A 55-year-old from Hubei province could have been the first person to have contracted the viral infection on November 17 last year and cases rapidly began piling up since then, it said, without revealing the gender of the individual.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high-level meet with representatives of states/UTs to also review and discussed the COVID-19 management and response strategy through video conference.
Serum Institute of India announced a price of Rs 400 per dose for its COVID-19 vaccine 'Covishield' for state governments and Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals.
NGOs working for the rights of the survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster on Wednesday alleged that various governments in Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre have failed to bring the culprits of the world's biggest industrial tragedy to justice even after 37 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to Britain has seen India and the UK agreeing on Rs 90,000 crore deals.
Vaccine major Serum Institute of India on Tuesday said the approval for the COVID-19 vaccine 'Covovax' would strengthen immunization initiatives across India and various lower and middle income countries across the world.
Dr Smita Naram, co-founder of Ayushakti, explains how fruits like apples, guavas and cherries can help manage blood sugar levels.
Beijing's health officials on Monday announced 29 fresh cases taking the total cases to 70 in the city.
The Centre has asked states and union territories witnessing surge in new COVID-19 cases and high active caseload to continue with the strategy of 'test, track and treat' that had yielded rich dividends at the height of the pandemic and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
Days after it faced nationwide anti-government protests against its stringent zero-Covid policy, China in a major shift of its coronavirus response policies has announced that it will scrap quarantine for international travellers from January 8 as it reopens its borders and comes out of international isolation after nearly three years.
The teams will visit the districts reporting high number of COVID cases and support the state's efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of positive cases.
'Ultimately, we have to understand that we don't have the supply at the population scale. 'Therefore, it has to be prioritised.' 'That's what the government has done.'
It said the actual caseload of COVID-19 cases in the country as on date is 3,42,756, while more than 6.35 lakhs patients have recuperated from the disease.
The senior officials of the health ministry apprised the minister on various improvements that have been made to make the pan India dry run glitch free, such as number of telephone operators has been increased to answer every possible query from the teams on the ground conducting the dry run.
Gandhi and his Congress party have been asking the government to shelve its plans on the Central Vista project and give priority to improving the country's medical infrastructure amid the COVID-19 pandemic to save people's lives.
A day after the city saw huge crowds of mid-night revellers thronging the eastern metropolis's busy Park Street to celebrate Christmas, health experts and doctors cautioned the state government against allowing more such gatherings especially during the New Year festivities
It also promised financial assistance of Rs 24,000 annually to all dependent widows and single mothers, two free LPG cylinders to all the beneficiaries of the PM Ujjwala Yojana and 24x7 power supply.
With the flood situation in Assam remaining critical on Monday and affecting a population of nearly 43 lakh in 33 of its 35 districts, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed air dropping of food and other relief materials in areas where there is heavy inundation, officials said.
It took a five-day hunger strike by the former Delhi University professor, in jail without a break for five years after being convicted of links with Maoists, for the jail administration to agree to his request for a water bottle.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday reviewed the preparations for Cyclone Yaas including the evacuation of people on the high seas as well as in vulnerable coastal areas and the safety of COVID-19 facilities.
'Society deals with you the way they do, or forms an opinion, depending on if your family is with you every step of the way.'
Madhya Pradesh health authorities on Monday managed to trace a 34-year-old woman from Botswana, a country in southern Africa where Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected, in Jabalpur, a day after a search was launched for her as per the health surveillance guidelines to check the spread of COVID-19.
Four children died on December 30 while five on December 31, all mainly due to low birth weight, hospital superintendent Dr Suresh Dulara said.
"Only 27 bodies can be kept in the KEM mortuary. But, all slots are filled with COVID-19 victims' bodies and other bodies have been kept in the corridor. There are some 15 bodies kept on stretchers on both sides of the corridor that leads to the second floor where the testing laboratory is located," KEM staffers' union leader Santosh Dhuri said. "Workers need protection kits and assurance of financial support in case of falling sick. These issues are not satisfactorily addressed by the BMC and the state government despite several reminders and agitations," he said.
The central government had announced that the vaccination for those above 18 years will begin across the country from May 1 as part of the third phase of the inoculation drive.
The observations by a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan came after the Centre apprised it that ongoing wave of the pandemic appears to be 'harsher' than earlier.
Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said vaccine effectiveness will be seen only after 14 days.
After inaugurating a 10-bed make-shift hospital of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Ghaziabad near Delhi, he said India began formulating its strategy against coronavirus from January 8 as soon as the world came to know about the outbreak of the disease.
I got to know that every referred case for angiography and angioplasty got a kickback of Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively. Seeing this trend, doctors started paying referring doctors Rs 1 lakh in advance and adjusting it as and when patients came in. This menace slowly spread its tentacles all over the medical field, including radiological diagnostics and biochemistry laboratories. For every test ordered, 20 per cent of the bill was given back to the referring doctor. This led to doctors recommending unnecessary tests. The pharmaceutical companies also saw burgeoning business. Acclaimed doctors were given televisions sets, refrigerators, air conditioners and cars depending upon the prescriptions. General practitioners would prescribe unnecessary drugs, and were given returns in cash. A fascinating excerpt from Dr Upendra Kaul's When The Heart Speaks.
The overall confirmed infection cases have climbed to 75,465, Chinese health officials said on Friday.
Describing state and district officials as 'field commanders' in the fight against COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said localised containment zones, aggressive testing and sharing correct and complete information with people are weapons to defeat the pandemic.
Vardhan said the 15-member central team of doctors and para-medics will be replaced by a team with similar strength for further 10 days, ensuring continuity of care of admitted cases.
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.
Over 20,000 passengers returning from mainland China and Hong Kong underwent thermal screenings at the seven international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin
Both Israel and Hamas claimed that gunfights were ongoing at numerous locations within Israeli territory.
The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive for people above 60 years and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities will begin from March 1 and registration on the Co-WIN2.0 portal will open at 9 am on Monday.
India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage was recorded at over 28.36 crore since January 16, according to the data from the Co-WIN portal.
The stir, led by the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association, has been going on for several days, and FORDA also said that several of its members were 'detained' when they tried to hold a protest march from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) to Supreme Court.
Jain, 57, is the minister for health, power, home, PWD, industries, urban development, flood, irrigation and water in the Arvind Kejriwal-led government.
