Israel detects bird flu outbreaks at 2 more turkey farms

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Israel detects bird flu outbreaks at 2 more turkey farms

Israel said that it has detected pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks at two more turkey farms in the country.

The first outbreak occurred among 25,000 turkeys in three coop structures at a farm in the village of Magal near the barrier wall built by Israel in the occupied West Bank, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in a statement.

A second outbreak was detected among 25,000 turkeys for breeding in three coop structures in the southern village of Be’er Tuvia, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.

With the latest two turkey farms, bird flu outbreaks have been reported in nine poultry farms throughout Israel in recent weeks.

The Ministry called on breeders to keep birds indoors to reduce the risk of infection from wild birds and quarantined all coops within 10 km of the latest two outbreaks.

It also instructed the general public to buy poultry meat and eggs only at regulated selling sites, avoid buying unmarked and unpackaged eggs, and consume cooked meat and eggs only.

Tourist from Argentina tests Covid positive, goes missing

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Tourist from Argentina tests Covid positive, goes missing

A tourist from Argentina, who visited the Taj Mahal on December 26, has tested positive for Covid-19.

His samples were collected during screening at the monument’s Western gate to test for the virus as a precautionary measure.

The RT-PCR report, which came out on Wednesday, confirmed that the man was Covid-19 positive.

However, he went missing soon after he was informed about it by the authorities, said the health department officials.

The phone number and name of the hotel provided by him are also incorrect, which has made tracking him down difficult for the authorities.

The health department has now asked the local intelligence unit, airport authority, ASI, and nearby hotels to get details of the missing man.

Chief medical officer, Agra, Arun Kumar Srivastava said, “We are trying to identify the tourist from Argentina who has tested Covid-19 positive. The contact details provided by him are wrong. Hotels have been asked to provide details of tourists from Argentina who have recently checked in. We have also approached the ASI and airport authority to get details of the man. Once found, he will be isolated to prevent the further spread of the disease.”

Meanwhile, over 30,000 tourists visited the Taj Mahal on Wednesday. Visitors waited in queues close to each other to enter the monument after screening at the Western and Eastern gates.

Besides, in Mathura district, vigilance has been enhanced in the Vrindavan town where foreign devotees come in large numbers around New Year.

India logs 157 new Covid cases in 24 hrs

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India logs 157 new Covid cases in 24 hrs

In the last 24 hours, India registered a total of 157 fresh Covid-19 cases, against the 196 reported the previous day, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

There were no Covid deaths reported in the same period. The active caseload currently stands at 3,421 cases, accounting for 0.01 percent of the country’s total positive cases.

The weekly and daily positivity rates stood at 0.18 percent and 0.32 percent, respectively.

The recovery of 163 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,41,43,342. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.80 percent.

Also in the same period, a total of 49,464 tests were conducted across the country, increasing the overall tally to over 90.99 crores.

With 97,622 vaccines administered in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid-19 inoculation coverage exceeded 220.06 crores as of Tuesday morning.

Avoid travelling to these 7 countries this New Year as Covid surges

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Avoid travelling to these 7 countries this New Year as Covid surges

Amid a surge in Covid cases globally, travelers need to avoid at least seven countries while planning for a New Year trip. Several countries are expected to impose travel restrictions in the New Year to prevent infections from surging among their population.

China tops the list while avoiding foreign travel as the country is reporting a record number of infections. Chinese officials estimate about 250 million people (18 percent of the population) were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, as Beijing abruptly dismantled restrictions that had contained the disease for almost three years.

Various countries, including India, have started screening travelers coming from China.

Japan is currently reporting more than 2 lakh new Covid cases every day, and should not be on your travel list.

Japan’s health authorities reported that 371 deaths were caused by Covid virus in the country in a single day, the highest in a day since the pandemic began in 2020. Japan is coping with the eighth wave of the pandemic.

The US is also registering a sudden surge in Covid as over 15 lakh cases were reported in the country in the past 28 days. The total number of Covid cases passed the 100 million mark on December 21.

Amid rising influenza and RSV cases in America, the so-called “tripledemic”, could further strain the overburdened US health system.

South Korea reported more than 68,000 cases in a single day on December 23. The country’s new Covid-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Monday due to fewer tests during the Christmas weekend.

The country confirmed 25,545 new coronavirus infections, including 67 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,684,600, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Brazil is also reporting a high number of Covid cases as well, while Germany has been registering more than 40,000 cases daily in the past few days, as per media reports.

France has also reported more than 10 lakh cases in the past 28 days, and the cases are also going up.

India, meanwhile, reported 196 fresh Covid cases on December 26 against the previous day’s 227 counts, according to the Health Ministry data.

What is Covid variant XBB that accounts for more than 18% of US cases?

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What is Covid variant XBB that accounts for more than 18% of US cases?

The XBB subvariant of Covid-19’s Omicron variant is fast emerging as the dominant type in India, and now it accounts for more than 18 percent of cases in the US as well.

According to the WHO, XBB is a recombined subvariant, a sub-lineage of the Omicron variants BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 which means it is a subvariant of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, not a new variant.

The WHO says that while further studies are needed, the current data do not suggest there are substantial differences in disease severity for XBB infections.

However, early evidence points to a higher re-infection risk compared to other circulating Omicron sublineages.

As of now, there are no data to support escape from recent immune responses induced by other Omicron lineages, said the WHO.

Moreover, there is currently no epidemiological evidence that points to these sublineages having a significantly higher risk than other Omicron sublines, however, this assessment is based on data from sentinel nations and is not fully generalizable to other settings, it added.

XBB has a global prevalence of 1.3 percent and it has been detected in 35 countries.

Among the Indian patients, the disease is mild like with other Omicron sub-lineages, and no increase in severity is noted, according to the Indian SARS Cov-2 Genomics Consortium.

Meanwhile, as a WhatsApp message has been making its rounds claiming that the newly discovered XBB subvariant of Omicron is five times more virulent and has a higher mortality rate than the Delta variant, the Union Health Ministry has rejected the claim and has termed the message fake.

“This message circulating in many WhatsApp groups regarding XXB variant of Covid-19 is FAKE and Misleading,” it said on Thursday.

The viral message claims that “the new variant of the Covid-Omicron XBB coronavirus is different, deadly, and not easy to detect correctly. The symptoms of the new virus Covid-Omicron XBB are – there is no cough and there is no fever.”

China hands over daily Covid data duty to local CDC as nations seek transparency

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China hands over daily Covid data duty to local CDC as nations seek transparency

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) has stopped publishing daily Covid-19 case data, handing over the charge to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as nations including India ask the country to share actual Covid data on an urgent basis.

According to state-run Global Times, handing over the epidemic data calculation to a technical organization “is a reasonable move to provide professional epidemic figures”.

“The NHC will no longer release daily epidemic data from Sunday. China’s CDC will release relevant COVID-19 information for study and reference,” the NHC said in a statement.

According to local experts, the move will help shift more resources of related authorities to other key steps like clinical treatment.

It is believed, the CDC will largely rely on COVID-19 data reported by clinical diagnosis in medical institutions and monitor overall epidemic trends.

China’s NHC began to release the daily new tally on January 21, 2020, when epidemic experts identified that the virus could spread among humans.

However, it will still take days for the CDC to activate the epidemic monitor reporting system and allow the organization to collect and report infection data effectively.

The organization will roll out the plan in the coming days.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that he is “very concerned over the evolving situation in China” and appealed for specific data on disease severity, hospital admissions, and intensive care requirements.

The reports from China suggest that the Omicron BF.7 variant is behind the surge in the country.

Indian officials and experts feel that China’s censorship on actual Covid infection data sharing is a major concern for the world as countries prepare to navigate another potential wave.

UP: After Agra, Unnao youth tests Covid positive

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UP: After Agra, Unnao youth tests Covid positive

After Agra, Uttar Pradesh has got its second case of Covid in the Unnao district. A young man traveling to Dubai got himself tested and has been reported as Covid positive.

Sub-District Magistrate Ankit Shukla and the Health Department team reached the youth’s house and samples of 20 people, including the family members of the child, were taken.

The local administration has isolated the youth under the Covid protocol. Apart from this, his report will be sent for genome sequencing. This young man is a resident of Koraura village of Hasanganj tehsil area of Unnao.

It may be recalled that on Sunday, a 40-year-old man, who returned from China two days back, tested positive for Covid-19 after which he was isolated at his home in Agra, chief medical officer Arun Srivastava. His samples will be sent to Lucknow for genome sequencing, he said.

“The man has been isolated at his home and teams of the health department have been asked to conduct tests of his family members and those who came in contact with him,” Srivastava added.

The man returned to Agra from China via Delhi on December 23 following which he was tested at a private lab. The report came out positive for Covid, he added. This is the first Covid positive case in the district detected after November 25, officials said.

Corbevax booster gives maximum protection, reveals Hyd hospital study

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Corbevax booster gives maximum protection, reveals Hyd hospital study

Amidst concerns of a new Covid wave in India following a massive surge in China and other countries, research at AIG Hospitals here has revealed that Corbevax booster in individuals vaccinated with Covishield gives maximum protection against Omicron variants.

The scientific study has proved the immunity benefits of the indigenous heterologous vaccine booster, Corbevax in combating Omicron variants.

The study titled “Heterologous booster dose with Corbevax following primary vaccination with Covishield enhances protection against SARS-CoV-2” has been published in the high-impact factor journal “Vaccines”.

Announcing the findings of the study, AIG Hospitals Chairman Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy told media persons that the study was done on 250 healthcare workers who had received 2 doses of Covishield as the primary vaccine regimen not more than 6 months ago. None of the participants had any adverse events following the administration of the Corbevax booster dose.

“We knew from our previous studies that mixed vaccines produce better immune response; therefore, when the government approved Corbevax to be given as a heterologous booster to individuals already vaccinated with Covishield, our aim was to determine how a different vaccine platform (protein-based) will impact the immune response, especially in the context of the Omicron variant,” he said.

Corbevax is an indigenously developed peptide-based vaccine that is different from the viral vector (Covishield) or the inactivated vaccine (Covaxin). The key difference is that Corbevax uses only a protein subunit of the virus replicated inside a yeast cell while the others are whole virus vaccines. The advantage of peptide-based vaccine is that it considerably reduces the risks of allergic and autoimmune responses making them safe for widespread usage.

Dr. Reddy said the results further cemented their belief that mixed vaccines are absolutely safe. “The second aspect of the study was to measure the antibody response as well as the T-cell (memory cell) response at 30 days and then at 90 days to correctly estimate the overall protection against the circulating Omicron variant.

When estimating the effectiveness of a vaccine, both the antibody response and T-cell (Memory cell) response are essential.

“In our study, we compared the immune responses among those individuals who were given the same vaccine, i.e., Covishield (homologous group) as a booster and those who were given Corbevax as a booster (heterologous group). The S1/S2-spike protein IgG antibody levels and T/B Cell response of these groups were compared at 30 days and at 90 days. While the homologous and heterologous groups showed increased S1/S2-spike protein IgG antibody level at 30 days, the heterologous group (Corbevax as a booster) showed higher levels of antibodies at both 30 days and 90 days,” Dr. Reddy said.

The study was undertaken when Omicron variants are circulating in India; therefore, it would be appropriate to say that a heterologous booster (Corbevax) would be effective in combating any wave that is fueled by sub-variants of the Omicron.

High-risk group people should consider taking the booster dose and continue to take Covid appropriate precautions all the time especially when in public spaces.

In reply to queries, Dr. Reddy said if a person has taken Covaxin double dose, he should also take Corbevax as the booster dose. “The booster dose should be from the other company as this gives more protection,” he said.

He noted that only 28 percent of people in the country have taken booster doses. Corbevax is manufactured by Hyderabad-based Biological E.

Dr. Reddy said that the vaccine is easy to manufacture and it is already available in the market at a price of Rs 250.

He suggested that China should also import Corbevax to save lives.

Dr. Reddy also made it clear that there is no need for panic as both the central and state governments are taking necessary measures and adequate stocks of vaccines and Remdesivir are available.

He believes that the number of Covid cases may increase over the next two months but from March next year, the situation will be normal.

He said people should wear masks while going to crowded places. He believes that the impact of the new variant of Omicron will not be severe.

Japan sees 8th wave of Covid pandemic, logs 206,943 new cases

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Japan sees 8th wave of Covid pandemic, logs 206,943 new cases

Amidst an ongoing eighth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Japan registered 206,943 new cases, marking the first time that the single-day tally has surpassed the 200,000 mark since August 25, health authorities have confirmed.

According to the Health Ministry, this is an increase of 16,100 new cases from the same day a week earlier, reports Xinhua news agency.

Of the total infections, Tokyo confirmed 21,186 new cases, with the figure for the capital rising week-on-week for a 16th straight day, and up by 2,374 cases the same time a week ago, the Ministry said on Wednesday.

The figure also exceeded 20,000 new infections in Tokyo for a second consecutive day, according to the data, with the capital on Wednesday also reporting 20 deaths.

The number of patients considered severely ill and needing the assistance of ventilators or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines in medical care facilities or intensive care units (ICUs) in Tokyo, increased by seven on Tuesday, to a total of 44, the ministry also said.

Elsewhere in Japan, Osaka prefecture reported 12,225 new Covid cases, Kanagawa 11,833 new infections, Aichi 12,894 cases, and Saitama prefecture logged 10,989 infections, the Ministry reported.

Tottori prefecture in southern Honshu, meanwhile, recorded 1,582 new cases of the virus, which was the highest number for the prefecture, the least populous in Japan, since the outbreak of the virus here.

The Ministry said there were 530 people considered severely ill nationwide and receiving emergency respiratory assistance or otherwise being treated in ICUs.

The number of severely ill patients climbed by 37 compared to a day earlier, the data showed, with the daily number of nationwide Covid-19 related deaths reaching 296.

All about BF.7 Omicron sub-variant that has triggered fresh Covid fears

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All about BF.7 Omicron sub-variant that has triggered fresh Covid fears

As India gears up to fight a potential resurgence of the Covid virus in the country, the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant once again hogged the headlines as it is currently on the move in countries like China.

Also called the Omicron Spawn, the BF.7 sub-variant, first detected in India in October, is the newest form that has high transmissibility.

According to health experts, this is because the new variant quickly bypasses the immunity that a person has developed through a natural infection with an earlier variant or even if the complete course of the vaccines is taken.

Due to this, there is an expectation that the world might see a fourth wave of the pandemic. This new Omicron variant was first detected in China and India has seen its first case of this variant in Gujarat.

Initially in the pandemic, the virus mutated several times, and the WHO declared the Delta variant as the most severe one.

The symptoms of the new BF.7 sub-variant are similar to the common flu and include cold, cough, fever, body pain, etc. As it is highly transmittable, it spreads to a larger group of people within a short duration.

It is important to be careful in public places since we do see that people have become a little careless as many of the norms and the rules that are put forth during Covid-19 have been lifted, say, experts. So, it is now important that we at least follow the basic measures, they add.

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