Covid-19 Wrap-up: Doctors, nurses battle physical and mental exhaustion on front lines of second wave

It is the silent toll of our country's deadly second wave.

After a terrifying month that saw Covid-19 overwhelm the country's run-down health system, doctors and nurses on the pandemic front lines say they were pushed into physical and mental exhaustion as they fought to keep their patients alive. Mousimi Das had to treat her own mother in her Kolkata hospital as countless patients including a colleague’s father died around her, working 48 hours in one stretch without a break. She has one message for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government. "We are exhausted, frustrated, and depressed," Das said, her voice breaking with fatigue. "Please see us. Please hear us."

Modi today chose to thank front-line health workers, doctors, nurses and volunteers for "selflessly risking their lives to serve others" in need every day while fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

The sudden tripping of oxygen manufacturing plants on Monday had triggered panic across Karnataka, which is already struggling to cope with the shortage of oxygen. However, on Tuesday, the state government clarified that it had successfully managed the situation without risking the lives of Covid-19 patients.

There's been a lot of talk about vaccine costs and the prices for the jabs that can vary wildly depending on the entity that's providing them to you. Has the Central Government botched vaccine pricing? This DH opinion piece argues that the current policy is neither conducive to users nor producers and needs a major course correction.

India reported 2.08 lakh new Covid-19 infections, pushing the overall case tally past 2.71 crore as the country conducted more than 22.17 lakh Covid-19 tests, its highest-ever in a day, according to Union Health Ministry data. The death toll climbed past 3.11 lakh with 4,157 deaths in a 24-hour period.

The B.1.617 Covid-19 variant that was first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization report showed.

There are a lot of questions around the rising number of cases of mucormycosis in Covid-19 patients, including whether the infection is contagious and how we can avoid getting infected. We've put together some answers to FAQs on the subject.

The Indian Medical Association served a defamation notice on Ramdev for his alleged disparaging remarks against allopathy and allopathic doctors, demanding an apology from him within 15 days, failing which it said it will demand a compensation of Rs 1,000 crore from the yoga guru.

Bengaluru's Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) vaccinated over 250 construction workers, kicking off a drive to inoculate people from the unorganised sector in line with a state government initiative. Meanwhile, in some distressing BBMP news, weak security in a critical software that's used for Covid-19 data may have helped private firms and third-party individuals to access the information of patients and their test reports.

Two Indian companies have offered to supply Russia's Sputnik V vaccine to Karnataka after the state invited bids to procure two crore Covid-19 vaccine doses to propel the vaccination drive that has faltered due to a severe shortage of jabs.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India announced that the CA Intermediate, final and PQC examinations for May 2021 would be held from July 5, 2021.

A viral WhatsApp message claimed that Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier said that there was no chance of survival for people who had received any of the Covid-19 vaccines. The message attributed multiples quotes to him and shared a link to an article to back the claim. This fact-check analysed the elements of the message and determined that it was a hoax.