Each state has its own weak areas that need attention. Some states have already identified the gaps and sought the Centre's help. Vinay Umarji, Ishita Ayan Dutt, Samreen Ahmad and Sohini Das report.
'If you look at the Number 1 film in India this year across Bollywood and other regional film industries, it is Avengers: Endgame.'
One challenge for many laboratories in ramping up is the shortage of trained manpower for collecting samples, report Sohini Das, Vinay Umarji and Virendra Singh Rawat.
TAL Manufacturing Solutions expects its indigenously made affordable industrial robot, the Brabo, to boost the robotics vertical and contribute almost 40 per cent of its overall revenues in the next five years. Sohini Das reports.
While Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is in trials among children already, Serum Institute of India will begin Novavax vaccine trials on children from July, whereas the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for adolescents in the United States; and Cadila Healthcare's ZyCoV-D has done trials on 12 year-olds and above already, reports Sohini Das.
While virologists say theoretically the vaccine that works on Delta should work on the Delta Plus variant as well, more research is needed.
Workers who had gone to their hometowns and did not return for work after Diwali vacation owing to the demonetisation impact have now started trickling back to the industrial hubs in Gujarat, say Vimukt Dave & Sohini Das.
Will syringe shortage puncture India's Covid vaccine plans?
India's first mRNA platform-based vaccine will remain stable at 2-8 degrees Celsius while Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine needs minus 70 degrees Celsius and Moderna vaccine can remain stable for six months at minus 20 degrees Celsius, reports Sohini Das.
The government plans to immunise 30 million people in the first phase, starting February, and by July, the target is to vaccinate 250 million people, reports Sohini Das.
The Duff & Phelps report shows that Virat Kohli has increased his brand value by 40 per cent to $237.5 million in 2019 and taken a huge lead with his closest rival, Akshay Kumar, ranked second.
Many are testing hybrid models including getting small batches to work, rotating staff every week, introducing shifts and allowing certain functions to operate from office in small numbers.
Business executives are finally dusting off their long-unused suitcases to resume travel, thanks to a good vaccination rate, a drop in fresh cases, and an easing of travel restrictions. It comes as a huge relief for the ravaged aviation, travel and hospitality sectors. "We are witnessing a 40 per cent recovery on pre-covid volumes from our business travellers, signalling the return of corporate confidence in air travel," said Indiver Rastogi, president & group head, Global Business Travel, Thomas Cook (India) & SOTC.
The government said that "in exercise of extraordinary powers in public interest, conferred by paragraph 19 of the DPCO, 2013", the ceiling prices of 21 key formulations had been increased. These formulations include common medicines like BCG vaccines, penicillin, malaria and leprosy medicines (Dapsone), life-saving drugs like Furosemide (used to treat fluid build-up due to heart failure, liver scarring, or kidney disease), vitamin C, some common antibiotics, and anti-allergy medicines.
Serum Institute is investing $200 million to create capacities for the COVID-19 vaccine. Sohini Das profiles its 39-year-old CEO.
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.
In September, Bharat Biotech aimed to supply 35 million doses, and take this up to 55 million by October. This is still less than what the Indian government expects from the company.
The expert committee sought more information from Serum Institute regarding the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Each of the larger states may need less than Rs 10,000 crore each to finance the exercise.
The hospital, in the commercial hub of Bandra-Kurla Complex, will serve as an isolation facility for non-critical COVID-19 patients. Expected to be ready in a fortnight, the new makeshift facility can be scaled up to 5,000 beds, if needed. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will run the hospital that will have, among other things, oxygen facilities and pathological laboratories. Sohini Das reports.
The PM's visit would signal a strong intent towards making sure India becomes a beneficiary as vaccines become a massively traded commodity in the coming years.
While there is a shortage of testing kits, manpower and capacities, India does not have other scalable testing options.
The ICMR is working on a war footing to develop the testing ecosystem -- especially for the screening blood tests. NIV, Pune, is in the process of validating antibody-based screening kits.
'It is going to be as high as 50% in the coming one or two months and can be about 20% to 25% in the medium term.'
What has worked though for Brand Saridon has been its single-minded focus on headaches as opposed to other analgesics that dwell on a wider set of problems, reports Sohini Das.
Pune's Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, is placing its bets on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate AZD1222 with CEO Adar Poonawalla stating he would start manufacturing at personal risk.
The health system is trying to ensure that it isn't caught by surprise -- the way it was last time. So, hectic preparations are on.
The antiviral drug may cost around Rs 55,000 for an 11-dose course, or Rs 5,000 per injection -- much less than the price of imports from Bangladesh, reports Sohini Das.
The Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board, the BJP's brainchild, has been able to create only 1,500 jobs
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.
'There will be ups and downs, and we have to plan how we live with it now.'
'SII has started stockpiling the vaccine and now has roughly 40 million doses ready. It is using some of the capacities it had for under development products for the COVID-19 vaccine and by January we will have a capacity to make 100 million doses per month and a stockpile of 200 million doses.'
The first vaccine candidate will be an intra-muscular one, followed by intra-dermal and nasal ones, depending on test results.
Corporate leaders said a stable government at the Centre will help boost infrastructure spend, address agricultural distress, and encouraging employment.
The testing rate is likely to slow down, report Pavan Lall and Sohini Das.
A June 11 survey by cLocalCircles across 299 districts puts overall vaccine hesitancy levels at 18 per cent, with 11 per cent of the respondents saying they were not convinced if the currently available vaccines would protect them against the new strains; and 5 per cent said they do not plan to take the vaccine at all.
For India Inc, latest GDP figures signal a turnaround.
While the process of extracting plasma itself is simple, doctors say that it is the screening of donors, testing and filling up of numerous forms that takes time.
Companies are drawn to the parks by the infrastructure and ready-to-occupy land.
