Women are great team players and collaborators, 'but they don't put themselves forward,' Dr Gagandeep Kang, the first Indian woman scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, tells Veenu Sandhu.
"In children, fortunately, infections with SARS-CoV-2 are generally not severe. There is a risk of long COVID, there is a risk of a very, very rare condition called MISC (Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome) but by and large healthy children have nothing," said Dr Gagandeep Kang, leading Indian virologist.
The endemic stage is when a population learns to live with a virus. It is very different from the epidemic stage when the virus overwhelms a population.
The World Health Organisation has issued warning against XE, a new variant of Omicron first detected in the UK.
The Kraken COVID-19 variant accounts for almost 41 per cent of all Covid infections.
The decision to remove it from the guidelines comes in the backdrop of some clinicians and scientists writing to Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan cautioning against the "irrational and non-scientific use" of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 in the country.
India's top vaccinologist Gagandeep Kang stressed the need to develop better vaccines that can deal with new variants, and strengthening of the regulatory mechanisms.
'In the earlier waves, doubling of cases was happening at an interval of 4-6 days.' 'But in the case of omicron the doubling time we are seeing is in the range of 2-4 days.'
An immune-escape Covid-19 strain coupled with the natural spike in influenza and pneumonia cases during winters may lead to a rise in hospitalisation.
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.
Experts, however, feel that given the intensity of the second wave and the high single dose coverage, India is in a good position to avoid any drastic wave in the near future.
'Since the Covid virus has a tendency to mutate, we can continue to expect new variants of the virus to emerge and keep circulating and recirculating in the communities.'
The sudden spike in cases of fever in India has claimed over 100 lives in five states, including UP, MP, Bihar, Haryana, and West Bengal. In UP, Firozabad and Mathura alone have reported 72 cases.
Experts say herd immunity is said to have been developed in a population segment if at least 50-60 per cent of those are found to have the presence of antibodies in a sero-prevalence survey.
Calling vaccination an exercise in "preparedness and prevention", the vaccinologist said the immune response that is made has nothing to fight immediately but "we train the immune system to recognise the virus if and when it comes".
'Your body will be able to deal with Omicron at any time, but it depends (on when) if you are vaccinated.'
'We were lucky, in many ways, that we got the disease late.'
The comments come as the country's COVID-19 caseload surpassed the one crore mark, though the number of daily cases and daily fatalities have been continuously coming down.
'We really need to look seriously to see if there are any local variants.'
'There will be ups and downs, and we have to plan how we live with it now.'
'All actions for COVID-19 should be the same as for other routine health conditions.' 'There is no need to report the matter in the media all the time; not on front page please.'
The bench said the Union Cabinet Secretary will be the convenor of the task force and may nominate an officer not below the rank of Additional Secretary to depute for him, when necessary.
The Omicron variant carries 'concerning' mutations that may make it more transmissible and allow it to evade immunity, scientists said on Monday, stressing that the one certainty in the uncertainty of the many things unknown is this -- COVID is not a short-term crisis and vaccines are still a critical tool.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Singh Patel, as also former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and poll strategist Prashant Kishor were among those whose phone numbers were listed as potential targets for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to the government agencies, an international media consortium reported on Monday.
The NTAGI has also stated that those having laboratory test proven SARS-CoV-2 illness should defer COVID-19 vaccination for six months after recovery, the sources said.
'You can still acquire the COVID-19 virus even if you are vaccinated.' 'But if you develop the disease, (after being vaccinated) the likelihood is that it will be mild.' 'It just makes sense to continue to take precautions, because you may be around a lot of unvaccinated people.'
'He came back from the US only to work for his country.' 'He has invested his fortunes to build this company and is married to his work.' 'Rarely does one see such commitment.'
The trial began at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle as the first participant received the investigational vaccine.
The Indian government and private firms have stepped up efforts to develop a vaccine to halt the spread of COVID-19 which has claimed over 3,700 lives with more than 1,25,000 cases in the country.
'Chances of getting the disease are not reduced, either after one dose or both doses of the vaccine.' 'And the probability of getting the infection -- you need to differentiate infection from disease -- by getting vaccinated is almost unaltered, be it single dose or two doses.' 'But your chances of developing moderate to severe disease, after getting infected, gets reduced with every dose you receive.'
'Serial testing is much more valuable than a single test which reflects just a point in time.'
Whether the third wave will ravage us depends on the pace of vaccinations, careful and calibrated opening up of establishments, and a strategy to contain the spread in specific states or pockets.
Only half India's population has received the first shot of Covishield and Covaxin and the government's immediate task is to first vaccinate its adult population before placing its focus on children.
'Essentially there are three things the government should be doing: Identify who you are going to get your vaccine from, figure out how you are going to pay for it, and figure out how you're going to deliver it and to whom.'
'Where did this fungus suddenly come from and get all over the country?'
The Paytm employee, who tested positive for the contagious disease with flu like symptoms on Wednesday, came in touch with 91 people in Gurgaon, an official said, citing his counterpart in the suburban town.
An entirely preventable disease claimed the life of 173 children -- thanks to state apathy.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances