Feature
First three cases of Zika Virus affected patients detected in India
New Delhi: According to World Health Organisation India has detected first three Zika Virus-affected patients, including a pregnant women in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city.
Earlier, all the three cases had been confirmed by the Union Health Ministry’s laboratories first in January 2016, then in November 2016 and the last one in January 2017. The cases were reported from Bapunagar area of Gujarat.
As per the standard protocol, the cases were brought to the knowledge of the WHO by the Health Ministry on May 15, 2017.
According to the WHO report, which was published in its website on May 26, stated that a routine laboratory surveillance detected a laboratory-confirmed case of Zika virus disease through RT-PCR test at B.J. Medical College, Ahmedabad.
As per report, “The etiology of this case has been further confirmed through a positive RT-PCR test and sequencing at the national reference laboratory, National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, on January 4, 2017. Two additional cases (case 1 and case 3) have then been identified through the Acute Febrile Illness (AFI) and the Antenatal Clinic (ANC) surveillance. The cases are reported below in chronological order.”
The first case reported was of a 64-year-old male with febrile illness of eight days (negative for dengue infection) and was found to be positive for Zika virus at the BJMC.
The second case was of a 34-year-old female, who delivered a healthy baby at the BJMC on November 9, 2016.
As said in report, “During her hospital stay, she developed a low grade fever after delivery. No history of fever during pregnancy and no history of travel for the past three months was reported.”
Initially, a sample from the patient was referred to the Viral Research & Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) at the BJMC for dengue testing, but later it tested positive for Zika virus.
She was discharged after one week, on November 16, 2016. The sample was re-confirmed as Zika virus-positive by RT-PCR and sequencing at NIV, Pune.
The third case was of a 22-year-old pregnant female in her 37th week of pregnancy.
An Inter-Ministerial Task Force has been set up under the Chairmanship of Secretary-Health and Family Welfare, together with Secretary-Bio-Technology, and Secretary-Department of Health Research.
Joint Monitoring Group, a technical group tasked to monitor emerging and re-emerging diseases, is regularly reviewing the global situation on Zika virus disease.
The National Guidelines and Action Plan on Zika virus disease have been shared with the states to prevent outbreak of the Zika virus disease and containment of spread in case of any outbreak.
All the international airports and ports have been asked to display relevant information in this regard for travellers.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has tested 34,233 human samples and 12,647 mosquito samples for the presence of Zika virus.
Among those, close to 500 mosquitos samples were collected from Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad, but those tested negative for Zika.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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