Kerala's famed snake catcher survives brush with death after cobra bite


Taniya Dutta
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Kerala’s star snake catcher, Vava Suresh, has been taken off a ventilator and is on the road to recovery after being bitten by a cobra, doctors said.

Mr Suresh, 49, was bitten by a three-metre cobra on Monday while trying to capture the venomous reptile from a house in Kurichy, a village in Kottayam district.

“He is better now and coming back to normal. He is breathing on his own, by God’s grace," Dr T K Jayakumar, medical superintendent at Kottayam Medical College hospital, told The National on Thursday.

“We have taken him off the ventilator and will observe him for a few more days.

Mr Suresh has survived about 250 snake bites in his two decades as a snake catcher, which have left him with damage to his right wrist and index finger. But the latest bite almost proved fatal.

Doctors said at the hospital his heart rate had dropped to 20 per cent of normal by the time he was admitted.

Video of the incident shows the snake lunging at Mr Suresh and biting him on the thigh as he holds it by the tail and tries to put it into a sack.

Mr Suresh releases his grip on the cobra and the crowd watching him screams and scatters as the snake starts to slither away. He managed to capture it before being rushed to hospital.

Mr Suresh, who is based in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, has become well known in Kerala for his prompt response to calls for help from all over the southern coastal state, which is home to more than 100 species of snakes, including venomous ones such as the cobra, Indian krait and Russell’s viper.

At least 55 people died in more than 24,000 snake-bite incidents in Kerala between 2015 and 2019, according to government figures.

Using his self-taught skills, Mr Suresh has caught more than 38,000 snakes that strayed into human settlements and safely released them into the wild, including 200 cobras, and tries to raise pubic awareness about the reptiles and their behaviour.

Last year, he was part of an expert panel that helped to convict a man in Kerala of killing his wife by having a cobra bite her while she slept.

Sinopharm vaccine explained

The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades. 

“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.

"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."

This is then injected into the body.

"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.

"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."

The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.

Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.

“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.

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Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 4/5

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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters

The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.

 Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.

A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.

The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.

The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.

Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.

Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment

But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.

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Sand storm

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  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

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  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

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1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:28.063 (18 laps)

2. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) 1:28.095 (14)

3. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) 1:28.137 (20)

4. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari) 1:28.732 (15)

5. Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Renault)  1:29.480 (14)

Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

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FIXTURES (all times UAE)

Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)

Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)

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Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)

Cagliari v AC Milan (6pm)

Lazio v Napoli (9pm)

Inter Milan v Atalanta (11.45pm)

Sunday

Udinese v Sassuolo (3.30pm)

Sampdoria v Brescia (6pm)

Fiorentina v SPAL (6pm)

Torino v Bologna (6pm)

Verona v Genoa (9pm)

Roma V Juventus (11.45pm)

Parma v Lecce (11.45pm)

 

 

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  • King Charles - replica of President Eisenhower Sword
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  • Melania Trump - personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag
Updated: February 03, 2022, 11:05 AM