Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Confident Of Getting EMA's Approval In A month For Covishield, Says SII Chief Adar Poonawalla
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: US' National Institute of Health said that India's Covid vaccine 'Covaxin' developed by Bharat Biotech effectively neutralises both Alpha and Delta variants of Coronavirus.
Gyms to reopen in the state with 50% strength from tomorrow. "We thank our CM for the decision. We are going through a very bad situation. We will try our best to follow all COVID protocols" says a Gym owner in Kolkata.
The national capital on Wednesday reported 94 fresh coronavirus cases at a positivity rate of 0.12 per cent and six more fatalities. The recoveries outnumbered fresh Covid cases yet again, with 240 patients recovering in the last 24 hours.
With the fresh cases, Delhi's COVID-19 case count increased to 14,34,188 on Wednesday. The death toll from the pandemic stands at 24,977, the bulletin said. The case fatality rate is 1.74 per cent.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said the national capital has not reported any case of Delta plus variant of COVID-19 so far, adding that there is no communication from the Centre to make any special arrangement to deal with it.
He said a genome sequencing lab to detect the variants of coronavirus will become operational at Lok Nayak Hospital within a week.
Vaccine major Serum Institute of India is confident of receiving approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in a month, company's chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said on Wednesday.
"The EMA is absolutely correct in asking us to apply, which we have through AstraZeneca, our partners, a month ago, and that process has to take its time. An approval process even with UK MHRA, WHO took its time and we have applied to the EMA," Poonawalla said at India Global Forum 2021.
Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs 6.29-lakh crore relief package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to support the pandemic-hit economy.
As part of the package to support the COVID-19 pandemic-hit economy, Sitharaman had on Monday announced Rs 1.5 lakh crore of additional credit for small and medium businesses, more funds for the healthcare sector, loans to tourism agencies and guides, and waiver of visa fee for foreign tourists.
Partial lockdown to continue in Odisha till July 16th. 20 districts of the state, having a positivity rate of less than 5% will have no weekend shutdown, only night curfew from 6pm to 6am will continue: Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra
The Laxmi Nagar main market and some nearby marketplaces have been closed by the east Delhi district administration till July 5 following violation of COVID-19 protocols there, officials said.
In an order issued on Tuesday, Sonika Singh, chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (east district), said the market association and shopkeepers in the main bazaar of Laxmi Nagar were "unable to ensure Covid protocols (compliance) on last Sunday (June 27) due to large footfall".
India believes there is an urgent need for carrying out "major reforms" in the World Health Organization to ensure a timely, focused and effective response to potential future pandemics, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a meeting of the health ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries through video-conference, he said the global crisis arising out of COVID-19 pandemic is further compounded by ever-evolving new variants of the virus, and highlighted the need for greater collaboration between countries on various aspects of health to defeat it.
Negative RTPCR certificate not older than 72 hrs or vaccination certificate of at least 1 dose of COVID vaccine compulsory for passengers coming to Karnataka by flight,bus, train, taxi, etc. Also applicable for all flights originating from Maharashtra to Karnataka: Karnataka Govt
Supreme Court directs the Union of India to frame guidelines to pay ex-gratia compensation to the families of those who died due to COVID19
District Magistrate, East Delhi on Wednesday said that Laxmi Nagar main market and surrounding markets like Mangal Bazaar, Vijay Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Jagatram Park, Guru Ramdas Nagar shut till 10pm of 5th July for not following COVID19 appropriate behaviour
The central government has issued an advisory to all the state governments and Union Territory administrations, asking to ensure the process of relaxing the restrictions is “carefully calibrated”. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla while elaborating the advisory on COVID-19 management for the month of July said that the five-fold strategy should be followed for effective COVID-19 management.
"I would, therefore, urge you to issue directions to the districts and all other authorities concerned to take necessary measures as advised by the health ministry in its letter dated June 28 for the management of COVID-19. I would also advise that the orders issued by the respective state governments, UT administrations, district authorities in this regard should be widely disseminated to the public and the field functionaries for their proper implementation," he said.
Covid Task Force chief VK Paul has said that the Moderna has been granted restricted emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine in India. With this, India now has four covid vaccines that will be used in vaccination drive.
India's Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, effectively neutralises both Alpha and Delta variants of coronavirus, the US' National Institute of Health has said.
The NIH said results of two studies of blood serum from people who had received Covaxin suggest that the vaccine generates antibodies that effectively neutralise the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.617 (Delta) variants of SARS-CoV-2, first identified in the UK and India, respectively.
The top American health research institute also said that an adjuvant developed with funding from it has contributed to the success of the highly efficacious Covaxin, which has been administered to roughly 25 million people till date in India and elsewhere. Adjuvants are substances formulated as part of a vaccine to boost immune responses and enhance a vaccine's effectiveness.
The US House of Representatives has expressed solidarity with India in its fight against the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and in a resolution urged the Biden administration to urgently facilitate Covid assistance to India.
The bipartisan resolution, co-authored by Congressmen Brad Sherman and Steve Chabot that had 41 co-sponsors, recognised that when the US was in the midst of a devastating spike in Covid cases, India lifted its export ban on certain therapeutics in response to a request by the US government.
The resolution recognised that India's pharmaceutical industry is a vital part of the global solution to the pandemic, especially for much of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and is the world's biggest producer of Covid vaccines having exported 66.36 million doses to 93 countries and accounting for over half of global vaccine manufacturing.
Background
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Wednesday June 30: India's Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, effectively neutralises both Alpha and Delta variants of coronavirus, the US' National Institute of Health has said. Meanwhile, The US House of Representatives has expressed solidarity with India in its fight against the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and in a resolution urged the Biden administration to urgently facilitate Covid assistance to India.
Nearly half or 49% of the 60 and above population has been vaccinated with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. The percentage is 42% for those between 45 to 59 and 15% for those between 18-44 years. Total vaccine doses administered so far crossed the 33 crore mark on Tuesday.
- - - - - - - - - Advertisement - - - - - - - - -