Page 25 - Coronavirus

'India Art Fair 2023 was the largest; next year's will be even bigger'

India Art Fair, one of the country's most prominent annual art events, will return to New Delhi in February 2024. The post-pandemic 2023 edition of the fair was the largest to date

What pandemic preparedness would look like

Given strong odds that we will face another pandemic, the world is rightly engaged in discussions about how to do better next time. But the latest UN agreement on the issue offers mere platitudes

80% of IT services companies likely to get to 5-day work mode by FY24 end

HR experts also point that with attrition back to its level many are taking the current dip in business momentum to get its employees back in office

Two Indian-origin men in US guilty of fraud in multi-million Covid fund

Two men of Indian origin in the US have pleaded guilty to their participation in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme by obtaining loans under an economic assistance plan following the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the justice department said. The Department of Justice in a statement said Nishant Patel, 41, and Harjeet Singh, 49, both from Houston and three others engaged in fraudulently obtaining and laundering millions of dollars in forgivable Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) loans that the Small Business Administration (SBA) guarantees under the CARES Act. They admitted to submitting false and fraudulent PPP loan applications to SBA and certain SBA-approved PPP lenders. All five defendants also assisted in laundering the fraudulently obtained PPP loan funds by supplying co-conspirators with blank, endorsed checks, which were made payable to people posing as employees of the companies that received the PPP loan, but who were in fact not employees. These fake paychecks were

Airbnb added Rs 7,200 crore to India GDP last year: Oxford Economics

The GDP contribution and jobs supported more than doubled compared to 2019 despite the Covid-19 outbreak and the related restrictions

India records 40 fresh Covid-19 cases, active caseload at 476: Govt data

India recorded a single-day rise of 40 new COVID-19 cases while the active caseload stands at 476, according to Union Health Ministry data. The death toll has been recorded at 5,32,031 (5.32 lakh), the data updated on Friday showed. The country's Covid case tally currently stands at 4,49,98,741 (4.49 crore). The number of people who have recuperated from the disease is at 4,44,66,244 (4.44 crore) and the national recovery rate stands at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry website. The case fatality rate is currently at 1.18 per cent. According to the website, 220.67 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered so far.

Millions take to China's roads, railways in 1st big holiday since Covid end

Many millions of Chinese tourists are expected to travel within their country, splurging on hotels, tours, attractions and meals in a boost to the economy during the eight-day autumn holiday period that began Friday. This year's holiday began with the Mid-Autumn Festival on Friday and also includes the October 1 National Day. The public holidays end on October 6. Typically hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and overseas during such holidays. The eight-day-long holiday is the longest week of public holidays since COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted in December. Outbound tourism has lagged domestic travel, with flight capacities lagging behind pre-pandemic levels. Big cities like the capital, Beijing, Shanghai, and southern cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou are favoured destinations. Smaller cities, such as Chengdu and Chongqing in southwest China also are popular. All that travel is a boon for the world's No. 2 economy: During the week-long May holiday this year,

Residential sales in India poised to breach decadal high this year: CBRE

Led by demand for homes priced between Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.5 crore, the sale of 300,000 units this year is expected to be much higher than the five-year average of 187,000 units

Can Tiruppur recover from disruption wreaked by pandemic and war?

Indian exporters anyway have limited pricing power, as they face competition from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar

Disease X could be next big pandemic, kill 50 million people, says expert

Kate Bingham, who chaired the UK's Vaccine Taskforce from May to December 2020, stated that scientists have identified 25 virus families, any of which could mutate into a deadly pandemic

Vivad se Vishwas - I scheme: Govt grants Rs 256 crore in relief to MSMEs

The Ministry of Finance said in a release that this move will increase the flow of bank credit by freeing up guarantees

Covid antiviral drug molnupiravir linked to virus mutations: Research

A widely used COVID-19 antiviral drug, molnupiravir, has been linked with a pattern of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study published in the journal Nature. A team, including researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and the University of Cambridge in the UK, noted that molnupiravir works by inducing mutations in the virus's genetic information, or genome, during replication. Many of these mutations will damage or kill the virus, reducing viral load in the body. It was one of the first antivirals available on the market during the COVID-19 pandemic and was widely adopted by many countries. The scientists used global sequencing databases to map mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus over time. They analysed a family tree of 15 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences so that at each point in each virus's evolutionary history they could see which mutations had occurred. Although viruses mutate all the time, the researchers identified mutational events in the global sequencing ..

Omicron subvariant BA.5 more virulent, study in mice finds

Scientists have used engineered mice to compare SARS-COV-2 Omicron subvariants and found that the BA.5 strain was more virulent likely due to its ability to rapidly replicate early during infection. The research, published in the journal Science Advances, addresses a challenge to studying and understanding rapidly evolving variants of concern due to a lack of animal models for running tests that could help explain why variants and subvariants each behave differently in people. The genetically modified mice, called K18-hACE2, used in the research express a human receptor that allowed SARS-COV-2 to enter otherwise inaccessible mouse cells. "One of the things we found is that the strain that causes more pathology, BA.5, replicates much faster early on during infection," said Avery August, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at Cornell University in the US. "By doing that, the virus generates a really strong immune response, which then leads to increased pathology a

Merck's Covid medicine linked to virus mutation patterns, says study

Findings adds weight to earlier work by the same team of researchers that suggested that drug-induced mutations of Covid were spreading in some populations, although not in great numbers

Number of MSMEs in Bengal to have reached 10 mn after Covid: Official

The number of MSME units in West Bengal is estimated to have reached 1 crore with the economy bouncing back after the pandemic, a senior official said. Addressing a programme, West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation Ltd (WBSIDCL) executive director V Teja Deepak said there were 90 lakh MSME units in the state before the pandemic. "There were 90 lakh Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Bengal before the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it must have reached 1 crore after the pandemic," he said. Maintaining that the state government's schemes such as 'Shilper Samadhan' have been a great help to the sector, he said the time taken to give various permissions for setting up businesses has also come down significantly. "Bengal is doing well in the export of textile and leather, and the 'Biswa Bangla' marketing is attracting buyers across the globe," he said. Speaking at the programme organised here by SBI and The Statesman on Saturday, PSU Andrew Yule and Company's CMD

As many as 412 infra projects show cost overruns of Rs 4.77 trn in August

As many as 412 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.77 lakh crore in August this year, an official report said. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above, out of 1,762 projects, 412 reported cost overruns and as many as 830 projects were delayed. "The total original cost of implementation of the 1,762 projects was Rs 25,01,400.62 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 29,78,681.31 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,77,280.69 crore (19.08 per cent of original cost)," the ministry's latest report for August 2023 said. According to the report, the expenditure incurred on these projects till August 2023, is Rs 15,57,188.10 crore, which is 52.28 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects. However, it stated that the number of delayed projects decreased to 6

Biden admin announces $600 mn to produce Covid tests; will reopen website

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home COVID-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases that has typically come during colder months. The Department of Health and Human Services says orders can be placed at COVIDTests.gov starting Sept 25, and that no-cost tests will be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service. Twelve manufacturers that employ hundreds of people in seven states have been awarded funding and will produce 200 million over-the-counter tests to replenish federal stockpiles for government use, in addition to producing enough tests to meet demand for tests ordered online, the department said. Federal officials said that will help guard against supply chain issues that sparked some shortages of at-home COVID tests made overseas during past surges in ..

WHO chief urges China to give full access to probe origins of Covid: Report

These comments from the WHO chief come as health authorities update vaccines in response to a surge in Covid-19 cases

WHO chief pushes China for 'full access' to determine Covid's origins

Ghebreyesus has for long been pressing China to share its information about the origins of Covid-19, saying that until that happened all hypotheses remained on the table

59% growth in TOEFL test takers in India post-pandemic, rise in share: ETS

TOEFL test takers in India have grown by 59 per cent since international travel resumed following suspension during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Educational Testing Service (ETS). Corresponding with the trend, Indians accounted for 12.3 per cent of the total test takers globally in 2022, up from 7.5 per cent the previous year, showed data from the Princeton-based ETS which conducts the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE). According to data exclusively accessed by PTI, there was a 53 per cent growth in Indian TOEFL test takers in 2021 compared to the previous year. In 2022, the number of test takers saw a 59 per cent rise over 2021. "The numbers are clearly indicative of the rising aspirations of Indians in exploring foreign shores. The growth in Indian test takers is in sync with the rise in the number of Indians moving abroad for studies or immigration purposes. "The trends show that the interest is no longer limited to the US