While some reports claim the mutation is capable of enhancing the infectivity of the virus, this is not well established and also does not necessarily indicate more virulence or harmfulness of the disease.
China has not yet come out with an official reaction to Biden and Kamala Harris' victory in the November 3 presidential election even though official media here are carrying out commentaries on their election.
Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China assessed data on 938 COVID-19 patients from the country's Wuhan Union Hospital. They obtained information about residual symptoms in these patients, and the results of follow up tests for viral genetic material in their body after they were discharged.
Murthy, 43, who originally hails from Karnataka, was appointed America's 19th Surgeon General by then president Barack Obama in 2014.
A notice issued to the foreign journalists on Wednesday said they can get the Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, developed by Sinopharm's China National Biotec Group. Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine has been granted conditional market approval by China's National Medical Products Administration.
Former world number one Andy Murray won his first ATP tour singles match in nearly nine months with a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-1 victory over American Tennys Sandgren in the opening round of the Zhuhai Championships.
The International Olympic Committee has been advised by the World Health Organization that there is no case for contingency plans to cancel or relocate the Tokyo 2020 Olympics over the coronavirus outbreak, the IOC's Coordination Commission head said on Friday.
It was a repeat of the 34-year-old's straight sets victory over Andy Murray in the second round of the US Open in August.
'The scheduling of Imran Khan's visit to Beijing and its focus on the J&K situation underscores that Beijing shares the Pakistani concern that tensions with India are only going to escalate further in the period ahead,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Modi has not taken India into confidence over what is happening and what has happened.' 'We have not even officially been told what the position is with respect to the land lost between Fingers 4 to 8,' observes Aakar Patel.
The shooting World Cup scheduled to be held in two parts in New Delhi in May was on Monday cancelled owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The World Cup, originally scheduled to be held from March 15-26, was postponed to May barely four days before the start of the event.
China has given conditional approval for a single dose COVID-19 vaccine, touted to be a rival to Johnson & Johnson's one-jab shot cleared by the United States drug regulator on Sunday.
'Instead of fighting over whatever will be left of the present world, the permanent members of the UN security council should have raised a little finger to arrest the death and devastation around us,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
According to the latest reports, the death toll in the deadly coronavirus has climbed to 25 with confirmed cases rising sharply to 830, mostly in Hubei province. Beijing has reported 26 cases so far.
'Magnanimity and appeasement have no place in the world of realpolitik as India has learned the hard way,' notes Vivek Gumaste in the first of a two-part column.
The two sides also decided on early operationalisation of the proposed hotline between the two armies as part of the confidence building measures, the defence ministry said.
The IMF on Tuesday projected an impressive 12.5 per cent growth rate for India in 2021, stronger than that of China, the only major economy to have a positive growth rate last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Washington-based global financial institution, in its annual World Economic Outlook ahead of the annual Spring meeting with the World Bank, said the Indian economy is expected to grow by 6.9 per cent in 2022. Notably in 2020, India's economy contracted by a record eight per cent, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said as it projected an impressive 12.5 per cent growth rate for the country in 2021.
The bilateral and Quad summits, in which Prime Minister Modi played a significant role, has sent the right message to China, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
According to The New York Times, this move means that many highly vulnerable people will begin receiving the vaccine within days. It further called the authorisation by the FDA as a 'historic turning point' as the US death toll from the Wuhan-originated virus nears 300,000.
'At the informal summit, the two leaders will have heart-to-heart discussions on overarching issues and try to build mutual trust'
'When restaurants are open, pubs are open and people are moving around, a second wave will happen because you are giving a chance for the virus to spread.'
Gandhi said a "true leader" would be completely focused on averting the massive crisis about to be unleashed by the potentially deadly virus on the country and its economy.
'Till today, we don't know what PM Modi discussed with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, but we have been told that the relations have been reset.' 'We have no evidence from China to show that anything has changed, even though India had made several gestures in preparation for Wuhan,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Xi and Modi are scheduled to hold informal summit talks on Friday evening and on Saturday.
The entrepreneur in Abhinav Bindra reckons the economies of sport will have taken a beating by the time the novel coronavirus ceases to spread its ugly tentacles, leaving the athletes in an uncertain world full of challenges. The champion athlete in him sees sport playing a "large role" on the other side of the pandemic, healing the wounds of a world ravaged by its seismic effects.
'In India, A3i is found mostly in southern India, and a few in Delhi. You don't see this strain much in, say, Gujarat or Maharashtra.'
Narrowing of differences on competing territorial claims along the un-demarcated LAC might take weeks, if not months, of hard-nosed negotiations. Without some give and take on both sides, the impasse will be hard to resolve, observes Virendra Kapoor.
World number one Rafael Nadal produced a ruthless performance to win his 75th singles title, beating Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-1 in the China Open final on Sunday.
The virus has infected over 6,71,000 people and claimed more than 33,000 lives, the highest for any country in the world.
The heavy industries ministersaid that the proposal for the auto scrappage policy was ready and all stakeholders have provided inputs, therefore its announcement was likely very soon.
Prannoy took to Twitter to express his displeasure.
China initially hesitated to congratulate Biden, a Democrat, after Republican incumbent President Donald Trump refused to concede.
The three Indian companies are Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bharat Forge Ltd and Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, the space organisation said in a statement on Friday.
'India-China economic ties are likely to take a hit in the wake of the new situation, but that also provides India with a new opportunity to strengthen its manufacturing base,' points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
The Chinese envoy said that the India-China bilateral ties can't take the strain of another Doklam episode
The highlight of the occasion, according to officials, is an address to a special gathering in the morning by President Xi Jinping, who cast himself in the mould of Mao Zedong, the founder of the Communist Party of China as it is officially called.
Residents have been advised against leaving their homes apart for four activities -- purchasing essential items, medical care or caregiving, exercise and study/work.
Marriages are are bound to happen pandemic or not.
Bayannur, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, announced a level III warning of plague prevention and control, state-run People's Daily Online reported. The suspected bubonic plague case was reported on Saturday by a hospital in Bayannur.
An outbreak of a pneumonia-like illness that started in the city of Wuhan in China has put health authorities on high alert around the world. The new coronavirus-named 2019-nCoV-is thought to have originated in the food market of the central China metropolis and has since infected more than 4,000 people worldwide.
