News Analysis India

Tag: coronovirus

  • Algeria President Makes First TV Appearance Since Contracting COVID

    Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune made his first ever television appearance in two months after he was hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. “As you know, two months ago, I was quickly taken abroad because I contracted coronavirus”, said Tebboune in the beginning of his televised address. The video was broadcasted on state television and published on Tebboune’s Twitter feed. In the feed, the caption said that the President aims on building a new Algeria and the date is near. 

    In his speech, the President said that even if he is away from the country, he is following all that is happening and keeps on giving instructions to the presidency. Tebboune was first sent to a military hospital in mid-October and then transferred to Germany on a special flight. Initially, the office did not provide any information on his transfer. However, later, it was revealed that the President had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

    According to the reports by AP, on November 30, the President’s office issued a statement saying Tebboune had left a “specialized” medical facility. The statement further said that he should be returning home “in the coming days”. Also, the clinic where the President was being treated was never made public. Such a statement led to further mystery regarding the President and his whereabouts.

  • ‘Israel’s Vaccination Program May Begin Before December 27’: Health Min Yuli Edelstein

    Israeli Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein during a visit to an inoculation centre established by Maccabi health fund group on December 13 hinted at the possibility that country’s mass COVID-19 vaccination program may begin earlier than the proposed December 27 start date. This statement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country will begin vaccinating up to 60,000 people a day from December 27. 

    While speaking to reporters about the Israel vaccination program, the country’s Health Minister said that he has seen the advanced preparations at the inoculation centre. Yuli Edelstein also said that the country can even start vaccinating medical teams from next week. 

    Earlier, this week, the first set of doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech arrived in Israel. In total, the country’s government has signed a deal for 8 million doses of the vaccine which is already being used in the United Kingdom. Apart from this, the Israeli government has also concluded deals with other manufacturers, including the US firm Moderna, for other candidate vaccines.

    The clinical trials for Israel’s domestically produced vaccine against the pandemic began on November 1. As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, Israel so far has recorded over 3,56,000 positive cases, out of which 2,990 people have died. 

  • UK Queen’s Christmas Speech Recording Delayed Due To Brexit Uncertainty: Report

    While a decision on a Brexit deal is still pending, the Buckingham Palace, on the other hand, has reportedly pushed back the Queen’s recording of her Christmas speech to next week. According to The Guardian, the British monarch usually films the annual address in early to mid-December. However, due to the uncertainty about the UK’s future relationship with the European Union, the Palace has delayed the recording. 

    Buckingham Place has reportedly refused to deny reports of the delay. While speaking to the media outlet, a spokesperson for the Palace, however, said that it would not comment on the speculation about the postponement of Queen’s Christmas message recording. The official further added that the filming date was set a number of weeks ago and it could take place on Wednesday or Thursday. 

    The Queen has already addressed the nation three times this year to comment on the coronavirus pandemic and the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Last year, the Queen used her annual Christmas message to acknowledge a “quite bumpy” path during a turbulent year for both the monarch and the nation. This year, it is expected that the monarch’s speech on Christmas Day will focus on the impact of coronavirus and its effects on families who have been separated this year due to social distancing restrictions. 

  • Fauci Promotes COVID-19 Vaccine Safety And Efficacy Among African Americans

    In a bid to instil confidence among the African-American communities over the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine, US top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said that one of the major vaccine candidates has been worked on by an African- American woman.

    In an interview with CNN, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD) said that the vaccine which has shown “absolutely exquisite levels” of efficacy against the novel coronavirus was actually developed by his team’s Dr Barney Graham and Dr Kizzmekia Corbett. 

    He was reportedly referring to the COVID-19 vaccine that will be released by Moderna. Corbett, who is also the lead scientist for the National Institute’s of Health’s coronavirus vaccine research has reportedly said that people who have doubts regarding the safety of the vaccine have a right to ask questions. 

  • UPS, FedEx working side-by-side to ship to ship Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines in US

    Rival US companies UPS and FedEx are working side-by-side to ship the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, after it was approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday.

    The two shipping companies said that they had put plans, which they had been working for months, into action after the coronavirus vaccine received emergency use authorisation, reported The New York Times.

    During a news conference on Saturday, General Gustave F Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to bring a market, said that the boxes were being packed at Pfizer’s plant in Michigan, and would be shipped to UPS and FedEx distribution hubs, where they would be dispersed to 636 locations around the country.


    Perna specified that 145 sites would receive the vaccine on Monday, 425 on Tuesday and 66 on Wednesday.

    UPS said that the company expects to start transporting the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as Sunday morning when employees stationed at Pfizer’s facility in Michigan will affix special Bluetooth- and radio-enabled tracking tags to each shipment, reported The New York Times.

    “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for… We’ve been planning for months with daily calls, drilling down to really quite minute details,” said Wes Wheeler, president of the company’s health care division, in an interview on Saturday.

    “You have two fierce rivals here, and competitors, in FedEx and UPS, who literally are teaming up to get this delivered,” said Richard Smith, a FedEx executive, to the Senate’s Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety on Thursday.

  • First 30,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine set to arrive in Canada in ‘Few Days’: Trudeau

    The first 30,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine are due to arrive in Canada in a matter of days, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.

    “The first 30,000 doses are expected to arrive on Canadian soil in just a few days,” Trudeau said on Thursday, a day after health regulators approved the country’s first vaccine against the novel coronavirus, granting emergency authorization to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine candidate.
    The federal government will cover the cost of the vaccine, Trudeau added.

    The prime minister also announced that his government will create a federal vaccine support program to address the unintended adverse effects of vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine.

    Canada is expected receive up to 249,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech before the end of December, which will allow up to 124,500 Canadians to be vaccinated before the end of the year, Trudeau said on Monday.

    Public health officials say the plan is to vaccinate 40 to 50 percent of Canadians by next summer and complete the COVID-19 immunization program by September 30, 2021.

    As of Tuesday, Canadian authorities have reported over 440,000 coronavirus cases and more than 13,000 virus-related fatalities.

  • South Africa’s Home Season In Jeopardy, Both Sri Lanka And Australia Likely To Pull Out

    South Africa’s home season has been jeopardized after the series between Proteas and England was cancelled recently due to COVID-19 fears. The two teams were set to lock horns in the three-match ODI series, which was scheduled to start from December 4 at Boland Park, Paarl, while the last 2 ODIs were to take place in Cape Town.

    However, after an unnamed player from the South African camp, tested positive for the coronavirus, the 1st ODI was pushed back from its originally scheduled starting date of December 4, to Sunday, December 6. But on Sunday, Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed that two members of England’s touring party had returned with unconfirmed positive tests for COVID-19 after the cancellation of the 1st ODI against England. Subsequently, the series between South Africa and England was cancelled and the announcement about the same was made by the ICC.

    Now, according to a recent report by ESPNcricinfo, the Sri Lankan team who are supposed to play a two-match Test series in South Africa starting December 20, are considering withdrawing from the tour or offering to host South Africa at home instead of going to South Africa. Sri Lanka Cricket is concerned about the safety of their players after England’s withdrawal from the tour.

    Moreover, they are hosting England in a Test match in Galle 10 days after their scheduled return from South Africa, which is why they can’t risk the home series as it has already been postponed once. If they do so, they will take a serious hit financially. The Sri Lankan cricket’s medical staff is set to speak to the ECB’s medical staff to know in-depth about the nature of CSA’s protocols. If SLC medical staff is content with CSA’s arrangements and protocols, the tour is likely to go ahead as scheduled.

  • No night curfew will be imposed in Delhi or parts of it for now: AAP govt to HC

    En medio del aumento de los casos de coronovirus en la capital nacional, el gobierno de la AAP dijo el jueves al Tribunal Superior que se impondría el toque de queda nocturno en Delhi, o partes de ella, para propagar el coronavirus.

    En respuesta a una pregunta del tribunal el 26 de noviembre, se presentó ante el tribunal de los jueces Hima Kohli y Subramonium Prasad si se impondría un toque de queda nocturno en Delhi para evitar la propagación de la infección por COVID-19, como se hizo en algunos otros estados. ha ido.

    En un informe de situación presentado en el tribunal, el gobierno de Delhi, representado por el abogado principal Sandeep Sethi y el abogado permanente adicional Satyakam, ha dicho que ahora ha emitido una directiva para mantener el status quo en relación con las actividades permitidas y prohibidas en la ciudad. Al 31 de diciembre. El informe decía: “Por lo tanto, no se permite / permite ninguna actividad nueva hasta el 31 de diciembre”.

    El gobierno liderado por Arvind Kejriwal también informó al tribunal que ha impuesto una multa de más de 17 millones de rupias ID, mientras que se emitieron más de 2 lakh challans con respecto a violaciones de COVID. Además, la policía de Delhi ha impuesto una multa de más de 27 rupias crore contra más de 5 lakh challans emitidos hasta ahora.

    El tribunal estaba escuchando un PIL presentado por el abogado Rakesh Malhotra que busca la extensión del número de prueba COVID-19 en la capital nacional y obteniendo resultados rápidos.

  • Fauci Warns Of ‘surge Upon Surge’ In Infections Ahead Of Christmas

    US should prepare for a “surge upon a surge” in COVID-19 cases as millions of people are now returning home from the Thanksgiving holiday, head of coronavirus task force Anthony Fauci stressed on November 29. Speaking at an interview with CNN, Dr Fauci reckoned that he was sure that the country was going to see an uptick in coronavirus cases “because of what has happened with the travel.” According to a Washington Post report, the day before Thanksgiving was the busiest air travel day since the pandemic hit with a record 1,070,967 passengers checking in at the airports.

    Meanwhile, the top immunologist stressed that there could be a “surge upon a surge” incoming two-three weeks. He further reckoned that he did not want to hurt people but it was the reality. With Christmas season approaching, experts have warned that the surge could continue into the next year. The US, which is the worst affected nation by the pandemic has reported 13,382,681 cases and 266,847 till now, the latest tally by John Hopkins University revealed.

    While speaking about the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine earlier, Dr Fauci said the vaccines offer a “light at the end of the tunnel”. Adding further, he said that President-elect Joe Biden should concentrate on distributing vaccines in an efficient and equitable way.

    Dr. Fauci also said he intended to push the new administration for a rigorous testing program. Further, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss a rollout of the vaccine this week, he added.

  • India extends suspension of international flights till 31 December

    The Indian government on Thursday extended the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services till December 31 in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

    The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in a notification ‘Travel and Visa restrictions related to COVID-19’, said, “In partial modification of circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the subject cited above regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs 1ST of 31St December, 2020.”


    “This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA,” the order stated. The aviation regulator further clarified that international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the “competent authority on case to case basis”.

    Earlier this month, the DGCA had extended the ban on scheduled international passenger flights till November 30.

    India has entered into air bubble arrangements with multiple countries even though regular international flights remain banned owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under an air bubble pact between two countries, special international passenger flights can be operated by their airlines into each other’s territories.

    Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, special international passenger flights have been operating in India under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble arrangements formed between India and other countries since July.