In Focus by The Hindu

Besides the obvious news point in the Prime Minister’s video address on Friday, there’s more to discuss about the staggered exit from the 21-day lockdown that the PM discussed with Chief Ministers on Thursday, and we’ll give you a broad overview of the factors that need to be taken into consideration in this regard. Our Tamil Nadu Chief of Bureau Ramya Kannan joins us in this discussion.

We also have an update on the latest COVID-19 numbers in India and a quick explainer from our Deputy Science Editor Jacob Koshy on whether the BCG vaccine could indeed give us an immunological advantage in the battle against the novel coronavirus, as an academic study has claimed.

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To start off the 14th episode of our daily updates on COVID-19, U.S. Correspondent Sriram Lakshman describes the alarming numbers being reported in the United States — over 120,000 cases, with New York City death toll alone passing 1,000 — the response of the Trump administration and the economic impact that is already being felt by millions.

We round it with quick updates by National Editor Suhasini Haidar on Prime Minister Modi’s call with Chief Ministers on Thursday to discuss a coordinated strategy for coming out of the 21-day lockdown, and Strategic Affairs Editor Atul Aneja, who is reporting on a looming problem in the Gulf countries — 23 Indians were diagnosed with COVId-19 in Kuwait on Thursday.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic relentlessly sweeps across the globe, many countries are in some form of lockdown with people being asked to stay at home and limit all forms of social interaction. With the national lockdown in India, we may have just started on a trend that many now say could be the ‘new normal’ for social interaction. This episode explores the question of mental health at a time like this, the toll that anxiety about the pandemic takes on people, the sense of isolation felt by many and what all of us can do to protect our general mental well being.

Interview by Zubeda Hamid, Reporter, The Hindu

Guest: Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Psychiatrist, Founder of Sneha (a helpline for the suicidally inclined), and WHO Consultant.

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Over the past few days, pictures and videos have come streaming in of migrants anxious to go back to their homes after the announcement of a national lockdown. In this episode we look ahead to the possible ramifications — the potential radius of the virus’ spread based on known patterns of migration, the disruption in the labour market that we will see now and what we can to provide more security for migrant workers to avoid such situations, both in the long term or in the short term in case of another lockdown being imposed.

Guest: Chinmay Tumbe, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Author of India Moving: A History of Migration

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In this 13th episode of our daily updates on COVID-19, we discuss a strange development from the press briefing held by the Ministry of Health today, where questions were only allowed from Doordarshan and ANI. What caused this turn of events and what can we read into it? We also have updates on the Tablighi Jamaat hotspot that is throwing up cases all over the country, foreign funding invited for the PM Care Fund and assorted international developments.

(Recorded on April 1, 2020)

Guests: Jacob Koshy, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu; Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu

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We start this show with a discussion around the Tablighi Jamaat congregation which took place earlier in the month which has unfortunately emerged as a major nodal point of infections. Cases in six States now can be directly traced to the event. A blame game broke out today over it but we analyse both sides of the story. Plus we get the latest updates on the number of cases in India, what we can read into the rate of the increase and a debate about whether we need to be wearing masks.

(Recorded on March 31, 2020)

Guests: Jacob Koshy, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu; Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu

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Guest: Dr. Faheem Younus, Chief Quality Officer and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Maryland, U.S.

Host: Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu

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As Indian crosses 1,000 cases the coming week is set to be crucial. There has not been a sharp exponential rise in cases though that has to be qualified by low testing numbers so far, but could there be signs now that such a sharp rise may be avoided. In collaboration with The Hindu's data teams today, we discuss an inter-country comparison of the rising 'curve' of infections and discuss which trend we may be following. We also discuss the latest responses from the government and Health Ministry.  Srinivasan Ramani Jacob Koshy Guests: Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National Editor, The Hindu, Jacob Koshy, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu

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The COVID-19 pandemic presents unprecedented challenges for journalists, both while covering events on the ground as well as in trying to assimilate reams of scientific information as it comes in and delivering it in an accessible way to the reader.

In this podcast, we address the challenges of reporting on a pandemic, what to look for behind sensational headlines and projections, and what questions we need to be asking of healthcare systems and the government.

Guest: Thomas Abraham, senior journalist and professor of Journalism at University of Hong Kong; author of Twenty First Century Plague, the Story of SARS and Polio: The Odyssey of Eradication

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As much of the world continues to be devastated by the COVID-19 contagion, work has started in a handful of labs around the world to create a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus. These efforts are progressing at unprecedented speeds thanks to international collaboration between scientists but a vaccine is still thought to be at least a year away.

In this episode we take a detailed look at the various stages that through which a vaccine must go before it can be widely distributed, and the pioneering clinical trials currently underway.

Guest: Dr. Gautam Dey, Cell Biologist, University College London

Also read: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/the-vaccine-was-rapidly-synthesised-as-novel-coronavirus-sequence-was-available/article31129228.ece

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