Two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the Union government said on Thursday while asking people not to panic but follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated without delay.
'It is not that I don't want to say "Jai Shri Ram".' I only said I will not say this slogan under any pressure.'
For the first seven days, India's trajectory was close to that of the US and the UK, but the implementation of the lockdown from Day 8 seems to have helped us control the spread significantly despite our larger population.
Shahid Jameel, recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, also said that the country had already reached community transmission a long time ago.
India has the fourth highest number of malaria cases in the world.
The advisory stressed on capacity building, saying identified human resource needs to be trained online using online training programs developed by the ministry.
'There is a sense of realism in the Pakistan army that if they needled India during the Ladakh standoff, they would have seen a strong retaliation.' 'Pakistan was hoping that India would come out looking weaker in the region and get embarrassed, but that obviously has not happened.'
The first part of the study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that 0.73 per cent of the population surveyed showed evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2, and that urban slum population was the most vulnerable to the infection, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said at a press conference.
'Aquaponics can effectively cushion the impact of a calamity like COVID.'
You may no longer have to rely on international size charts.
'In our country, there is a lot of checks and balances, the figures cannot go wrong.' 'Because they are being checked by not only the governments, but by doctors themselves.'
In the not too distant future, you could see 5G technology being used for functions such as remotely-performed robotic surgeries, mine equipment operated remotely or cars driven by someone sitting hundreds of miles away. While these ideas will certainly find application globally, the urgent need for them in India could spur swifter adoption here than elsewhere.
A reception often reserved for rockstars came the way of mining mogul Anil Agarwal when he started revealing nuggets of his ascent from a scrap-metal dealer to one of India's most prominent self-made industrialists on social media. And now he has been flooded with booking writing proposals and has even been offered money for a biopic. In February this year, Agarwal, 68, started tweeting his journey from Bihar to Mumbai first and then to London to head a globally diversified natural resources company with interests in zinc-lead-silver, iron ore, steel, copper, aluminium, power, oil and gas.
The cost of not vaccinating the entire population quickly will be far higher than bearing the entire cost of vaccination, points out Prosenjit Datta.
'Unity in diversity is a dated notion as India, today, is more unified and cohesive and yet more pronouncedly diverse than ever in its history,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
'We are only amplifying the voice of scientists and experts. We are gathering information by talking to experts and are sharing it. If the government chooses to ignore that, what can we do?'
'There's no wonder that many Pakistani parents send their kids to madrasa and one knows what happens to a small percentage of the kids who go there.
'We have to accept that the infection is now in the community and we can't isolate everyone who gets it.' 'Instead, what we need to do is to find out those who are most at risk of death, isolate them and save them from the rest.'
'The day-to-day control of banks is in the hands of political bosses and bureaucrats who are not answerable.' 'The political system uses the banks as a helicopter to throw money to the sector they want to patronise in order to win the next election.'
The two cities finally got their act together by ramping up the testing capacity and implementing stricter quarantine norms.
The silent epidemic is playing havoc with the lives of millions of Indians. But those suffering from this chronic disease remain in the dark about their infection.
A month-long national lockdown to arrest the spread of COVID 2.0 could shave off 100-200 bps of GDP, leading to a 300 bps risk to annual growth, a brokerage report has flagged while expressing doubts over the ability of local lockdowns to control the pandemic. The second wave of the coronavirus inflection has caught the government off-guard with the daily cases jumping over 6.5 times in the past 30 days. With close to 3.53 lakh fresh daily infections, the country is the worst hit globally.
Kejriwal's centralised way of governance might work in Delhi, but Punjab will call for delegation, observes Sanjeev Nayyar.
Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said healthcare workers and frontline workers need not register themselves as their database has been populated on to the Co-WIN vaccine delivery management system in a bulk manner.
Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Thursday said it has applied for emergency use authorisation (EUA) with the Indian drug regulator for its three-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D, and plans to manufacture 10-12 crore doses annually.
Non-availability of army personnel due to Indo-Pak tensions has forced authorities to indefinitely postpone Pakistan's census, the first in 17 years, according to a media report on Sunday.
'The prioritisation of groups for COVID-19 vaccine shall be based on two key considerations -- occupational hazard and risk of exposure to infection, and the risk of developing severe disease and increased mortality'
The seventh Tibet Work Forum was held in Beijing on August 28 and 29. Delhi should be deeply concerned, at a time India faces a precarious situation in Ladakh, because the TWF also defines China's western border policies, observes Claude Arpi.
'COPD causes an economic loss of Rs 35,000 crores.' 'We cannot afford to lose such a huge amount due to one disease.' 'COPD is a non-communicable disease and that's why it remained low in priority.' 'The time is right to shift the focus to COPD as HIV/AIDS and TB are under control. 'This badly neglected disease has become the second largest cause for deaths in India.' 'It is time for us to wake up and give due importance to this disease.'
'Whenever you roll out: effectiveness is important, operational logistics are important, side effects are important and vaccine hesitancy is important.'
Expressing concern over the COVID-19 situation, the chief minister urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to widen the vaccination ambit to cover those younger than 60 as the mutant has been found to be infecting young people more, an official statement quoting him said.
'Almost 70 per cent production time of a vaccine is dedicated to quality control, which is done through several hundred tests.'
The Johnson and Johnson and Sputnik vaccines should be approved now, as should the Pfizer and Moderna ones, suggests Naushad Forbes. Leave it to the companies to figure out how to put in place the right chilling infrastructure. Don't let a lack of approvals deprive the country of availability, suggests Naushad Forbes.
'...Where there is clearly no evidence of community transmission, letting life return to normal in those districts while continuing to rigorously control the spread of the infection.'
Despite a lot of lip service to national unity, functional relations between the Han Chinese immigrants and the Uyghur regional majority have not developed on equitable basis, says R Hariharan
"As regards reports about a bridge being made by the Chinese side on Pangong Lake, the government has been monitoring this activity closely," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
'We showcased about 20 use cases in 5G trials in Pune and Gandhinagar and some of them were interesting and innovative.' 'However, which ones will take off and which ones would not be relevant, we don't know yet.'
'Smokers are a highly susceptible population during this pandemic.' 'Health benefits from quitting smoking can start as early as within an hour.'
Any Indian government at this juncture would have voted and spoken exactly this way. It isn't just about the vast Indian dependence on Russian-origin military equipment. It is also about trust, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Once you resume economic activities, life will be normal.' 'The younger people will tolerate the virus very well. So, life will become normal very soon.'
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