Dear Express Explained Reader, Covid-19 has consumed us, each one of us knows people who are dead or in hospital after contracting the virus. Many of us have been numbed to the big numbers, terrifying as they are; the tragedy is now personal. Also, given the likelihood of underreporting of both cases and deaths, the sanctity of the official figures is in question. We continued to explain new and old aspects of the pandemic in India as they came up through the week; here are a few that I recommend you read. Kaunain Sheriff M answered a few questions that frame the dominant trends of the second wave. Are more younger people getting infected than last year? What explains the oxygen crisis? Why are even vaccinated people getting sick? Kaunain also explained the details of two new advisories that the government issued: a recommendation to wear masks even inside your home, and the new guidelines for home isolation, increasingly important as hospitals find themselves overwhelmed by the patient load. One of the concerns many have expressed is about people returning negative RT-PCR tests despite showing what would appear to be unmistakable signs of coronavirus infection. There are several likely reasons, explained Jay Mazoomdaar, including mutations of the virus escaping detection, quality of sampling and testing, and efficacy of the RT-PCR kits themselves. On the question of the RT-PCR test, most of you who have seen a report would have noticed a number in it for the patient’s Ct value. Ct, or cycle threshold value, determines whether a person is positive for Covid-19 or not. What else does it indicate, and to what extent does Ct value correlate with viral load and the severity of the disease? Anuradha Mascarenhas wrote a very helpful and relevant explainer. Finally, as a parallel Covid battle continues to be fought in the courts, I would like to flag to you an important legal explainer. The Supreme Court noted this week that “different manufacturers are quoting different prices” for Covid-19 vaccines, and reminded the government that it has “powers under the Drugs Control Act and Patents Act” that it can employ to fix the issue. Apurva Vishwanath explained what these provisions are, and the extent of the leverage that the government has in the pricing of Covid-19 drugs and vaccines. Stay safe, stay indoors, get vaccinated at the first opportunity. We owe it to ourselves, our families, and our society and nation. Sincerely, Monojit (monojit.majumdar@expressindia.com) If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here | .png)
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