scholarly journals Tracking the spread of COVID-19 in India via social networks in the early phase of the pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarita Azad ◽  
Sushma Devi

Abstract Background The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has spread worldwide via international travel. This study traced its diffusion from the global to national level and identified a few superspreaders that played a central role in the transmission of this disease in India. Data and methods We used the travel history of infected patients from 30 January to 6 April 6 2020 as the primary data source. A total of 1386 cases were assessed, of which 373 were international and 1013 were national contacts. The networks were generated in Gephi software (version 0.9.2). Results The maximum numbers of connections were established from Dubai (degree 144) and the UK (degree 64). Dubai’s eigenvector centrality was the highest that made it the most influential node. The statistical metrics calculated from the data revealed that Dubai and the UK played a crucial role in spreading the disease in Indian states and were the primary sources of COVID-19 importations into India. Based on the modularity class, different clusters were shown to form across Indian states, which demonstrated the formation of a multi-layered social network structure. A significant increase in confirmed cases was reported in states like Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh during the first phase of the nationwide lockdown, which spanned from 25 March to 14 April 2020. This was primarily attributed to a gathering at the Delhi Religious Conference known as Tabliqui Jamaat. Conclusions COVID-19 got induced into Indian states mainly due to International travels with the very first patient travelling from Wuhan, China. Subsequently, the contacts of positive cases were located, and a significant spread was identified in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka. The COVID-19’s spread in phase one was traced using the travelling history of the patients, and it was found that most of the transmissions were local.

Author(s):  
Sarita Azad ◽  
Sushma Devi

Social network analysis is an essential means to uncover and examine infectious contact relations between individuals. This paper aims to investigate the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from international to the national level and find a few super spreaders which played a central role in the transmission of disease in India. Our network metrics calculated from 30 January to 6 April 2020 revealed that the maximum numbers of connections were established from Dubai (degree-144) and UK (degree-64). These two countries played a crucial role in diffusing the disease in Indian states. The eigenvector centrality of Dubai is found to be the highest, and this marked it the most influential node. However, based on the modularity class, we found that the different clusters were formed across Indian states which demonstrated the forming of a multi-layered social network structure.A significant increase in the confirmed cases was reported during the first lockdown 1.0 (22 March 2020) primarily attributed to a gathering in Delhi Religious Conference (DRC) known as Tabliqui Jamaat. As of 6 April 2020, the overall structure of the network has encompassed local transmission, and it was significantly seen in the states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka. An important conclusion drawn from the presented social network reveals that the COVID-19 spread till 6 April was mainly due to the local transmission across Indian states. The timely quarantine of infected cases in DRC has not led it to spread at the level of community transmission.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. e002372
Author(s):  
Susheela Singh ◽  
Rubina Hussain ◽  
Chander Shekhar ◽  
Rajib Acharya ◽  
Melissa Stillman ◽  
...  

Abortion has been legal under broad criteria in India since 1971. However, access to legal abortion services remains poor. In the past decade, medication abortion (MA) has become widely available in India and use of this method outside of health facilities accounts for over 70% of all abortions. Morbidity from unsafe abortion remains an important health issue. The informal providers who are the primary source of MA may have poor knowledge of the method and may offer inadequate or inaccurate advice on use of the method. Misuse of the method can result in women seeking treatment for true complications as well as during the normal processes of MA. An estimated 5% of all abortions are done using highly unsafe methods and performed by unskilled providers, also contributing to abortion morbidity. This paper provides new representative abortion-related morbidity measures at the national and subnational levels from a large-scale 2015 study of six Indian states—Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The outcomes include the number and treatment rates of women with complications resulting from induced abortion and the type of complications. The total number of women treated for abortion complications at the national level is 5.2 million, and the rate is 15.7 per 1000 women of reproductive age per year. In all six study states, a high proportion of all women receiving postabortion care were admitted with incomplete abortion from use of MA—ranging from 33% in Tamil Nadu to 65% in Assam. The paper fills an important gap by providing new evidence that can inform policy-makers and health planners at all levels and lead to improvements in the provision of postabortion care and legal abortion services—improvements that would greatly reduce abortion-related morbidity and its costs to Indian women, their families and the healthcare system.


Author(s):  
Ramanan Laxminarayan ◽  
Brian Wahl ◽  
Shankar Reddy Dudala ◽  
K Gopal ◽  
Chandra Mohan ◽  
...  

Although most COVID-19 cases have occurred in low-resource countries, there is scarce information on the epidemiology of the disease in such settings. Comprehensive SARS-CoV-2 testing and contact-tracing data from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh reveal stark contrasts from epidemics affecting high-income countries, with 92.1% of cases and 59.7% of deaths occurring among individuals <65 years old. The per-contact risk of infection is 9.0% (95% confidence interval: 7.5-10.5%) in the household and 2.6% (1.6-3.9%) in the community. Superspreading plays a prominent role in transmission, with 5.4% of cases accounting for 80% of infected contacts. The case-fatality ratio is 1.3% (1.0-1.6%), and median time-to-death is 5 days from testing. Primary data are urgently needed from low- and middle-income countries to guide locally-appropriate control measures.


Author(s):  
Francesca Calò ◽  
Simone Baglioni ◽  
Tom Montgomery ◽  
Olga Biosca

AbstractThe purpose of this chapter is to provide a detailed overview of the UK legal and institutional factors at the macro-level that can be regarded as decisive for explaining the effective capacity of the country to integrate migrants, refugees and asylum seekers into the labour market. By doing so, we aim to better understand the conditions within which integration policies for migrants, refugees and asylum applicants (MRA) may take place. We begin by providing an insight into the social and cultural context of migration in the UK, firstly by looking at the history of migration and the social and political instabilities of the country. Furthermore, we investigate how legislation concerning migration and asylum has developed within the UK context across the decades and analyse how legislation has been translated by UK policymakers in recent years. We then examine the current constitutional organisation of the British state, highlighting the importance of case law in developing MRA integration. Following this, we outline key legislation concerning the integration of MRA in the British labour market. The chapter then provides a critical overview of the integration strategies (or the lack thereof) promoted at the national level, outlining the institutional challenges that affect integration. We then conclude by highlighting the possible impact that Brexit will have on an already ‘hostile environment’ for migration.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sakshi Malik ◽  
Simrit Kaur

Purpose Despite being a global public–private partnerships (PPPs) leader, India faces a vast PPP divide at a sub-national level, wherein a few states receive the majority of PPP projects, whereas other states face severe issues in attracting PPP investments. This necessitates the identification of factors that make some states attractive to PPP investors. The purpose of this study is to construct a “PPP readiness index” at the Indian state-level, which aims to assess the readiness of states for the diffusion of PPPs. Design/methodology/approach Using a quantitative method on secondary data, the study scores 17 Indian states on dimensions such as experience with PPPs, physical infrastructure, financial sector development, market conditions, institutional quality and political stability and fiscal constraints for each of the years during 2009–2018. Principal component analysis is used for assigning weights to the dimensions, thereby arriving at the composite index. Findings Results highlight that Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra offer the most favorable environment for PPPs to flourish. In contrast, Jharkhand and Bihar are laggards because they score the least and have limited PPP experience. Practical implications The index will assist the private sector in conducting a comparative analysis between state-specific PPP arrangements, thereby enabling them to make informed decisions prior to forging PPP arrangements. Further, the index will help the state governments in improving their PPP readiness by following the policies of the leading states. Social implications Improvement in PPP readiness of the states will enable higher PPP investments in infrastructure, thereby reducing infrastructure deficits. This, in turn, will lead to economic growth, development and an improvement in the quality of life. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that comprehensively analyzes the PPP readiness at a sub-national level in India.


Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 370 (6517) ◽  
pp. 691-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramanan Laxminarayan ◽  
Brian Wahl ◽  
Shankar Reddy Dudala ◽  
K. Gopal ◽  
Chandra Mohan B ◽  
...  

Although most cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have occurred in low-resource countries, little is known about the epidemiology of the disease in such contexts. Data from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh provide a detailed view into severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission pathways and mortality in a high-incidence setting. Reported cases and deaths have been concentrated in younger cohorts than would be expected from observations in higher-income countries, even after accounting for demographic differences across settings. Among 575,071 individuals exposed to 84,965 confirmed cases, infection probabilities ranged from 4.7 to 10.7% for low-risk and high-risk contact types, respectively. Same-age contacts were associated with the greatest infection risk. Case fatality ratios spanned 0.05% at ages of 5 to 17 years to 16.6% at ages of 85 years or more. Primary data from low-resource countries are urgently needed to guide control measures.


2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442098160
Author(s):  
Tomas Maltby

Air pollution in the UK has recently re-emerged as a major policy problem. Insights from the agenda-setting literature are used here to explain the extent to which air quality has become a national political issue, and a local issue in London. The article explores the development of a problem stream in which scientific experts and non-governmental actors have since the late 2000s, provided evidence related to the economic and particularly health costs of air pollution, and increasingly framed the problem as urgent. Key focusing events have also contributed to increasing media coverage and public concern. Explanations are offered for the limited policy response at the national level compared to London. The research is based on primary data which includes 16 elite interviews with key actors, manifestos from London Mayoral and UK general elections, and local and national government policy documents. In London there is broad cross-party consensus and relatively high public concern, and a mayor acting as a policy entrepreneur, able to build upon pre-existing congestion charging policy. In contrast, at the national level there is a shared understanding that air pollution constitutes a problem, but less consensus on its scale amongst the public and across political parties, fragmented policy making and responsibility for the issue and little agreement on the appropriate policy response.


Author(s):  
C. Claire Thomson

This chapter traces the early history of state-sponsored informational filmmaking in Denmark, emphasising its organisation as a ‘cooperative’ of organisations and government agencies. After an account of the establishment and early development of the agency Dansk Kulturfilm in the 1930s, the chapter considers two of its earliest productions, both process films documenting the manufacture of bricks and meat products. The broader context of documentary in Denmark is fleshed out with an account of the production and reception of Poul Henningsen’s seminal film Danmark (1935), and the international context is accounted for with an overview of the development of state-supported filmmaking in the UK, Italy and Germany. Developments in the funding and output of Dansk Kulturfilm up to World War II are outlined, followed by an account of the impact of the German Occupation of Denmark on domestic informational film. The establishment of the Danish Government Film Committee or Ministeriernes Filmudvalg kick-started aprofessionalisation of state-sponsored filmmaking, and two wartime public information films are briefly analysed as examples of its early output. The chapter concludes with an account of the relations between the Danish Resistance and an emerging generation of documentarists.


Author(s):  
Jovo Lojanica ◽  

All management standards have requirements for different aspects of improvements on the personal level, family level, company level, in business and life. What is about national level and country level? Is it possible for today’s generations to learn history of nations and of civilizations? If it is — ok, let’s apply it on actual time and people to have less problems and difficulties — especially if is actual in field of risk management. Majority of people are occupied by today’s problems. They don’t consider past and future challenges. People from each country strive for better quality, better and cleaner environment, higher safety etc. historically and today. But could we remember: How did Genghis Khan conquer many regions and how was he defeated? How did Mayas and Aztecs die out? How were Native Americans in North America drastically reduced in numbers? How did the Roman Imperium vanish? How was the Ottoman Imperium established and how it vanished? How many people were killed in the wars in XX century, etc? In all these catastrophic changes risks were not considered in an adequate way. Requirements of risk management — Principles and guidelines — ISO 31000:2009 are very consultative. They could be used on country level, national level, regional level, continental and intercontinental level.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Monica Latu Melati ◽  
Ariadne Kristia Nataya ◽  
Alfonsus Arianto Wibowo

Abstract:Semarang Chinatown  is a special  district in Semarang City  known with its chineese culture, where chineese citizen of Semarang have been living  for centuries. The sustained chineese culture in this area makes Semarang Chinatwon as an urban heritage and cultural artefact in Semarang City. The aims for this paper are to investigate the factors shaping Chinatown Semarang, the development of Chinatown Semarang from time  to time, the urban form elements in Semarang Chinatown, and the correlation between morphological components of Semarang Chinatown. This writing use some review methods, first theoritical overview to get secondary data about physical or non-physical factors forming city, second observation area such as collecting photos and interviewing to get primary data. Data review analysis use qualitative data analysis which is configure with the problems and aims that have been appointed.Keywords:elements of urban form, morphological components, history of Semarang ChinatownAbstrak: Kawasan Pecinan Semarang adalah sebuah kawasan di kota Semarang yang sangat kental dengan budaya Tionghoa. Di sinilah warga keturunan Tionghoa sejak berabad-abad silam menetap di Semarang. Adanya budaya Tionghoa yang masih sangat terjaga menjadikan Kawasan Pecinan Semarang ini sebagai kawasan urban heritage dan artefact budaya di kota Semarang. Tujuan penulisan adalah untuk menemukan faktor pembentuk Kawasan Pecinan Semarang, mengetahui perkembangan Kawasan Pecinan Semarang dari masa ke masa, mengetahui pola bentuk dan elemen kawasan pada Kawasan Pecinan Semarang, serta mengetahui kaitan antara faktor pembentuk kawasan terhadap perkembangan Kawasan Pecinan Semarang. Penulisan ini menggunakan metode kajian berupa tinjauan teori untuk memperoleh data sekunder mengenai faktor-faktor pembentuk kota baik secara fisik maupun non fisik, serta observasi lapangan berupa pengumpulan foto yang dilengkapi dengan wawancara untuk memperoleh data primer. Analisis data kajian dilakukan dengan menggunakan analisis data kualitatif yang disesuaikan dengan permasalahan dan tujuan yang telah ditetapkan.Kata kunci:Elemen Kawasan, Faktor Pembentuk Kawasan, PerkembanganSejarah Kawasan Pecinan Semarang


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