News Analysis India

Tag: COVID19

  • Free vaccination to all aged above 18: Bihar government extends poll promises to vast population

    By PTI
    PATNA: The Bihar government on Wednesday announced that it will provide free COVID vaccination to all aged above 18, extending the facility provided to citizens of the state of other categories so far. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar informed this through a tweet message.

    Kumar said that the state government will bear the cost of administering jabs to all citizens of the state above 18 years of age starting from May 1.

    From the beginning the state government has been providing vaccine to its natives of all the listed categories above 45 years of age without any payment, in the government as well as in the designated private hospitals across the state.

    Free vaccination was announced by the NDA in the Bihar assembly elections in November-December last year and it is being fulfiled by the Nitish Kumar ministry. Free vaccination announcement even for population above 18 years of age drew praise even from the main opposition RJD.

    Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav, however, tried to score political point over the issue, claiming the decision was due to the opposition demand. “Would like to know the plan how around 10 crore population of Bihar will be inoculated? hope this doesn’t turn out an empty announcement like the one made to provide jobs to 19 lakh people,” Tejashwi said in a statement attaching Kumar’s tweet message.

    अब जबकि केन्द्र सरकार ने राज्यों को खुद वैक्सीन खरीदने को कहा है तो आपने वैक्सीन Procurement का क्या प्लान बनाया है?अबतक राज्य में 4 महीनों में मात्र 4% लोगों को टीका दिया गया है।इस गति से अगर टीकाकरण अभियान चलता रहा तो सम्पूर्ण टीकाकरण करने में 8-9 साल लग जाएँगे।है कि नहीं?
    — Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) April 21, 2021

    The big announcement by the chief minister came at a time when Bihar is witnessing second surge of coronavirus like rest of the country. As per the health bulletin issued Wednesday, a total of 12,222 more citizens tested positive, while 56 lost their lives due to the deadly disease.

    The state has total 3,54,281 COVID cases while the tally of fatalities is 1897 since the outbreak of the virus last year. Bihar has 63,745 active cases of coronavirus at present. On the vaccination front, Bihar administered jabs to 75,671 citizens Wednesday, while 62,67,491 beneficiaries of the ongoing categories have been inoculated so far.

  • Maharashtra govt issues lockdown order; inter-city and inter-district travel banned except for emergency

    By Express News Service
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra government issued the order of complete lockdown starting from April 22 to May 1, 2021 across the state, banning inter-district and inter-city travel except for emergency and non-avoidable reasons.

    Maharashtra state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte issued the lockdown order on Wednesday later evening. As per the order, the lockdown will come in effect from April 22, 8.00 PM to May 1, 7.00 AM across the state.

    According to the order, all government offices, state and central, will operate with 15 per cent attendance except for emergency services and directly connected to the management of Covid 19 pandemic. The head of the department of each department will decide the attendance of the respective office staffers.

    More than 25 people cannot attend marriage ceremonies. The ceremony should be held in one place and it should be conducted for a maximum of two hours. If there is a violation of this norm, the Rs 50,000 fine will be charged. Inter-district and inter-city travelling is banned except for emergency and non-avoidable reasons like attending funeral and severe sickness. In that case, only 50 per cent of people of the capacity of the vehicle are allowed to travel. If anyone flouts the norms, then Rs 10,000 fine will be charged.

    The private buses can ply with 50 per cent capacity, no standing passengers will be allowed to travel in the bus. The bus will be allowed to stop at only two places between their travel distances. The alighting passengers at stoppage will be stamped with 14 days quarantine period. Thermal screening will be done and suspected patients will be sent directly to Covid 19 centre for treatment. The public transport will operate but only government staff and people working in medical and essential services will be allowed to use them.

  • Vaccine against COVID-19 only helps prevent severe illness: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Wednesday said that COVID-19 vaccine prevents people from getting severe illness though it may not prevent their getting infection.

    Addressing issues related to COVID-19 along with Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health and Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman, Medanta through video conferencing, Dr Guleria said that anti-bodies which are produced because of the vaccine will not allow the virus to further replicate and it will not allow the disease to become more severe and therefore lives will be saved.

    “There are a lot of people who are saying what is the point of vaccination because I know a person who got vaccination and even two weeks of vaccination, he got COVID-19. The vaccine prevents you from getting the disease in the form of severe illness, hospitalisation, going into the ICUs, or even dying from COVID-19. It may not prevent you from getting the infection,” he said.

    “We know that it has good potential in the majority of people. But when you are exposed to a COVID-19 patient, the virus may still come in your nose and throat, it may multiply there for some time. But anti-bodies which have been produced because of the vaccine you have taken will not allow the virus to further replicate and it will not allow the disease to become more severe and therefore you will be saved. But during that time, your RT-PCR test may come positive and you may be infectious to others,” he added

    Dr Guleria said there is need to use masks and follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour even after vaccination and the vaccine is one weapon in the fight against coronavirus.

    “The most important is COVID appropriate behavior. Vaccine is just one weapon that we have. The vaccine will not bring down the pandemic. The number of cases we are having right now has to be brought down by breaking the chain of transmission. This is the virus that spreads from one human to another,” he said.

    “It is important to understand that even after the vaccine we may have a positive report. It is important to wear a mask even after vaccination. Currently we know that the vaccine does not prevent people from getting the infection. Hopefully, as we go along and more research comes in, we will have better vaccines which will also prevent us from getting the infection and that will bring down the number of cases and break the chain of transmission,” he added.

    India reported 2,95,041 new COVID-19 cases and 2,023 deaths on Wednesday, a record-high since the pandemic broke out last year. (ANI)

  • 7500 MT oxygen being produced daily, 6,600 MT allocated to states for medical use: Centre

    NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul appealed to the states, hospitals and nursing homes to ensure rational use of oxygen as it was a #39;life-saving #39; drug for COVID patients.

  • People above 18 to get free COVID-19 vaccine in Chhattisgarh

    By PTI
    RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday announced free COVID-19 vaccine for all people above the age of 18 in the state. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the state government will pay for the coronavirus vaccination of people over 18 years of age, according to an official release here. “We will take all possible steps to protect the lives of our citizens,” the release quoted Baghel as saying.

    On April 19, the Centre had announced that everyone above 18 years of age will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination from May 1, while private hospitals and states will be able to buy doses from manufacturers. The Chief Minister requested the central government to ensure availability of adequate number of vaccines for Chhattisgarh, which has seen a spurt in COVID-19 cases.

    Baghel appealed to eligible beneficiaries to get themselves vaccinated against coronavirus to prevent serious complications caused by the infection. He said that Chhattisgarh ranks fourth in the country in giving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to the age group above 45 years. “If we talk about vaccination of people aged 60 and above, then Chhattisgarh is fifth in the country after Ladakh, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Tripura,” he said.

    The CM said 88 per cent of the healthcare workers and 92 per cent the frontline workers have been given the first dose of the vaccine. Baghel said that so far, 51,25,640 vaccine doses have been administered to beneficiaries in Chhattisgarh, .

  • West Bengal: COVID-19 patient found dead in sitting position in hospital, family alleges negligence

    By PTI
    JALPAIGURI (WEST BENGAL) A COVID-19 positive patient was found dead in a sitting position on his bed at a government-run designated corona hospital in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday leading to demonstrations by his family members, police said.

    The patient’s family claimed that no doctor attended him since he was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday and he was not administered oxygen.

    According to the family members, the 52-year-old resident of Jalpaiguri town tested positive on Tuesday evening and was subsequently admitted to the district’s only COVID-19 hospital at Biswabangla Krirangan.

    The family members returned home after his admission to the hospital. When they went to the hospital on Wednesday morning to enquire about him, they saw the man sitting still on his bed. A nurse and a doctor on duty went to check him after the patient’s family raised an alarm and found him dead, they claimed.

    An officer of the force said that as the man’s family members demonstrated outside the hospital, police personnel reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The hospital authorities could not be contacted for comment on the incident.

  • Madhya Pradesh: Over 130 remdesivir vials stolen from Indore hospital

    By PTI
    INDORE: Over 130 vials of remdesivir, an anti-viral drug used in the treatment of COVID-19, were allegedly stolen from a private hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city, police said on Wednesday.

    An FIR has been registered against Bhupendra Shailiwal, a drugstore employee of Shalby Hospital in the city, under section 381 (theft by an employee) of the IPC, said Kamlesh Sharma, in-charge of Tukoganj police station. “The hospital management has alleged that Shailiwal stole 133 vials of remdesivir from the drugstore and sold it at high prices to customers,” he said.

    According to the hospital management, the vials of remdesivir were stolen before April 5. The police have been conducting a detailed probe into the case and the accused is yet to be arrested, he said, adding that the role of other employees of the drugstore is also being investigated.

    Several persons have been arrested for black marketing of remdesivir injection in different parts of the state. Last week, an FIR was registered for theft of 860 vials of remdesivir from the government-run Hamidia Hospital in Bhopal.

    But the police are yet to confirm the theft.

  • PM Narendra Modi’s address was reassuring for people: Union ministers and BJP leaders

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Top Union Ministers and senior BJP leaders on Tuesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on the coronavirus situation as reassuring for the public while highlighting his appeal for maintaining discipline and using lockdown as the last resort.

    Amid a second wave of the pandemic, Modi addressed the nation on Tuesday and appealed to people to follow right discipline to safeguard everyone against the novel coronavirus. Modi in his speech has emphasised on discipline and patience, senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, adding that with the participation of public, the country will overcome this challenge.

    प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi ने आज राष्ट्र के नाम अपने संबोधन में मर्यादाओं का पालन करने, अनुशासन एवं धैर्य रखने का आवाहन किया है।जन-भागीदारी से चुनौती पर विजय प्राप्त होगी।व्यवस्थाओं को मज़बूत करने का पूरा प्रयास जारी है।प्रधानमंत्रीजी की अपील का सभी देशवासी अवश्य पालन करें।
    — Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) April 20, 2021

    Singh further said efforts are being also made to strengthen the system. Hailing the prime minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said he assured the country that the government will improve the health of the economy of the country as well as that of its people.

    He also urged states to let lockdown be the last resort and to instead focus in micro-containment zones to handle the pandemic. “These words of Modiji while making us aware of the tough battle that we have to fight together, have also reassured us that we are in this together. That we as a nation are doing whatever it takes to ensure #IndiaFightsCorona successfully,” Shekhawat said in a series of tweets.

    PM @narendramodi ji assured the country that we will improve the health of the economy of the country as well as that of our people.He urged states to let #Lockdown be the last resort and to instead focus in Micro-containment zones to handle Covid.
    — Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) April 20, 2021

    BJP’s organisational secretary BL Santhosh said that Modi has requested everybody to follow safety protocols to avoid lockdown.

    Awareness …. Discipline …. Confidence …. three things emphasised by PM @narendramodi I his address .
    — B L Santhosh (@blsanthosh) April 20, 2021

    Amid a staggering surge in COVID-19 cases, PM Modi on Tuesday said a lockdown should be the “last resort” to deal with the raging pandemic and asked states to convince migrant workers to stay put at their places of work with a guarantee for their lives and livelihood.

  • COVID-19: Government waives import duty on Remdesivir, its raw materials

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Amid surging COVID-19 cases in the country, the government on Tuesday waived customs duty on Remdesivir, its raw materials and other components used to make the antiviral drug. The move would help augment domestic availability and reduce cost of the injection.

    Remdesivir is being used in the treatment of coronavirus.

    In a notification, the Department of Revenue said “The central government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest to do, hereby exempts the goods…when imported into India, from the whole of the duty of customs leviable.”

    The items on which the duty has been waived include Remdesivir active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), injection Remdesivir, and beta Cyclodextrin used in manufacture of Remdesivir. This import duty exemption would remain in force till October 31 this year.

    Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, “In line with PM @NarendraModi’s priority to ensure affordable medical care for COVID-19 patients, imports of Remdesivir API, injection and specific inputs have been made import duty free. This should increase supply and reduce cost thus providing relief to patients.”

    In line with PM @NarendraModi’s priority to ensure affordable medical care for COVID-19 patients, imports of Remdesivir API, injection and specific inputs have been made import duty free. This should increase supply and reduce cost thus providing relief to patients. pic.twitter.com/F40SX8mNeS
    — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 20, 2021

    Earlier on April 11, in view of increased demand for Remdesivir, the Centre banned export of the injection and its APIs till the situation improves. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had last week said various drug companies had cut the prices of Remdesivir injection on the intervention of the government.

    Cadila Healthcare has reduced the price of its REMDAC (Remdesivir 100 mg) injection to Rs 899 from Rs 2,800. Similarly, Syngene International has cut the price of its brand RemWin to Rs 2,450 from Rs 3,950. Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has cut the price of REDYX, which used to cost Rs 5,400, to Rs 2,700 now.

    Similarly, Cipla has reduced the price of its CIPREMI brand to Rs 3,000 from Rs 4,000. Mylan has also reduced the price of its brand from Rs 4,800 to Rs 3,400. Similarly, Jubilant Generics has cut the price of its Remdesivir brand to Rs 3,400 from Rs 4,700 earlier.

    Hetero Healthcare has cut the price of its brand COVIFOR from Rs 5,400 to Rs 3,490.

  • Bharat Biotech ramps up Covaxin production capacity to 700 million doses per annum

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: To support vaccination campaigns in India and across the globe, Bharat Biotech has ramped up the manufacturing capacity of its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, to 700 million doses per annum, the vaccine maker said on Tuesday.

    The company said in a statement that manufacturing scale up has been carried out in a stepwise manner across multiple facilities at Hyderabad and Bangalore. Sources said that the company had a production capacity of 200 million doses of Covaxin in the beginning.

    ALSO READ| PM Modi interacts with COVID vaccine manufacturers, urges them to scale up production capacity

    Meanwhile, the chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, Krishna Ella, during an event said that the company will produce 30 million doses of Covaxin next month against around 20 million doses this month and 15 million in the last month. “Last month we produced 15 million doses, this month we are reaching 20 million doses, next month we will be making around 30 million doses followed by 70 to 75 million doses,” Ella said.

    He said that the company expects to reach a production capacity of up to 800 million doses per annum by July-August. “We are ramping up the production and by July-August we will be able to reach 700 to 800 million doses production capacity per annum,” Ella said.

    The company mentioned that inactivated vaccines, while highly safe, are extremely complex and expensive to manufacture, resulting in lower yields when compared to live virus vaccines. “The company is able to expand Covaxin manufacturing capacity in a short timeline, mainly due to the availability of new specially designed BSL- 3 facilities, first of its kind for manufacturing in India that have been repurposed and preexisting expertise and know how to manufacture, test and release highly purified inactivated viral vaccines,” Bharat Biotech said.

    Manufacturing partnerships are being explored with partners in other countries, who have prior expertise with commercial scale manufacture of inactivated viral vaccines under biosafety containment, it added.

    The Hyderabad-based firm said it has partnered with Indian Immunologicals (IIL) to manufacture the drug substance for Covaxin. The technology transfer process is well underway and IIL has the capabilities and expertise to manufacture inactivated viral vaccines at commercial scale and under biosafety containment, it added.

    The company said it uses a proprietary adjuvant Algel-IMDG, that has now proven to be a safe and effective adjuvant, especially to stimulate memory T cell responses. The synthesis and manufacture of the IMDG component has been successfully indigenised and will be manufactured at commercial scale within the country. “This is the first instance where a novel adjuvant has been commercialised in India,” Bharat Biotech said.

    It added that Covaxin has received Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for COVID-19 treatment in India and in several countries across the globe with another 60 in the process. EUA’s have now been obtained from Mexico, the Philippines, Iran, Paraguay, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Guyana, Venezuela, Botswana, Zimbabwe, among several other countries.

    The company said that EUA’s are in process in the US and several European countries. Pricing for international markets and supplies to governments under EUA’s have been established between USD 15-20 per dose, it added.

    Highlighting the need for vaccination, Ella said that injectable vaccines only protect the lower lung not the upper lung so many people may still get the disease after vaccination but it won’t be lethal and one gets protection against the seriousness of the disease. Wearing a mask is a must even after vaccination.