More than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported and they are in different stages of development. Three candidates are in advanced stage of Phase I, II and III trials, and more than four are in advanced pre-clinical development stage, Choubey said.
While this will incur a revenue loss amounting to 0.2 per cent of GDP, it will provide a strong boost to consumer sentiment and spending, points out Rajani Sinha.
The RT-PCR sample collection should have been done within 72 hours of scheduled time of landing at airports in Maharashtra, the order said.
This comes ahead of the resumption of the functioning of metro rails across the country from September 7.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98,07,569 pushing the national recovery rate to 95.92 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.
Clean toilets, colour-coded dustbins, comfortable beds, oxygen cylinders and all amenities one can expect in a top class hospital -- the first inmates of the train coaches converted into isolation wards have come away praising Indian Railways for providing a unique solution to care for suspected COVID-19 patients.
"Under the CO-JEET" plan, personnel of the three wings of the armed forces -- the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy -- have been pressed into service to help restore oxygen supply chains, set up COVID beds and provide help to the civilian administration in its fight to control the pandemic," said the Lt General, whose post of deputy chief integrated defence staff (medical) comes under the Chief of Defence Staff.
According to the latest health department bulletin, the positivity rate has also jumped to 9.55 per cent, amid the festive season and the rise in pollution level.
The railways' first such COVID-19 care centre was deployed at Shakur Basti railway stations in Delhi on May 31. It consisted of 10 coaches with a capacity of 160 beds. The coaches can be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the coronavirus care centres according to guidelines issued by the health ministry.
In a letter to states and UTs on Monday, Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Arti Ahuja advised them to pay attention to this aspect immediately and increase the testing in a strategic manner keeping in view the trend of case positivity in specific areas.
In order to bring uniformity, the need for following the existing framework for either imposition of restrictions or allowing relaxations based on the burden of disease and strain on healthcare infrastructure still remain important.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and comprising justices R S Reddy and M R Shah said that voluntary contribution can always be made to the NDRF as there is no statutory bar under the Disaster Management Act.
'We need to be on war footing defence against this virus.'
We cannot predict tomorrow, Health Minister Mandaviya said.
The weekly positivity rate has declined to 8.21 per cent. The active cases have reduced to 17,93,645 comprising 6.34 er cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 92.48 per cent.
"The idea came when one of the family members of our staff got infected from Covid and they needed medication. As you know the medicines can be expensive. At that time there were a few people who had recovered from Covid, so we decided to take their medicines and donate them," said Dr Raina.
The Union health ministry on Tuesday said that aid received from other countries has been distributed in different states to help deal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
The Centre advised nine states including Assam, Bihar, Telangana and Odisha to ramp up testing with special focus on containment zones, strictly implement containment plan, augment health infrastructure and ensure effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases.
"To make sure there isn't a Covid surge in the country, PM Modi has asked us to be careful. The government is also preparing if at the Covid cases increase. Today, mock drills are conducted across Covid hospitals in the country to make sure people get proper treatment," Mandaviya said.
IT major Infosys on Tuesday said it has seen no major impact on client deliverables due to the ongoing pandemic, and has been working proactively with clients to mitigate any potential impact. The Bengaluru-based company has also enabled vaccination for 14,150 employees and their family members through its centres, and is in the process of setting up additional facilities across its campuses in India. Besides, Infosys is providing financial support, exploring training and job opportunities for the next of kin and offering necessary assistance to support dependents of deceased staff members.
The broom, the hand or the kite, listen to the mind or the heart, 'tunnel vision voting' to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party or electing the 'right party'. With only two days to go for polling, the choice is anything but clear for Delhi's Muslims, say many voters.
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.
Asserting repeatedly that the second wave of the pandemic is not over, the government said that though the situation is plateauing, the country is still reporting as high as 20,000-odd new infections every day.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
Agarwal said that the current 'R0' or R naught for the coronavirus infection is somewhere between 1.5 and 4.
The solicitor general said that the PM CARES Fund is a 'voluntary fund'. "It is a public trust. It is a body where you can make voluntary contributions and no budgetary allocations to the NDRF or SDRF are being touched. What has to be spent will be spent," the law officer said.
"The recovery rate is 58.56 per cent amongst COVID-19 patients," the ministry said.
There are 7,72,055 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 10.23 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
The Supreme Court Thursday appreciated the Centre's step to grant ex gratia assistance to the kin of those who died due to COVID-19 saying it has to take judicial notice of the fact that what India has done, no other country has been able to do.
While the new COVID cases and total active cases are going up, the administration is focusing on testing, contact tracing and treatment.
The government's focus is on urban areas, so rural areas are neglected and the COVID situation in Bihar's villages -- neither the positive cases nor the deaths -- are reported, notes M I Khan.
It also said that the recovery rate has been improving consistently and the total recoveries have now crossed the nine lakh-mark.
The armed forces have roped in Battlefield Nursing Assistants (BFNA) to help fight the second wave of COVID-19 and have suggested that a similar model can be followed by state governments and hospitals, according to senior officials.
With projections suggesting the number of cases in the city will touch 75,000 by the end of May, civic authorities are working overtime to add to the number of beds.
The Manipal Hospital where the 77-year-old leader is admitted said he was "doing well" and "clinically stable."
Each of these medical facilities will have a capacity of 2,000 beds, including 200 ICU beds and 70 per cent oxygen beds, and they will be set up at three different locations in the city
This will facilitate availability of at least 2,400 more beds for patients in the city, the BMC said.
'You will still want to take all the necessary precautions, which is the right thing to do.'
In an effort to provide some help to over 10,000 children who lost both their parents to Covid-19, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all state governments to reach out to those kids and pay them compensation.
The chief minister said the government has also issued an order for requisition of ambulances of private hospitals, adding that the decision has been taken in the wake of shortage of state-run ambulances.
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