Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the much-awaited 2022-23 Union Budget on February 1. While there has been strong recovery in some sectors, touch services like hospitality, tourism and leisure continue to suffer after two Covid-19 waves. Household savings have been hit due to increased spending on health care. Consumption has still not reached pre-pandemic levels.
Twelve people died of dengue and over 1,900 fresh cases have been reported in the past one week.
'Predictions are that numbers will continue to rise till May end and maybe in the first half of June will be our peak.'
More than 30 vaccine candidates have been supported and they are in different stages of development. Three candidates are in advanced stage of Phase I, II and III trials, and more than four are in advanced pre-clinical development stage, Choubey said.
The reduced severity of Omicron is good news for now, but it is the result of an "evolutionary mistake" as Covid-19 is transmitting very efficiently and there is no reason for it to become milder, indicating that the next variant could be more virulent, a leading Indian-origin scientist from the University of Cambridge has warned.
The border guarding force has the maximum confirmed cases of the disease among the Central Armed Police Forces, also known as paramilitary forces.
West Bengal signed an MoU with the Centre for jointly implementing Ayushman Bharat but so far officials have received no word about how it will be done and the deadline is almost here.
'It is time to give back to this city that has given me so much.'
'My father is a postman. My mother is a homemaker. No one in my family had studied medicine.' 'I wanted to be the first doctor in my family so I could listen to people like me and help them feel better about themselves,' says Archana Vijayan, an MBBS student with a disability, who was initially denied admission into medical school, even after passing the NEET twice.
Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced a slew of measures including loan restructuring for individual and small businesses hit hard by fresh COVID-19 wave. To augment supply of goods for COVID care, the central bank opened Rs 50,000 crore on-tap window to ease access to emergency health services to boost provision of immediate liquidity for ramping up COVID-19 related healthcare infrastructure and services in the country. This liquidity window is being opened till March 31, 2022, he said, adding that under the scheme, banks can provide fresh lending support to a wide ranging of entities including vaccine manufacturers, importers and suppliers of vaccine and medical devices, hospitals and dispensaries and suppliers of oxygen and ventilators importers and also patients for treatment.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.
'Even though we have around 156 patients, we don't have anyone who requires ventilatory support or the ICU facility.'
The government has adopted a graded approach under 'Unlock' and to open up various economic activities, secretary in the health ministry, Rajesh Bhushan, told a press conference.
As India prepares for a calibrated exit from the lockdown by easing more restrictions, 'Unlock-1 -- the first of the three-phase plan for reopening of prohibited activities in non-containment zones with a stringent set of Standard Operating Procedures(SOPs) -- kicks in at a time when the country recorded a daily jump of COVID-19 cases by over 9,000 for the fifth straight day on Sunday.
According to the latest report from Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN), a voluntary effort started in March 2020 to mobilise relief for stranded migrant workers, almost 92 per cent workers, whom the group contacted between April 21 and May 31, had not received any money from their employer. This was after restrictions were imposed and work had stopped. The survey, which was conducted among 1,396 worker groups, adding up to 8,023 people that included 4,836 women and children, showed that 76 per cent of the workers had less than Rs 200 left with them.
'Florence Nightingale made her mark serving wounded soldiers in a war.' 'This is our time to serve in another health crisis.'
According to a senior government official, the plan is to do "collective bargaining" for certain medical devices and implants by assuring a bulk requirement to the manufacturers. "The requirement for these devices runs into millions. We assure them that the requirement is going to be in bulk. In return, they should offer us better rates," he said.
With West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking a uniform vaccination policy for the country, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday assured her that the Modi government was firm in its resolve to help the state fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but also flagged more than 40 per cent positivity rate in some districts of the state.
The real battle for NEET abolition can take much more time and energy, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Cases are increasing, day by day, because testing has increased.'
The death toll climbed to 2,592 with 150 new fatalities while the total number of confirmed cases increased to over 77,000, health officials said on Monday.
The AIADMK leader had sought parole for 15 days, but she has been granted for five days.
'In order to stop the BJP actually, you need a party that changes the discourse rather than positing another pole for polarising it further. The answer to this kind of politics lies in refocusing the agenda on development'
Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reveals how the BMC has contained the spread of COVID-19 in Dharavi, India's largest slum, which WHO wants to know more about.
The experts said that climate change is not only raising temperatures and making India's heatwaves hotter, but also changing weather patterns that further drive dangerous weather extremes.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Sunday raised concerns over India's drugs regulator granting permission for restricted use of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine and asked the government to explain why mandatory protocols and verification of data has been dispensed with.
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.
Singh stressed that if Punjab was able to meet its target of administering two lakh shots a day, then its current supplies will last only three days.
'This year, we know the virus. Last year we didn't know anything about it.' 'The best part is that for the Indian population there has been some amount of cross protection.'
All the poor people identified by the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 will be eligible for the scheme, officials said, adding that it will be linked to Aadhar but will not be a mandatory condition for availing the benefit.
Initial investigations suggested that the jawans fell ill after consuming fish curry.
'A decision on the IPL matches against the backdrop of coronavirus to be held in Mumbai will be taken at the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday.'
Gennova has also got permission for phase-2 and 3 clinical trials for its lyophilised mRNA vaccine for injection from the subject expert committee advising the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation, reports Sohini Das.
With several states taking steps towards unlocking and easing of restrictions amid a decline in COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday cautioned people against any laxity and asserted that COVID-appropriate protocol is the 'most effective weapon' against an unseen adversary like coronavirus that keeps changing its form.
His family found an old man on a bed soaked through with urine at the J J Hospital. The man whose name drew thousands to public meetings was requesting anyone who cared to listen to change his bedsheets. But there was no one to do so.
'The more people get tested, the more people will come under isolation. So the spread will get limited with testing.'
'In Mumbai the mortality rate was reaching a percentage of almost 8 plus in about April.' 'But now over last one month, we have come down.' 'We have drastically controlled mortality.' 'We are now about 3.9.'
This is apart from the requirement to stock hydroxychloroquine (200 mg) and Azithromycin (500 mg) tablets for patients requiring ICU management, asymptomatic healthcare workers and asymptomatic household contacts of positive cases.
India's largest airline has also told its crew members -- who are working on flights connecting India with East Asian countries like Thailand and Singapore -- to wear N95 masks at all times when they are on ground.
