Of the 23.9 million vaccinators who provide vaccination under the universal immunisation programme, 15.4 million will be used for Covid vaccination.
The Premier League has said its clubs will consult with their players over a proposed 30% reduction in wages and the suspended season would only resume when it was "safe and appropriate". While there has been speculation about a reduced season or even abandoning this campaign, the league said it remained their aim to complete all remaining domestic league and cup matches.
The Indian Council of Medical Research will start national-level sero surveys to assess the spread of Covid-19 and all states/Union territories should also be encouraged to conduct them so that information from all geographies can be collected, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
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.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
Mental health and life coach Anu Krishna tells you how to take control of your life.
The first nationwide mock drill was held on January 2 which, the health ministry said, helped to iron out any glitches in the final execution and further refinement of the operational procedures.
The UK prime minister warned that anyone flouting these strict rules would have to deal with police, who will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and force dispersal gatherings.
Triumphalism, premature declaration of victory meant no one checked if India had enough vaccines, oxygen, remdesivir, bringing us back to a crisis where we need foreign aid after four decades, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
This is the fifth consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 15,000. There has been a surge of 3,38,324 infections from June 1 till date.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday sought keen oversight and personal indulgence of health ministers, principal secretaries and additional chief secretaries of states and union territories to lead the second nationwide mock drill on the COVID-19 vaccination scheduled to be held on January 8.
Nepal has been hit by heavy rainfall since Thursday. More than 25 districts and 10,385 households have been affected.
'Saibaba has 19 ailments, including severe heart and kidney problems.' 'Even healthy persons find their systems failing after Covid.' 'What will happen to someone like Saibaba?', Professor G N Saibaba's wife asks Jyoti Punwani.
With the US education system operating independently from the government, universities are adopting varying strategies when it comes to Covid vaccination.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad observed that 'corona capital' was 'an epithet the city can well do without' and said it was need of the hour that all private hospitals equipped with labs to test for COVID-19 be permitted to do so without losing any more time.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said the COVID-19 vaccination drive will be extended in the coming days and asserted that there should not be any misconceptions about the two Indian vaccines being administered in the country.
The Centre said the upsurge of COVID-19 cases is happening in cities and the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain.
Why did the Chinese military take over the lab in Wuhan in end January? Did something go wrong? Claude Arpi glances at the mystery surrounding the origin of the coronavirus.
Asserting that Uttar Pradesh has undergone a complete transformation under his government, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that there have been no riots since 2017, strict action has been taken against the mafia and the state is in the frontline of implementing welfare schemes, ensuring the ease of doing business and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Gujarat government had evacuated over 63,700 people from coastal areas of eight districts and 18 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and six teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were deployed for rescue operations.
'Everyone wants that doctors should fight from the frontlines of the pandemic, but there's no reaction from the government when they fall ill or even die because of it.'
'Lifting of lockdown should be very gradual. Some facilities should remain closed through the month of May like schools, colleges, malls, cinema halls, religious places and markets'
The first dry run of the vaccination drive took place across 125 districts covering all States/UTs on January 2. The dry run was also conducted to familiarise the state, district, block, and hospital-level officers on all aspects of the COVID-19 rollout.
Even though the Health Ministry and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been insisting that there is 'no solid evidence' of community transmission so far, the government has started scaling up health infrastructure to deal with any situation.
Amid a spurt in cases, the cabinet secretary held a meeting chief secretaries, health and urban development secretaries of all states through a video link and they were asked to also pay special attention to the emerging epicentres of COVID-19 cases and undertake stringent containment measures to check the contagion, the ministry said.
20 defence ministry reforms 'is a reflection of the resolve of the government to make the defence sector stronger and more efficient.'
Maharashtra government has deployed ambulances available with the state emergency medical service at the city's international airport to shift suspected Ebola Virus Disease passengers.
Bengali sub-nationalism is slowly emerging as a rallying cry ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections due next year.
'Barber shops and salons will be allowed to open, but spas will remain closed'
Developing more sources of supplies to guard against disruptions may emerge as the next big trend. But that may not necessarily mean flow of more investments into India, unless investors are assured, besides important economic factors and impartiality of institutions, that social disharmony will not cause unexpected disruptions.
The landmark 75th session of the UN General Assembly is expected to begin on September 15 and the first day of the high-level General Debate is likely to be on September 22, according to SDG Knowledge Hub website, an online resource center for news on the UN.
Though the lockdown has been lifted, local officials continue to ask people to stay indoors.
In a zone-wise classification of districts in the country, the Union health ministry has designated all 11 districts of Delhi as red zone. The city has 272 wards.
With the dizzying rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, India Inc has transitioned from a wait-and-watch policy to full-on emergency mode, bringing back remote and flexi work, stringent safety protocols, and allowing only essential travel. Companies - especially in metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata - that had adopted a hybrid work model during the last few months when the caseload remained low, are either switching back entirely to work-from-home (WFH), or calling skeletal staff to office on select days. Take the case of cigarettes-to-hotels major, ITC, which had been on a hybrid work model over the last few months.
Over 2.52 lakh who were in close contacts with patients had been traced with over 1.85 lakh others still under medical observation.
'We know that there are new variants which are more transmissible. We know that human behaviour determines the spread of this virus. Therefore, it is not very relevant if we declare whether the second wave is over or not'
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.
In this weekly self-help series, mental health and life coach Anu Krishna tells you how to take control of your life.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said a total of 2,51,447 persons travelling in 2,315 flights have been screened so far.
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