Budget 2018-19

The directives will allow direct entry of fully vaccinated expatriates without the need to spend 14 days in transit outside their countries before entering the Kingdom Saudi Arabia has announced that it will lift a travel ban on expats from six countries including India and Pakistan that was introduced to contain the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The directives will allow direct entry of fully vaccinated expatriates without the need to spend 14 days in transit outside their countries before entering the Kingdom, Arab News reported.  Saudi Arabia ‘s Ministry of Interior issued the directive saying that changes will commence at 1 am on December 1. The English-language newspaper said that expats arriving from these countries must spend five days in quarantine regardless of their Coronavirus vaccination status outside the Kingdom. Earlier in February, the direct entry ban was imposed due to a global spike in Covid-19 caThe ban covered Lebanon, UAE, Egypt, Turkey, the U...

  Lanzhou, with about four million people, reported six new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, and a total of 39 over the past week The Chinese government ordered the northwestern city of Lanzhou locked down on Tuesday as officials carried out widespread testing to quash a small Covid-19 outbreak. Lanzhou, a city of about four million people, reported six new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, and a total of 39 over the past week. China, where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, has been battling a recent flare-up of new cases largely in the northwest of the country that were spread by domestic travel. The country enforces a strict “zero Covid” policy, carrying out widespread lockdowns and testing to eliminate even small-scale outbreaks. By Monday evening, medical workers had tested nearly 12 million people in Gansu Province, including more than 2.8 million in Lanzhou, its capital. The testing in Lanzhou continued on Tuesday. Nationwide, China announced 29 new domestic coronavirus ca...

  Cambodia’s Ministry of Health has announced that another 58 new cases of the Delta Covid-19 variant were detected, taking the kingdom’s total number of the such infections to 385. Cambodia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced that another 58 new cases of the Delta Covid-19 variant were detected, taking the kingdom’s total number of the such infections to 385. Laboratory testing conducted by the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia found the Delta variant on 51 local people, including four health workers, and seven labourers returning from neighbouring Thailand, the MoH said in a statement. The local infections were spotted in capital Phnom Penh and the provinces of Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap, Battambang, Kandal, Kampong Thom and Ratanakiri, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying. MoH’s Secretary Or Vandine called on people to be more cautious as the Delta variant spread much faster than previously circulating strains. “Based on the above-men...

  Of those dead in Seychelles, five had taken Covishield and one had been given Sinopharm. The coronavirus has killed six fully vaccinated people in the Seychelles, which is suffering heightened Covid-19 infections despite inoculating a greater proportion of its people than any other nation. Of those, five had taken Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine made in India, and one had been given Sinopharm, Jude Gedeon, the island nation’s public health commissioner said at a press conference on Thursday. Covishield has mainly been reserved for people over 60 in the Seychelles. The rise in infections, which surged at the beginning of May and has remained at elevated levels ever since, is likely due to the arrival of the highly-transmissible delta variant, which was first identified in India, Gedeon said. “It looks like delta came in Seychelles in May which explain the surge at the beginning of May,” Gedeon said. “We presume that the majority of cases we got in May was from...

  False claims are fueling vaccine hesitancy in pockets, undermining efforts to vaccinate some of the most vulnerable people in Asia. Though Gerry Casida is on the priority list for a free Covid-19 vaccine in the Philippines because of his asthma, he’s isn’t planning to get the shot any time soon. A video he found on social media of a woman claiming vaccines are being used for genocide helps explain why. “I’ve read a lot of posts on Facebook about how many died in other countries because of vaccines, and how that’s being concealed,” the construction worker, 43, from Manila said. “My mom also consulted a folk healer, who said the vaccines could affect my heart.” Millions of people like Casida in some of the worst  Covid hotspots  in Southeast Asia are in no rush for inoculation or just saying no, swayed by disinformation on social media from both local sources as well anti-vaccination movements in the U.S. Those false claims are fueling vaccine hesitancy in some pockets of...

  Women took on 173 additional hours of unpaid child care last year, compared to 59 additional hours for men, study says. Child care demands at home skyrocketed during the pandemic, but men and women did not split the burden equally. Globally, women took on 173 additional hours of unpaid child care last year, compared to 59 additional hours for men, a study released Friday by the Center for Global Development, a poverty non-profit, found. The gap widened in low- and middle-income countries, where women cared for children for more than three times as many hours as men did. Women have felt many of the pandemic’s worst economic effects, including an estimated $800 billion in lost income, in large part due to increased demands on their time at home. The Covid-19 recession unraveled gains in pay equality, female labor force participation and unemployment, particularly among Black and Latina women in the U.S. Global job loss rates among women were roughly 1.8 times larger than those amon...

  Flipkart has hired 23,000 people across its supply chain, including delivery executives, in the last three months as the  e-commerce  marketplace strengthens the supply chain to fast deliver products Flipkart on Tuesday said it has hired 23,000 people across its supply chain, including delivery executives, in the last three months as the e-commerce marketplace strengthens the supply chain to fast deliver products while creating additional employment.The hiring was done keeping the growing demand for e-commerce services across the country, as people continue to remain indoors to fight the pandemic, which has necessitated a ramp-up of supply chain, the company said in a statement. “All new hires will be covered with our healthcare and wellness initiatives to ensure their safety during these testing times,” said Hemant Badri, Senior Vice-President, Supply Chain at  Flipkart . From safety regulations and protocols across its warehouses to driving awareness on Covid saf...

  Messenger RNA shots developed by Moderna or Pfizer and BioNTech are better at stopping people from becoming contagious, shows evidence. With hundreds of millions of people now vaccinated against Covid-19, the coronavirus outbreak should begin to die down in places where a large chunk of the population has been inoculated. But that isn’t happening everywhere. Instead, two paths are emerging: In countries such as Israel, new Covid cases are declining as vaccinations spread, while in other places like the Seychelles — which has fully inoculated more of its population than any other nation — infections continue to increase or even reach new highs. One reason for that may be the different types of vaccine being used. Evidence derived from the expanding global inoculation rollout indicates that the messenger RNA shots developed by Moderna Inc. or  Pfizer Inc . and BioNTech SE are better at stopping people from becoming contagious, helping reduce onward transmission — an unexpected...

  DRL to manufacture oral drug, which reduces oxygen dependency in patients Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday released the first batch of a keenly awaited anti-Covid-19 drug called 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG). It has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in partnership with Hyderabad-based private firm Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL). The new drug is not a vaccination, or a preventive measure against being infected by coronavirus. Rather, the 2-DG molecule hastens the recovery of patients who are already suffering from the disease and are, in most cases, facing severe oxygen dependency. The drug is dispensed in powder form in a sachet, and taken orally after being dissolved in water. Rajnath Singh handed over the first batch of the drug in Delhi to the Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan. DRL Chairman Kallam Satish Reddy said his company would “increase the production ...

  India began vaccinating healthcare and frontline workers on January 16, 2021; people over the age of 60 from March 1,people between the ages of 45 and 59 from April 1. Is India beginning to see a COVID-19 vaccine effect? In three southern states and two major cities for which data are available, the share of the elderly in total deaths has begun to decline after vaccinations began for this demographic, an IndiaSpend analysis of data and interviews with experts show. The decline in share is not necessarily because cases and deaths among younger people have increased. India began vaccinating healthcare and frontline workers on January 16, 2021; people over the age of 60 (and those over 45 years, with comorbidities) from March 1; people between the ages of 45 and 59 from April 1; and people between the ages of 18 and 44 from May 1. As of 3.30 p.m. on May 12, India has injected 137.3 million people with one dose of either  Covishield  or Covaxin, and a further 37.8 million ...

  Sinovac has shipped some 380 million doses, but it still hasn’t published any data in an academic journal. Indonesia, one of the first nations to bet its Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Sinovac Biotech Ltd., was about to announce a stunning development, one that would help vindicate a shot that’s been shrouded in controversy for months. Over in Beijing, though, the company’s chief executive officer was unaware. A study of some 128,000 Jakarta health workers released Wednesday found  Sinovac’s vaccine  — known as CoronaVac — was far more protective than clinical trials had indicated. A day earlier, it wasn’t mentioned by CEO Yin Weidong in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg reporters, and representatives later confirmed the company didn’t know the announcement was coming. It’s a disconnect that echoes the events of Christmas Eve 2020, when the Chinese developer that will be key to vaccinating much of the developing world had little explanation for why Brazil and Tu...

  Research says medium-duration travel bans are counterproductive, for they trap migrants in cities that are Covid-19 hotspots. As states impose fresh lockdowns of varying durations and intensity to arrest the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study shows that medium-duration travel bans are counterproductive–they trap migrants in cities that are COVID-19 hotspots long enough to expose them to the virus, which they then carry to their home districts. These findings are based on the study of return migration out of Mumbai between March and August 2020, covering the first national lockdown and the subsequent “unlock” phases. The study also took into account the epidemiological data on the rise in infections in the home districts of the migrant workers. The study by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, whose pre-print (non-peer reviewed) version has been published, reached the same conclusion for other developing countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Indones...

  America’s top public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci has called for a scale-up in manufacture of coronavirus vaccines both domestically and globally to fight the deadly pandemic Getting people vaccinated is the only long-term solution to the current COVID-19 crisis in India, America’s top public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday as he called for scaling up manufacturing of coronavirus vaccines both domestically and globally to fight the deadly pandemic. The endgame of this all…is going to be to get people vaccinated…India is the largest vaccine-producing country in the world. They’ve got to get their resources, not only from within, but also from without, Fauci, who is the Chief Medical Adviser to US President Joe Biden, told the ABC News in an interview. That’s the reason why other countries need to chip in to be able to get either supplies to the Indians to make their own  Coronavirus vaccines  or to get vaccines donated. One of the ways to do tha...

  India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu held an interaction with members of the business community on the current Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu held an interaction with members of the business community on the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country. The virtual meeting was hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. During the talks, Sandhu appraised the business community of the items that India is trying to identify and source, including oxygen concentrators, cylinders, ventilators and oxygen generation plants and  COVID-19 -related drugs like remdesivir and tocilizumab. “Appreciated the Chamber for coordinating the swift response and resource mobilization by the US business community in support of India to meet the Covid challenge,” Sandhu said in a tweet.

  The Covid-19 crisis “has revealed how unequal our societies are,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message released on Monday for the World Health Day The Covid-19 crisis “has revealed how unequal our societies are,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message released on Monday for the World Health Day. Highlighting the inequalities and injustices that have been apparent throughout the pandemic, the UN chief said in his message for the day to be marked on Wednesday that the vast majority of vaccine doses administered so far have been confined to “a few wealthy countries” or those producing the shots cleared for distribution, the Xinhua news agency reported. “Within countries, illness and death from Covid-19 has been higher among people and communities that contend with poverty, unfavourable living and working conditions, discrimination and social exclusion,” said Guterres. Thanks to the COVAX initiative, the UN backed intern...

  Bolsonaro this month began shifting rhetoric on the value of vaccines but continues to refuse restrictions on activity he paints as infringement on freedom and still promotes unproven Covid cures Mere miles from Brazil’s presidential palace, the bodies of COVID-19 victims were laid on floors of hospitals whose morgues were overflowing. Lawmakers fielded calls from panicked constituents across the country, where thousands awaited intensive care beds, and they had no effective health minister to turn to Sunday. Meanwhile, a smiling President Jair Bolsonaro met hundreds of supporters to pass out pieces of green-and-yellow cake in celebration of his 66th birthday. The mood was jubilant even as the country approached a bleak coronavirus milestone. Brazil was in political disarray as it surpassed 300,000 deaths from the virus Wednesday evening. Foes and allies alike are pleading with the president to change course to stem a recent surge of daily deaths accounting for almost one-third o...

  A combination of stepped-up social spending – including on long-neglected healthcare – and a state-led infrastructure push will make the recovery both durable and inclusive Union Budget 2021:  India’s federal budget Monday will be a much tougher balancing act than New Delhi’s regular annual fiscal trapeze. For one thing, the pandemic has upset business-as-usual calculations of how much to spend, on what, and how to finance it. For another, an impatience to make up for lost time has to be weighed against a shrinking of policy space in emerging markets: A reprise of the 2013 global taper tantrum could compound the country’s considerable domestic challenges. On the first question — how much to spend — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman must simply do a lot more. Even with some loosening of the purse strings in the final months of the fiscal year that will end in March, Moody’s Investors Service affiliate ICRA Ltd. expects annual government expenditure to have been broadly unch...

  Passengers arriving from the United Kingdom (UK) in Mumbai on Tuesday morning have been sent for institutional quarantine in the wake of he new coronavirus strain Passengers arriving from the United Kingdom (UK) in Mumbai on Tuesday morning have been sent for institutional quarantine in the wake of the new coronavirus strain. People who came to receive them said, “Government should have informed us before. Didn’t passengers board flight after being permitted by authorities?” Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal on Monday said, “No flights to land from UK post 2:30 am. Passengers who have boarded flights will undergo institutional quarantine. Asymptomatic people will be quarantined at hotels while symptomatic passengers will be admitted at GT Hospital.” Flight services from the UK to India have been suspended till December 31 over the spread of a new strain of coronavirus in London and England. On December 20, Prime Minister Boris Johnson infor...

  Otherwise, there won’t be enough shots to go around, even in rich countries As some reports would have it, this is the beginning of the end. Three coronavirus vaccines have posted excellent results, with more expected to come. But this is not the beginning of the end; it is only the beginning of an endless wait: There aren’t enough vaccines to go around in the richest countries on earth, let alone the poorest ones. That’s why it makes little sense that the United States, Britain and the European Union, among others, are blocking a proposal at the World Trade Organization that would allow them, and the rest of the world, to get more of the  Coronavirus vaccines  and treatments we all need. The proposal, put forward by India and South Africa in October, calls on the WTO to exempt member countries from enforcing some patents, trade secrets or pharmaceutical monopolies under the organisation’s agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights, known as TRIPs. It cites...

  A third of India's technology services labor force comprises women, already a better gender ratio than most other industries in the country   The coronavirus pandemic has hit women worldwide with job losses and closures of childcare centers. Yet a surprising bright spot is emerging: India’s $200 billion technology services industry, where new rules are expected to provide female workers with a broad swath of flexible work arrangements and fresh employment opportunities. On the outskirts of New Delhi, Teena Likhari, 45, quit her job running operations for the Indian back office of a Silicon Valley company in 2018 because of a family medical emergency. Looking to rejoin this year, she expected a market stunted by lockdowns. Instead, the pandemic had made  work-from-home  mainstream in her industry, which had long shunned the practice. Not only did the operations manager quickly land a job with Indian outsourcer WNS Global Services, but working from her home in the ci...