One 'severe' and 51 'minor' cases of AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) were reported among healthcare workers who were administered the coronavirus vaccine in Delhi on the first day of the COVID-19 vaccination drive on Saturday, official figures showed.
People must be vigilant, follow all safety norms and not let a sense of complacency set in, several doctors said a day after the positivity rate in the city was --- the highest in two months.
The SARS-CoV-2 sero-positivity rate among children is high and comparable to the adult population and hence, it is unlikely that any future third wave of the prevailing COVID-19 variant would disproportionately affect children aged two years and above, according to the interim findings of an ongoing study conducted in the country.
The doctor said this is his way of sending across a message to everybody to not reject these patients, whom he termed as "COVID angels".
Strict lockdown-like restrictions are already in place in the southern stateand the Pinarayi Vijayan government decided to clamp the complete shutdown in the wake of severe spike in the positive cases.
The ongoing lockdown in force in other parts of the state will continue during which essential supplies like groceries, vegetables, fruits and milk will be available to the people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, which is aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing and exports, is expected to increase the country's production by $520 billion in the next five years. Addressing a webinar on PLI scheme, organised by Department of Industry and International Trade (DPIIT) and NITI Aayog, through video conference, Modi said the government is continuously carrying out reforms to boost domestic manufacturing. In this year's Budget, about Rs 2 lakh crore was earmarked for the PLI scheme for the next five years and "there is an expectation that the scheme would result in increasing the production by about $520 billion in the next five years", he said. He added that there is also an expectation that the current workforce in the sectors, which will avail the benefits of the PLI scheme, will be doubled and job creation will also increase.
Mandatory prescription of generic names is not a complete solution. Rather, in the absence of a range of approaches, it could mean passing the choice of selecting a drug from a doctor to a pharmacist, says Chandrakant Lahariya.
The government is targeting 1,200 technical collaborations between Japanese companies and Indian investors for over Rs 42,000 crore, 200 joint ventures with overseas investors for Rs 14,000 crore, and another Rs 14,000-crore investment from about 50 multinational companies.
This means fully vaccinated Indian passengers will no longer be subjected to a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine on their arrival in Britain.
The number of active cases in the country stands at 1,33,632, while 1,35,205 people have recovered.
A government committee that is looking into the possibility of pre-marketing price negotiation for patented medicines is likely to recommend a lenient view on such medicines, it is learnt. A government committee that is looking into the possibility of pre-marketing price negotiation for patented medicines is likely to recommend a lenient view on such medicines, it is learnt.
The Department of Telecom on Tuesday approved applications of telecom companies -- Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL -- for conducting 5G trials but none of them will be using technologies of Chinese entities. The list of telecom gear makers approved for trials include Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, C-DOT and Reliance Jio's indigenously developed technologies.
The health system is trying to ensure that it isn't caught by surprise -- the way it was last time. So, hectic preparations are on.
Modi called for ensuring maintenance of all essential services such as power, telecommunications, health and drinking and their immediate restoration in the event of damages caused to them.
This will boost availability of these items as well as make them cheaper, it said, adding that Modi also directed the revenue department to ensure seamless and quick custom clearance of such equipment.
While no exact dates have been announced yet, the flights could take off from San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington DC, the officials said.
Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal claimed that India has been doing better than many other countries on the outcome ratio, which is the number of recoveries from coronavirus infection versus the number of deaths.
Doctors, health workers, sanitation workers are once again skipping going home and extending their working hours to cope up with the rising demands.
Recently, Supreme Court asked the government not to alter the existing pricing mechanism for essential medicines.
The government on Friday warned about the declining compliance to mask usage in the country amid concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated to prevent surge in cases.
'After we landed at Port-of-Spain, we had to take a charter flight to Guyana, but seven of our boys were stopped as they were not vaccinated. We tried to explain to the immigration officials that India had not started their vaccination yet but they instructed us to take the next flight out of the country'. The ICC had organised the Under-19 World Cup with the help of Cricket West Indies. In a challenging time like this, the Caribbean was not the best place to organise a big event like the U-19 WC, felt Indian team manager Lobzang G. Tenzing.
Covid deaths at home, on the way to hospital or in private centres are not being counted in Bihar's official list of dead.
In a statement, the PMO said three vaccines are in advanced stages of development in India, out of which two are in Phase II and one is in Phase-III. It further said Indian Scientists and research teams are collaborating and strengthening the research capacities in neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
NPPA suggests expanding the list of essential medicines whose prices are controlled
The decision was taken to prevent crowding at shops and marketplaces amid the lockdown to contain the coronaviruspandemic, a statement from Thackeray's office said.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has been hospitalised for lower respiratory tract infection, is stable and recovering well.
The Centre has warned it is likely that the spread of the new variant will outpace the Delta variant where there is community transmission.
The budgetary allocation for the sector is Rs 60,908.22 crore, with Rs 6,400 crore earmarked for the centre's flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY).
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Firms are mandated to change prices of medicines within 45 days of NPPA's notification.
India has capped the prices of 36 drugs, including those used to treat infections and diabetes, in its latest move to make essential medicines more affordable, a senior official of the country's drug pricing authority told Reuters on Friday.
There is no proof at the moment. Even vegetarians have been affected because this is a virus which travels through droplet infection and enters the body, say experts. However, people who are taking a lot of fruits and vegetables as part of their natural diet have better innate immunity.
"The provisions of the said bill are nothing short of draconian and promote gross incompetence and mockery of professionals currently working day and night and sacrificing their youth for this broken system," said the protesting doctors.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that a multilateral response is critical to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic in India and globally as it hailed recent announcements by several countries to provide immediate support to India. India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 300,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
'The way the society functions, I don't know, they are more concerned about animals than humans.'
The most commonly asked questions relate to symptoms and prevention -- 'Will summer kill the coronavirus?', 'Should outside food and non-veg food be avoided?', 'Does smoking affect chances of recovery?', 'Are face masks useful?', 'Are hand sanitisers better than soap?', 'Are elders in my family more susceptible?'
Giving details of coronavirus situation in the country, Bhushan said the previous highest surge has already been crossed and the trend is going upward and that is a cause for worry and that is something they continuously share with the states and UTs and try to help them tackle the pandemic in a more effective manner.
On display were PM Modi's pet projects like the 'Make in India' scheme and 'Jan Dhan Yojana'.
Changing with the times and in compliance with social distancing norms, customers are now picking up their parcels, speed posts and registered letters within the city themselves after they are informed on phone.
Whistle-blower Dinesh Thakur tells briefing on US Capitol Hill: 'One in five medicines manufactured and distributed in India are spurious.' Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
