No need to fear COVID-19, thanks to acquired immunity, says Soumya Swaminathan
According to the data from the Union Health Ministry as of May 31, India saw an increase of 685 active COVID-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,395 since January. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of Scope 2025, an international conference on endoscopy organised by GEM Hospital in Chennai, Dr. Swaminathan explained that the current surge is driven by subvariants of the Omicron strain. While the virus may have undergone some mutations, the overall strain remains the same.
India and other Southeast Asian countries have reported a similar trend in slight increase of COVID-19 cases. She said that the widespread use of vaccines, and in some cases, booster shots, has provided immunity. As a result, even if someone contracts the virus, symptoms will likely be mild, such as a two-day fever, cough, headache, and body aches.
Dr. Swaminathan also recommended wearing masks when experiencing symptoms like cough, cold, or fever to prevent transmission to others. She warned that high-risk individuals — such as seniors, and those with diabetes, hypertension, or cardiac and lung conditions — should remain cautious.
She urged everyone to continue following basic precautions, including wearing masks, washing hands thoroughly upon entering the home, and avoiding spitting in public.
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The Hindu
5 minutes ago
- The Hindu
The path to ending global hunger runs through India
With global chronic undernourishment now on a downward trend, the world is beginning to turn a corner in its fight against hunger. The United Nations' newly released The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 reports that 673 million people (8.2% of the world's population) were undernourished in 2024. This is down from 688 million in 2023. Although we have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels (7.3% in 2018), this reversal marks a welcome shift from the sharp rise experienced during COVID-19. India has played a decisive role in this global progress. The gains are the result of policy investments in food security and nutrition, increasingly driven by digital technology, smarter governance, and improved service delivery. Revised estimates using the latest National Sample Survey data on household consumption show that the prevalence of undernourishment in India declined from 14.3% in 2020–22 to 12% in 2022–24. In absolute terms, this means 30 million fewer people living with hunger — an impressive achievement considering the scale of the population and the depth of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The transformation of the PDS At the centre of this progress is India's Public Distribution System, which has undergone a profound transformation. The system has been revitalised through digitalisation, Aadhaar-enabled targeting, real-time inventory tracking, and biometric authentication. The rollout of electronic point-of-sale systems and the One Nation One Ration Card platform have made entitlements portable across the country, which is particularly crucial for internal migrants and vulnerable households. These innovations allowed India to rapidly scale up food support during the pandemic and to continue to ensure access to subsidised staples for more than 800 million people. Now, progress on calories must give way to progress on nutrition. The cost of a healthy diet in India remains unaffordable for over 60% of the population, driven by high prices of nutrient-dense foods, inadequate cold chains, and inefficient market linkages. That said, India has begun investing in improving the quality of calories. For example, the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) school-feeding scheme, launched in 2021, and the Integrated Child Development Services are now focusing on dietary diversity and nutrition sensitivity, laying the foundation for long-term improvements in child development and public health. New data in the UN report also shows progress the country has made in making healthy diets more affordable despite food inflation. What is happening underscores a larger structural challenge: even as hunger falls, malnutrition, obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies are rising. This is especially so among poor urban and rural populations. The agrifood system needs transformation India can meet this challenge by transforming its agrifood system. This means boosting the production and the affordability of nutrient-rich foods such as pulses, fruits, vegetables, and animal-source products, which are often out of reach for low-income families. It also means investing in post-harvest infrastructure such as cold storage and digital logistics systems, to reduce the estimated 13% of food lost between farm and market. These losses directly affect food availability and affordability. In addition, India should further strengthen support for women-led food enterprises and local cooperatives, including Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), especially those cultivating climate-resilient crops, as these can enhance both nutrition and livelihoods. India must continue to invest in its digital advantage to drive the transformation of its agrifood systems. Platforms such as AgriStack, e-NAM, and geospatial data tools can strengthen market access, improve agricultural planning, and enhance the delivery of nutrition-sensitive interventions. A symbol of hope The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) notes that the progress of India in agrifood system transformation is not just national imperatives; they are global contributions. As a leader among developing countries, India is well-positioned to share its innovations in digital governance, social protection, and data-driven agriculture with others across the Global South. India's experience shows that reducing hunger is not only possible but that it can be scaled when backed by political will, smart investment, and inclusion. With just five years left to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) on ending hunger, India's recent performance gives this writer hope. But sustaining this momentum will require a shift from delivering sustenance to delivering nutrition, resilience, and opportunity. The hunger clock is ticking. India is no longer just feeding itself. The path to ending global hunger runs through India, and its continued leadership is essential to getting us there. Maximo Torero Cullen is Chief Economist, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Study finds COVID-19 may have aged blood vessels by 5 years, especially among women
New Delhi: A COVID-19 infection could age one's blood vessels by about five years, especially among women, according to a new study. The effect was found to be stronger among women who experienced persistent symptoms after recovering from COVID-19 -- collectively termed 'long Covid' -- such as shortness of breath and fatigue. "Since the pandemic, we have learned that many people who have had (COVID-19) are left with symptoms that can last for months or even years. However, we are still learning what's happening in the body to create these symptoms," lead researcher Rosa Maria Bruno from Universite Paris Cite, France, said. The study, published in the European Heart Journal, looked at around 2,400 people -- about half were women -- from across 16 countries, including Australia, Brazil and those in Europe. While blood vessels are known to become stiffer with age, a COVID-19 infection can accelerate the process and can heighten the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack, the researchers said. The participants' vascular (blood vessel) age was measured using a device that looks at how quickly a wave of blood pressure travels between the carotid artery (in the neck) and femoral arteries (in the legs) -- called 'carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity'. A higher value indicates more stiffness and ageing of blood vessels. Measurements were taken six months after a COVID-19 infection and again after 12 months. An increase in pulse wave velocity of around 0.5 metres per second is clinically relevant and roughly amounts to ageing by five years, with a three per cent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, in a 60-year-old woman, the researchers said. The study found that, on average, pulse wave velocity among women who had a mild infection was increased by 0.55 metres per second, by 0.60 metres per second in those hospitalised and by over one metre per second for women treated in intensive care. "(Pulse wave velocity) differences were significant in women, but not in men. Among COVID-19 positive women, persistent symptoms were associated with higher (pulse wave velocity)," the authors wrote. "A stable or improved (pulse wave velocity) after 12 months was found in COVID-positive groups, whereas a progression was observed in the COVID-negative group," they wrote. Explaining how COVID-19 impacts blood vessels, Bruno said that the disease-causing virus "acts on specific receptors in the body, called the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors, that are present on the lining of the blood vessels." "The virus uses these receptors to enter and infect cells. This may result in vascular dysfunction and accelerated vascular ageing. Our body's inflammation and immune responses, which defend against infections, may also be involved," the lead researcher said. Further, compared to men, women are known to produce a more rapid and robust immune response which can protect from infection but can also inflict damage on blood vessels after initial infection, Bruno said. In a related editorial, published in the European Heart Journal, researchers from Harvard Medical School in the US wrote, "Although the acute threat of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has waned, a new challenge emerged in its aftermath: post-acute COVID-19 syndrome." The study highlights that "COVID-19's vascular legacy is real, measurable, and with a plausible likelihood of sex-specific findings," they wrote. "COVID-19 has aged our arteries, especially for female adults. The question is whether we can find modifiable targets to prevent this in future surges of infection, and mitigate adverse outcomes in those afflicted with COVID-19-induced vascular ageing," the authors said.>
The Hindu
6 hours ago
- The Hindu
How technology can help ease dementia diagnosis and care burden in India
Dementia is a growing problem, particularly in a country like India, which has a rapidly ageing population. Awareness, diagnosis and access to care however, continue to remain limited. Can digital and assistive technologies help? Researchers and doctors say there is a lot of potential, but the challenge is, in making them affordable for patients. The burden According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 55 million people worldwide live with dementia, with nearly 10 million new cases added annually. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form, contributing to 60–70% of cases. Low- and middle-income countries, including India, bear the greatest burden, with dementia prevalence expected to triple by 2050 due to demographic ageing. Emerging technologies 'In India, assistive and digital technologies are emerging as force multipliers,' said Prabash Prabhakaran, director and senior consultant, neurology, SIMS Hospital, Chennai. These range from GPS trackers and low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) wearables for patients who wander or leave their designated areas, to home sensors that monitor movement, appliance usage, or medication adherence. Smartwatches and wearable devices for activity, sleep and fall detection are becoming more common, while smartphone-based cognitive screening apps and gamified brain-training tools are in validation stages. Virtual reality modules are also being piloted, designed in vernacular languages and Indian cultural settings for reminiscence therapy and navigation training. At the research frontier, Indian centres are developing blood-based biomarker panels for early Alzheimer's detection, alongside AI-driven multimodal digital biomarkers that combine gait, speech, typing patterns and passive smartphone signals. 'Earlier and scalable detection is becoming possible because smartphone penetration is high, even among older households,' Dr. Prabhakaran explained. Studies have shown that keystroke dynamics, speech analysis and passive phone use can serve as unobtrusive early-warning signals. Sindhuja L., consultant neurophysician at V.S. Hospitals, Chennai, said AI now picks up subtle changes 'in brain scans, speech or even handwriting that escape the human eye.' She noted that digital biomarkers such as walking speed and reaction time are being captured on tablets and smartphones, even by mobile health units visiting rural communities. Dr. Prabhakaran stressed that these technologies are not replacements for clinical diagnosis, but 'powerful early detection and monitoring tools, especially valuable in India where clinic-based testing is episodic.' Easing caregiver stress 'Dementia disrupts daily living, independence, and safety while burdening caregivers. Assistive technologies help maintain independence and reduce stress,' Dr. Prabhakaran said. In practice, families are using GPS trackers, pill-box alarms, fall detectors, and voice-assisted reminders. Smart-home solutions, such as motion-triggered lights and automatic stove shut-offs, are now feasible in urban settings. Therapeutic tools also show promise. Virtual reality reminiscence therapy has allowed patients to revisit festivals or familiar neighbourhoods, sparking positive memories. 'When families join in brain-training games in local languages, they turn into a shared, engaging activity instead of a medical routine,' Dr. Sindhuja said. Gaps and digital-first solutions Nearly two-thirds of India's older adults live in rural areas, where dementia specialists are scarce. 'Travel distance, cost, stigma, and shortage of trained specialists mean many cases remain undiagnosed or untreated,' Dr. Prabhakaran said. Here, telemedicine, remote monitoring, and community-driven digital platforms offer a bridge. Accredited frontline health workers can use smartphone screening apps, while caregivers rely on WhatsApp-based peer groups for emotional and practical support. Dr. Sindhuja emphasised that 'scheduled video calls or remote monitoring can catch problems before they escalate, making care less isolating.' High costs, lack of insurance, and uneven after-sales support remain critical hurdles. 'Most advanced devices are imported and unaffordable for average families,' said Dr. Sindhuja. In rural areas, poor connectivity worsens access. Cultural barriers also persist, as memory loss is still seen as part of normal ageing, leading to delayed care-seeking. Considering these challenges, Sridhar Vaitheeswaran, consultant psychiatrist and the head of DEMCARES (Dementia Care in SCARF) at the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) in Chennai, said the Foundation, in collaboration with Imperial College London, has been working on technologies like the humanoid robot to assist people living with dementia, offering companionship and cognitive support. SCARF is also developing virtual reality services and using platforms such as Zoom to help patients connect with their families. The aim is to improve these tools and create more seamless ways for people with dementia to stay engaged and supported. Need for subsidies Dr. Prabhakaran called for policy interventions including subsidies, insurance inclusion, and local-language adaptation. He proposed 'digital dementia corners' at primary health centres, equipped with tablets, VR stations, and screening kiosks. Doctors emphasised the need for public–private partnerships to localise production, ensure affordability, and drive awareness campaigns in regional languages. Towards a national dementia-tech ecosystem A wide range of assistive technologies is used globally-- In Japan, scannable QR codes and wearable barcodes are widely used to help locate individuals who wander. The U.K. promotes the use of reminder clocks, smart home sensors and medication dispensers through the National Health Services and dementia charities. In the U.S., devices like AngelSense integrate GPS tracking, two-way communication and fall detection, offering comprehensive monitoring. Australia supports telecare systems and simplified tablets for memory and social engagement. Sweden and the Netherlands are pioneers in using smart homes and robotic companions for dementia care, incorporating AI and ambient monitoring. These innovations, however, remain out of reach for most Indian families. The challenge, experts argue, is not just scientific but systemic, ensuring that validated, affordable, culturally relevant technologies reach homes across India. The path forward lies in scalable, inclusive technology, integrated with grassroots healthcare and caregiver networks. As Dr. Prabhakaran explained, 'Assistive devices, GPS trackers, smart-home solutions, and therapeutic tools are not luxuries: they are critical enablers of safer, more independent living. With proper validation, affordability, and integration into national elder-care programmes, these technologies can transform dementia care in the coming decade.'
