Senior virologist Shahid Jameel on Sunday resigned as the chairman of scientific advisory group of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, a forum set up by union government in December last year for laboratory and epidemiological surveillance of circulating strains of COVID-19 in India.
A 'very large' number of Indians are likely to remain protected from Omicron or any other variant of COVID-19 and there is no need to panic, eminent virologist Dr Shahid Jameel has said.
Scientists associated with Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), the government panel that conducts research on different variants of the coronavirus, said they were surprised at noted virologist Shahid Jameel's decision to quit the group and wondered whether he was disillusioned with the government's handling of the pandemic.
India currently does not have any XBB 1.5 variant-based vaccines available.
A nasal vaccine, one expert said, is a "fantastic idea" for two reasons -- one, it can potentially create sterile immunity, and two, it is easy to administer and thus scalable.
India has covered enough population with vaccine and infection, but protein vaccines should remain available on payment basis for elderly and those with comorbidities.
The Kraken COVID-19 variant accounts for almost 41 per cent of all Covid infections.
'A patient visits for any other treatment, but a routine Covid test finds him to be positive.' 'Not only are they, but their whole family is also coming out to be positive.'
Initial data has shown immunity triggered by the two mRNA vaccines -- Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna -- lasts for at least six months
'I can say with confidence that any future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, developed anywhere in the world, would have to be manufactured in India, if it is to be affordable and of high quality.'
The comments come as the country's COVID-19 caseload surpassed the one crore mark, though the number of daily cases and daily fatalities have been continuously coming down.
'We are a country of amazing ability and the way we have responded to the pandemic is evidence.'
'Better to prevent than to wait for evidence. Protection delayed can also mean protection denied'
'The worst is possibly over because too many of us may already be infected.'
'As people have moved from cities to small towns and villages, they have carried the infection into new territories.' 'Poor healthcare infrastructure in these places should be a big worry in the days to come.'
'There is more likelihood of dying from lightning than from vaccine induced blood clots.'
'If deaths had been properly reported, it would have helped contain the pandemic.'
An immune-escape Covid-19 strain coupled with the natural spike in influenza and pneumonia cases during winters may lead to a rise in hospitalisation.
'Even after vaccines are given, precautions like using a mask and maintaining social distancing have to be taken.'
Only half India's population has received the first shot of Covishield and Covaxin and the government's immediate task is to first vaccinate its adult population before placing its focus on children.
Wonder how you sanitise your groceries and deliveries and keep yourself and your family safe from the coronavirus?
YIM has been instrumental in more than 90 young Indian scientists going back to India.
The country has been registering over 70,000 cases for the last four days.
Experts believe that under-reporting is likely to cause an underestimation of the spread of the disease.
India has purchased 500 million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, one billion from the United States company Novavax and 100 million doses of the Sputnik V candidate from Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, according to the US-based Duke University Global Health Innovation Center.
'The trajectory of the disease will keep increasing because of the population density being very high.'
'We cannot have bodies putrefying in water.' 'This is a health hazard and it can create a very inflammatory situation.'
'...signatures.' 'But such signatures are missing in this virus.'
'We must not compromise with the standard, the quality. We don't need to be the first to launch a drug but what we need is a Made in India vaccine that the entire world can rely on'
'We keep worrying about this variant or that variant. Forget about that.' 'Every variant can be stopped with a mask.' 'We don't want to do the simple thing of wearing a mask, but we worry ourselves to death about different variants.'
'Don't be under the illusion that we are in a lockdown for 21 days and then we are free.'
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