India logs over 20K new corona cases, 256 more deaths

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India logs over 20K new corona cases, 256 more deaths

With 20,036 new coronavirus infections and 256 deaths in the past 24 hours, India’s overall tally climbed up to 1,02,86,709, and the death toll 1,48,994 on Friday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Till now, 98,83,461 patients have recovered. Currently, there are 2,54,254 active cases. The recovery rate stands at 96.08 percent and the fatality rate at 1.45 percent.

A total of 17,31,11,694 samples have been tested for Covid-19 till now. Of these, 10,62,420 samples were tested on Thursday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state. Over 70 percent of the daily new cases are getting reported from Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.

The Drug Controller General of India ((DCGI) is currently analysing data submitted by the Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and Bharat Biotech, which is making indigenous vaccines in collaboration with ICMR. The expert panel will convene a meeting on this on Friday.

The central government plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore persons in the first phase. It will be offered to one crore healthcare workers, along with 2 crore frontline and essential workers and 27 crores elderly, mostly above the age of 50 with comorbidities.

Algeria to use Sputnik V during mass vaccination against Covid-19

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Algeria to use Sputnik V during mass vaccination against Covid-19

Algeria will use the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine when its scheduled mass vaccination against Covid-19 starts in January, the media reported.

According to a report in the TSA news portal, the Algerian government took the decision following a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad.

On December 20, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune instructed Djerad to pick a vaccine to launch mass vaccination in January, TASS news agency reported.

“The Algerian health minister has announced the signing of an agreement with a Russian laboratory to purchase the coronavirus vaccine to start vaccination in January,” said a spokesperson for the cabinet Ammar Belhimer.

According to him, the Pasteur Institute of Algeria “carried out consultations with the Russian producer of the Sputnik V vaccine, while simultaneously continuing consultations with other foreign parties.”

On December 14, Minister of Health, Population and Hospital Reform Abderrahmane Benbouzid revealed that vaccination against Covid-19 will be free of charge for all categories of citizens.

Algeria has so far reported over 98,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 2,700 deaths.

New Zealand reports 11 new Covid-19 cases

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New Zealand reports 11 new Covid-19 cases

New Zealand has reported 11 new confirmed coronavirus cases in managed isolation since the Ministry of Health’s last update on December 29, health authorities said on Thursday, adding that there were no fresh community infections.

Of the new cases, one is historical, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying in a statement.

This person arrived on December 24 from Canada via the US and tested positive during routine testing around day three.

The patient is staying in quarantine in a facility in Christchurch, according to the Ministry statement on Thursday.

The other imported cases arrived from the US, India, South Africa, the Netherlands, and the UK, and have been staying in isolation facilities in Auckland and Christchurch, the statement said.

Five previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 55.

As of Thursday, New Zealand has reported a total of 2,162 confirmed coronavirus cases and 25 deaths.

New research explains severe virus attacks on lungs

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New research explains severe virus attacks on lungs

A team of Swedish researchers has revealed how different kinds of immune cells, called macrophages, develop in the lungs, and which of them may be behind severe lung diseases, a discovery that may contribute to future treatments for Covid-19, among other diseases.

To date, research on the development of human lung macrophages has been limited.

In a new study published in Immunity, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden used a model to study the development of lung macrophages directly in a living lung.

This has been combined with a method to study gene activity in individual cells, RNA sequencing, and thereby discovered how blood monocytes become human lung macrophages.

“In our study, we show that classical monocytes migrate into airways and lung tissue and are converted into macrophages that protect the health and function of the lungs,” said Tim Willinger, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine who led the study.

“We have also identified a special kind of monocyte, HLA-DRhi, which is an intermediate immune cell between a blood monocyte and an airway macrophage.”

These HLA-DRhi monocytes can leave the blood circulation and migrate into the lung tissue. Macrophages are immune cells that, among other things, protect the lungs from such attacks.

But under certain conditions, lung macrophages can also contribute to severe lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and Covid-19.

The non-classical monocytes, however, develop into macrophages in the many blood vessels of the lungs and do not migrate into the lung tissue.

In infection with the novel coronavirus, SARS-COV-2, which causes Covid-19, researchers believe that protective, anti-inflammatory macrophages are replaced by pro-inflammatory lung macrophages from blood monocytes.

“Given their important role in rapid inflammatory responses, our results indicate that future treatments should focus on inflammatory macrophages and monocytes to reduce lung damage and mortality from severe Covid-19,” said Willinger.

Preparations in full swing to vaccinate all against corona: PM

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Preparations in full swing to vaccinate all against corona: PM

Emphasizing improved healthcare facilities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that preparations were in full swing across the country to make coronavirus vaccine available to all.

After laying the foundation stone of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Gujarat’s Rajkot via videoconference, Modi said: “In 2020, there was a question mark from all sides due to Covid-19 pandemic. But 2021 is coming with the hope of treatment of Covid-19.”

He said that he was hopeful that the way in which India fought unitedly against the infection, it would similarly work hard to make the vaccination program successful.

The Prime Minister said that when India faced any problem, the entire nation united to help each other.

“The way in which people took proper steps is the reason why we are in good condition even amid the pandemic, despite a 1.3 billion population. More than one crore people have fought the pandemic and won. India’s record is much better than other countries in the fight against Covid-19,” he said.

He said that the number of infections in India was going down.

Pointing out that ‘health is wealth’, Modi said: “This year taught us this maxim. When there is an attack on health, it affects the family and the entire society comes in its grip.”

The Prime Minister also said that it was time to remember on the last day of the outgoing year the frontline warriors who safeguarded people while risking their lives.

“I pay my humble tributes to all frontline warriors who lost their lives in the line of duty,” Modi said, adding that the country also paid tributes to scientists, workers, doctors involved in the fight against Covid-19 and those working tirelessly for developing a vaccine for coronavirus.

“In the last six years, we’ve started work on 10 new AIIMS, out of which some are already functional. Apart from AIIMS, 20 super specialty hospitals are also being built in the country,” the Prime Minister said.

For the new AIIMS project in Rajkot costing Rs 1,195 crore, 201 acres of land has been allotted. It is expected to be completed by mid-2022.

The state-of-the-art 750-bed hospital will have a 30-bed AAYUSH block, offering 125 MBBS and 60 nursing seats to students.

Telangana’s daily Covid count dips further to 415

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Telangana’s daily Covid count dips further to 415

In a further drop in new Covid cases in Telangana, the health authorities on Thursday reported 415 new infections during the last 24 hours.

The new cases detected out of a sample size of over 43,000 pushed the state’s tally to 2,86,354.

Three more persons succumbed to the virus during the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,541.

The fatality rate remained 0.53 percent against the national average of 1.4 percent.

According to the director of public health and family welfare, 44.96 percent of the deaths occurred due to COVID while 55.04 percent had comorbidities.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) reported 91 new cases during the last 24 hours. This is the fifth time in a week that the daily count of cases dropped to below 100.

Rangareddy district saw the second-highest number of new cases at 43 followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (39), Karimnagar (33), Warangal Urban (31), and Mancherial (17).

The state saw 316 recoveries during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative numbers to 2,78,839.

The recovery rate stands at 97.37 percent as against the national average of 96 percent.

The number of active cases in the state has also dropped to below 6,000. The number now stands at 5,974including 3,823 who are in-home or institutional isolation.

Over 90 percent of beds in government-run and private hospitals treating COVID-19 in the state remained vacant.

Out of 8,584 beds available in 61 government hospitals treating COVID, 7,834 beds were vacant. A total of 750 people were undergoing treatment in these hospitals.

Similarly, in 219 private hospitals treating COVID, only 1,401 beds were occupied. Out of 7,790 beds, 6,389 were vacant.

Of the 43,413 tests conducted during the last 24 hours, government-run laboratories accounted for 39,210 while the remaining 4,203 samples were tested in private labs.

Samples tested per million population ratio rose further to 1,84,919.

The daily testing target for the state is 5,600 per day as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark of 140 per million per day, officials said

Eighteen government-run laboratories, 56 private laboratories, and 1076 Rapid Antigen test centres are conducting the tests in the state.

The data shows that 63.9 percent of those who tested positive so far were aged between 21-50 years. As many as 22.91 percent were aged above 51 years. The positive cases include 13.18 percent who were below 20 years.

Of the total cases, 60.44 percent were male, and 39.37 percent female.

Bharat Biotech to make presentation before expert panel for vaccine approval

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Bharat Biotech to make presentation before expert panel for vaccine approval

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech will make a presentation before the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Wednesday evening for approval of its vaccine – Covaxin, government sources told IANS.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Serum Institute of India (SII)’s application for emergency use authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine was also considered by the Subject Expert Committee.

The development came hours after the United Kingdom accepted the recommendation of the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorize the Oxford University-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, for emergency approval use.

The authorization was significant for India as the Pune-based Serum Institute of India had tied up with Oxford University-AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine in India.

America’s Pfizer was the first to apply on December 4, followed by the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, who applied on December 6 and 7, respectively. Pfizer has, however, requested more time to make its presentation before the committee.

On December 9, the Subject Expert Committee had, however, asked the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to submit more data and information to get emergency use approval (EUA) for their vaccine candidates.

The expert panel had then asked SII to submit the outcome of the assessment of UK-MHRA for grant of emergency use approval, the updated safety data of the Phase-II/III clinical trials, and immunogenicity data from the clinical trial in the UK and India.

Bharat Biotech was recommended to present the safety and efficacy data from the ongoing Phase-III clinical trial in the country for further consideration. Both the firms had again submitted their applications last week seeking approval of the vaccine.

The Central government plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase of the vaccine drive. It would be offered to one crore healthcare workers, along with two crore frontline and essential workers and 27 crore elderly people, mostly above 50 years with comorbidities.

Chinese Covid-19 vaccine found 79% effective in late stage trial

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Chinese Covid-19 vaccine found 79% effective in late stage trial

A Chinese inactivated vaccine shows 79.34 percent efficacy against COVID-19, according to the interim results of the phase-3 clinical trials unveiled by its developer on Wednesday.

The inactivated vaccine has been developed by the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd. under the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), which is affiliated to Sinopharm, Xinhua news agency reported.

After a two-dose inoculation procedure, the vaccine receivers all produced high titers of antibodies, and the seroconversion rate of neutralizing antibodies reached 99.52 percent.

The results meet the requirements of technical standards of the World Health Organization and the standards stipulated by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).

The company has submitted an application to the Chinese regulator for conditional market approval.

SII’s application for Covid vax emergency approval to be considered today

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SII’s application for Covid vax emergency approval to be considered today

The Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) is set to meet anytime Wednesday to consider the application of Serum Institute of India’s for emergency use authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine, a senior government official said.

The development came after the UK became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, even as it battled the new highly contagious variant of the coronavirus.

The expert panel will consider the application of Adar Poonawalla’s Pune firm, which has partnered with Oxford University and AstraZeneca to make the vaccine, for emergency use authorization.

Earlier this month, the CDSCO had recommended SII to submit the outcome of the assessment of UK-MHRA for grant of EUA, updated safety data of Phase II/III clinical trial, and immunogenicity data from the clinical trial in the UK and India to secure the approval.

The central government plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase of the drive. It will be offered to one crore healthcare workers, along with 2 crore frontline and essential workers and 27 crores elderly, mostly above the age of 50 years with comorbidities.

India currently has eight Covid-19 vaccine candidates, including three indigenous vaccines, under different stages of clinical trials which could be ready for authorization in near future.

Besides Serum Institute-Oxford’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Pfizer vaccines are also in the fray for emergency use authorization.

550 UK returnees traced in Raj, 14 samples sent for mutant testing

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550 UK returnees traced in Raj, 14 samples sent for mutant testing

A total of 550 UK returnees have been traced in Rajasthan so far, health officials said here on Wednesday.

Of these, the samples of 521 have been collected, 11 have been sent to Pune for further testing for the mutant virus and three more samples are being sent to Delhi on Wednesday, confirmed the officials.

Earlier, the figure of the UK returnees was confirmed as 821. However, it was found that there was a duplication in the list furnished by the Centre and after removing all errors, the number of the UK returnees, who returned within a month, was found to be 550.

“The exact figure can’t be ascertained as people at the mentioned address are telling us that they never visited the UK or their relatives have not yet returned. Such errors are creating challenges for us,” the officials said.

“The sampling of 521 of them has been done. Eleven samples have been sent to Pune and three shall be sent to Delhi for further testing. The report is expected in three to four days. The remaining visitors had got their testing done after landing here and, hence their samples were not collected again,” said the officials.

They further said four zones have been created in the country to identify the new strains. As per this arrangement, Rajasthan samples shall now be sent to Delhi on the directions of the ICMR.

Medical and health department secretary Siddharth Mahajan has been monitoring this arrangement, they said.

However, out of the 333 UK returnees reported in Jaipur, 12 remained untraced till Monday. It was then that the state police department was roped in and four people were traced on Tuesday morning, said Narottam Sharma, CMHO, Jaipur. The efforts to trace the remaining are continuing, said officials.

Rajasthan has been the victim of tourists spreading the virus. The first Covid-19 case in Rajasthan was an Italian tourist, who had come on a tour to India when his country was in the throes of the pandemic. This first case was reported on March 2, when a 69-year-old Italian tourist, who was part of a group of 23 tourists, tested positive for Covid-19.

Till Tuesday evening, the total positive numbers in the state was 3,06,784 while the death toll was 2,683. A total of 626 new cases were found on Tuesday.

Since the last many days, the daily corona numbers reported under 1,000, which till a few days back were going above the 3,000-mark.

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