This means fully vaccinated Indian passengers will no longer be subjected to a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine on their arrival in Britain.
'If we again become complacent at the end of the second wave, we are going to suffer more as it will be even more intense.'
On when vaccination for children could start as Zydus Cadila's Covid vaccine has been granted emergency use authorisation for those 12-year-old and above, he said children were not being inoculated against COVID-19 on a large scale anywhere in the world though it has been initiated in some countries in a limited manner.
The Indian Council of Medical Research will start national-level sero surveys to assess the spread of Covid-19 and all states/Union territories should also be encouraged to conduct them so that information from all geographies can be collected, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
Poonawalla noted that reducing the timeframe would give "real relief" to the people who want to travel abroad.
When a person gets an infection even after being vaccinated against it, it is called a breakthrough case.
His visit to India followed a few cancelled plans since he took office in July 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic crisis, with the two leaders holding several virtual talks and eventually meeting in person on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last November.
A second wave of Covid driven by the Delta variant engulfed the country in May-June bringing the health system to its knees and leaving people gasping for help.
The international team of researchers combined lab-based experiments and epidemiology of vaccine breakthrough infections, showing that the Delta variant is better at replicating and spreading than other commonly-observed variants.
Drawing inspiration from the recent performance of the Indian cricket team in Australia under trying circumstances, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday asserted that India is well-poised to truly be the land of promise and hope in the post-COVID-19 world.
Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Amit Dave and the late Danish Siddiqui, who was killed last July while on assignment covering the war in Afghanistan, won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in India.
Vaccine major Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, has demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81 per cent in the Phase 3 clinical trials.
Six states and UTs have reported no new case in the last 24 hours
We are entering 2022, facing another infectious variant, with much the same baseless confidence, notes Mihir S Sharma.
India is ready, after battling the pandemic for two years, to travel once again.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan sparred on Twitter on Saturday with the Opposition leader raising questions over the emergency use approval given to the indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin and the Bharatiya Janata Party leader hitting back alleging that Tewari was only passionate about spreading rumours.
Dr Mishra further explained the effect of hybrid immunity on the vaccinated population and said that it is likely to give protection to people along with the Indian vaccines administered.
Addressing a press briefing, Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul said that though there has been an overall decline in case burden but the positivity rate is still over 10 per cent in 382 districts.
'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.'
TCS was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by ONGC, SBI, L&T, Infosys, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. The broader NSE Nifty surged hit a record high of 14,109.40.
The vaccine maker Bharat Biotech said in a statement that preliminary reviews indicated that the death was unrelated to Covaxin.
As the global debate on booster shots gathers momentum, several scientists in New Delhi said the priority must be to ensure that more people are inoculated with at least their first jab.
The number of active cases has risen to 3,40,639, comprising 1.02 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 97.65 per cent, according to the data updated by the ministry at 8 am.
The patient is currently admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital and has mild symptoms, hospital officials said.
Politics, bureaucracy, ineptitude, double-standards and an attempt to politicise the fight in pseudo-nationalistic terms have all hampered the fight against this deadly virus, says Vir Sanghvi.
Messages of congratulations, doctors posing with a victory sign for the media with their infectious smiles -- visible even under the cover of mask -- and the many 'just got jabbed' selfie by the health workers, it was a rare and happy day at the BLK hospital, which has witnessed many dreary days in the past due to the ongoing pandemic.
This apart, to further increase capacities, Bharat Biotech has partnered with Indian Immunologicals (IIL) to manufacture the drug substance for Covaxin. The technology transfer process is underway and IIL has the 'capabilities and expertise' to manufacture the inactivated viral vaccines at commercial scale.
By 2022, there is a plan to make an mRNA-technology vaccine, for which it has tied up with Canadian firm Providence Therapeutics.
The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,43,928 with 431 daily fatalities being recorded, according to data updated by the ministry at 8 am.
COVAX, 'the global COVID vaccine equity scheme', has so far delivered 65 million doses to 124 countries and economies but it is dependent on countries and manufacturers honouring their commitments.
From March 1, as many as 2,35,901 beneficiaries more than 45 years old with specific co-morbidities and 16,16,920 people aged more than 60 years have received anti-coronavirus vaccine dose, it stated.
'Ideally, the efficacy data of all the trials should be there in the public domain, and as soon as possible.' 'It is difficult to understand the reason behind the authorisation.'
The first nationwide mock drill was held on January 2 which, the health ministry said, helped to iron out any glitches in the final execution and further refinement of the operational procedures.
The average rate of COVID-19 vaccination in the country has been 10.8 million per week. At that rate, it will take India till December 2024 to complete two billion doses.
The active cases declined to 3,67,415, the lowest in 148 days, and comprise 1.14 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020.
This was stated by Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey in the House in response to a question on the number of healthcare staff, including doctors, nurses and ASHA workers who have been affected died due to COVID-19.
With 13,052 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's COVID-19 tally has gone up to 1,07,46,183, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 1,04,23,125, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul said the question of the third wave keeps coming up because the population is still 'very vulnerable' to the infection.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.04 per cent. It has been below 3 per cent for the last 19 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.13 per cent, according to the health ministry.
'We will see a kind of disaster which the country has not seen in the last 100 years.'
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