An expert panel of the country's central drug authority on Wednesday recommended against granting permission to the Serum Institute of India (SII) to conduct the phase 2/3 trial of Covid-19 vaccine Covovax on children aged two to 17 years, sources said.
Google received 27,762 complaints from individuals in India between April1 and April 30 and removed 59,350 pieces of content from its platform on the basis of these complaints. The data also includes court orders.
With north-western part of the country reeling under heat wave conditions due to break in Monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said further advance of southwest Monsoon into remaining parts of Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab is not likely till July 7.
For the sixth consecutive day, cases have remained below 50,000 while deaths too have not breached the 1,000 mark for seven days in a row. Wednesday saw 45,951 cases and 734 deaths as the second wave continued to go on a downward slope.
Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat was on Wednesday urgently summoned to Delhi to meet the BJP’s central leadership, fuelling speculation in political circles that the state could be headed for early assembly elections. However, this could not be confirmed.
The Delta variant may have been responsible for nearly all Covid infections in Madhya Pradesh in June. That’s the indication from a genome sequencing report where every sample sent from MP last month was found to have been Delta — the mutation causing worldwide concern now.
Delhi Police on Wednesday sent an email to Twitter India asking them to take down all child pornographic content and share details of the Twitter accounts that had circulated such media on the microblogging site.
The average daily vaccination against Covid-19 increased to 40.3 lakh doses in June, driven by a jump since the Centre took over procurement and supplies of 75% of domestically produced jabs since June 21.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the PM-led National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to quantify within six weeks the ex gratia amount to be paid to the families of nearly four lakh novel coronavirus victims and said the NDMA failed to discharge its statutory duty even though Covid-19 was declared a disaster under the Disaster Management Act a year ago.
Brazil will suspend a $324-million contract for Covaxin from Bharat Biotech that has mired President Jair Bolsonaro in accusations of irregularities, the health minister said on Tuesday, even as the Indian drugmaker insisted that it has not received any advance payments.
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Wednesday said the right of people to change those in office through elections was no “guarantee against tyranny of the elected” and argued that democracy and its benefits could only be ensured by giving space to both “reasoned and unreasonable” public discourse.
The Calcutta high court has agreed to take on record the reply affidavits filed by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, law minister Moloy Ghatak and the state government in response to the CBI’s plea to transfer the Narada case outside the state.
Three terrorists were killed while two Army soldiers were injured in an encounter at Chimmer village, in South Kashmir’s Damhal Hanjipora, Kulgam district, on Wednesday. An official said a joint team of the police, Army’s 9 RR and CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation on specific information about the presence of militants in the area.
IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday he had no problem with social media users criticising him or the Indian PM but Big Tech has to abide by the laws of the county it operates in.
As part of the ongoing delimitation exercise, the delimitation commission on Wednesday decided to visit J&K from July 6 to 9 to interact with political parties, public representatives and officials of the Union Territory.
Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla played down on Wednesday Covishield not getting approved for the EU green pass, saying, "It is not a controversy at all. It’s been blown out of proportion." The green pass, which will be required for travel in the EU from July 1, does not currently recognise Covishield.
Taking umbrage at Twitter's decision to block the account of information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Tuesday sought a written explanation from the social media firm in two days on why it temporarily blocked the minister on its platform.
The nationwide Covid vaccination drive has been halted or severely slowed down in at least three states - Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka - as they have run out of stocks.
Captured Lashkar commander Nadeem Abrar and an unnamed Pakistani terrorist holed up in a hideout along the Srinagar-Baramulla route were shot dead early on Tuesday in what appeared to be a botched attempt by the former to lead the forces into a trap on the pretext of showing them where he had hid his AK-47 and ammunition.
The death of 12 Covid patients on Monday at the premier Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) came as a blow to the Assam health department at a time when the positivity rate in the state had dropped to 2.01%. Till recently, about three deaths on average were being reported from hospitals in the capital, but the sudden rise in numbers had health minister Keshab Mahanta worried.
American internet giant Facebook has thrown its weight behind India's new IT Rules, and has said that they "make sense" while empowering users and limiting their abuse on social media, India MD Ajit Mohan has told TOI. The fresh affirmation comes months after the company termed the government's move to formulate policy and rules around content moderation as "a legitimate scrutiny", where it also emphasised that respect for Indian laws is "non-negotiable".
Indian pharma major Cipla will “facilitate” the import of Covid vaccines donated by US biotech major Moderna, possibly in the near future, under licence for restricted use by India’s drug regulator DCGI. In parallel, Cipla is also pursuing a separate tie-up with the US firm to undertake large-scale fill-and-finish, distribution and commercialisation of Moderna’s messenger or mRNA vaccines
Private hospitals have to place orders for vaccines on CoWin and cannot directly procure it from manufacturers, July 1 onwards. The Centre has also devised a formula to decide the 'maximum monthly limit' of stocks that a private vaccination centre can purchase to ensure a level-playing field.
BENGALURU: The exclusion of Covishield, AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, from the European Union’s Covid ‘Green Pass’ has left hundreds of Europe-bound students and working professionals confused and helpless.
Last Friday, India finally allowed Covid vaccines for pregnant women. After firmly refusing to vaccinate them for months, the government swung to the opposite view that they “can and should” be vaccinated. “Vaccination is useful for them and should be given,” ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava said. This makes India only the 18th country to “recommend” vaccines for all pregnant women.
India has overtaken the US in total number of Covid-19 vaccines administered so far with over 32.8 crore doses till Monday while the US has logged 32.3 crore doses. India began its vaccination drive on January 16, more than a month after the US did on December 14, 2020. Over 48 lakh doses were given on Monday till 7pm.
Medical experts have now suggested a host of measures to ensure safe Covid-19 vaccination of pregnant women, just days after the Centre said they can be given the shots. Experts, who for months have been saying pregnant women should be given Covid vaccines, said besides exclusive drives, officials should arrange for on-site consultations by gynaecologists, especially for those not registered for ante-natal (pre-delivery) care.
As 80% of Mumbai's population has possibly been exposed to Covid-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus, the third wave's peak is unlikely to be as large as the second wave's peak where 90 fatalities were registered on May 1. However, this positive projection by scientists of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) comes with a caveat: this is provided reinfections are not substantial.
India believes in resolving disputes through dialogue with neighbours, but is always prepared to give "a befitting reply if provoked", defence minister Rajnath Singh reiterated on Monday during a visit to Ladakh where the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops continues.
The government is in discussions with the pharma and medical devices industry to create a "national stockpile" of life-saving drugs and vital equipment to combat the third Covid wave. This could prevent the massive shortages of critical drugs like Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, key antibiotics, and devices like oxygenators and pulse oximeters, as witnessed during the brutal second wave with a huge daily case-load.
Superinfections, which typically affect those with highly suppressed immune systems like people living with HIV/AIDS or organ transplant patients, are increasingly seen in patients who have recovered from Covid-19. Notably, many are contracting these rare co-infections despite not being 'bombed' with steroids or treated for diabetes, underlining the possibility of Covid-19 itself causing massive immune weakening.
As many as 40,845 cases of Mucormycosis have been reported in the second wave of the pandemic. Data show that fatalities from the infection stands at 3,129. Over 85% of those who were diagnosed with the fungal infection had Covid-19. In terms of age group, 32% of those infected were young being in the age bracket of 18-45 years.
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