News Analysis India

Tag: Coronavirus

  • Trump Says White House Officials Might ‘have To Wait Longer’ For COVID-19 Vaccine

    Just hours after reports emerged that some White House officials closer to US President Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence will be getting COVID-19 vaccine this week, Trump on December 13 suggested that the officials might have to have to wait a bit longer for immunisation. US President took to Twitter on late Sunday to say that he had asked for an “adjustment” to be made available for inoculating the White House officials. According to Trump, the White House aides should receive vaccine later unless is its “specifically necessary”. 

    Trump clarified that he is not yet scheduled to take the COVID-19 vaccine and will wait for an “appropriate time”, two people familiar with the matter reportedly told the Associated Press that the newly approved vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech will be offered to White House official within this week. However, it wasn’t clear which officials were set to get the vaccinations, a move that would be consistent with the rollout of rapid testing machines for the novel coronavirus. 

  • Trump’s Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Leaves Hospital After Getting ‘drug Cocktail’ For COVID-19

    On December 10, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who tested positive for novel coronavirus, left the hospital after being administered “exactly the same” treatment for COVID-19  as the US President Donald Trump had received at the Walter Medical Facility. The 76-year-old was seen flashing a thumbs-up to the crowd and reporters as he drove out of Georgetown University Hospital at 5 pm, Wednesday.

    In an interview with WABC radio, the US President’s personal lawyer said that he had received preferential treatment at the hospital because of his celebrity status. He added that he felt 100 percent better the minute he took the cocktail, adding that he was also given the antiviral medication remdesivir,  approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and the corticosteroid, dexamethasone.

    Earlier, Trump’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development Chris Christie, an informal adviser to Trump during the campaign, confirmed that he and the US president had received the monoclonal antibody potion, which Trump later hailed as a potential cure. Giuliani, similarly touted the drug cocktail while calling COVID-19 a “treatable disease.”

  • Coronavirus Vaccination Drive To Begin From Dec 27, Says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said that the country will start a coronavirus vaccination drive from December 27 onward as the first batch of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine arrived in Tel Aviv. With a population of over 88 million people, Israel received the first of 80 million doses it had ordered from pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and BioNTech. Netanyahu, while overseeing the unloading of the shipment from a cargo plane, said that the country’s health services are capable of vaccinating 60,000 people per day.

    Netanyahu added that a “much bigger” cargo is expected to arrive on Thursday, December 10. The Israeli Prime Minister urged every eligible person in the country to get vaccinated as he vowed to take the first shot himself in order to clear any doubts that people might be having regarding vaccines. The shipment arrived a day before the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which is a festival of lights. Netanyahu said that the arrival of the vaccine has brought great light to Israel. 

    Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine has already earned approval in the United Kingdom, which became the first Western country on Tuesday to start inoculating people outside a trial setting. Canada’s health regulators have approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The American and the German firm, who have developed the vaccine together, are seeking approval in the United States as well, where the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to grant emergency use authorisation in the next couple of days. 

  • Singapore ‘cruise To Nowhere’ Returns To Port After Passenger Tests COVID-19 Positive

    A Royal Caribbean Cruise ship turned back to the port in Singapore after a passenger onboard tested positive for novel coronavirus. The ‘Cruise to Nowhere’ had journeyed on a three-night, four-day itinerary around Singapore and had departed from the Marina Bay Cruise Centre on December 7 without any docking. The cruise was operated by Quantum of the Seas as a part of the Singapore government’s  “safe cruising” scheme to revive the tourism industry, the country’s tourism board had informed in a release in October. 

    “We identified and isolated all guests and crew who had close contact with this guest, and each of those individuals has subsequently tested negative for the virus,” Quantum of the Seas said in a statement. Further, it informed of a global suspension of the cruise line operation for the guests and crew’s “safety and well-being”. In an interview with CNN, the authorities informed that an 83-year-old elderly passenger on board the ship tested positive and was being attended by the medical team. He reported the symptoms of diarrhea.

  • 31,522 new cases of corona, 412 deaths in last 24 hours

    Coronavirus (Coronavirus) is not taking the name of havoc in the country. However, the country is seeing a decrease in daily affairs of Corona as compared to earlier, which is a relief news. In the last 24 hours, 31,522 new cases of Kovid-19 have been reported in the country. While 412 patients lost their lives. According to the latest data from the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Thursday, 31,522 new cases of corona have been reported in the last 24 hours. After which the total number of cases has increased to 97,67,372. At the same time, after the death of 412 patients, the total number of dead has increased to 1,41,772. At the same time, there are 3,72,293 active cases. After 37,725 new discharges, the total number of discharges has increased to 92,53,306.

    The recovery rate in the country is 94.74 percent, while the death rate is 1.45 percent. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that till December 9, a total of 15,07,59,726 sample tests were conducted for coronaviruses, of which 9,22,959 samples were tested yesterday.

    Maharashtra still remains the most affected state by coronavirus. So far, 18,64,34 cases have been registered here. More than 72 per cent of the cases in the country are from 10 states and union territories including Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Gujarat.

  • 32,080 new COVID-19 cases filed in last 24 hours, 402 killed

    Coronavirus (Coronavirus) is not taking the name of havoc in India. However, the country is seeing a decrease in daily cases of coronavirus as compared to earlier, which is a relief news. At the same time, in the last 24 hours, 32,080 new cases of Kovid-19 have been reported in the country. While 402 patients lost their lives.

    According to the latest data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday, 32,080 new cases of Corona (Corona) have been reported in the last 24 hours. After which the total number of cases has increased to 97,35,850. At the same time, after the death of 402 patients, the total number of dead has increased to 1,41,360. At the same time there are 3,78,909 active cases. The total discharge comes to 92,15,581 after 36,635 new discharges.

    The Indian Council of Medical Research reported that a total of 14,98,36,767 sample tests were conducted for corona virus till December 8, of which 10,22,712 samples were tested yesterday. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported that corona virus The decline in active cases is continuing, with active cases of corona virus now reaching below 4 lakhs in the country.

  • Harsh Vardhan Addresses DST-CII Tech Summit 2020; Says ‘science Has Been Mankind’s Savior’

    Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday addressed 26th edition of DST-CII Technology Summit. The DST-CII Technology Summit 2020 was organised by the Department of Science & technology (DST), Government of India and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). from December 7 to 9. During his addresses, the Union Health Minister said that over 100 startups have provided innovative products and solutions to overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Stating that it was an honour to inaugurate the 26th edition of DST-CII Technology Summit with Portugal as the partner country, the Union Minister said this summit has helped foster India’s vibrant tech ecosystem and forge partnerships with other countries. Vardhan also said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, science has been mankind’s savior. “I am sure deliberations at the Summit on critical areas of healthcare, water, agriculture, food processing and IT will provide novel ideas for harnessing the power of STI for greater social good and achieving SDGs,” he added.

     Speaking about India’s battle against Coronavirus, the Union Minister said that India’s fight against the pandemic has been aided by exceptional efforts of our scientists. Highlighting the support from the government, he said, “We are also leading vaccine development efforts.”

  • 26,567 new cases a day, number of infected crosses 97.3 lakhs

    Coronavirus (Coronavirus) is not taking the name of havoc in India. However, the country is seeing a decrease in daily cases of coronavirus as compared to earlier, which is a relief news. In the last 24 hours, 26,567 new cases of Kovid-19 have been reported in the country. While 385 patients lost their lives.

    According to the latest data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday, 26,567 new cases of Corona have been reported in the last 24 hours. After which the total number of cases has increased to 97,03,770. At the same time, after the death of 385 patients, the total number of dead has increased to 1,40,958. At the same time, there are 3,83,866 active cases. The total number of patients recovering after 39,045 new recoveries has increased to 91,78,946.

  • WHO Urges People To Follow COVID-19 Safety Measures Even After Vaccine Rollout

    The World Health Organization, during a media briefing on December 4, urged people to follow the safety measures even after the vaccine is rolled out as it will not put an end to the deadly virus. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the progress in vaccines gives people a lift ‘and we can now start to see the light at the end of the tunnel’. He also said that the organization is worried about the growing perception of people about how the pandemic is over as this can turn out to be harmful.

    The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation, has infected over 65 million people worldwide with the global death toll at 1,524,462. As per the John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, the United States has reported a total of 14,772,535 positive virus cases and has a death toll of 285,550.The US currently has the highest number of reported cases in the world, making it the epicentre of the deadly virus.

    Recently, Pfizer Inc’s CEO Albert Bourla has said that the company is “not certain” if its COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed in collaboration with German drugmaker BioNTech SE prevented the transmission of the novel coronavirus. This comes just days after the UK became the world’s first country to give formal authorisation to Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine for mass rollout. Also, Bahrain on December 5 became the second nation in the world to grant an emergency-use authorisation for the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer. However, the country did not reveal information about the number of vaccines that it had purchased. Pfizer told the Associated Press that the details of its sales agreement with Bahrain, including the “timing of delivery and the volume of doses,” was confidential and declined to comment.

  • WHO Says Govt Decisions In Coming Days Will Be ‘decisive’ Amid 1st Breakthrough

    World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday said that the decisions made by the governments and individuals in the coming days would be ‘decisive’. Tedros said that the decisions made by the leaders and citizens in the coming days will determine both the course of the virus in the short-term and also the future possibility. This came after, the UK on Wednesday became the first country to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for emergency use on Wednesday.

     WHO’s epidemiology expert Maria Van Kerkhove while addressing a press conference on  Friday said that almost 100 per cent of Coronavirus patients develop antibodies no matter the course of the disease. Speaking further, Kerkhove said, ‘What we understand is 90 to 100 per cent of people who are infected with the virus do develop an antibody response, whether you have mild infection or asymptomatic infection all the way to severe infection.’ The epidemiology expert informed that WHO is still learning how long COVID-19 antibody lasts, how strong it is, how it relates to immunity from another infection and how long that lasts. 

    As the world continues to battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of positive cases recorded so far is 6,56,86,172. Out of these cases, 15,14,549 have succumbed to the infection. Currently, the worst-hit country by the pandemic is the United States with 1,42,17,106 cases.