An Indian crew member of a Comoros-flagged oil tanker that capsized off the Oman coast has died, officials said on Thursday.
No religion or God says that you have to visit pandals and temples and mosques to pray, Vardhan underlined.
Vardhan stated the government is taking full precautions in human trials of vaccines and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 under the chairmanship of Dr V K Paul, member-health, NITI Aayog, is drawing up a detailed strategy on how to immunize the majority of the population.
He expressed hope that India will soon have indigenous production of vaccine against coronavirus.
Expressing deep concern over the recent act of violence against doctors, Vardhan stated that incidents of assault on doctors are reported from different parts of the country and this leads to sudden strike by doctors, gravely affecting the healthcare services.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said the government was aiming to bring down India's Covid-19 mortality rate to less than 1 per cent from the current 1.64 per cent, which is still the lowest in the world.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan sparred on Twitter on Saturday with the Opposition leader raising questions over the emergency use approval given to the indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin and the Bharatiya Janata Party leader hitting back alleging that Tewari was only passionate about spreading rumours.
He also highlighted that the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country are less than 7 lakh and the doubling rate has increased to 97.2 days.
Treasury and opposition members nearly came to blows in Lok Sabha on Friday when Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan condemned in "no uncertain words" the "outlandish" remarks made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion on Wednesday, several Union Ministers, including Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar resigned from their posts.
More than 6 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been sent to 76 nations, while 4.5 crore doses have been administered to beneficiaries in the country till now, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said.
With West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking a uniform vaccination policy for the country, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday assured her that the Modi government was firm in its resolve to help the state fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but also flagged more than 40 per cent positivity rate in some districts of the state.
The Union health minister said of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country, 1.5 per cent are on oxygen support and 2.34 per cent are in ICUs.
India has flattened its Covid-19 graph and 146 districts have reported no new case of the viral disease in the last seven days, 18 in 14 days, six in 21 days and 21 districts in the last 28 days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday sought keen oversight and personal indulgence of health ministers, principal secretaries and additional chief secretaries of states and union territories to lead the second nationwide mock drill on the COVID-19 vaccination scheduled to be held on January 8.
Vardhan said the ICMR is actively researching on reports of COVID-19 reinfection and although the number of such cases is negligible at this moment, the government is fully seized of the importance of the matter, the health ministry said in a statement.
The minister, who visited the Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre at Chhattarpur to review its COVID-19 management status, also said that "our success" can be seen in the recovery rate which is almost 63 per cent at present.
The minister said whatever is being done now are "the perfect scientific advice".
The government has received requests for facilitation of early discharge of some Indian nationals purportedly recruited into the Russian armed forces in unclear circumstances, he said.
J Vishnu Vardhan and Rushmi Chakravarthy won the men's and women's titles respectively at the National Grasscourt Championship.
The Delhi Police has registered a first information report (FIR) and formed multiple teams to probe the Rajinder Nagar coaching centre flooding incident which killed three IAS aspirants, officials said on Sunday.
Kuwaiti authorities are conducting DNA tests on the bodies of those killed in the devastating fire incident in southern Kuwait's Mangaf area and an Indian Air Force aircraft is on standby to bring back the mortal remains of Indians killed in the incident, officials said on Thursday.
'We are not dependent only on the two vaccines as the country is working on seven more indigenous vaccines'
'But the truth is that I don't think Bloody Ishq could have been made without Avika.'
Vardhan said the fatality rate is 3.2 per cent while the recovery rate is progressively increasing and stands at 31.74 per cent.
The fatality rate is down to 3.1 per cent and the recovery rate has improved to 37.5 per cent, he said.
Those demonstrating alleged inadequate services by the hospital and negligence by politicians.
The court's directions mean that Lodha immediately ceases to hold all positions in the M P Birla group, including as director in the firms and other positions in the trusts and societies of the M P Birla group, a statement from the Birlas read.
Kerala on Friday said a tearful goodbye to most of the 23 victims from the state who died in the Kuwait fire tragedy -- one of the biggest incidents to ever affect the state's expatriate community known for their dedication and hard work.
Kuwaiti authorities have identified the bodies of 45 Indians and three Filipino nationals killed in the tragic fire incident in a building housing foreign workers in the Gulf Kingdom, a top official said on Thursday.
After inaugurating a 10-bed make-shift hospital of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Ghaziabad near Delhi, he said India began formulating its strategy against coronavirus from January 8 as soon as the world came to know about the outbreak of the disease.
Top seed Vishnu Vardhan encountered opening round blues as he was taken the distance before putting it across unseeded compatriot Ashwin Vijayragavan in the first round of the CCI-ITF men's US $15,000 tennis tournament in Mumbai on Tuesday. The Secunderabad-based Davis Cupper, the highest ATP-ranked player at 272 in the draw, prevailed 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes.
As per Dr Vardhan, there are 4,362 COVID-19 care centres across the country where 3,46,856 patients with mild or very mild symptoms can be kept.
Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the New Delhi seat and incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced the names of five candidates from the national capital, dropping four MPs -- Meenakshi Lekhi, Harsh Vardhan, Parvesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri.
A total of 15,25,631 tests have been conducted so far across 332 government and 121 private laboratories.
Many interesting films with A-Listers line up for release in June.
Two passengers were killed and 34 injured when eight coaches of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed near Gonda in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, an official said.
Vardhan said the 15-member central team of doctors and para-medics will be replaced by a team with similar strength for further 10 days, ensuring continuity of care of admitted cases.
The high commission of India in Dhaka and the assistant high commissions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna have been assisting in the voluntary return of Indian nationals, he said.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said 28,252 cases of mucormycosis have so far been reported from 28 states/UTs in the country, of which 86 per cent cases have a history of COVID-19 and 62.3 per cent with a history of diabetes.
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