Budget 2018-19

  Omicron was first detected in southern Africa last month and has triggered global alarm as governments fear another surge in infections South Africa is preparing its hospitals for more admissions, as the  Omicron coronavirus variant  pushes the country into a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday. Omicron was first detected in southern Africa last month and has triggered global alarm as governments fear another surge in infections. South Africa’s daily infections surged last week to more than 16,000 on Friday from roughly 2,300 on Monday. Ramaphosa said in a weekly newsletter that Omicron appeared to be dominating new cases in most of the country’s nine provinces and urged more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. “ South Africa  now has sufficient supplies of vaccines, …vaccination is essential for our economic recovery because as more people are vaccinated more areas of economic activity will be opened up,” he said. The gov...

  Experts say more real-world studies are required now Bharat Biotech has updated the efficacy of Covaxin to 65.2% against the  De lta variant  in – Effectiveness Study on Delta Variant – Lancet Infectious Diseases, published on Nov 23 2021. “Bharat Biotech commends the investigators from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on the BBV152 study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. These results provide evidence for effectiveness for Covaxin in real life settings,” Bharat Biotech said. It added that an effectiveness result of 50% achieved during the peak Covid-19 Delta variant wave in India, in a high risk study population of physicians and health care workers, in a hospital environment, and who are challenged repeatedly with high viral loads, provides insights into the efficacy and effectiveness of Covaxin.. “These results compare well with the 65.2% efficacy against the delta variant obtained during the controlled phase III clinical trials of  Cov...

  The technical advisory group will now meet on November 3 for a final assessment. The World Health Organisation’s technical advisory group on Tuesday sought “additional clarifications” from  Bharat Biotech  for its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin to conduct a final “risk-benefit assessment” for Emergency Use Listing of the vaccine. The technical advisory group will now meet on November 3 for a final assessment. Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which has developed Covaxin, had submitted EOI (Expression of Interest) to the WHO on April 19 for the vaccine’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL). The technical advisory group met on Tuesday to review data on Covaxin for the emergency use listing of India’s indigenously-made vaccine. “The TAG met today (26 October 2021) and decided that additional clarifications from the manufacturer are needed to conduct a final EUL risk-benefit assessment for global use of the vaccine,” the WHO said in an email response to a question by PTI on the decision re...

There are several candidates in the works – the Serum Institute of India,  Bharat Biotech , and Zydus Cadila are working on either developing or manufacturing anti-malarial vaccines Vaccines for malaria and dengue, tropical mosquito-borne infections, could take two to four years to hit the Indian market, say industry insiders. At present, there are several candidates in the works with the Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech, and Zydus Cadila all working on either developing or manufacturing anti-malarial vaccines. As for dengue, French firm Sanofi and Japan’s Takeda are looking to bring their vaccines here. SII, the world’s largest vaccine maker, and Novavax are collaborating for phase-3 clinical trials of the Oxford University’s Jenner Institute’s  malaria vaccine  on over 4,800 children in four African countries. It has shown 77 per cent efficacy in trials on infants, the first vaccine to cross the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of 75 per cent effic...

  International community came forward with offers of solidarity and assistance for specific medicines and equipment that were not immediately available in the country, the govt said International community came forward with offers of solidarity and assistance for specific medicines and equipment that were not immediately available in the country during the second wave of COVID-19 and material from 52 countries have been received till date, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said in a written reply that India has imported 31.5 lakh units of Sputnik Component 1 and 4.5 lakh units of Sputnik Component 2 vaccine till date. “During the unprecedented crisis of the second wave of COVID pandemic, the International community came forward with offers of solidarity and assistance for specific medicines and equipment that weren’t immediately available in country till such time our own domestic production improved,” he said. ...

  The COVAX vaccine facility expects to deliver COVID-19 doses to all participating economies that have requested it in the first half of the year despite reduced supply, according to the WHO The COVAX vaccine facility expects to deliver COVID-19 doses to all participating economies that have requested it in the first half of the year despite reduced supply availability as well as increased demand for the jabs in India, according to the World Health Organisation. The COVAX facility, which is a global initiative to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide, has now delivered life-saving vaccines to over 100 economies since making its first international delivery to Ghana on February 24, 2021. So far, more than 38 million doses across six continents, supplied by three manufacturers, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and the  Serum Institute of India  (SII) have been delivered. Of the over 100 economies reached, 61 are among the 92 lower-income economies receiving vaccines...

  Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday blocked a music video by famous Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal titled ‘Ailaan’ that was related to the farmer protests and raked in over 60 lakh views Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday blocked a music video by famous Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal titled ‘Ailaan’ that was related to the farmer protests and raked in over 60 lakh views. YouTube has placed a notification on the original video, saying “This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government”. A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement: “We comply with valid legal requests from authorities wherever possible, consistent with our longstanding policy and act quickly to remove identified content”. However, the fans of the singer posted the same music video on various other channels on  YouTube  which can still be accessed. According to media reports, another video by artist Himmat Sandhu titled ‘Asi vaddange’ which had 1.3 crore views has also b...

  Following a 12-day visit to China to probe the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan, a team of World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday dismissed the theory of a ‘lab leak’ of the virus Following a 12-day visit to China to probe the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan, a team of World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday dismissed the theory of a ‘lab leak’ of the virus. According to Washington Post, Peter Ben Embarek, the Danish WHO food safety expert leading the international team, said his group will not recommend further investigation into the theory that the virus accidentally leaked from labs conducting coronavirus research. Embarek told reporters that the judgment was based on “long, frank, open discussions with researchers and management” at institutions including the  Wuhan Institute of Virology  (WIV). “They’re the best ones to dismiss the claims and provide answers to all the questions,” he said. “Our initial findings suggest that introduction through an intermediary host...

  While the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute here has 70.42% efficacy, Bharat Biotech’s still does not have efficacy data as trials are underway in India India’s drug regulator on Sunday gave its final approval to the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech coronavirus vaccines for restricted use in an emergency situation, giving the country its first two shots for immunising its vast population in the coming weeks. While the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), has 70.42 per cent efficacy, the indigenous vaccine from Bharat Biotech does not have efficacy details because the trials are underway. It is doing a study of 25,800 volunteers and around 22,500 participants have been given at least one jab. Both vaccines can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius and the companies have been stockpiling them for dispatch once the approvals come. SII has a stockpile of over 50 million doses at the moment and can make 100 million doses per mont...

  The World Health Organization says it has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use The World Health Organization says it has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, meaning poorer countries may soon get access to the shot already available in Europe and North America. Every country that has a drug regulatory agency will have to issue its own approval for any COVID-19 vaccine, but countries with weak systems usually rely on WHO to vet the shots. The global body said late Thursday that the decision to issue its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine “opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine.” The UN health agency said its review found the  Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine , which has already received clearance in the United States, Britain, the European Union and a dozen other countries, “met the must-have criteria for safety and efficacy set o...

Physical activities by senior citizens are helpful at many levels, they not only help one maintain physical fitness but also provides an opportunity to get out of their daily lives. As per World Health Organization (WHO) people over 50 years of age require a minimum of two and a half hours of moderate endurance activity per week. Physical activities by senior citizens are helpful at many levels, they not only help one maintain physical fitness but also provides an opportunity to get out of their daily lives and to meet new people through group activities. This is quite beneficial for the mental health of senior citizens. Mentioned below are the best physical activities and sports for senior citizens can indulge in to prevent certain physical conditions and for overall good health. Walking - World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 10,000 steps a day to be healthy. Walking improves cardiovascular capacity, circulation and flexibility; it strengthens the bones and j...