Page 25 - Coronavirus

Dues from wilful defaulters rose by Rs 100 cr per day since Covid-19 struck

Wilful defaulter dues up by Rs 1.2 trillion since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Some states have seen a larger rise than others

Festival season to bring some cheer to economy, say economists: Poll

Battered during the pandemic, consumption, which makes up for about 60 of Asia's third-largest economy has been slow to reach its pre-Covid levels

Food insecurity shot up last year with inflation, end of Covid aid: Report

An estimated 17 million households reported problems finding enough food in 2022 a sharp jump from 2021 when boosted government aid helped ease the pandemic-induced economic shutdown. A new Department of Agriculture report, released Wednesday, paints a sobering picture of post-pandemic hardship with statistically significant increases in food insecurity across multiple categories. Using a representative survey sample of roughly 32,000 American households the report said 12.8% (17 million households) reported occasional problems affording enough food in 2022 up from 10.2% (13.5 million households) in 2021 and 10.5% (13.8 million households) in 2020. Analysts and food security professionals point to the dual impact last year of high inflation and the gradual expiration of multiple pandemic-era government assistance measures. This underscores how the unwinding of the pandemic interventions and the rising costs of food has taken hold, said Geri Henchy, director of nutrition policy for

Without whole-genome sequencing, a treatable TB epidemic is a challenge

HaystackAnalytics, an IIT Bombay-incubated company working in the area of genomics using big data has created a comprehensive drug resistance test for tuberculosis (TB)

Children infected with Omicron variant remain infectious for 3 days: Study

Children infected with the Omicron variant remain infectious for three days on average after testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study. Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and Stanford University in the US noted that school policies that require students with COVID-19 to stay out of the classroom for five days are more than sufficient. "We are basically saying five days is more than sufficient; public health and education leaders may consider shorter durations, said study co-author Neeraj Sood, Director of the COVID-19 Initiative and a senior fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center. The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, found that the median time of infectivity was three days, with 18.4 per cent and 3.9 per cent of children still infectious on day five and day 10, respectively. The researchers also found no association between how long children were infectious and whether they were vaccinated, suggesting return-to-school polici

Pfizer cuts full-year outlook due to declining sales of Covid-19 products

Shares of Pfizer are in retreat on the first day of trading after the drug company said sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and its coronavirus treatment are in less than expected and cut revenue expectations for the year by USD 9 billion. Falling sales of both clipped sales in the second quarter, but Pfizer said in August that it expected a rebound in the second half of 2023. Shares of Pfizer slid nearly 3 per cent before the opening bell Monday and Moderna, which makes a competing vaccine, slid as well. The company said Friday that global usage of Paxlovid is trending slightly above last year, but that it's still below expectations. The fall vaccination period just began and the New York City drugmaker said that it's too soon to get a handle on vaccination rates for the year. Full-year revenue for Paxlovid and Comirnaty is expected to be approximately USD 12.5 billion, short USD 9 billion of what it had expected. Pfizer is lowering its full-year revenue expectations for Paxlovid by .

Output of a third of manufacturing segments in August less than base year

All indices in the IIP were at 100 in 2011-12 because it was the base year of the new series

'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