Vaccine inequity remains an issue in India, where less than 2 per cent of the population has received a Covid booster
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.
'Opening everything is not appropriate ... everyone has been saying the third wave is a couple of days away'
The situation inside the "bubble" stood in sharp contrast to outside, with a surge in infections fuelled by the Delta variant hitting daily records and for the first time crossing 5,000 in the host city, threatening to overwhelm Tokyo's hospitals.
The sudden spike in cases of fever in India has claimed over 100 lives in five states, including UP, MP, Bihar, Haryana, and West Bengal. In UP, Firozabad and Mathura alone have reported 72 cases.
Behind each Covid vaccine are hundreds of parents, who had the courage and conviction to come forth with their children for the trial of a vaccine which was, until then, untried in that age group, reports Sindhu Bhattacharya.
...Is this a virus more dangerous than Covid-19, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
The American university, once the envy of the world, is in crisis, notes Ajit Balakrishnan in his latest column.
Professor Dr Aravinda Chakravarti of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who is president-elect of the American Society of Human Genetics, and Professor Dr K Ranga Rama Krishnan of the Duke University Medical Center, who is now setting up a medical school in Singapore for Duke, have been elected to the Institute of Medicine, one of the three components of the National Academy of Sciences.
As an admirer of Japan for close to half a century, I care for Japan and expect Suga to respect the sentiment of his people and cancel the Olympics without further delay, says Rajaram Panda.
UP government suspended four staffers and ordered a departmental probe into the incident.
Many of those who have been to Covid hell and back are unable to shake off the memories of their days in hospitals, leading to worries about post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety related problems, including insomnia.
SEWA International, a leading Indian-American non-profit organisation, has so far raised more than $250,000 for its COVID-19 relief efforts. It is using the money to buy personal protective equipment's, in particular facial masks and surgical masks, to donate free to the local law enforcement officials and hospitals in some of the hot spot areas like New York, who have run out of these essential items.
'We know that there are new variants which are more transmissible. We know that human behaviour determines the spread of this virus. Therefore, it is not very relevant if we declare whether the second wave is over or not'
'We cannot be naughty and expect the government to do good!' 'We have to behave ourselves and then we can expect the government to support us.' 'If we are able to protect ourselves well, then we should not be having deaths.' 'Unfortunately, people have gotten into this super scary event participation (mode) -- birthday parties, large gatherings.' 'Among the people who have attended those, 80 to 90 per cent of them have come down with COVID-19.'
What the UK is getting out of the Serum Institute is what India is losing. And the responsibility of the Indian State ought to have been to dictate where Serum Institute's vaccine doses should go, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Exports to China saw sustained double-digit growth for the fourth straight month in August, led by eightfold rise in iron and steel shipments.
The results show they induced strong antibody and T-cell immune responses for up to 56 days after they were given. T-cells are crucial for maintaining protection against the virus for years.
'If the Olympics were to spread infection, then what are the Olympics for?'
He invented a skin patch that can detect a silent heart attack 6 hours before it happens!
'There is no data to show this virus is more deadlier.'
'The idea is to have a place where people can come together and bridge the gap. It will be a contemporary design for the future, and not have the shadows of the past' Ritwik Sharma reports.
'Testing is a very good strategy if only symptomatic people are transmitting the disease.' 'Here asymptomatic people, with minimum, trivial symptoms, are transmitting too.' 'Testing, treating, tracing contacts and quarantining them -- yes, it will work up to a certain extent.' 'But more important is physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and cocooning, protecting with reverse quarantining the most vulnerable people, senior citizens, people with other major medical problems.' 'To me, that makes much more sense.'
The reduced severity of Omicron is good news for now, but it is the result of an "evolutionary mistake" as Covid-19 is transmitting very efficiently and there is no reason for it to become milder, indicating that the next variant could be more virulent, a leading Indian-origin scientist from the University of Cambridge has warned.
"Pregnancy doesn't increase the risk of acquiring SARS-COV-2 infection but appears to worsen the clinical course as compared to non-pregnant women'
As the global debate on booster shots gathers momentum, several scientists in New Delhi said the priority must be to ensure that more people are inoculated with at least their first jab.
The Society of Asian American Scientists in Cancer Research last month presented awards to seven doctors for their outstanding contributions to cancer research. The awards were presented by Rajvir Dahiya, SAASCR president, San Diego, California on April 6.
The Olympics will take place without spectators in host city Tokyo, organisers said on Thursday, as a resurgent coronavirus forced Japan to declare a state of emergency in the capital that will run throughout the event.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Over the past six months, the neighbourhood primary health centres have remained largely ill-equipped and thus relegated in the fight against the virus. Nitin Kumar reports.
The government, every year, hides behind the mystery of the disease, linking it with litchis, and does not confess malnutrition as the prime cause, points out Mohammad Sajjad.
Formula One race in Melbourne will proceed as planned this week and there is 'no chance' fans will be excluded because of coronavirus fears
New Delhi's Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan hospital is the ground zero of COVID-19 treatment in India. It's an exclusive Covid-dedicated hospital with 2,000 beds. Nowhere in India are so many coronavirus patients being treated under one roof.
'Both the Centre and the states cannot say that they have been taking good care of public health.'
'We are making decisions in the dark, in fear.' 'Let us shine the light of science on this.' 'Let us actually get better numbers, so that we make better decisions.'
The findings, published in the Journal of Medical Virology, indicate that some of these products might be useful for reducing the viral load, or amount of virus, in the mouth after infection.
The NTAGI has also stated that those having laboratory test proven SARS-CoV-2 illness should defer COVID-19 vaccination for six months after recovery, the sources said.
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