In Focus by The Hindu

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 HinduWrite to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 LondonAlso read: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/the-vaccine-was-rapidly-synthesised-as-novel-coronavirus-sequence-was-available/article31129228.ece Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The total number of COVID-19 cases in India on March 28 crossed 900 with over 180 fresh cases as well as 2 deaths being reported during the day, the highest single-day increase so far as per Union Health Ministry data. Meanwhile, on Day 4 of the national lockdown images continue to pour in of thousands of migrant labourers who have lost their daily sustenance and are now trying to walk several hundred kilometres back to their villages.Guests: Jacob Koshy, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu; Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The RBI on Friday announced measures to protect the Indian economy from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a huge repo-rate cut and a three-month moratorium on loan payments. We discuss these measures in detail and how they will help. We also discuss some directives that have come from the government today on improving surveillance on travellers who entered the country before the lockdown and on helping migrant workers.Guests: Raghuvir Srinivasan, Business Editor, The Hindu; Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest: Adam Kucharski, Associate Professor and Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Kucharski specialises in the mathematical analysis of infectious disease outbreaks.Host: Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of India’s most authoritative voices in the field of epidemiology joins us today to discuss the 21-day lockdown and whether India already has entered the community transmission phase with COVID-19 and the steps that we are to take going forward if we are to achieve a ‘herd immunity’ to the disease that can protect the young and the elderly. Guest: Dr. Jayaprakash Muliyil, Epidemiologist, former Principal, Christian Medical College, Vellore Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices