India Coronavirus Dispatch: Zydus applies for nod to its 3-shot vaccine

No Covid vaccination drive in Mumbai today, Dr Reddy's denied nod to conduct phase-3 trials of Sputnik Light vaccine, and more-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Over 48,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 48,786 fresh coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the cumulative caseload to 30.4 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 1,005 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 399,459. The active caseload is at 523,257, while the total recoveries have surged to 29.4 million. As many as 335 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 2.7 million were given on Wednesday. Read more

Zydus Cadila applies for emergency use nod to its three-shot vaccine

Drugmaker Zydus Cadila has applied to the drug regulator for emergency use authorisation (EUA) to its three-shot Covid vaccine ZyCoV-D, a report in ThePrint said. After Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Cadila's vaccine will be the second home-grown vaccine against the novel coronavirus. If the vaccine gets the nod, it will be the fifth one authorised for use in India after Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V and Moderna. Cadila's vaccine will be the first one in India that has been tested in the adolescent population in the 12-18 years age group, the report said. Read more

Delhi: 2,029 kids have lost one or both parents to Covid, says child rights body

The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has said as many as 2,029 children have been identified in Delhi who have lost either one or both parents to the Covid pandemic, a report in ThePrint said. Many children have been orphaned while many others find themselves in single-parent households. While 651 of the 2,029 children have lost their mothers to Covid, 1,311 lost their fathers, and 67 have lost both parents, the report said. Read more

Mumbai: No Covid vaccination drive today

Amid a shortage of vaccines, all government-run vaccination centres in Mumbai will be shut today, a report in The Indian Express said. The city had vaccinated an all-time high of 180,000 people on June 28. It had administered over 100,000 vaccinations for three days in a row on June 21,22, and 23. Since then, the vaccination numbers have been declining, with the total vaccinations in Mumbai dropping to 63,579 on Wednesday. To date, over 1 million people have been fully immunised in the city, which is 8 per cent of the city’s population. Read more

Dr Reddy's denied nod to conduct Phase-3 trials of Sputnik Light vaccine

The central government's Subject Expert Committee (SEC) has denied permission to Dr Reddy's Laboratories to carry out the phase-3 trials for the Russia-made Sputnik Light Covid vaccine, a media report said that cited sources familiar with the matter. The expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) refused to allow the Hyderabad-based drugmaker to conduct the third phase trials as it did not find the "scientific rationale" behind the same, the report said. Read more