Though there is no official word, the sources said the government is not ready to give in to the indemnity demands of the US drug manufacturers against liabilities in case of adverse effects.
The guidelines listed several services including government and private offices that will be out of bounds during the period, while exempting establishments such as hospitals, ration shops, dairies, banks, insurance offices, and print and electronic media. Delivery of all essential goods including food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment through e-commerce has also been exempted from the purview of the lockdown.
'The government wants farmers to diversify from rice and wheat, and create another green revolution. Cannabis can play a big part in that'
India is not keen to 'bow down' to demands related to indemnity against legal liabilities in case any vaccine recipient develops severe adverse reactions post inoculation.
There is a need for top court's intervention on certain national issues as there might be matters related to coordination between states, it said.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), through its president and senior advocate Vikas Singh, has filed the plea seeking to intervene as a party in the suo motu case titled as "In Re: Distribution of Essential Supplies and Services During Pandemic" and said the under the given situation, the high courts are best suited to deal with local issues.
"Due to scheduling reasons, it is inconvenient for China to attend the meeting," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told mediapersons.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a statewide curfew for 15 days from 8 am on April 14 to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus in its second wave. With Section 144 being imposed across the state, Thackeray essential services have been exempted from the restrictions. The curfew will be in place till 7 am on May 1.
The ad is one more illustration of the way Maharashtra's new Shinde-Fadnavis government has been milking the Ganpati festival, with CM Eknath Shinde visiting Ganpati Mandals all day these last 10 days.
Calling COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines as one of the most important aspects of his discussions with top officials of the Biden administration, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the endeavour is to expand production of vaccines in India with assistance from the US.
Facing accusations of delay in placing orders for vaccines, the government on Thursday defended its vaccine procurement policy saying it has been pursuing Pfizer, J&J and Moderna since mid-2020 for the earliest possible imports, and has even waived local trials for well-established foreign vaccine makers.
The institute expects to complete both, phase-2 and 3 trials in India by the end of this year.
PM Modi said that it was an honour to be a trusted partner during the pandemic adding that the two countries will continue to strengthen cooperation on healthcare.
Sputnik V is the third vaccine India has given the go-ahead to after 'Covishield', developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and 'Covaxin', the indigenous vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech. Covishield is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
Since India is one of the largest vaccine producers in the world, it is the country's 'moral responsibility' to fast-track vaccine development process to break the chain of coronavirus transmission, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said referring to the two vaccine candidates developed indigenously.
"Sputnik will probably offer vaccines after June 20. They will start the vaccine production from the month of August. They are importing the vaccines right now, and they will allot a section of their imported vaccines to the Delhi government," he said.
Satara, Sangli, Panvel have stopped vaccination while Buldhana has only one day's vaccine doses left in stock, said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope.
The all-powerful GST Council on Friday decided to charge food delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato a tax even as it extended concessional tax rates on certain COVID-19 drugs by three months till December 31. The Council, which comprises the Union finance minister and her state counterparts, decided to continue keeping petrol and diesel out of the GST purview as subsuming the current excise duty and VAT into one national rate would impact revenues. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Council at a meeting here, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said GST has been exempted on muscular atrophy drugs like Zolgensma and Viltepso, which cost crores of rupees.
The Covishield maker's forte throughout the past half a century has been a combination of affordable vaccines and high volumes. Its tetanus, diphtheria and measles vaccines are known throughout the world, reports Sohini Das.
As its factories resumed operations after over two-month of grim battle against coronavirus, China is busy tapping into the vast business opportunities of export of key medical goods, specially ventilators and personal protection equipment (PPE), across the world, including India, where both private and government bodies are placing orders for the import of these products.
Taking part in the first meeting of Foreign Ministers of the neighbouring countries on Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will provide Afghanistan with 200 million yuan ($31 million) worth of grains, winter supplies, vaccines and medicines as per its requirements, official media in Beijing reported.
Hydroxychloroquine has been identified by the US Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for the COVID-19 and it is being tested on more than 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York.
The Maharashtra government has capped the prices of N-95, double and triple layer masks for suppliers and private hospitals in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, state health minister Rajesh Tope has said.
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.
We have applied for marketing authorisation to the EMA through AstraZeneca. We will not sell the vaccine in the EU, said a company source.
The Centre told the apex court that it has fast tracked the emergency approvals for foreign produced COVID-19 vaccines that have been granted approval in other countries
The global trials were halted after a study participant suffered a 'potentially unexplained illness, reports Sohini Das.
The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has come under fire following the Centre's announcement that Tata-Airbus C-295 transport aircraft project would be set up in Gujarat, with the opposition seeking to know why the project that was supposed to come up in Maharashtra went to the neighbouring state.
China has given conditional approval for a single dose COVID-19 vaccine, touted to be a rival to Johnson & Johnson's one-jab shot cleared by the United States drug regulator on Sunday.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, who is demitting office as the 47th CJI, lamented imputation of motive by some senior bar members while allowing senior advocate Harish Salve to withdraw as an amicus curiae from the case after he said that he did not want it to be decided under the shadow that he was friends with Justice Bobde from "school and college days".
The box of hand grenades had been attached with a wooden frame and was lowered from the drone to the ground with a nylon rope, said police, adding that they recovered it on Sunday evening.
These items will remain under essential commodities segment till June-end, a move aimed at ensuring availability at reasonable prices and cracking down on hoarders/black marketeers.
Based on this price, state governments, private hospitals, industrial establishments, etc would be able to procure vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
The government hopes that the PLI schemes would provide 200,000-300,000 direct employment over five years, according to sources in the know.
We must resist the temptation to look at the absolute numbers being vaccinated, and focus instead on the percentage of the population vaccinated, he said in his letter.
'We are learning from every patient who is admitted, treated and discharged.'
In a joint statement posted on their respective twitter accounts, the companies said Serum Institute Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla and Bharat Biotech Chairman Krishna Ella communicated their combined intent to develop, manufacture and supply the COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the advance visibility provided by the Centre to states and Union territories, a total of 5.86 crore Covid vaccine doses will be provided free of cost to them from May 1 to June 15, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.
Recently, Ranbaxy and Wockhardt too were hauled up.
Modi gave directions to officials during a high-level meeting to review the status of COVID-19 and Omicron, the new variant of concern (VOC), and said "we should be 'satark' (vigilant) and 'saavdhan' (cautious)".
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