Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: West Bengal Govt Extends COVID Restrictions In State Till August 31
Coronavirus LIVE, August 13, Friday: India’s Cumulative COVID Vaccination Coverage has exceeded 52.89 crore. More than 50 lakh (50,77,491) Vaccine Doses were administered in last 25 hours.
Mumbai: Maharashtra has reported two more deaths of patients infected with the worrisome Delta Plus Covid-19 virus variant, taking the toll to five, with the number of patients standing at 66 till date, officials said.
Ratnagiri has recorded two deaths while one each was reported from Mumbai, Raigad, and Beed, leaving health officials concerned.
All the deceased were senior citizens above 65 years with various comorbidities, and two were fully vaccinated and two not inoculated, while the status of the fifth victim is being ascerined.
A 69-year-old man diagnosed with Delta Plus succumbed in Raigad's Nagothane, while a middle-aged woman infected by the same variant is under treatment in nearby Uran town.
Late on Thursday, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received the Delta Plus positive sample reports of a 60-year-old woman from the eastern suburbs of the city, who had passed away on July 24.
Prior to that, the first patient of Delta Plus in the state - an 80-year-old man - had expired in Ratnagiri on June 25, and two patients, one each from Ratnagiri and Beed have also fallen victims to the new variant, said the officials.
On Wednesday, the Maharashtra Health Department had pegged the number of Delta Plus variant patients in the state at 66 - of whom 61 are fully recovered till date, as per data from the Institute of Genomics Integrative Biology lab.
Amongthese 66, the highest (13) are from Jalgaon, followed by 12 from Ratnagiri, 11 from Mumbai, six each in Thane and Pune, three in Palghar and Raigad, two each in Nanded, and Gondia, and one each from Sindhudurg, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Sangli, Beed, Nandurbar, Akola, and Chandrapur.
The patients include 34 women and 32 men, and a whopping 33 cases - or nearly half - of those infected are in the 19-45 age group, while 17 are 46-60 years and seven in above-60 age group.
As a precaution, the Health Department has started searching for the close contacts of these infectees on a war footing, besides ascertaining their travel history, vaccination status, recent medical status and other relevant details to prevent more infections, said the officials. (IANS)
New Delhi: The second wave of Coronavirus pandemic is not yet over and the third wave depends on the Covid-19 appropriate behaviour by the people, said Randeep Guleria, the Director of Delhi AIIMS, on Friday.
"I would suggest that people should understand that the second wave of the pandemic is not over yet. Daily, we are getting more than 40,000 cases. It is important for everyone to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour. If we follow this, then another wave will not come," Dr Guleria told ANI.
The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic started in April with single day Coronavirus cases breaching four lakh mark with a spike in fatalities. The deadly wave, however, started receding in mid-May even as some experts warned of a subsequent wave in August-September.
The AIIMS chief, however, said the impact could be lesser.
"If the third wave comes, then also it will be mild only if people follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour," said Dr Guleria, at a function while inaugurating a CISF-organised blood donation camp under 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' initiative to mark the 75 years of of India's independence.
"No better service than blood donation to celebrate India's 75 years. About 1500 people have donated so far," he said.
Earlier, IITs of Kanpur and Hyderabad had also predicted another outbreak or the third wave of Covid-19 around mid-August, saying it may peak up in October depending on the type of the virus' variant. If it's more infectious, then cases can increase like the first wave, the premier institutes had predicted.
In an interview with ANI, Gagandeep Kang, a top Indian microbiologist and virologist said that the third wave depends on the type of virus' variants or strains. "I think a lot depends on whether the wave is driven by variants, or driven by strains, if it's driven by variants, then it becomes very difficult to predict what numbers are likely to be," Dr Kang told ANI.
She also said that if the wave is driven by strain then the number of cases will be low. "If it's driven by strains, then we know that numbers are likely to be low. I am actually not very sure about the timing of the third wave or whether we will have the third wave in August or September at all," Dr Kang added.
The coronavirus was first detected in China's Wuhan in 2019 and the virus has swept the world since then. There have been 204,644,849 confirmed cases of the infection, including 4,323,139 deaths, reported to WHO.
"We know that this is a virus that is dependent on the environment and I think what we are seeing from other parts of the world is that there may be some seasonal elements to this virus. We have to go through another winter and see that how this plays out, in determining how much we see and when," said Kang said. India on Friday reported 40,120 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
West Bengal government has extended the COVID-19 restrictions in the state till August 31, 2021.
Tamil Nadu reports 1,933 fresh COVID cases, 1,887 discharges, and 34 deaths today
Active cases: 20,411
Total discharges: 25,30,096
Death toll: 34,462
Centre has released 35 percent of the amount under the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness (ECRP-II) Package to the states to improve health infrastructure: Union Health Ministry.
Chinese researchers at the World Health Organization-led team probing the origins of the coronavirus pandemic pushed against the lab-leak theory, said a WHO scientist, who led the group, in a Danish documentary.
A team of experts from the WHO, led by Embarek spent four weeks in China, in January, to investigate whether Covid-19 is the result of a lab-leak. Their report, in March, concluded that a laboratory leak was "extremely unlikely".
Scientists have developed a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate that mimics the shape of the virus to trigger robust antibody response in animals. In the study published in the journal ACS Central Science, the researchers immunised mice with nanoparticles that mimic SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, by displaying multiple copies of the receptor binding domain (RBD) antigen.
Most protein-based vaccines train the immune system to recognise the RBD, a portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which the virus uses to enter and infect human cells. The spike protein binds to the ACE-2 receptor on host cell surfaces, that acts as a gateway for the entry of the virus. However, not all vaccines elicit both antibody and T cell responses, both of which are thought to be important for longer-lasting immunity.
The researchers from the University of Chicago, US, had previously developed a vaccine delivery tool called polymersomes -- self-assembling, spherical nanoparticles that can encapsulate antigens and adjuvants -- and then release them inside immune cells. Adjuvents are helper molecules that boost the immune response. Polymersomes trigger robust T cell immunity, the researchers said.
The team wondered if they could further improve the antibody response by engineering the nanoparticles to mimic viruses by displaying multiple copies of the RBD on their surfaces. The researchers made polymersomes that were similar in size to SARS-CoV-2 and decorated them with many RBDs.
After characterising the nanoparticles in lab, they injected them into mice, along with separate polymersomes containing an adjuvant, in two doses that were three weeks apart. For comparison, they immunised another group of mice with polymersomes that encapsulated the RBD, along with the nanoparticles containing the adjuvant.
Although both groups of mice produced high levels of RBD-specific antibodies, only the surface-decorated polymersomes generated neutralising antibodies that prevented SARS-CoV-2 infection in cells. Both the surface-decorated and encapsulated RBDs triggered robust T cell responses, the researchers said.
Although the new vaccine still needs to be tested for safety and efficacy in humans, it could have advantages over mRNA vaccines with regard to widespread distribution in resource-limited areas, they said. That is because the surface-decorated polymersomes are stable and active for at least six months with refrigeration, the researchers said. In contrast, mRNA vaccines require subzero temperature storage, they added.
Maharashtra has reported three deaths due to the Delta plus variant of COVID-19. The three deaths were reported in Ratnagiri, Mumbai and Raigad. This comes after the Maharashtra Health Department on Wednesday informed that cases of Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 had reached 65 in the state.
The global coronavirus caseload has topped 205.3 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.33 million and vaccinations soared to over 4.57 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 36,305,005 and 619,098, respectively, according to the CSSE.
In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 32,077,706 cases.
FDA authorizes third dose of Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines for high-risk groups
Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital says, "Out of 2,000 beds, 1,000 beds have been occupied by non-COVID patients. We are daily admitting 100-110 non-COVID patients. Bed occupancy by such patients is increasing."
The COVID-related restrictions in West Bengal were extended till August 30 with relaxations in the curbs during the night hours, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday.
"The COVID situation in Bengal is quite good but the danger of the third wave is still lurking. This is one of the reasons we have not allowed local trains," Banerjee said, addressing a press conference.
She said that local trains could have been allowed to operate if the state received enough vaccines to inoculate the rural people with at least one dose. "We have decided to extend the ongoing COVID restrictions for 15 more days till August 30," she added.
India’s Cumulative COVID Vaccination Coverage has exceeded 52.89 crore (52,89,27,844). More than 50 lakh (50,77,491) Vaccine Doses were administered yesterday, as per the 7 pm provisional report. 27,83,649 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 4,85,193 vaccine doses given as second dose in the age group 18-44 years today.
Background
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, August 13, Friday: India’s Cumulative COVID Vaccination Coverage has exceeded 52.89 crore. More than 50 lakh (50,77,491) Vaccine Doses were administered in last 25 hours.
According to the Union Health Ministry, 27,83,649 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 4,85,193 vaccine doses given as second dose in the age group 18-44 years today. Cumulatively, 18,76,63,555 persons in the age group 18-44 years across 37 States/UTs have received their first dose and total 1,39,23,085 have received their second dose since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive.
Five States namely Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than 1 Crore Cumulative Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine in the age group 18-44 years. Also, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have vaccinated more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for the first dose of COVID vaccine.
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