Page 70 - Coronavirus

BF.7 found in several Covid-positive samples of int'l passengers: Mandaviya

Union Health on Wednesday said the Omicron sub-variant, BF.7, has been found in several of the 200 Covid-positive samples of international air passengers that have so far been genome-sequenced

Garuda Indonesia to Ibera: The world's most punctual airlines in 2022

Eurowings was the worst performer in the top 20 when it came to cancelations, with 3.49% of its flights scrapped

New Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5 spreading rapidly in US, says CDC

The new Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is spreading quickly in the US, and is estimated to account for nearly 30 of Covid-19 cases in the week ending January 7: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Satellite images capture crowding at China's crematoriums amid Covid surge

China recently moved away from its strict zero-Covid approach to the virus, which had sparked mass unrest after more than two years of tight controls on citizens' personal lives

India sees single-day rise of 171 new Covid-19 cases; tally at 4.46 crore

India saw a single-day rise of 171 fresh COVID-19 cases, while the active cases have increased to 2,342, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday. The country's infection tally has reached 4,46,80,386, while the death toll stands at 5,30,722, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.09 and the weekly positivity rate was pegged at 0.11. The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the health ministry website. An increase of 23 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease in the country surged to 4,41,47,322, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.15 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination

Pentagon drops Covid-19 vaccine mandate for troops; new memo for deployment

The Pentagon formally dropped its COVID-19 vaccination mandate Tuesday, but a new memo signed by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also gives commanders some discretion in how or whether to deploy troops who are not vaccinated. Austin's memo has been widely anticipated ever since legislation signed into law on December 23 gave him 30 days to rescind the mandate. The Defence Department had already stopped all related personnel actions, such as discharging troops who refused the shot. "The Department will continue to promote and encourage COVID-19 vaccination for all service members," Austin said in the memo. "Vaccination enhances operational readiness and protects the force." Austin said that commanders have the authority to maintain unit readiness and a healthy force. He added, however, that other department policies including mandates for other vaccines remain in place. That includes, he said, the ability of commanders to consider, as appropriate, the individual immunization status

WHO official urges science-based, non-discriminatory Covid-19 restrictions

A senior official of the WHO has urged countries to take science-based precautionary Covid-19 entry restrictions that are proportionate and non-discriminatory

No immediate Covid-19 outbreak threat from China, says WHO Europe director

The director of the World Health Organisation's Europe office said Tuesday that the agency sees no immediate threat" for the European region from a COVID-19 outbreak in China, but more information is needed. China is battling a nationwide outbreak of the coronavirus after abruptly easing restrictions. Hans Kluge said that, based on the information WHO had received from china, there was no threat, but more detailed and regular information was required from China to monitor the evolving situation. We cannot be complacent, he added. Several countries have imposed COVID-19 testing requirements on Chinese travellers. Australia and Canada require travellers from China to take a COVID-19 test prior to boarding their flight. Other countries including the U.S., India, Japan, South Korea and several European nations have announced tougher COVID-19 measures on travellers from China amid concerns over a lack of data on infections in China and fears that new variants may emerge. China has thr

China economy recovering but hampered by repeated coronavirus outbreaks

Wang Jian is anxious to get back to work teaching basketball to children now that China has lifted anti-COVID-19 restrictions. But his gym in the eastern city of Shenyang has been closed for a month because all its coaches are infected. The most optimistic forecasts say China's business and consumer activity might revive as early as the first quarter of this year. But before that happens, entrepreneurs and families face a painful squeeze from a surge in virus cases that has left employers without enough healthy workers and kept wary customers away from shopping malls, restaurants, hair salons and gyms. I hope the situation will turn around in March or April with no more COVID shocks, said Wang, 33, who went without a paycheck for four months when the gym closed during virus outbreaks. If parents worry about possible reinfection, they simply won't send their children for training. The abrupt decision by President Xi Jinping's government to end controls that shut down factories and ke

China suspends visas for South Koreans in apparent retaliatory move

China suspended visas Tuesday for South Koreans to come to the country for tourism or business in apparent retaliation for COVID-19 testing requirements on Chinese travellers. A brief notice posted online by the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said the ban would apply until South Korea lifted its discriminatory measures on entrance by China to the country. No other details were given, although China has threatened to take retaliation against countries that require travellers from China to show a negative test result for COVID-19 taken within the previous 48 hours. China requires the same measures for travellers coming into the country. Beijing has been accused by the World Health Organisation of withholding data on the state of the outbreak in China.

Institutional investments in retail real estate jump 6-fold in 2022: Rpt

Institutional investments in retail real estate jumped over six fold to USD 492 million in 2022, as businesses in shopping malls revived strongly post the COVID pandemic, according to Colliers India. In 2021, the retail real estate had attracted only USD 77 million institutional investments because of an adverse impact of the COVID pandemic on the businesses in shopping malls. Overall, Colliers said that the institutional investments in the Indian real estate sector grew 20 per cent in 2022 to touch USD 4.9 billion from USD 4.08 billion in the previous year. Alternate asset classes, which includes data centres, received an investment of USD 867 million last year, up 92 per cent from USD 453 million in 2021. Alternate assets include data centres, life sciences, senior housing, holiday homes, and student housing among others. The growth of alternate assets is led by investors looking to diversify their portfolio, given steady returns in some traditional asset classes, Colliers India

India reports 121 Covid-19 cases, one death; active cases decline

India logged 121 fresh coronavirus infections on Tuesday and the number of active cases came down to 2,319, according to Union health ministry data. The total number of COVID-19 cases now stands at 4.46 crore (4,46,80,215). The death toll increased to 5,30,722 with one death reported from Delhi in the last 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.07 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.11 per cent. The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the health ministry website. A decrease of 52 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,47,174. The case fatality rate stood at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.14 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered so far under the nationwide

Pfizer CEO rules out talk with China on generic Covid drug Paxlovid license

Bourla said the company had shipped thousands of courses of the treatment in 2022 to China and in the past couple of weeks, had increased that to millions

Covaxin shows 'positive' results in phase 2/3 studies in US: Ocugen

If approved, will become the first India-developed vax to be commercialised in the US

No K-shaped recovery in India, pandemic 'leveler' to reduce inequality: SBI

Economists at the country's largest lender SBI on Monday dismissed the 'K-shaped recovery' critique, saying the pandemic was a 'leveler' which helped in reducing inequalities. They said government transfers to the poor alone are adding up to Rs 75,000 per household per annum. It can be noted that in the months following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns were being raised about deepening inequalities in India, with some calling it as a 'K-shaped' recovery, where rich emerged richer while the poor slipped down further. After analysing data and studies, the SBI economists said, " in hindsight, the pandemic may have been a leveller in terms of inequality with the poor getting protected through measures such as food transfers." It said India has delivered a sharp recovery after the pandemic and acknowledged that critics are still quoting it as a K-shaped recovery for India. " It is true that the strong rise in financial assets resulted in an increase in inequality in 2021

Investor wealth surges by Rs 3.2 trn as indices snap 3-day losing streak

Hopes of softer Fed hikes and China's reopening has D-Street upbeat

New Omicron variants are not causing case spike or mortality: Govt

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has initiated random testing of international travelers arriving at various Airports from December 24, 2022

New case of Covid XBB 1.5 strain found, total variant cases now 8: INSACOG

One new case of COVID-19's XBB 1.5 strain, responsible for the surge of cases in the United States, was found in India, taking the overall number of such cases in the country to eight, according to INSACOG data. The new case of the strain was found in Uttarakhand in the last 24 hours, while earlier, three cases were found in Gujarat, one each in Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said. The XBB.1.5 strain is a relative of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants. Combined, XBB and XBB.1.5 make up 44 per cent of cases in the US. The INSACOG data also showed that nine cases of BF.7 strain, which is apparently driving China's coronavirus wave, have been found. Four cases of Omicron sub-variant BF.7 have been reported in West Bengal, two each in Gujarat and Haryana, and one in Odisha. INSACOG reports genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across the country through ...

90% people in China's third-most populous province infected with Covid

With a population of 99.4 million, the figures suggest about 88.5 million people in Henan may now have been infected

Free food scheme moderated income inequality in many states: Report

Free food distribution of cereals during the pandemic has starkly reduced income inequality across laggard states and those at the bottom of the pyramid, according to a report. SBI Ecowrap started the research with a hypothesis of how the free food grain distribution is impacting the distribution of wealth on population quintiles for the poorest of the poor. It has taken a cue from the the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Working Paper which indicated that Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY), which provides free foodgrains to poor people, played a key role in keeping extreme poverty in India at the lowest level of 0.8 per cent during the pandemic-hit 2020. The SBI study analyzed the impact of share of Rice procurement (since Rice is still the staple food for most of the people in India), on Gini Coefficient for 20 States and the impact of share of Wheat procurement on Gini Coefficient for nine States. "Our results show that relatively laggard states in terms of inequal ...