The daily rise in the number of coronavirus cases has been below 20,000 for 41 straight days now and less than 50,000 fresh cases have been reported for 144 consecutive days.
Initial data has shown immunity triggered by the two mRNA vaccines -- Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna -- lasts for at least six months
The death toll due to the viral disease climbed to 5,16,352 with 71 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
Monkeypox is a rare zoonotic disease that is caused by infection with monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus belongs to the family Poxviridae, which also includes the viruses causing smallpox and cowpox disease
The COVID-19 case fatality rate stood at 1.44 per cent.
The Indian Council of Medical Research's national task force for COVID-19 has decided against including antiviral drug Molnupiravir in the clinical management protocol for COVID-19 as of now, official sources said on Tuesday.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has gone up to 4,24,85,534.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.80 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.50 per cent, the ministry said.
Daily COVID-19 cases have remained below 1 lakh for eight consecutive days now.
The number of active cases has declined to 2,92,206, accounting for 0.87 per cent of the total number of cases -- the lowest since March 2020 -- while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.81 per cent, the highest since March last year, the ministry said.
Neutralising antibodies are important in potentially protecting a person from re-infection of the same virus.
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty retreated from over one-week highs to close lower on Wednesday due to profit booking in banking, IT and metal stocks amid weak global trends. After a two-day rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped by 90.99 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 57,806.49 in volatile trade. As many as 19 of its constituents declined while 11 advanced. The broader Nifty slipped by 19.65 points or 0.11 per cent to close at 17,213.60 with 31 of its stocks ending in the red.
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,12,62,707 with 17,921 fresh cases being reported in a day, while the recoveries surpassed 1.09 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry said the country has a robust system of reporting deaths, including those caused by COVID-19, and the data is compiled regularly at different levels of governance, starting from the gram panchayat level to the district level and the state level.
The Drugs Control General of India has permitted emergency use of Covid vaccine Sputnik V with certain conditions, clearing the way for a third vaccine in addition to Covishield and Covaxin. Besides, the government on Tuesday also fast-tracked emergency approval for other jabs. Here is what the vaccines are all about:
Researchers said compounds that are already along the pipeline to drug discovery are preferred, as they can be further tested as antivirals at an accelerated rate compared to new drug leads that would have to go through this process from scratch.
Those infected with the virus may have mild fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain or headache.
The renowned pulmonologist, who was part of the national COVID task force, highlighted the need for research on developing vaccines which will cover not only the current circulating strains but also from the emerging variants.
An immune-escape Covid-19 strain coupled with the natural spike in influenza and pneumonia cases during winters may lead to a rise in hospitalisation.
A pinch of turmeric in a glass of milk or with honey in hot water would be ideal for the monsoon.
"Provide enough infrastructure and money to carry out surveillance and set up a robust routine surveillance machinery for the country to monitor any and every infectious disease'
Major Beena Tiwari was the only woman in the 99-member medical team at the Indian Army's field hospital in earthquake-hit Turkey.
The researchers found that after being exposed to high levels of the novel coronavirus, none of the six monkeys that were given the vaccine developed viral pneumonia. Also, there was no sign that the vaccine had made the animals more vulnerable.
India registered 2,68,833 new Covid infections in a day taking the tally to 3,68,50,962, which includes 6,041 Omicron variant cases, according to the Union health ministry data on Saturday.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.
'The ICMR and Biological E Limited, Hyderabad, have developed highly purified antisera (raised in animals) for prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19,' the apex health research body said on Thursday. The 'antisera' is yet to undergo human clinical trials to establish its safety and efficacy and Drugs Controller General of India would be approached soon in this regard, Dr Samiran Panda, the head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the ICMR said.
A row has erupted over a portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose which was unveiled by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan, with people on social media stating that the artwork is that of an actor who played him in a biopic.
US-based global tech giants, including IBM, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have partnered with the White House to "unleash the power of American supercomputing resources" for combating the novel coronavirus, President Donald Trump has said. From volunteering to manufacturing masks and ventilators to ramping up production of essential medical supplies and general items, the country's private sector have joined America's war against coronavirus in a big way, Trump said on Sunday, while launching a new public-private consortium organised by the White House, the department of energy and tech company IBM.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 1,05,73,372, which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.26 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent.
Evidence from a large study of several thousand patients shows that men have higher concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in their blood than women. Since ACE2 enables coronavirus to infect healthy cells, this may help to explain why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than women.
Experts said the strain has not propelled a surge in cases like Omicron, but advised strict adherence to COVID-19-appropriate behaviour.
The 'antisera' has been developed by the ICMR in collaboration with a Hyderabad-based bio-pharmaceutical firm. "With Biological E Limited we have developed an horse 'antisera' and we have just got clearance for conducting clinical trials for that," ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said at press briefing.
Join infectious disease specialist Dr Trupti Gilada on Rediff Chat and have all your queries on coronavirus answered.
Over time, as more mutations occur, the vaccine may need to be altered.
More than 2 million people have been diagnosed with coronavirus across the world, and the pharmaceutical industry is pulling out all stops to find potential treatments and vaccines for the global pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, there are now more than 70 potential vaccines under evelopment, with some already in clinical trials.
Phase-I clinical trials have revealed "excellent safety" of the two candidate vaccines indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and Cadila Healthcare Ltd and their immunogenicity testing is now in progress, minister of state for health Ashwini Choubey informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.50 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was 2.63 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 71 days.
The Madras high court bench in Madurai on Monday directed transferring the probe into the death by suicide of a 17-year-old girl, allegedly coerced to convert to Christianity, to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
AI tech that study CT scans and X-Rays are being deployed as part of global efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, according to LPU researchers. The system may enable doctors and medical staff even in remotest villages of the country to get quick results on the COVID-19 status of a patient.
Explaining how RT-PCR tests may yield a false negative results, the scientists said, when a swab misses collecting cells infected with the virus, or if virus levels are very low early during the infection, some tests can produce negative results.
