The world is witnessing the fourth surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and India has to be on guard and cannot afford to slacken, said Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday.
"We are very worried about the rise in cases in Maharashtra. Don't take this virus for granted. It can come up unexpectedly. If we have to remain free of this virus, COVID-appropriate behaviour, containment strategy as well as vaccination has to be brought in," Paul said.
Consuming whole grains can reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 30 percent.
A total of 40,845 cases of black fungus or mucormycosis have been reported in the country so far, of which 31,344 are rhinocerebral in nature, and the death toll from the infections stands at 3,129, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said.
Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on the basis of a seven-day rolling average the positivity rate of COVID-19, which was 11 per cent during the first week of August, has come down to 8 per cent now.
ICMR says it is following all globally accepted norms to fast-track vaccine and wants to 'cut red tape'.
The govt said there are 18 states and UTs in the country where the total number of active cases are between 5,000 and 50,000, while there are only four states with more than 50,000 active cases.
The Centre said the upsurge of COVID-19 cases is happening in cities and the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain.
People must also avoid mass gatherings, and new year celebrations need to be at low intensity, the government said.
Deaths are significantly less in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in comparison to the second wave, and the current surge is not witnessing increase in severe illness or death following high vaccination uptake, the government said on Thursday.
The CoWIN portal will be made available in Hindi and 14 regional languages by next week, while 17 more laboratories will be added to the INSACOG network to monitor the variants of COVID-19, the health ministry said on Monday.
'Please don't read something which is not there in DG, ICMR's letter. The intent of the letter is only to expedite duly approved clinical trials without compromising on security and safety concerns'
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.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
The 'antisera' has been developed by the ICMR in collaboration with a Hyderabad-based bio-pharmaceutical firm. "With Biological E Limited we have developed an horse 'antisera' and we have just got clearance for conducting clinical trials for that," ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said at press briefing.
The govt warned the second wave of coronavirus infection in India was not yet over even though the weekly positivity rate was showing an overall declining trend.
Nutritionist Dr Siddhant Bhargava explains the importance of essential nutrients, probiotic food and vitamin C in your daily diet.
Indian auto and pharma industries import several critical components and raw materials from China.
The 28 new ministers who joined the Chouhan cabinet on July 2 include 20 of cabinet rank and eight ministers of state.
"Also, 35 per cent deaths were recorded in the age group of 45-60 years, 10 per cent in the age group of 26-44 years and one per cent each in the age group of 18-25 years and below 17 years," the health secy said.
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The victim was brought to Maharashtra by an air ambulance on Saturday night and was admitted to a private hospital in Ramdaspeth in Nagpur.
'In the coming two-three months, we need to be cautious that there is no upsurge'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Saturday briefed about the new 'Omicron' variant of the coronavirus, and he asked officials to review the plans to ease international travel restrictions in light of the 'emerging new evidence.'
If you consume enough water in a day, you'll notice a 14 percent increase in productivity at work, says Dr Siddhant Bhargava, nutritional scientist and co-founder, Food Darzee.
A rise in the number of daily COVID-19 cases and mortality has been observed in Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, indicating the pandemic is moving eastwards, the Union health ministry said.
'If people show laxity by not wearing masks or wearing it inappropriately or violate social distancing norms, and if law enforcement agencies do not penalise and ensure violations do not increase in quantum, then we are certainly in for a trouble. And, the next wave could be worse than the second wave situation'
The health ministry said that 86 per cent of the total active cases were recorded in 10 states of the country.
Dr Manjul Bhargava speaks to P Rajendran about winning the Fields Medal, math's biggest global honour.
The vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, showed a "strong immune response" in animal studies, and the antibodies produced were able to completely neutralise the wild type virus, Zydus said. The 12 institutes have been asked by the ICMR to fast track clinical trials of the vaccine as it is being considered as one of the top priority projects which are being monitored at the topmost level of the government.
The Hindu members in the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions resigned protesting the decision to withdraw the council's sponsorship to the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda in Chicago, scheduled for September 27-28.
The world had lost an opportunity to know long-term toxic effects of Methyl Isocyanate which had leaked from the Union Carbide factory on the night of December 2, 1984, because government research agencies have lost track of a bulk of survivors, says Dinesh C Sharma.
'The question is really can we prevent half a million deaths.' 'We are fast approaching that number.'
Easing restrictions, all private hospitals were on Tuesday allowed to give the vaccines if they adhere to the laid down norms, while the 9 am to 5 pm timing was also done away with.
Kerala health minister Veena George, who reviewed the state's COVID-19 situation two days ago, today blamed the violation of home quarantine directives for the worsening situation and cautioned against the increased indoor transmission of coronavirus at homes.
'We are not yet out of the woods.' 'If India sees the South African or Brazilian type of mutations, our numbers will rapidly rise.'
While the United States' share in global COVID-19 cases is 22.4 per cent, those who have recuperated there comprise 18.6 per cent of total worldwide recoveries, according to data presented by Bhushan.
According to a study done by Singapore University of Technology and Design Data, coronavirus will 100 per cent end across the world on December 8.
The experts agreed that the lockdown has helped in slowing down spread of the virus but insisted that the situation has not reached a plateau and that there was an urgent need to upgrade healthcare facilities to deal with the crisis.
The global heath body had earlier suspended the hydroxychloroquine arm of the clinical trials of experimental COVID-19 drugs over safety concerns.
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