News Analysis India

Tag: World Health Organization

  • World witnessing unexpected emergence of Monkeypox: WHO’s Dr Poonam Khetrapal

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Dr Poonam Khetrapal, Regional Director of the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region on Monday said that the world is witnessing an unexpected emergence of Monkeypox.

    When asked about the reason behind Monkeypox gaining attention at present, Poonam Khetrapal said, “Cases of Monkeypox are being reported from multiple countries. Many of them have not seen cases of Monkeypox before. The unexpected appearance of this disease globally and in a wide geographic area indicates that the disease may have been circulating below the detection of the surveillance systems. It is possible that sustained human-to-human transmission through close contact – direct or indirect – remained undetected for a period of time.”

    “The risk of monkeypox globally and the WHO South-East Asia Region has assessed it as moderate considering this is the first time that Monkeypox cases and clusters are reported concurrently in many countries in widely disparate WHO geographical areas, balanced against the fact that mortality has remained low in the current outbreak.”

    “Genomic studies have revealed that the monkeypox virus seems to have changed over recent years. More studies are needed to understand the virus’s evolution. WHO is regularly reviewing available data with its laboratory and other expert groups,” she added.

    Speaking on what measures India should take for the prevention and control of Monkeypox, she said, “In the current Monkeypox outbreak, transmission apparently occurred primarily through close physical contact, including sexual contact. Transmission can also occur from contaminated materials such as linens, bedding, electronics, and clothing, that have infectious skin particles. There are still many unknowns about the virus.”

    “Since the start of the outbreak, WHO has been supporting countries to assess risk, and initiating public health measures, while also building and facilitating testing capacities in the region. Engaging and protecting the affected communities; intensifying surveillance and public health measures; strengthening clinical management and infection prevention and control in hospitals and clinics; and accelerating research into the use of vaccines, therapeutics and other tools, are among the key response measures. We need to stay alert and be prepared to roll out an intense response to curtail the spread of Monkeypox. And while doing this, our efforts and measures should be sensitive, and devoid of stigma and discrimination,” she added.

    When asked about the risk of transmission in South East Asian countries, Dr Khetrapal said, “The region has been on alert for Monkeypox since the reporting of an increase in cases globally. Countries have been taking measures to rapidly detect and take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of monkeypox. WHO has been supporting the member countries in the Region to assess the risk for monkeypox and strengthening their capacities to prepare and respond to the evolving multi-country outbreak. We have been sharing guidance for raising awareness; surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing; laboratory diagnostics and testing; clinical management and infection prevention and control and community engagement.”

    Speaking on the preparedness to deal with Monkeypox, Dr Poonam Khetrapal said,The region has been on alert for Monkeypox since the reporting of an increase in cases globally. Countries have been taking measures to rapidly detect and take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of monkeypox. WHO has been supporting the member countries in the Region to assess the risk for monkeypox and strengthening their capacities to prepare and respond to the evolving multi-country outbreak. We have been sharing guidance for raising awareness; surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing; laboratory diagnostics and testing; clinical management and infection prevention and control and community engagement.”

    “In view of the limited testing capacities in the region for monkeypox, WHO has coordinated with four laboratories to serve as referrals – National Institute of Virology, India; Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Australia; National Institute of Health, Department of Medical Sciences, Thailand; and Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. WHO is also supporting countries in the region build testing capacities with technical assistance as well as procurement of required provisions that are high in demand and low in supplies globally. Orienting clinicians in both public and private sectors to identify, isolate, report and treat cases of monkeypox, are among the key priority measures,” she added.

    “Monkeypox requires collective attention and coordinated action to stop its further spread. In addition to using public health measures and ensuring health tools are available to at-risk populations and shared fairly, it is important to work with communities to ensure that people who are most at risk, have the information and support they need to protect themselves”

    According to the Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region, newborns, children and people with underlying immune deficiencies may be at risk of more serious symptoms and death from monkeypox.

    “Health workers are also at higher risk due to longer virus exposure. There are no sufficient data regarding monkeypox infection during pregnancy, although limited data suggest that it may lead to adverse outcomes for the foetus,” she added.

    The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Sunday held a high-level review meeting after India reported the fourth confirmed case of Monkeypox.

    NEW DELHI: Dr Poonam Khetrapal, Regional Director of the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region on Monday said that the world is witnessing an unexpected emergence of Monkeypox.

    When asked about the reason behind Monkeypox gaining attention at present, Poonam Khetrapal said, “Cases of Monkeypox are being reported from multiple countries. Many of them have not seen cases of Monkeypox before. The unexpected appearance of this disease globally and in a wide geographic area indicates that the disease may have been circulating below the detection of the surveillance systems. It is possible that sustained human-to-human transmission through close contact – direct or indirect – remained undetected for a period of time.”

    “The risk of monkeypox globally and the WHO South-East Asia Region has assessed it as moderate considering this is the first time that Monkeypox cases and clusters are reported concurrently in many countries in widely disparate WHO geographical areas, balanced against the fact that mortality has remained low in the current outbreak.”

    “Genomic studies have revealed that the monkeypox virus seems to have changed over recent years. More studies are needed to understand the virus’s evolution. WHO is regularly reviewing available data with its laboratory and other expert groups,” she added.

    Speaking on what measures India should take for the prevention and control of Monkeypox, she said, “In the current Monkeypox outbreak, transmission apparently occurred primarily through close physical contact, including sexual contact. Transmission can also occur from contaminated materials such as linens, bedding, electronics, and clothing, that have infectious skin particles. There are still many unknowns about the virus.”

    “Since the start of the outbreak, WHO has been supporting countries to assess risk, and initiating public health measures, while also building and facilitating testing capacities in the region. Engaging and protecting the affected communities; intensifying surveillance and public health measures; strengthening clinical management and infection prevention and control in hospitals and clinics; and accelerating research into the use of vaccines, therapeutics and other tools, are among the key response measures. We need to stay alert and be prepared to roll out an intense response to curtail the spread of Monkeypox. And while doing this, our efforts and measures should be sensitive, and devoid of stigma and discrimination,” she added.

    When asked about the risk of transmission in South East Asian countries, Dr Khetrapal said, “The region has been on alert for Monkeypox since the reporting of an increase in cases globally. Countries have been taking measures to rapidly detect and take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of monkeypox. WHO has been supporting the member countries in the Region to assess the risk for monkeypox and strengthening their capacities to prepare and respond to the evolving multi-country outbreak. We have been sharing guidance for raising awareness; surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing; laboratory diagnostics and testing; clinical management and infection prevention and control and community engagement.”

    Speaking on the preparedness to deal with Monkeypox, Dr Poonam Khetrapal said,The region has been on alert for Monkeypox since the reporting of an increase in cases globally. Countries have been taking measures to rapidly detect and take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of monkeypox. WHO has been supporting the member countries in the Region to assess the risk for monkeypox and strengthening their capacities to prepare and respond to the evolving multi-country outbreak. We have been sharing guidance for raising awareness; surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing; laboratory diagnostics and testing; clinical management and infection prevention and control and community engagement.”

    “In view of the limited testing capacities in the region for monkeypox, WHO has coordinated with four laboratories to serve as referrals – National Institute of Virology, India; Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Australia; National Institute of Health, Department of Medical Sciences, Thailand; and Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. WHO is also supporting countries in the region build testing capacities with technical assistance as well as procurement of required provisions that are high in demand and low in supplies globally. Orienting clinicians in both public and private sectors to identify, isolate, report and treat cases of monkeypox, are among the key priority measures,” she added.

    “Monkeypox requires collective attention and coordinated action to stop its further spread. In addition to using public health measures and ensuring health tools are available to at-risk populations and shared fairly, it is important to work with communities to ensure that people who are most at risk, have the information and support they need to protect themselves”

    According to the Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region, newborns, children and people with underlying immune deficiencies may be at risk of more serious symptoms and death from monkeypox.

    “Health workers are also at higher risk due to longer virus exposure. There are no sufficient data regarding monkeypox infection during pregnancy, although limited data suggest that it may lead to adverse outcomes for the foetus,” she added.

    The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Sunday held a high-level review meeting after India reported the fourth confirmed case of Monkeypox.

  • Covid cases rise by 25 percent while deaths by half in India: WHO

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: India has reported a 25 percent rise in new Covid-19 cases and a 53 percent rise in coronavirus-related deaths in the last week of June, shows the epidemiological update on Covid-19 issued by the World Health Organization (WHO).

    The world health body said that the highest numbers of new cases in the South-East Asia region were reported from India in the last week of June. India recorded 93,281 new cases, averaging to 6.8 new cases per 100,000, indicating a 25 percent hike.

    Even the highest numbers of new deaths in the South-East Asia region were reported from India, the WHO said. As many as 144 new deaths, a 53 percent increase, were recorded in India as compared to the previous week, it added.

    After the declining trend in new cases observed since mid-January 2022, the South-East Asia Region has reported increases over the last four weeks, with over 131,000 new cases reported, a 32 percent increase as compared to the previous week, the WHO said in its update. 

    In its update for the region, it said that eight of the ten countries (80 per cent) for which data are available showed increases in the number of new cases of 20 percent or greater, with some of the most significant proportional increases observed in Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

    It also said that the number of new weekly deaths in the region increased by 15 percent compared to the previous week, with over 300 new deaths reported. 

    Concerned by the rise in Covid cases and deaths, Regional Director, WHO (South-East Asia), Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, called on these countries to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination coverage.

    The union health ministry data shows that there has been a persistent rise in Covid cases in June. The test positivity rate (TPR), a vital marker in assessing the spread of an outbreak, continued to cross over 2 percent.

    TPR touched 3.71 percent in the last week of June, said Krishna Prasad N. C, a Covid data analyst based in Kerala. From June 10 to 16, the TPR was 2.46 percent,  while from June 17 to 23, it touched 3.25 percent, he said. From June 3 to 9, the TPR was 2.46 percent.

    He said that Covid cases started showing an increase in April but further surged in June, triggering fear of  a fourth Covid wave.

    As three new and highly transmissible offspring of Omicron’s BA.2 sub-variant have been detected in India, experts believe these could be behind the surge in Covid cases in India. These sub-lineages are BA.2.74, BA.2.75 and BA.2.76.

    The BA.2.75, belonging to the BA.2 sub-lineage, which was the dominant strain in India earlier this year, has been found to have an 18 percent growth advantage over the other currently circulating Omicron sub-variants, BA.4 and BA.5. 

  • Emergency use authorization request filed with FDA for paediatric use of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin

    By PTI

    HYDERABAD: Ocugen Inc., Bharat Biotech’s partner for USA and Canada for COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin on Friday, November 5, 2021, said it has submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the jab for paediatric use.

    The submission is based on results of a Phase 2/3 paediatric clinical trial conducted by Bharat Biotech in India with 526 children 2-18 years of age, which bridged immunogenicity data to a large, Phase 3 safety and efficacy clinical trial in nearly 25,800 adults in India, Ocugen said in a regulatory filing.

    “Filing for Emergency Use Authorization in the U.S. for paediatric use is a significant step toward our hope to make our vaccine candidate available here and help combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” Shankar Musunuri, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Ocugen said.

    Some research suggests that people are seeking more choices when selecting a vaccine, especially for their children.

    Having a new type of vaccine available will enable people to discuss with their child’s physician the best approach for them to lower their child’s risk of contracting COVID-19, he further said.

    “The inactivated virus platform has been used for decades in vaccines for the paediatric population and, if authorized, we hope to offer another vaccine option to protect children as young as two years,” he added.

    A Phase 2/3, open-label, multi-center study was conducted in India from May 2021 to July 2021 to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of the whole-virion inactivated Vaccine in healthy volunteers in the 2-18 age group.

    Covaxin was evaluated in three age groups: 2-6 years, 6-12 years and 12-18 years.

    All participants received two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart, it said.

    Covaxin was recently awarded Emergency Use Listing by the World Health Organization.

  • WHO approval for Covaxin expected this week, say sources

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation is set to recognise Covaxin, India’s first home-grown Covid19 vaccine, within a week bringing relief to millions of its recipients who have been in a fix over the restricted opportunity for international travels.

    Covishield, the other Covid-19 vaccine being used majorly in India’s national Covid vaccination drive had received the emergency use listing by the WHO several months back but Sputnik V, another vaccine being used in India is also not recognised yet.  

    Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech had shared the relevant data from the clinical trials with the world health agency over the past few months, sources said.

    The WHO approval procedure for a vaccine consists of four steps including acceptance of the vaccine maker’s expression of interest, a pre-submission meeting between WHO and manufacturer, acceptance of the dossier for evaluation by the agency, the decision on the status of assessment, and final approval based on data submitted.

    The WHO and Bharat Biotech had both earlier said that a decision on the recognition of the whole inactivated virus-based vaccine was likely in August as near-complete trial data had been submitted. 

    Covaxin is yet to be authorised in the Western countries, leading to a hassle for thousands of students, their parents, and other professionals who have taken the vaccine in India but are moving to these countries for long-term stays.

    Due to lack of WHO approval, those who have received both doses of Covaxin are being seen as without vaccination in many countries—and have been approaching public authorities in various states to get the issue resolved.

    The Union health ministry too, officials confirmed, has been pushing for the WHO approval of the vaccine, jointly developed by the ICMR, and last month in his meeting with its chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan health minister Mansukh Mandwiya had a discussion over the issue.

    As per the data released by Bharat Biotech from its late-stage clinical trials, the vaccine, developed jointly with ICMR, was found to be nearly 78% effective against symptomatic infection but many experts say its real-world efficacy and efficacy against more transmissible variants still need to be assessed.

    The WHO has approved COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, and Sinopharm. 

  • As WHO probe on COVID origins stalls, China accuses US of politicising research

    By PTI

    BEIJING: China has gone on the offensive ahead of the release of a US intelligence report on the origins of the coronavirus, bringing out a senior official to accuse the US of politicising the issue by seeking to blame China.

    Fu Cong, a Foreign Ministry director general, said at a briefing for foreign journalists on Wednesday that “scapegoating China cannot whitewash the US.”

    “If they want to baselessly accuse China, they better be prepared to accept the counterattack from China,” he said.

    China, the US and the World Health Organisation are entangled in a feud that centres on whether the virus that causes COVID-19 could have leaked from a lab in the city of Wuhan, where the disease was first detected in late 2019.

    A joint WHO-China report published in late March concluded that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely”, and China wants the investigation to move on to other possibilities.

    The most likely scenario, the report said, is that the virus jumped from bats to another animal that then infected humans.

    But the findings are not conclusive, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “all hypotheses are on the table and warrant complete and further studies”.

    He added in July that there had been a “premature push” to rule out the lab leak theory.

    In May, President Joe Biden ordered a 90-day review by intelligence agencies of both theories.

    White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden received the report and a classified briefing about it on Tuesday, and that an unclassified summary is being prepared “expeditiously” for public release.

    The feud over whether to keep pursuing the lab leak theory has delayed the next phase of research, and the scientists who made up the WHO team for the joint report warned Wednesday that the window of opportunity for solving the mystery is “closing fast”.

    China has responded to continuing speculation about a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology by suggesting the virus could have escaped from Fort Detrick, a US military lab in Maryland.

    Fu, who heads the Foreign Ministry’s Arms Control Department, denied that China is engaging in a disinformation campaign.

    He said if other parties insist on pursuing the lab leak theory, then the WHO team of researchers should visit Fort Detrick.

    He portrayed it as a fairness issue, since the WHO has been to the Wuhan institute twice.

    “If Dr Tedros believes that we should not rule out the hypothesis of a lab leak, well, he knows where to go,” Fu said.

    “He needs to go to the US labs.”

    China notes that the Fort Detrick’s infectious disease institute has studied coronaviruses and that it was closed for several months in 2019-20 for safety violations.

    The international scientists dispatched to China by the World Health Organisation to find out where the coronavirus came from said Wednesday the search has stalled and warned that the window of opportunity for solving the mystery is “closing fast.”

    Meanwhile, a U.S. intelligence review ordered up by President Joe Biden proved inconclusive about the virus’s origin, including whether it jumped from an animal to a human or escaped from a Chinese lab, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

    In a commentary published in the journal Nature, the WHO-recruited experts said the origins investigation is at “a critical juncture” requiring urgent collaboration but has instead come to a standstill.

    They noted among other things that Chinese officials are still reluctant to share some raw data, citing concerns over patient confidentiality.

    Earlier this year, WHO sent a team of experts to Wuhan, where the first human COVID-19 cases were detected in December 2019, to probe what might have triggered the pandemic now blamed for nearly 4.5 million deaths worldwide, with more than 10,000 people a day succumbing despite more than 5 billion doses of vaccine administered.

    In their analysis, published in March, the WHO team concluded the virus probably jumped to humans from animals, and they described the possibility of a laboratory leak as “extremely unlikely.”

    But the WHO experts said their report was intended only as a first step and added, “The window of opportunity for conducting this crucial inquiry is closing fast: any delay will render some of the studies biologically impossible.”

    For example, they said, “Antibodies wane, so collecting further samples and testing people who might have been exposed before December 2019 will yield diminishing returns.”

    “China has always supported and will continue to participate in the science-based origin tracing efforts,” Fu said.

    He accused the U.S. of “hyping the lab leak theory” and trying to shift the blame onto China, and implied the coronavirus might be linked to high-level American research labs, suggesting the United States invite WHO to investigate some of its installations.

    Marion Koopmans and her WHO-recruited colleagues listed a number of priorities for further research, including conducting wider antibody surveys that might identify places where COVID-19 was spreading undetected, both in China and beyond, testing wild bats and farm-raised animals as potential reservoirs of the virus, and investigating any credible new leads.

    Some other scientists fear the best opportunities to collect samples might have been missed during the first few weeks after some of the earliest human cases appeared linked to a Wuhan seafood market.

    Chinese researchers collected hundreds of environmental samples immediately after the coronavirus was found, but it is unclear how many people or animals were tested.

    “Once you have wildlife traders shifting over to other kinds of employment because they’re worried about whether they’ll be able to do this anymore, that window starts to close,” said Maciej Boni, a Pennsylvania State University biology professor who has studied virus origins and was not part of the WHO team.

    Still, Boni said scientists might be able to pinpoint COVID-19’s animal source by hunting for closely related viruses in species like raccoon dogs, mink or ground squirrels.

    But he said it could take about five years to do the kind of extensive studies necessary.

    The search for COVID-19’s origins has become a bitter source of dispute between the U.S. and China, with increasing numbers of American experts calling for the two Wuhan laboratories close to the seafood market to be investigated, something China has flatly rejected and branded “scapegoating.”

    Biden in May ordered a 90-day review by U.S. intelligence agencies of both the animal-to-human hypothesis and the lab-leak theory.

    In July, even WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gheybreyesus said it was premature to have rejected the lab theory, adding that research accidents are common.

  • UN official says Afghanistan supplies low, seeks help amid Kabul crisis

    By PTI

    GENEVA: A top World Health Organization official says the agency only has “a few days left of supplies” for Afghanistan and wants help to ferry in 10 or 12 planeloads of equipment and medicine for its beleaguered people.

    Dr. Rick Brennan, who heads WHO’s eastern Mediterranean region that includes Afghanistan, said from Cairo that the U.N. health agency is negotiating with the U.S. and other countries to help efforts to replenish strained stockpiles.

    “We estimate we’ve only got a few days left of supplies,” Brennan said, alluding to a distribution center in Dubai that has what’s needed.

    “We have 500 metric tons ready to go, but we haven’t got any way of getting them into the country right now.”

    Brennan said U. S. and other authorities have encouraged WHO and partners to look to other Afghan airports other than Kabul’s, which is facing a crush of thousands of people who are trying to get out of Afghanistan after a Taliban takeover.

    He said those authorities “have suggested that it’ll be too difficult a logistics exercise and security exercise to bring supplies into Kabul,” where teams would be required to unload planes and allow in trucks to carry out the supplies – which could complicate the evacuations.

    Needed supplies include emergency kits and essential medicines for treatment of chronic diseases, like diabetes, WHO said.

    “We’re cautiously optimistic that we might need to get something done in the coming days,” Brennan said, before adding: “We need a consistent humanitarian airbridge into the country ASAP.”

  • Documents for Covaxin emergency use listing submitted to WHO; expect approval at earliest: Bharat Biotech

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Bharat Biotech on Monday said it has submitted all documents required for the emergency use listing (EUL) of its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin to the World Health Organization and expects a nod at the earliest.

    Last week, World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan had said that the global health body is likely to take a decision on Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin in the emergency use listing within four to six weeks.

    “All documents required for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of Covaxin have been submitted to WHO as of 9th July. The review process has now commenced with the expectation that we will receive EUL from WHO at the earliest,” Bharat Biotech International Ltd Chairman and MD Krishna Ella said in a tweet posted by the company.

    According to WHO guidelines, EUL is a procedure to streamline the process by which new or unlicensed products can be used during public health emergencies.

    “We currently have six vaccines approved with EUL and have recommendations from our Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE). We continue to look at Covaxin. Bharat Biotech has now started uploading their data on our portal and that is the next vaccine that will be reviewed by our experts committee,” Swaminathan had said.

  • Case fatality rate of COVID in J&K lower than other states: WHO official

    Dr Ashiq Rashid Mir, Surveillance Medical Officer, expressed optimism over the recovery rate of positive cases along with less case fatality rate compared to the rest of the states.

  • Government asks social media firms to remove contents referring to ‘Indian variant’ of COVID

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government has asked social media companies to immediately remove any content from their platform that uses or refers to the term ‘Indian variant’ of coronavirus, to curb misinformation around COVID-19, sources said Friday.

    According to sources, the IT Ministry has written to all social media platforms asserting that the World Health Organization (WHO) has not associated the term “Indian Variant” with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports.

    The sources said that a notice has been issued in this regard on Friday by the IT Ministry, which states that a false statement is being circulated online that implies that an “Indian variant” of coronavirus is spreading across countries.

    The sources said the matter has already been clarified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on May 12 through a press release.

    They added that social media platforms have been asked to “remove all the content that names, refers to, or implies ‘Indian variant’ of corona virus from your platform immediately”.

    Previously, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had issued advisories regarding curbing of false news/misinformation concerning coronavirus on social media platforms.

  • Adopting COVID-19 appropriate behaviour best way to stop transmission of virus, its variants: WHO

    The number of active cases of the disease has breached the 10-lakh mark again after around six-and-a-half months.