Every twist and turn in KMC's civil service career is attributed to serendipity, an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. He plays down his capabilities, which took him to the top of the civil service as the Cabinet Secretary or his misfortune in losing a daughter in her prime and suggests that his career was indeed serendipitous, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.
The Centre has asked states and Union territories to review, amend or do away with additional Covid-19 restrictions after considering the trend of new cases and positivity rate in their regions, citing sustained downward trend in the nationwide case trajectory.
The next quarter-century could mark India's rise as a nation to be more whole-heartedly admired if it addresses its institutional and policy failures, and focuses on reducing its inequalities and addressing its iniquities, asserts T N Ninan.
A public interest litigation has been filed in the Bombay high court to challenge the decision taken last month by the Maharashtra government, allowing the sale of wine in supermarkets and walk-in stores in the state.
At least five states were hit by unseasonably powerful storms and tornadoes on Friday night, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.
The Union health ministry on Friday urged eight states and Union Territories to take up immediate containment measures including preventing crowds, conducting widespread testing as well as increasing vaccine coverage on a priority basis in districts where the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus has been detected.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic's bid to win a record-breaking 21 men's Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open ended on Sunday with a court decision to uphold the government's cancellation of his visa.
The government on Friday said 25 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India so far and that mostly mild symptoms have been noted in all the cases.
'We are a country of amazing ability and the way we have responded to the pandemic is evidence.'
The Centre on Tuesday extended the nationwide COVID-19 containment measures till October 31 in view of localised spreads of the virus in a few states and the disease continuing to be a public health challenge in the country.
'... so that the hospitals do not get overwhelmed. We have to avoid it at all costs.'
The first study used spatial analysis to show that the earliest known COVID-19 cases, diagnosed in December 2019, were centered on the Wuhan market.
The article claimed that the "ICMR tailored its findings to fit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's optimistic narrative despite a looming crisis".
'People who were vaccinated early on, for example, from January to April this year, namely health workers, the elderly, and the immunocompromised, should be identified for a booster dose.' 'We should start getting ready for administering booster doses to them on priority.'
The Melbourne Cricket Ground was kept on standby to host back-to back matches against India, who won the traditional Boxing Day Test at the MCG by eight wickets on Tuesday.
With 3,536 cases reported on an average in the week ending March 15, India contributed to only 0.21 per cent of global cases, the Union health ministry said.
'Serial testing is much more valuable than a single test which reflects just a point in time.'
Currently, the weekend lockdown is in force from 8 pm on Fridays and last till 7 am on Mondays.
'At the stage where we are in today in the country, by the time mass vaccination becomes available, it would be around the middle of next year.' 'Most of those people, who got infected this year, will be next year back to level zero -- once again susceptible.'
According to the zoo, two of the gorillas had started coughing on Wednesday, following which San Diego Zoo Global initiated the process of testing fecal samples from them for SARS-CoV-2 through the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System.
During the interview with the CBS, Fauci said it does not make sense to him why Trump "equates wearing a mask with weakness." Masks, Fauci maintained, "really do work."
The New York Times on Tuesday said Covaxin works by teaching the immune system to make antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The antibodies attach to viral proteins, such as the so-called spike proteins that stud its surface.
Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Fauci said that India made the "incorrect assumption" that they were finished with COVID-19.
Professor, Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad, Public Health Foundation of India, V Ramana Dhara, said the unlock has resulted in a return to old habits of indiscipline in physical distancing and improper mask use.
It underlined that anyone can catch the virus if they have had prolonged or repeated contact with an infected individual.
Fresh cases of Covid-19 are again spiking globally, especially in parts of Asia, after several weeks of decline and this rise is "just the tip of the iceberg", World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned.
The government will provide free visas to 5 lakh tourists visiting India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. Announcing measures to revive the tourism sector battered by Covid-19, Sitharaman said financial support would be provided to more than 11,000 registered tourist guides, travel and tourism stakeholders. She said once the visa issuance for international travel is restarted, the first five lakh tourists will be issued visas free of charge.
The country is still in the ascending limb of the epidemic, said Prof D Prabhakaran.
The government on Friday warned about the declining compliance to mask usage in the country amid concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated to prevent surge in cases.
Religious rights of every person are subject to "public order", the Supreme Court said on Monday while dismissing the plea of a man seeking to exhume the body of his son, who was dubbed a terrorist and killed in an encounter in Kashmir in November 2021, so the family could conduct his last rites in the same graveyard.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune under the ICMR has isolated the monkeypox virus from the clinical specimen of a patient, which can pave the way for development of diagnostic kits and vaccines against the disease, officials said on Wednesday.
The researchers noted that transmission rates of SARS-CoV-2 are much higher indoors than outdoors, and transmission is greatly reduced by indoor ventilation.
Chartered accountants are readying themselves for a higher onus on individuals to report violations that they come across as part of their work. There has been a scramble to understand the implications as the non-compliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) comes into effect in less than six months. It is applicable from April 1, 2022 after being deferred earlier because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The City of Toronto has formally apologised to the World Sikh Organisation of Canada for 'any delay' in reinstating the Sikh security guards whose services were terminated over a 'no-beard' policy.
Kristina Mladenovic had complained saying she felt like she was being treated like a prisoner after she was placed inside a 'bubble within a bubble' despite 'thirty negative tests'.
Ministry of health and family welfare adds Hong Kong and Israel to the list of countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing considering the detection of new COVID variant 'Omicron' in South Africa.
This comes days after a 23-year-old woman from Jaipur has alleged that Rohit Joshi, the son of Rajasthan Minister for Public Health Engineering, raped her on multiple occasions over a year, following which the Delhi Police has registered a zero FIR initially.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium is closely tracking the new variant of COVID-19 called B.1.1.529 and its presence has not been detected in the country yet, officials said on Friday.
Nine more NBA players have tested positive for COVID-19, less than a week before teams are set to travel to Florida to resume the 2020 season. A total of 25 players and 10 team staff members have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since testing began on June 23, the National Basketball Association said in a statement on Thursday.
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