Appeals for ventilator beds, plasma flood social media
HIT HARD BY COVID-19, PEOPLE TURN TO ONLINE PLATFORMS FOR HELP
As the country grapples with the worst surge in Covid cases amid the lethal second wave, thousands of people across the country have flooded various social media platforms, requesting authorities and users to arrange or inform about where to find ventilator beds, plasma from recovered patients, oxygen cylinders and drugs like Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, among others.
People were posting pictures of relatives, friends and common people in dire need of ventilator beds, oxygen cylinders, plasma and life-saving injections meant for emergency use authorisation (EUA).
Desperate appeals
“Bangalore Tweeple.. Is there a bed available somewhere for a covid patient? My uncle is in dire need. O2 levels going down. Checked so many.. All beds full in Banshankari area. Anywhere in Bangalore would be fine,” Saurabh Joshi said in a tweet.
Stuti Sardana from Delhi tweeted: “Urgent help needed. A bed and oxygen cylinder are required for a Covid positive young girl who is critical. Oxygen level is going down”.
Several others asked users to inform about remdesivir, currently in short supply.
Sensing the shortage, the government has slashed the prices of the ‘life-saver’ Remdesivir injection by nearly 50 per cent, to Rs 2,450 per injection now.
In such difficult times, some came forward on social media to help those suffering.
“If you’re in isolation in #Gurgaon or have elders living alone, I can do grocery/medicine runs for you or your family. DM me the things needed and the address. I’ll get them, and leave the bag outside your door,” tweeted Abhishek Baxi.
India has reported 2,61,500 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike ever. This is the fourth consecutive day that the country has registered over 200,000 Covid cases.
UK probing variant
Amid reports that a double mutant coronavirus variant is causing the record surge, British health officials yesterday said they are investigating a Covid-19 variant originating in India but added they do not enough evidence as yet to classifyit as a variant of concern.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC television, Susan Hopkins of Public Health England (PHE) said: “We have not got enough data about this variant yet to be able to clarify whether it’s a variant of concern. We have put it as a variant under investigation.” “To escalate it up the ranking we need to know that it’s increased transmissibility, increased severity, or vaccine-evading, and we just don’t have that yet, but we’re looking at the data on a daily basis.”