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.
'...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.'
'Whenever you roll out: effectiveness is important, operational logistics are important, side effects are important and vaccine hesitancy is important.'
India is Asia's other bad debt headache.
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.
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.
'Smokers are a highly susceptible population during this pandemic.' 'Health benefits from quitting smoking can start as early as within an hour.'
'The Indian response in confining our action to our side of the LoC set a dangerous precedent,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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.
'Almost 70 per cent production time of a vaccine is dedicated to quality control, which is done through several hundred tests.'
'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.'
'It is time we Indians learnt to believe in ourselves, and stopped questioning our own capabilities every time a space launch is not a glorious success,' says M D Riti.
Kejriwal's centralised way of governance might work in Delhi, but Punjab will call for delegation, observes Sanjeev Nayyar.
'With the June quarter GDP shrinking by nearly a quarter, there is an even greater economic imperative: Reduction of uncertainty,' observes Neelkanth Mishra.
'It is a terrible time, but yet there are enough examples of the goodness of people.'
"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.
'The Modi government's lack of foresight has compelled India to become an importer of vaccines today and even now, their "vaccine strategy is flawed and discriminatory'
Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said the purpose of the COVID vaccine drive would be to break the chain of viral transmission.
'India and China are at new inflection points, domestically and internationally. India needs to throw up a new leader whose vision is clear, experience laden with wisdom and articulation brimming with restraint and tolerance,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
The global number of new cases has been increasing for more than a month, with over 4 million cases reported in the past week - July 26 to August 1, the update said.
'In the second wave, probably due to the mutants, probably due to COVID-19-inappropriate behaviour, we are seeing it coming in the younger population, say from ages 30 to 50.' 'Also, we've seen that sometimes they deteriorate pretty rapidly and therefore we may need to keep a closer watch on the symptoms and on the oxygen levels at home.'
'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.'
On International Tiger Day, India is still a long way from making sure that the future of our national animal is safe.
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.
Easy availability of drones has increased the complexity of security challenges and the Indian military is developing capabilities to effectively deal with the threats, be it from State-sponsored elements or by states themselves, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane said on Thursday.
The first cycle starts with 1, then 2, then 4, 8, etc, until the infected population jumps to 16,384 at the 14th cycle, explains Devangshu Dutta.
'Better hygiene practices could lower a person's immunity and make the person susceptible to auto-immune diseases.'
The government has an opportunity right now to save Indians from deep recession, and in many cases, starvation, notes Kalyan Singhal.
'Politicians want pliable policemen who would carry out their orders, right or wrong, lawful or illegal.'
'We were lucky, in many ways, that we got the disease late.'
'Even after vaccines are given, precautions like using a mask and maintaining social distancing have to be taken.'
Gilgit Baltistan's large frontage with Kashmir and Ladakh across Kargil and the Siachen Glacier gives Pakistan and China the perceived scope for conduct of collusive operations against India and wrest control of the major course of the Indus and Shyok, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
India should observe October 22 as Kashmir Martyrs Day to pay tribute to those who lost their lives to Paakistan's State terrorism, suggests Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
The secret to a healthy heart lies in living a stress-free, well-balanced lifestyle combined with regular physical activity and a good night's sleep, suggests cardiologist Dr Talha Meeran.
Without Myanmar, India can't engage with any of the Asian nations to its east.
The study, which was conducted on more than 100 healthcare workers at three centres in India including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, found that the B.1.617.2 Delta variant not only dominates vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-Delta infections (Ct value of 16.5 versus 19) but also generates greater transmission among the fully vaccinated HCWs.
India's COVID-19 fatality rate has dropped significantly to 2.43 per cent from 3.36 per cent on June 17 due to effective clinical management of coronavirus cases, the health ministry and asserted that the country has handled the pandemic 'relatively well'.
The party is better at winning elections than at governance and it remains intent on pushing ahead with its trademark social and political agenda observes T N Ninan.
The phase 3 trial findings indicate that Covaxin induces a robust antibody response with no severe vaccine-related adverse events or deaths reported among the trial participants, the authors of the study said.
The Union government's role and the prices announced by the vaccine makers raises far too many disquieting questions, observes Prosenjit Datta.
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