With the Omicron variant of coronavirus slowly spreading its tentacles in the country, a number of states enhanced surveillance to trace, track and quarantine contacts of COVID-19 positive persons while Delhi began genome sequencing of samples of all infected people and has prohibited Christmas and New Year gatherings.
In the trial, the vaccine will be given by the intramuscular route in two doses on day 0 and day 28.
The languages which are now being offered are Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Urdu and English.
A study shows that the country has experienced 706 heatwave incidents from 1971-2019.
The young are most vulnerable to self-harm and suicidal ideas at this time.
Over 21 per cent of the population, aged 10 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to COVID-19 in the Indian Council of Medical Research's latest national serosurvey, the government said on Thursday, noting that a large proportion of people are still vulnerable to the infection.
Although the Malabar is a routine exercise which has been carried out for several years now, security experts attach a lot of traction to it in view of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, observes Rup Narayan Das.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
It will be unfair to put a date for any COVID wave as the behaviour of coronavirus is unpredictable and a disciplined and effective pandemic response can help the country get away from any significant outbreak, COVID Task Force chief V K Paul said.
India has realised that one can only deal with China from a position of strength and that is not palatable to Beijing, observes Dr Rup Narayan Das.
Vardhan noted that COVID-19 infection among those vaccinated would be very mild and not progress to an advanced stage.
States should ensure a weekly positivity rate of less than 5 per cent, vaccination coverage of at least 70 per cent among the vulnerable section, and community ownership of Covid-appropriate behaviour, reports Ruchika Chitravanshi.
A man who had arrived from Nigeria and six of his family members who tested Covid-19 positive and their tests had 's' gene dropout were doing well and the officials of Greater Chennai Corporation were involved in monitoring the primary and secondary contacts of his family members, Tamil Nadu Minister Ma Subramanian said on Wednesday.
The Omicron variant carries 'concerning' mutations that may make it more transmissible and allow it to evade immunity, scientists said on Monday, stressing that the one certainty in the uncertainty of the many things unknown is this -- COVID is not a short-term crisis and vaccines are still a critical tool.
Winning against Covid means thinking ahead, at least six months, putting in place the likely scenarios of what might happen, and then planning. Planning is the role of the government. Having planned, it should communicate what and why. Then, get out of the way, recommends Naushad Forbes.
The government said it had been evaluating the implementation of the decentralised model of vaccination since its launch on May 1 and that the decision to centralise it again was taken after detailed deliberations and following requests by some states, amid claims by the Opposition that the policy change was due to the Supreme Court's intervention.
More than India's alignment with the Quad, India's defence cooperation and partnership with the USA is of critical importance, notes Rup Narayan Das.
'Since many people are vaccinated, this virus is now concentrating on the throat and the nose and replicating fast and transmitting also very fast.' 'That's because the current vaccines will not be able to fight it when it is in the throat, nose or the mouth.'
Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com captures the anxiety and excitement at the model auditions in Mumbai.
Anxious? Stressed? Upset? Veenu Sandhu has a handy list of apps that promise mental peace.
COVID-19 may be a seasonal infection linked to low temperatures and humidity, much like seasonal influenza, according to new 'robust' evidence found by researchers.
Let the kids just idle out their time. Their minds are always working. Let that mind develop naturally, says Dr Himani Kulkarni.
'Unfortunately, our political class is not interested in making this society equal. They just want to exploit the situation for their own benefit.'
Modi said that violence, abuse and rude behaviour against frontline workers is not acceptable
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said one of the major reasons for the surge in cases was people becoming lax towards following COVID-appropriate behaviour and urged them take up mass awareness campaigns to re-instill the importance of such measures among the masses.
Solar Orbiter is on a unique trajectory that will allow its comprehensive set of instruments to provide humanity with the first-ever images of the Sun's poles, the US space agency said. This trajectory includes 22 close approaches to the Sun, bringing the spacecraft within the orbit of Mercury to study the Sun, and its influence on space, it said.
"For the next 25 years we need to focus on the five resolves - developed India, removing every trace of bondage from our mind, taking pride in our glorious heritage, unity, and fulfilling our duties," he said.
The COVID-19 vaccines can be "tweaked" to provide protection against new variants of the virus, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, Director Dr Randeep Guleria said.
The SmartGPA app automatically predicts college students' grade point average based on their cellphone data that tracks their study, party and other habits.
'The available workforce is getting depleted.' 'We need to appoint doctors and frontline health workers immediately.'
'Log kehte hai desh to humne Modi ko diya hua hai, par pradesh nahi diya hai (we have given Modi the mandate to run the nation, not the state).'
Intensifying screening of international passengers at airports, asking educational institutions to postpone their public events, and limiting gatherings, meetings, conferences to 500 people, are among the other measures announced by the government.
The Malaysian government is considering curbing Internet use for teens between midnight and 6 am. Should India follow suit?
Studies have shown that placing others ' well-being ahead of ourselves without expectations or altruistic behaviour, stimulates brain reward centres.
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.
Anger problems, however, don't crop up overnight. The signs are usually present at least two years before a major outburst comes to light.
The World Health Organisation has said it is 'not yet clear' whether the newly-detected coronavirus variant Omicron is more transmissible or causes more severe disease compared to other variants, including the highly-transmissible and globally prevalent Delta variant.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
"Despite the high number of cases reported so far, we have been able to contain the spread to under 2 pc of population," said Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal.
