Page 48 - Coronavirus

Hospitals conduct Covid mock drills as positivity rate nears 7%

As of Sunday, Kerala topped the list of Covid cases with the number crossing more than 12,000. Other states with high case counts include Maharashtra and Delhi

SC junks plea on efficacy of Remdesivir, Favipiravir for treatment of Covid

In October 2020, the Supreme Court had sought Centre's reply on the plea alleging that Remdesivir and Favipiravir are being used for treatment of Covid-19 without approval

Face masks mandatory in civic-run hospitals in Mumbai as Covid cases rise

Amid a rise in COVID-19 cases, the use of face masks has been made mandatory for employees, patients and visitors in all civic-run hospitals in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Monday. The step has been taken as a safety measure, said the BMC in a release issued after a coronavirus review meeting conducted by municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal at the civic headquarters in south Mumbai. The release, however, did not mention since when the masks will be mandatory in its hospitals. The BMC appealed to citizens above 60 years of age to wear face masks as a precautionary measure though it is not mandatory for them. The release said the civic body will also issue guidelines on home isolation of COVID-19 patients.

Covovax as booster to be available on CoWIN soon; will cost Rs 225 per dose

In view of rising cases of COVID-19 in various parts of the country, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is learnt to have approved the inclusion of Serum Institute's Covovax on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults, official sources said on Monday. Covovax is likely to be available on the portal in a few days at a price of Rs 225 per dose plus applicable GST. The move comes after a letter was written by Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Serum Institute of India (SII) to the Union health ministry on March 27, the sources said. According to an official source, Singh had mentioned in his letter to the ministry that Covovax is a world class vaccine approved by the DCGI, WHO and USFDA and it should be included on the CoWIN portal as a heterologous booster dose for adults. Covovax can be administered to those who have already vaccinated with Covishield or Covaxin. Last month, the COVID-19 Working Group headed by Dr N K Arora had also recommended to the Health Mini

Nationwide Covid mock drill underway to take stock of preparedness

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, mock drills to take stock of hospital preparedness are being held in several public and private facilities across the country on Monday. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya visited the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the city to review the mock drill there. India logged 5,880 new coronavirus cases, while the active cases have increased to 35,199. The death toll has increased to 5,30,979 with 14 deaths, according to the health ministry data updated on Monday. In a review meeting held on April 7, Mandaviya had urged state health ministers to visit hospitals and oversee the mock drills on April 10 and 11. In the meeting with state health ministers, and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually, Mandaviya had stressed the need to identify emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination, and ensuring readiness of hospital ...

People with flu-like symptoms should wear masks, says Saurabh Bharadwaj

Covid cases in Delhi are expected the rise in the coming days as the city is densely populated, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said Monday and asked people with flu-like symptoms to wear masks and avoid public places. The national capital reported 699 COVID-19 cases and four deaths on Sunday. Three deaths reported on Sunday were due to various diseases and Covid was "incidental". In one case, the primary reason was Covid, Bharadwaj told reporters. "Any death is unfortunate," the Delhi health minister said, adding the "Delhi government and its health department is on high alert". Bharadwaj cautioned people that Covid cases are expected to rise in the city in the coming days. "Delhi is a densely populated city. Cases will rise and many people will exhibit flu-like and influenza-like symptoms such as fever and cough. But they will recover," he said. "People with such symptoms should not venture out in public places. If at all one has to go to such places then one should wear a ma

India logs 5,880 Covid-19 infections, active cases rise to 35,199

India logged 5,880 new coronavirus cases, while the active cases have increased to 35,199, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll has increased to 5,30,979 with 14 deaths. While four deaths each were reported from Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, one each was reported from Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and two reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 6.91 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was pegged at 3.67 per cent. The Covid case tally was recorded at 4.47 crore (4,47,62,496) The active cases now comprise 0.08 per cent of the total infections and the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.73 per cent, the ministry said. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,96,318 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been .

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Indian pharma market back to pre-Covid level in FY23, says report

After a Covid-hit FY21 (when the IPM grew by only 2.2 per cent), the market posted a growth of 14.7 per cent in FY22, on a low base

Nationwide drill in hospitals on Mon, Tue to check Covid preparedness

Amid rising COVID-19 cases, a nationwide mock drill to take stock of hospital preparedness will be held on April 10 and 11 in which both public and private facilities are expected to participate. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit AIIMS, Jhajjar on April 10 to oversee the mock drill, officials said on Sunday. In a review meeting held on April 7, Mandaviya had urged state health ministers to visit hospitals and oversee the mock drills. He had also advised them to review the preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9. In the meeting with state health ministers, and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually, Mandaviya had stressed the need to identify emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination, and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure. Besides enhancing genome sequencing and ramping up whole

Daily Covid-19 tests up 84% in a month, just shy of 140,000 mark: ICMR data

Technicians conducting over 60,000 more tests daily than a month ago; slight drop in number of positive cases at 5,357, though daily and weekly positivity rates are still above 3%

Delhi adds 699 fresh Covid-19 cases, positivity rate of 21.15%: Govt data

Delhi on Sunday logged 699 fresh COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 21.15 per cent, according to data shared by the city government's health department. Four people suffering from COVID-19 died in the city. However, the health bulletin stated that COVID-19 was the primary cause of death in just one case. With the fresh cases, Delhi's COVID-19 tally has risen to 20,14,637. The death toll stands at 26,540, the bulletin stated. Delhi saw 535 COVID-19 cases on Saturday with a positivity rate of 23.05 per cent. The capital logged 733 cases -- the highest in more than seven months -- on Friday with a positivity rate of 19.93 per cent. On Thursday, 606 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 16.98 per cent, and one fatality. On Wednesday, Delhi added 509 cases with a positivity rate of 26.54 per cent, the highest in nearly 15 months. In January last year, the positivity rate had touched the 30-per cent mark. According to the bulletin, 3,305 COVID-19 tests were conducted in

Latest LIVE news: Maharashtra reports 788 new Covid cases in a day

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Covid wave looms as India's population-level immunity dwindles: WHO

Decreasing levels of immunity in our population may trigger new Covid waves and to tackle this, India needs a strong disease surveillance along with high vaccine coverage

India logs 5,357 Covid cases in 24 hrs, active caseload climbs to 32,814

India logged 5,357 new coronavirus cases, while the active cases rose to 32,814, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The death toll has increased to 5,30,965 with 11 deaths. While three deaths were reported from Gujarat, two were from Himachal Pradesh and one each from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh besides one reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. The Covid case tally was recorded at 4.47 crore (4,47,56,616) The active cases now comprise 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.74 per cent, the ministry said. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,92,837 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

Can't say this or that without full information: WHO chief on Covid origin

The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted China share proper data on the origin of the Covid-19 virus and said that all hypotheses remain on the table without full access to the information

Delhi records 535 fresh Covid-29 cases, positivity rate now at 23.05%

Delhi logged 535 fresh Covid cases on Saturday with a positivity rate of 23.05 per cent, according to data shared by the city government's health department. The city had logged 733 Covid cases -- the highest in more than seven months -- on Friday with a positivity rate of 19.93 per cent. The national capital had recorded 620 cases on August 26, 2022. On Thursday, 606 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 16.98 per cent, and one fatality. On Wednesday, the city logged a positivity rate of 26.54 per cent, the highest in nearly 15 months, with 509 people testing positive in a single day. In January last year, the positivity rate had touched the 30-per cent mark. Delhi saw 521 cases on Tuesday and one fatality. The positivity rate stood at 15.64 per cent. At present, the city's COVID-19 death toll stands at 26,536, according to the bulletin. With the fresh cases, Delhi's infection tally has risen to 20,13,938. The data showed that 2,321 Covid tests were conducted on Friday.

Maharashtra logs 542 new Covid-19 cases, 1 fatality; active tally at 4,360

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 542 new cases of coronavirus and one fatality, which raised the tally of infections to 81,49,141 and toll to 1,48,458, an official from the state health department said. There has been a drop in infections since Friday, when the state had recorded 926 cases and three fatalities. With 668 patients recovering from the infection in the last 24 hours, the count of recoveries has reached 79,96,323, leaving the state with 4,360 active cases, the official said. As per the health department's bulletin, Mumbai recorded 207 cases on Saturday, making it the fifth consecutive day that the city saw 200 plus infections. The only fatality of the day was reported in Amravati city, it said. The fatality rate in the state stands at 1.82 per cent, while the recovery rate is at 98.12 per cent. As many as 6,651 swab samples were tested in the state in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of tests conducted in the state to 8,66,94,304, the bulletin ...

Antibody that blocks Omicron, other Covid variants identified by scientists

A group of scientists in the US has identified an antibody that appears to block infection by all dominant variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, including Omicron

Chinese health officials lash out at WHO, defend Covid-19 virus search

Chinese health officials defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out Saturday at the World Health Organisation after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier. The WHO comments were offensive and disrespectful," said the director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shen Hongbing. He accused the WHO of attempting to smear China and said it should avoid helping others "politicize COVID-19. The global health body's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said March 17 that newly disclosed genetic material gathered in Wuhan in central China, where the first cases were detected in late 2019, should have been shared three years ago. As a responsible country and as scientists, we have always actively shared research results with scientists from around the world, Shen said at a news conference. The origins of COVID-19 are still debated and the focus of bitter political dispute. Many scientists believe it