Social Policy, COVID-19 and Impoverished Migrants: Challenges and Prospects in Locked Down India

As countries shore up existing safeguards to address the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, India faces a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented proportions. Ninety per cent of the Indian workforce is employed in the unorganised sector;uncounted millions work in urban areas at great distances from rural homes. When the Government of India (GOI) announced the sudden ‘lockdown' in March to contain the spread of the pandemic, migrant informal workers were mired in a survival crisis, through income loss, hunger, destitution and persecution from authorities policing containment and fearful communities maintaining ‘social distance'. In this context, the article analyses how poverty, informality and inequality are accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic experiences of ‘locked down' migrant workers. The article examines the nature and scope of existing social policy, designed under changing political regimes and a fluctuating economic climate, to protect this vulnerable group and mitigate dislocation, discrimination and destitution at this moment and in future.

Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Laboratory Parameters, Therapeutics and Outcome in Patients Infected with SARS-CoV2.

SARS-CoV-2 is the third coronavirus to have caused severe disease in humans in the last two decades, with approximately 5% of all patients and 20% of hospitalized patients experiencing severe symptoms, necessitating intensive care. The occurrence of Cytokine Storm has been implicated in the immune-pathogenesis of severe COVID-19. This is associated with cardiac injury, precipitated by cytokine mediated imbalance of coagulation and fibrinolysis, in the lung alveoli. In the absence of proven therapeutic agents, combinations of anti-viral drugs, immune-modulators and other adjunctive therapies have been tried in different clinical settings. A total of 128 confirmed cases of severe COVID-19 admitted to BLK-MAX Super Speciality Hospital between 16th of June to 31st of July, 2020 were included in this study. The correlation of age, gender, first value (on admission) of serum IL-6 and D-dimer, and impact of Tocilizumab and Remdesivir therapy on clinical outcome (28-day mortality), was evaluated in confirmed cases of severe COVID-19. The mortality rate was highest in the age group above 70 years. The incidence of death was significantly higher in males above 50 years, when age and gender were considered together. IL-6 and D-dimer levels >70 pg/mL and > 0.5µg FEU/mL respectively, were associated with poor outcome. 85.3% of patients treated with Remdesivir showed clinical improvement. When Tocilizumab and Remdisivir were administered together, 44.0% of patients survived while 56% expired. 79.7% of patients survived while 20.3% expired when neither Tocilizumab nor Remdesivir was administered.