Now, only the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom are ahead of it. The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 1,20,406, according to the health ministry. A total of 1,19,292 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.
Addressing the daily press briefing on the actions taken, preparedness and updates on COVID-19, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said 92 new cases and four deaths due to coronavirus have been reported in India since Sunday, taking total cases to 1,071 and the number of deaths to 29.
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.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the BJP, saying one has to refer to the state-wise election schedule to know when one will have access to the vaccine. The BJP, however, said health is a state subject and its manifesto is for Bihar, not for the entire country, where it has promised that the state will buy the vaccine for its people.
'Now, the government will have to ensure even stronger surveillance to curb the infection but if that will be done is something to be observed'
The number of recoveries stands at 6,12,814, while there are 3,31,146 active cases of coronavirus infection presently in the country. "Thus, around 63.25 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said.
The Indian government on Wednesday said it was focusing on bringing back Indians stranded in coronavirus-hit Italy and Iran after screening them.
A control room has also been set up and the Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC) of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been activated, phone number for which is 011-23978046, a health ministry statement stated.
According to Dr V N Katoch, Director Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) several influenza viruses keep on circulating among human, birds and animals like pigs and keep on recombining and reasserting with each others. These changes cause genetic variations among these viruses and new viruses emerge in this process.
There were apprehensions in the SII about rival Bharat Biotech's 'indigenous' tag, opening up shortcuts for it. One senior person, who was very familiar with the sector, told me, 'The message has gone out from the very top. Somani (V G Somani -- drug controller general of India) has told me "Bharat ka karna hai".' A fascinating excerpt from Abantika Ghosh's Billions Under Lockdown: The Inside Story Of India's Fight Against COVID-19.
'We need to prove to the world that quality vaccines and R&D are possible in India.'
Sri Ramachandra University invites applications for registration for October 2007 session
The Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh announces admissions to its PhD programmes for 2008.
As India prepares to launch its vaccine drive on January 16, here is a look at the options:
While Ramdev claimed that Ayurved-based 'Coronil and Swasari' medicine have shown 100 per cent favourable results during clinical trials on COVID-19 infected patients except those on a life support system, the Ayush Ministry sought from the company detailed report on composition, testing and other data of the drugs.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said a total of 2,51,447 persons travelling in 2,315 flights have been screened so far.
'We started analysing young patients and realised that they had causes like undetected diabetes, which suddenly flares up during COVID-19.' 'Secondly, hypothyroidism was one of the factors.' 'And obesity.'
'Install the app for yourself and your family.' 'Make sure that everybody you come in contact with on a daily basis -- your drivers, your maids, your colleagues at work -- make sure they too are using the app.' 'Also encourage people who carry some influence, like office managers, to convince their employees to do the same.' 'This only helps in improving your safety levels.'
India's willingness to play a big role in the manufacturing and to allow some of those vaccines to go to other developing countries will be an absolutely critical part of containing the pandemic, said Gates.
Once touted as a 'wonder drug', HCQ has been battling global controversies around its safety and efficacy as a prophylactic against the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
The Australian immunologist, who cautioned that the number of COVID-19 cases will rise in the coming days, said the earliest time frame for an effective vaccine 'going into large numbers of people' is nine to 12 months.
It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh and just 59 days more to go past the nine-lakh mark.
The Indian government and private firms have stepped up efforts to develop a vaccine to halt the spread of COVID-19 which has claimed over 3,700 lives with more than 1,25,000 cases in the country.
While the meetings on Friday were preliminary discussions, it is learnt that sectors like tourism; hospitality; aviation; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); and livestock have sought deferring loan repayments and temporary tax holidays in specific cases to help them tide over the steep fall in economic activity.
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore invites applications for admission to PhD and MS programmes in science and engineering.
The right amount of sodium intake, medication and water consumption can help manage your kidneys.
In a stern two-page letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said stricter enforcement of lockdown norms was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus in the state.
Several opposition members, including from the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, also pointed out that the government took almost two months to impose the lockdown after the first case came to light in January, and claimed the delay had proved costly.
The Union health minister said of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country, 1.5 per cent are on oxygen support and 2.34 per cent are in ICUs.
'...If people follow the lockdown well.'
A gamechanger for offices and factories, Shycocan, claims to be able to clear an area of 1000 square feet from coronavirus.
'On January 17, we had our first meeting with the Cabinet secretary.' 'Different secretaries belonging to different departments attended it.' 'It was only two weeks when China had said there is a new disease.' 'So, we gave the quickest response.'
National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, invites applications for admission to its PhD (Junior Research Fellow) Programme in chemical and related sciences.
National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, invites applications for admission to its PhD (Junior Research Fellow) Programme in chemical and related sciences.
'Our preparation is based on ICMR projections, whatever preparations we have to make.' 'If they project around 70,000 is the maximum number of hospital cases by mid-May or May 30, we are preparing accordingly -- how many people will need hospitalisation.'
'We really need to look seriously to see if there are any local variants.'
All these persons have been kept in single room isolation at designated health care facilities by respective state governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine, the ministry said.
Talking about the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Agarwal said, "If the Tablighi Jamaat incident had not taken place and we compare the rate of doubling -- that is in how many days the cases have doubled, we will see that currently it is 4.1 days (including Jamaat cases) and if the incident had not taken place and additional cases had not come then the doubling rate would have been 7.4 days."
'States have done a tremendous job of identifying health facilities for COVID-19 care and equipping them well.'
The death toll climbed to 20,642, the updated data at 8 am showed. Amid surging cases, the health ministry said it has roped in specialist doctors from the AIIMS here to provide expert guidance and knowledge support on COVID-19 to doctors manning ICUs in state hospitals, in an effort to reduce the fatality rate.
