The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the oath taking of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairperson-designate Justice (retd) Umesh Kumar, while deciding to examine the constitutional validity of a provision of the Centre's recent ordinance governing such an appointment.
The government has come out with comprehensive guidelines for the management of COVID-19 among children in which Remdesivir has not been recommended and rational use of HRCT imaging has been suggested.
As rural areas see a rise in COVID-19 cases, the Centre on Sunday issued new guidelines for containment of the virus advising that peri-urban and rural areas plan a minimum 30-bedded COVID Care Centre for asymptomatic cases with comorbidities or mild cases where home isolation is not feasible.
The states were requested to take a stock of hospital preparedness such as availability of drugs and medical oxygen, vaccination coverage against COVID-19 and influenza.
The Centre received 5.59 lakh public grievances against various government departments in the first half of this year, with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) getting most of such complaints, according to an official report.
Despite the best efforts of Indian vaccine makers to develop the H1N1(swine flu) vaccine, Swiss drug major Novartis and Australian vaccine maker CSL may be the first ones to bag the orders from the central government for its supply.
Younger cheetahs that are habituated to management vehicles and human presence are preferred candidates for relocation to India, international experts involved in Project Cheetah have told the government based on lessons learnt from the initial experience in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.
It is for China to decide what role it plays at the G20 summit in New Delhi, a top US official has said, asserting that if Beijing wants to come in and be a "spoiler", that option is available to it.
Vaccine inequity remains an issue in India, where less than 2 per cent of the population has received a Covid booster
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
Vaccines provided to beneficiaries at the government health facilities will be entirely free of cost, while private facilities cannot charge the beneficiary a sum above Rs 250 per person per dose (Rs 150 for vaccines and Rs 100 as operational charges).
As the country eagerly awaits an expected coronavirus vaccination drive in January, at least 125 intended beneficiaries each in four states who had registered on the Co-WIN App were on Monday sent SMSes informing them about the time and place of their 'COVID-19 vaccination' under a mock-drill to administer the shots at designated centres.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain pleas seeking postponement of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-PG 2023, which is scheduled for March 5, saying there is nothing in this world to prevent somebody who has not made it to try again.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of providing free inoculation to all adults will entail total spending of anywhere between Rs 45,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore. This is higher than Rs 35,000 crore that the government had budgeted.
Bharti Airtel was the top loser in the Sensex pack, plunging around 6 per cent, followed by TCS, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Tech Mhindra, Infosys and Hero MotoCorp. On the other hand, Titan, Ultratech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India and ITC were among the gainers.
Credit to priority sectors as well as small and medium industries will be discussed to find ways to accelerate economic growth.
In a letter to states and union territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has suggested setting up of a state steering committee chaired by the chief secretary, a state task force led by additional Chief Secretary or principal secretary (health), and a district task force to be headed by the district magistrate.
Alert to the looming threat from the 'Omicron' variant, states began to re-tighten curbs and urgently trace people who arrived from abroad in the last one month while a demand to not allow flights from the affected countries was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The death toll rose to 5,394 after a record single-day spike of 230 fatalities in the 24 hours since Sunday 8 am, the Union Health Ministry said in its morning update. It showed the number of confirmed cases rising by 8,392 to 1,90,535. However, a PTI tally of figures announced by states and union territories, as of 9.35 pm, showed a higher death toll of 5,501.
While Covishield supplies would meet the target of 500 mn doses between August and December, it looks like Covaxin would miss the target of 400 mn unless the partner sites of Bharat Biotech ramp up very rapidly, reports Sohini Das.
Stating that the fight against COVID-19 is at the final stage, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday cautioned against letting the guard down before it is completely over and requested states to enhance the vaccination coverage and motivate the over 12 crore beneficiaries who are due for their second dose to take it.
Under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, more than 148 crore vaccine doses have been successfully administered.
Five days after the induction of 18 ministers into his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday allocated portfolios, keeping Urban Development and 11 other ministries with himself, while giving the crucial Home Department to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
On Wednesday, the Maharashtra government had said that it would not be able to launch the 18-45 age group vaccination drive from May 1 due to the shortage of vaccines.
India has recorded more than 4 lakh daily COVID-19 recoveries in a single day for the first time, while new coronavirus infections settled below 3 lakh for the second day, the Union health ministry said.
Such persons are expected to obtain the advice of their doctor before deciding to avail of the precaution dose or third dose.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai and his Microsoft counterpart Satya Nadella have assured help to India as the country grapples with a ravaging coronavirus crisis that has put enormous pressure on its hospitals due to a shortage of beds, oxygen and medical supplies.
The law provides for compensation for injury to healthcare service personnel or for causing damage or loss to property.
There may not be a third wave of coronavirus in the country if strong measures are taken and effectively implemented at the state, district and city-level, the country's top scientific officer said on Friday, two days after he warned that this wave was inevitable.
The government on Thursday announced a 27 per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections in the all-India quota scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year, 2021-22.
The Union Health Ministry said on Monday that the Co-WIN app on Play Store is meant for use only by administrators, and that registration and booking for appointment for COVID-19 vaccination has to be done through the portal.
Joint secretary in the ministry Lav Agarwal said 149 new COVID-19 cases, including two deaths, have been reported since Friday. Combined efforts are on to ensure 100 per cent lockdown and that social distancing gets implemented, he said at a press briefing on the current COVID-19 situation in India.
In order to bring uniformity, the need for following the existing framework for either imposition of restrictions or allowing relaxations based on the burden of disease and strain on healthcare infrastructure still remain important.
The central government said the railways and civil aviation ministry must suspend all concessional travel on trains and flights, except for students, patients and disabled people.
This would be India's largest crowd-funded programme to help patients with a particular disease.
The government's focus is on containing and controlling coronavirus the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday and advised Indians to stay put wherever they are and travel only under compelling reasons.
The Supreme Court observed on Tuesday it is more concerned about the risk factors than anything else when it comes to the conditional approval granted by the Centre for environmental release of genetically modified (GM) mustard. On October 25 last year, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Union environment ministry had approved the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11 and the parental lines containing barnase, barstar and bar genes so they can be used for developing new hybrids. The apex court is hearing separate pleas by activist Aruna Rodrigues and NGO 'Gene Campaign' seeking a moratorium on the release of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment pending a comprehensive, transparent and rigorous bio-safety protocol in the public domain conducted by agencies of independent expert bodies the results of which are made public.
The fatality rate is down to 3.1 per cent and the recovery rate has improved to 37.5 per cent, he said.
Anybody over 50 years of age or with co-morbidities can get a date, place and time of choice for getting the vaccine shots.