News Analysis India

Tag: Pandemic

  • Mumbai reports 326 COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths, 366 recoveries

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Mumbai reported 326 new coronavirus cases and seven fresh deaths on Friday, taking the tally of infections to 7,35,505 and the toll to 15,808, a civic official said.

    The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said as part of the ongoing data reconciliation exercise with the Maharashtra government figures, 1,393 COVID-19 infections were removed from the cumulative tally of positive cases and the discharge count, while 65 deaths were added to the toll.

    Significantly, for the 15th day in a row, the daily COVID-19 cases in the city remained below the 500-mark, a period during which fatalities were in the range of five to 14.

    Mumbai has witnessed a drop in the new COVID-19 cases and fatalities as compared to Thursday, when it had reported 340 infections and 13 deaths. The civic official said 32,285 coronavirus tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

    With the discharge of 366 patients, the number of recovered cases jumped to 7,11,073, leaving the financial capital with 5,082 active cases, he said. The official said the city’s average growth rate of COVID-19 cases is 97 per cent.

    Mumbai’s case doubling rate has climbed to 1,434 days, while the average growth rate of COVID-19 cases for the period between July 23 and July 29 was 0.05 per cent, he said.

    According to the BMC official, Mumbai has only three containment zones in ‘chawls’ (old row tenements) and slums, whereas the number of sealed buildings (where certain number of residents have tested positive) is 55.

    This year, Mumbai reported the highest daily cases at 11,163 on April 4, while most deaths in a day at 90 were registered on May 1.

  • COVID-19: Jharkhand allows schools to conduct 1X-XII classes; extends lockdown-like curbs

    By PTI
    RANCHI: The Jharkhand government on Friday permitted schools to conduct classes for students from STD IX to XII with some conditions while extending the lockdown-like restrictions till further order, an official said.

    However, the classes will be held for only four hours till 12 and parents’ permission will be mandatory for students to attend the classes while online classes will continue.

    This is the ninth time that the COVID-related restrictive measures, first imposed in the state on April 22 for a week, were extended.

    “We are making efforts that life returns to normalcy in Jharkhand. We have eased curbs after a long time. We are vigilant. Though the government has given concessions but we should be ready to make the state safe.

    Please use mask and maintain social distancing,” Chief Minister Hemant Soren said after the meeting.

    “The provisions related to observance of the Health Safety Week in the context of COVID-19 shall stand extended till further orders. However, schools can conduct classes for students from STD IX-XII but classes will be held for only four hours till 12 noon and permission of parents will be mandatory ,” a state government spokesperson said.

    Colleges have also been permitted to hold classes for final year students of UG and PG but online classes will also continue and only those students will be allowed who have taken at least one jab of the COVID-19, the offical said.

    Likewise, ITIs and polytechnics in the state will be allowed to open in addition to coaching institutes for students above 18 years but at least one coronavirus jab will be mandatory for students and teachers.

    Schools have been asked to utilise only 50 per cent of the room’s space. All teachers and non-teaching staff will be present in all schools and colleges. Other educational institutions will remain closed.

    It has allowed conduct of examination by the state government / Government of India institutions. National level examinations have also allowed in addition to UG and PG final year examinations.

    All shops in all districts will be able to open till 8 pm.

    The official said that restaurants and bars will be open till 10 pm while all government and private offices will be able to open with 100% human resource.

    All shops barring vegetable-fruit grocery/restaurant/bar, eatables and essential services will remain closed from 8 pm on Saturday to 6 am on Monday.

    Cinema halls, bars, multiplexes, restaurants will be able to open with 50 per cent capacity in the state, a statement from the state government said adding that clubs will be able to open.

    The statement said Anganwadi centers will remain closed but food items will be provided to the beneficiaries at home.

    It said gathering of more than 100 persons in open space will be banned and there will be a restriction on the gathering of more than 50 per cent capacity or 100 persons, whichever is less, in a closed space.

    “Religious places will remain closed for devotees. The ban on processions will continue. Interstate bus transport will be allowed. The ban on fair and exhibition will continue. Swimming pools will remain closed,” it said.

    Now E-pass will not be necessary to come to Jharkhand from other state or to go from Jharkhand to other state.

    Wearing masks in public places and maintaining social distancing will be mandatory, the statement said, adding that violating the norms will attract penal action under the Disaster Management Act Jharkhand’s tally of coronavirus cases rose to 3,47,105 Friday, while the state’s death toll is 5126. There are 259 active case load in the state so far.

  • Cumulative Covid vaccine doses cross 46 crore in India: Government

    Five states — Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh – have administered more than 1 crore cumulative doses of the vaccine in the 18-44 age group, the ministry said.

  • Jammu and Kashmir reports 137 COVID-19 cases, one fatality

    By PTI
    SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir recorded 137 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking its infection tally to 3,21,344, while the death toll rose to 4,378 as one fatality was reported in a span of 24 hours, officials said.

    Fifty-eight cases were reported from Jammu division and 79 from Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

    The officials said Srinagar recorded the highest number of 26 new cases, followed by Baramulla district with 15.

    The number of active cases now stands at 1,171 in the union territory, while 3,15,795 patients have recovered from the disease so far, they said.

    There were 35 confirmed cases of Mucormycosis (black fungus) in the union territory at present, the officials added.

  • Madhya Pradesh records 10 new COVID-19 cases, no fresh death

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh on Friday reported 10 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 7,91,806, while no new death due to the infection was reported in the state, an official said.

    The death toll remained unchanged at 10,513, he added. The overall recovery count in MP stands at 7,81,172, leaving the state with 121 active cases, he said.

    With 73,025 swab samples being examined during the day, the number of tests in Madhya Pradesh went up to 1,43,55,902, the official added.

    A total of 3,09,62,593 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in MP, including 34,535 jabs on Friday, an official release said.

    Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 7,91,806, new cases 10, death toll 10,513, recoveries 7,81,172, active cases 121, number of tests so far 1,43,55,902.

  • Sikkim reports 179 new COVID-19 cases, five more fatalities

    By PTI
    GANGTOK: Sikkim reported 179 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 26,311, a health department bulletin said on Friday.

    The state reported five more coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 342, it said.

    Sikkim now has 3,302 active cases, while 269 others have migrated to other states, and 22,398 people have recovered from the infection.

    South Sikkim district registered 79 new cases, followed by East Sikkim (65), West Sikkim (34) and North Sikkim (1).

    The state has tested 1,487 samples for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of samples tested thus far to 1,98,882. The state’s positivity rate has come down to 12 per cent from 16 per cent on Thursday.

    The recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state has marginally improved to 86 per cent from 85.9 per cent on Thursday.

  • CDSCO expert panel endorses studies to assess mixing of Covishield and Covaxin

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: With the country’s apex drug regulator’s expert panel on Covid19 recommending trials to assess the safety and efficacy after mixing Covid vaccines, vaccinologists and health experts pointed out that this may pave the way for a more rational expansion of the inoculation drive.  

    The subject expert committee on Covid of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had on Thursday endorsed two applications to examine the mixing and matching of Covid vaccines but a final go ahead by the Drug Controller General of India is still awaited.

    One of these applications included a submission by the Christian Medical College, Vellore, to study mixing of Covishield and Covaxin in 300 volunteers while Bharat Biotech had sought permission to mix Covaxin with a nasal vaccine still under clinical trial.

    “The applications seeking interchangeability of vaccine doses were considered and it was felt that as similar studies abroad have shown very encouraging results, we should also generate our own data,” said a source in the CDSCO.  “We are now hoping that the DCGI approves the suggestion and studies kick off soon.”

    Most vaccines against SARS-CoV-2  are given in two doses, but multiple studies in other countries now back up the idea that mixing the Oxford–AstraZeneca (Covishield in India) and the Pfizer vaccine triggers an immune response similar to, or even stronger than two doses of either vaccine.

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    Vaccine experts, meanwhile, said that it will be a good move that will help the country be better prepared for the future in case there are more variants of SARS CoV 2 that drive the pandemic.

    “This is a good proposition, given the variant strain that has been driving the pandemic are far more dangerous than the original strain,” said a vaccinologist with a government institute in the capital.

    He added that there have been apprehensions around wild-type spike-directed vaccines falling short on curbing some of the new variants.

    “Combining one vaccine with another attenuated whole virus vaccine in different dose combinations may come out to be a better shield against the variants with spike-directed mutations. But I will recommend a very carefully designed study to examine all this,” the scientist added.

    Public health researcher Oommen John stressed that the study should be aiming to reap the benefits of available vaccines, while pointing out that this approach has been well tested in prior epidemics such as Ebola.

    “With the fast-emerging variants such as delta. the country needs to be prepared with evidence on potential benefits of immune response and boosting, through the mix and match approach,” he said.

    John added that as the currently available vaccines have different efficacy profiles, a question that needs to be addressed is whether there be better protective immunity when vaccines are combined and if so in what order, which one first and which one as the follow on and at what gap should these be administered?

  • CDSCO expert panel recommends nod to study on mixing doses of Covaxin, Covishield

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: An expert panel of India’s central drug authority on Thursday recommended granting permission to the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore for conducting a clinical trial of mixing of two COVID-19 vaccines — Covaxin and Covishield — official sources said.

    The panel also recommended giving approval to Bharat Biotech for carrying out a study on the interchangeability of its Covaxin and the under-trial adenoviral intranasal vaccine candidate BBV154, but asked the Hyderabad-based firm to remove the word “interchangeability” from the study title and submit a revised protocol for approval.

    “The SEC (subject expert committee) after detailed deliberations recommended granting permission to CMC, Vellore for conducting the phase-4 clinical trial covering 300 healthy volunteers for mixing of COVID-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield,” a source said.

    “The aim of the study is to assess whether a person can be given two different vaccine shots — one each of Covishield and Covaxin — to complete the inoculation course,” the source said.

    The expert group also discussed the application by Biological E for conducting Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in the paediatric population aged 5 to 17 years, along with the safety and immunogenicity data (after dose 1) from the ongoing phase 2/3 clinical trial on adults.

    “After deliberation, the committee recommended that the safety and immunogenicity data from phase 2 part of the phase 2/3 clinical trial on adults should be submitted to the CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation),” the source said.

    It also suggested that the firm should submit the clinical trial protocol along with data for further review by the committee, the source said.

    The application of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) seeking permission to conduct phase-3 clinical trial of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine was on the agenda, but “the firm informed that they are withdrawing their proposal,” another official source said.

    The US-based pharmaceutical company J&J had sought approval for conducting phase-3 clinical trial of its vaccine on approximately 600 participants in two age groups — those aged between 18 and 59 years and those aged 60 and above — to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of the jab in healthy Indian adults.

    The firm has conducted clinical trials in the USA, Brazil and South Africa. J&J’s single dose vaccine first received the emergency use authorisation (EUA) in Bahrain on 25 February 2021.

    As of April 16, 2021, the vaccine has been approved in several countries/markets around the world, including the US and the EU.

  • Maharashtra reports 7,242 COVID-19 cases, 190 deaths

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra reported 7,242 new coronavirus infections and 190 fatalities on Thursday which pushed the caseload to 62,90,156 and death toll to 1,32,335, a health department official said.

    On Wednesday the state had reported 6,857 new cases and 286 fatalities. The number of active cases fell to 78,562 from 82,545 on Wednesday as 11,124 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day.

    So far 60,75,888 patients have recovered in the state. There are 4,87,704 people in home quarantine and 3,245 in institutional quarantine. Maharashtra’s case recovery rate is 96.59 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.01 per cent.

    The number of coronavirus tests conducted in the state climbed to 4,75,59,938 with 1,90,181 samples tested in the last 24 hours.

    Bhandara and Nandurbar districts along with the Parbhani municipal corporation area did not report any new coronavirus infections on Thursday.

    Of eight regions of Maharashtra, the Pune region reported the highest 2,801 new COVID-19 cases during the day, followed by 1,847 cases in Kolhapur region.

    As many as 1,054 cases were reported in Nashik region, 1,011 in Mumbai region, 375 cases in Latur, 94 in Aurangabad, 32 cases in Nagpur and 28 in the Akola region.

    The highest 48 fatalities were reported in the Kolhapur region during the day, followed by 40 and 31 deaths in Pune and Mumbai regions, respectively.

    Aurangabad, Nashik, Latur, Nagpur and Akola regions reported 26, 17,12, nine and seven fresh fatalities, respectively.

    Mumbai city witnessed 341 new COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths, while Pune city reported 344 new cases and one fatality.

    Of 78,562 active patients in the state, Pune district has the highest 16,177 cases. Also the highest number of 10,52,367 patients have recovered in Pune district.

    Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases – 62,90,156, New cases- 7,242, Total deaths 1,32,335, Fresh deaths 190, Total recoveries 60,75,888, Active cases 78,562, New tests conducted 1,90,181.

  • Over 45.55 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India so far: Union Health Ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far has crossed 45.55 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

    Nearly 47 lakh vaccine doses have been administered on Thursday, according to a provisional report at 7 pm.

    The ministry said 22,83,018 vaccine doses were administered as first jabs and 4,34,990 as second in the age group of 18-44 years on Thursday.

    Cumulatively, 14,66,22,393 people in the age group of 18-44 years across all states and Union Territories have received their first dose and 76,51,261 their second jab since the start of phase three of the vaccination drive.

    Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than one crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the age group 18-44 years.

    Also, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have given to 10 lakh beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years the first dose of vaccine, the ministry said.

    As on day 195 of the vaccination drive, 46,52,914 vaccine doses were administered. The ministry said 30,83,757 beneficiaries were given the first dose and 15,69,157 the second dose according to the provisional report.

    Final reports for the day would be completed by late in the night, the Health Ministry said.

    The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, it stated.