are being spent. Because instead of exporting the vaccine, the government should focus on vaccinating every citizen."

"The country needs vaccines against coronavirus. You also raise your voice for this — everyone has the right to have a safe life. Speak up for vaccination for all."

"Modi ji, you said the war against corona will be won in 18 days. You asked people to bang thali, light up candles and show mobile phone torch… but corona intensified. Please stop event-bazi now and arrange for vaccines for all. And provide income support to the poor."

"The Modi government is callous and cruel. Meanwhile, the shortage of vaccines will continue and the people will suffer and thousands will die. What a tragedy!"

"If Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have not yet been ‘approved for use’ by the central government, how will they deal with or sell to the states? Government has rebuffed our advice as well as the suggestion of the Courts, that procurement of vaccines must be centralised."

"Both Pfizer and Moderna refuse to deal with states, say they will only deal with Centre even as their order books are full for now. Can we say that on vaccine procurement we have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity in the last eight months?"

"We should procure this vaccine asap for our children."

"When will Centre take responsibility for not allowing Pfizer to sell vaccine in India, not ordering Indian vaccines on time, concentrators languishing in Airports & not giving Delhi oxygen leading to deaths all around? When will Centre come in war mode? How many more deaths?"

"A year after the country’s first Covid-19 cluster, with 5 cases, was reported in Agra district, the Uttar Pradesh government has claimed that it was the first state to have introduced a large-scale “prophylactic and therapeutic” use of Ivermectin and added that the drug helped the state to maintain a lower fatality and positivity rate as compared to other states."

"“Uttar Pradesh was the first state in the country to introduce large-scale prophylactic and therapeutic use of Ivermectin. In May-June 2020, a team at Agra, led by Dr Anshul Pareek, administered Ivermectin to all RRT team members in the district on an experimental basis. It was observed that none of them developed Covid-19 despite being in daily contact with patients who had tested positive for the virus,” Uttar Pradesh State Surveillance Officer Vikssendu Agrawal said... He added that based on the findings from Agra, the state government sanctioned the use of Ivermectin as a prophylactic for all the contacts of Covid patients and later cleared the administration of therapeutic doses for the treatment of such patients... He said that apart from aggressive contact tracing and surveillance, the lower positivity and fatality rates may be attributed to the large-scale use of Ivermectin use in the state, adding that the drug has recently been introduced in the National Protocol for Covid treatment and management. “Once the second wave subsides, we would conduct our own study as there has been an emerging body of evidence to substantiate our timely use of Ivermectin from the first wave itself,” Vikasendu told The Indian Express."

"Agra District Magistrate Prabhu N Singh also attributed the state’s relative success in keeping the Covid numbers down to the timely nod to the use of Ivermectin as a prophylactic... He said the district administration had formed small groups of personnel from the same police station as well staffers at his office. “We introduced it (Ivermectin) for three days, 12 mg as advised in the national guidelines at the time, followed by tests on the fourth or fifth day. We introduced it in the jail as well and the results helped us reduce positivity to a great extent, following which Additional Chief Secretary Health Amit Mohan formed a committee to access its usage and it was finally introduced in the state’s Covid management protocol in 2020 itself,” Singh said."

"It is a matter of great sadness that India has fallen behind the 77th position among the countries of the world, in the list of administering a single dose of corona vaccine in every hundred people.. The Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, in her previous letter to the Prime Minister, has reiterated the need to procure vaccines centrally from global and domestic sources and begin a free, universal mass vaccination campaign across the country... Centre does not like to listen to the advice of scientists and Scientific Advisor."

"Finally got my first dose! Protect yourself... Protect others too... Getting vaccinated is the only way to beat Covid_19..."

"India needs quick and complete vaccination - not BJP's usual brand of lies and rhyming slogans to cover up vaccine shortage caused by Modi government’s inaction."

"It is absolutely essential that our party plays an active role in ensuring full vaccination coverage. At the national level, the daily rate of vaccination has to treble so that 75 per cent of our population gets fully vaccinated by end of this year. No doubt, this is dependent entirely on the adequacy of vaccine supply. We must continue to put pressure on the Union government which has, at our Party's insistence, finally taken on the responsibility for this. At the same time, we have to ensure that registration takes place, that vaccine hesitancy wherever evident is overcome and vaccine wastage is minimised."

"Rising COVID numbers are worrying. Vaccination must pick up pace to avoid serious outcomes in the next wave."

"People are surprised that only three vaccines have been made available in India: Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik Of the three, you can write off Sputnik because only a small quantity was imported in the initial days," Congress veteran Chidambaram had tweeted on December 27, 2021. "We are left with 2 vaccines thanks to the PROTECTIONIST policy of the Modi Government Pfizer, Moderna and other WHO-approved vaccines are kept out of India on one pretext or other Which is why we don't have enough vaccines to administer 2 doses to the 94 crore adult population."

"There is enough research and scholarly writing to conclude that booster shots are an imperative... The time to allow booster shots is NOW"

"I also call upon my Christian brethren who would want to come to churches on Friday and Sunday to avoid large gatherings. In the end, the Almighty will reward you for your intentions. If we can't go to a church, mosque or temple, we can pray or worship at home with our families, God shall hear us. We, the people of all faiths, should pray to God to save us from this plague."

"Shocking news: Amid Covid-19 outbreak, Hindus of Karachi are denied food supplies.... This is against the basic Human Rights principle, minorities would die of hunger in Pakistan. PM Imran Khan is requested to ensure the well-being of Hindus and Sikhs during the crisis of Coronavirus."

"The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is troubled by the reports of food aid being denied to Hindus and Christians amid the spread of COVID-19 in Pakistan. "These actions are simply reprehensible," stated USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava. "As COVID-19 continues to spread, vulnerable communities within Pakistan are fighting hunger and to keep their families safe and healthy. Food aid must not be denied because of one's faith. We urge the Pakistani government to ensure that food aid from distributing organizations is shared equally with Hindus, Christians, and other religions minorities." In Karachi, for example, there have been reports that the , a non-government organization established to assist the homeless and seasonal workers, has been refusing food assistance to Hindus and Christians, arguing that the aid is reserved for Muslims alone."

"The Pakistani government does not seem willing to shift its spending priorities despite the burgeoning COVID-19 challenges. Pakistan has emerged as one of the countries with the fastest rate of coronavirus infections in recent weeks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The country reported its first coronavirus case on February 26 and is now among the top 15 most-affected countries. More than 4,000 people have lost their lives to the disease in Pakistan since the beginning of the outbreak. Moreover, there is a significant shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators in the country. Despite all this, Islamabad allocated $7.85bn for defence and merely $151m for health in the budget for the financial year 2020-2021. This represents a 12 percent rise in Pakistan's defence spending compared with the last financial year. The single-line figure presented in the budget does not give a full picture of the amount actually being spent on defence either."

"DIRE. That’s the word the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan uses to describe the state of human rights in our country. Its annual report, released last week, makes for a distressing read, particularly in the midst of a pandemic. One wonders, given how widespread rights violations are, when this brutalised body politic will reach its breaking point. The PTI government has cited concerns of riots fuelled by starvation as a reason to impose light-touch lockdowns. But the HRCP’s report reminds us that the state's fear of its citizenry is rooted in a deeper knowledge of systemic fissures in our country; fissures produced by the disgraceful treatment of an — including women, children, dissenters, religious minorities, labour, prisoners, and more — often by state institutions themselves."

"Our country's healthcare spending is less than one per cent of GDP, even though the WHO recommends 6pc. And only 4pc of Pakistani children receive a 'minimally acceptable diet'. These poor healthcare and standards expose the flaws of the prime minister's reasoning that our youthful demography will protect us against the worst of the pandemic; malnourishment can hardly boost immunity."

"In light of the pandemic, the plight of prisoners is particularly relevant. Pakistan's prisons are appallingly overcrowded, with an occupancy rate of 133.8pc. More than 62pc of this population comprises pre-trial detainees and those on remand. Jam-packed prisoners are more vulnerable to diseases, including , HIV and now Covid-19."

"Only up to 3pc of Pakistan's is unionised, and there are few opportunities for for fair wages or safe working conditions. [...] The disregard for will take on new dimensions during a pandemic, when workers should have ample rights to demand safe working conditions and job protection in the event of sickness."