ChinmayC Blog

Photo: jagran.com The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) which is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses its specific mutations had convened a meeting on 26 November 2021 to assess the emerging COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529 that was first reported to World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 24, 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant that originated in India. In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant. This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other Variants Of Concern (VOCs). The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost ...

  Yes, the title ‘ Ek Doctor Ki Maut ’ (Death of a Doctor) belonged to an award-winning Hindi movie made in 1990 by well-known filmmaker Tapan Sinha (1924- 2009). In the movie the protagonist, a medical doctor played brilliantly by Pankaj Kapoor, makes a rare discovery of a vaccine for leprosy after years of painstaking research, and instead of being recognized for that he is harassed and hounded by the authorities, and the doctor gets deprived of international honour also as he was transferred to a remote village. We cannot dismiss this story as a mere work of fiction, because the movie was based on the real-life story of Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay (1931-1981) who became only the second doctor of the world to use in-vitro fertilization in childbirth. Again, instead of honouring him the then West Bengal government and the Indian Government harassed him thanks to the familiar factors of professional jealousy, manipulative politics and bureaucratic negligence making the doctor face ost...

Natural calamities, plagues, epidemics and pandemics are considered as destined acts of God while other disastrous happenings like major fires, blasts, pollution, climate change degeneration of all kinds and so on are considered acts of humans. Cases like famine come in-between: depending on the exact cause of its spread, if it was due to God-made natural disasters or man-made follies or inequalities, famine can either be God-willed or acts of humans. However, such interpretation creates a conflict of interest between believers and non-believers or atheists, because the onus on God for those acts would not be acceptable to the atheists who would say everything in the universe is in a continual state of being with only cosmic cause and effect. If we bring in Nature or Mother Nature, then, perhaps, a common ground can be reached, because Nature is indeed a state of being and its forces have always been recognized by all of humankind: that humans are nothing to the immense powers of natu...

At most times during the last few months it gets unbearable for the humans. From where the heck this unique virus has sprung up and why? First part of the question is answered easily enough: it is a novel strain of the existing Coronavirus and it has proved to be highly contagious, concentrating or rather specializing on human-human transmission. As to the ‘why’ it is very complicated, and correct answers could never ever be found. Before thinking about that part let’s get into another ‘why’. Why has it chosen the most crucial parts of the human anatomy—the Face, with its constituent profiles of the mouth and the nostrils, and the pair of hands that obeys all the basic commands of the humans? It is said that excess or too much of anything is bad for well-being and health. Therefore, as to the ‘why’ explanation it can be said that, basically, the virus aims at teaching humankind a terrible lesson for all their misdeeds, particularly in the past, perhaps, two centuries. That it has chos...