Considering the limited available evidence, the additional public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low at the global level, Singh said.
In the WHO South-East Asia region, four cases of monkeypox have been reported, three from India and one from Thailand.
"Despite huge and multiple challenges, India has been demonstrating unwavering commitment in its fight against the pandemic," said WHO's South-East Asia Regional Director, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh.
Vardhan's elevation to the chairmanship of the 34-member World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board comes amid growing calls, including by United States President Donald Trump, to investigate how coronavirus originated in China's Wuhan city and subsequent action by Beijing.
The man had attended a stag party recently in Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
Covaxin was found to have 78 per cent efficacy against COVID-19 of any severity, 14 or more days after the second dose, and is extremely suitable for low- and middle-income countries due to easy storage requirements, said the global health body.
The Indian Medical Association on Monday expressed shock over the 'blatant lie of World Health Organisation certification' for Patanjali's Coronil tablet, which the company claims is an evidence-based medicine to fight COVID-19, and demanded an explanation from Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in whose presence the medicine was launched.
The Budget outlay for health and well being is Rs 2.23 lakh crore in 2021-22 as against BE of Rs 94,452 crore and marks an increase of 137 per cent," she said while presenting 2021-22 Budget in the Lok Sabha.
India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 200-crore mark on Sunday.
The Centre has warned it is likely that the spread of the new variant will outpace the Delta variant where there is community transmission.
Two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the Union government said on Thursday while asking people not to panic but follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated without delay.
Stressing that the Covid virus may continue to transmit for a "very long time", senior WHO official Poonam Khetrapal Singh says the level of immunity in a community, through vaccination and previous infection, will determine whether it will become endemic in the long run.
The total number of doses administered in the country has crossed 78.68 crore.
The prime minister also visited the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi after the milestone was achieved and interacted with hospital officials.
We have the highest suicide rate among 10 Southeast Asian countries.
A total of 27,920 people have been cured of the disease with 1,685 in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 34.06 per cent, the ministry said.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
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.
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