Heena Sharma Blog

  The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the B.1.1.529 lineage of Sars-CoV-2, thought to have emerged in southern Africa, is to be designated as a variant of concern (VoC) named omicron . This decision has already precipitated a broad shift in priorities in pandemic management on a global scale. The WHO has recommended, among other things, increased surveillance, particularly virus genome sequencing; focused research to understand the dangers posed by this variant; and ramping up mitigation measures, such as mandatory mask wearing. Greater restrictions on international travel have already come into force in the UK and many other countries. Indeed, Japan has closed its borders to all foreign visitors. The speed with which the omicron variant was designated a VoC was dizzying. A little over two weeks passed since the first known infections in Botswana and South Africa. Contrast this with the delta variant that is currently dominant in Europe and many other parts ...

  The World Health Organization is opening a long-planned special session of member states to discuss ways to strengthen the global fight against pandemics like the coronavirus, just as the worrying new omicron variant has sparked immediate concerns worldwide. In the wake of diplomatic wrangling, a draft resolution at the special World Health Assembly stops short of calling for work toward specifically establishing a pandemic treaty" or legally binding instrument sought by some, which could beef up the international response when not if a new pandemic erupts. European Union member states and others had sought language calling for work toward a treaty, but the United States and a few other countries countered that the substance of any accord should be worked out first before any such document is given a name. A treaty would suggest a legally binding agreement that would require ratification and would likely incur domestic political haggling in some countries. Read More

  Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it has conducted India's first 5G trial in the 700 MHz spectrum band in partnership with Nokia. The demonstration, which was conducted on the outskirts of Kolkata, also marked the first 5G trial in the eastern India, the company said in a statement. Airtel has been allotted test spectrum in multiple bands by Department of Telecommunications for the validation of 5G technology and use cases. "Airtel conducts India's first 5G trial in the 700 MHz band in partnership with Nokia," the telco said. Airtel used equipment from Nokia's 5G portfolio, which included Nokia AirScale radios and standalone (SA) core. Read More  

  I own a smart TV which I bought in 2019. It was rich in specifications and features back then, but it now seems to have aged prematurely. Not that it has bad picture or audio quality, but it lags behind newer smart televisions in performance, connectivity, and user experience. Thankfully, there are streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max which bring to speed these otherwise mediocre televisions with their faster internet connectivity, sleek performance, and support for tons of new and updated apps. How? Let’s find out: What is Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max? The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a streaming device with HDMI interface that turns any screen with HDMI input into a smart screen connected to the internet for online streaming of content available on supported apps like YouTube, Prime Video, Apple TV, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, etc. It boots Android operating system-based Amazon’s Fire OS with Amazon services like Prime Video and Amazon Music built-in, and ...

  India reported 7,579 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, the smallest rise in one-and-a-half-years despite huge festival gatherings in recent weeks, thanks to rising vaccinations and antibodies from prior infections. The country of 1.35 billion celebrated Durga Puja in October and Diwali this month, during which millions of people shopped, travelled and met family, mostly without masks. Mask-wearing is nearly non-existent outside the big cities. "Even after Diwali, we are not seeing a surge," said M.D. Gupte, a former director of the state-run National Institute of Epidemiology, attributing it mainly to the presence of antibodies in a huge majority of Indians through natural infection. "I think we are much safer now." Government surveys have estimated that nearly 70% of Indians had been naturally infected by July, following a record rise in infections and deaths in April and May. Read More

  India recorded 8,488 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 538 days, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,18,901, while the active cases declined to 1,18,443, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 4,65,911 with 249 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 45 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 148 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.34 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.31 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 4,271 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Read More

  India reported 11,106 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday. With this, India's active caseload stands at 1,26,620. The active cases now account for less than 1 per cent of total cases, currently at 0.37 per cent, the lowest since March 2020. With 12,789 people recovering in the last 24 hours, the recovery tally has gone up to 3,38,97,921. The recovery rate is currently at 98.28 per cent, the highest since March 2020. The country also reported 459 deaths in a day. As per the health ministry, the daily positivity rate stands at 0.98 per cent. It has remained below 2 per cent for the last 46 days while the weekly positivity rate is at 0.92 per cent, less than 2 per cent for the last 56 days. India has tested 62.93 crore samples for Covid-19 so far. More than 115.23 crore vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive. Read More

  With 11,919 fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 3,44,78,517, while the number of active cases has gone up to 1,28,762, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. The death toll due to the viral disease has shot up to 4,64,623 with 470 more fatalities, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in the number of coronavirus cases has been below 20,000 for 41 straight days now and less than 50,000 fresh cases have been reported for 144 consecutive days. The number of active cases of the infection has gone up to 1,28,762, accounting for 0.37 per cent of the total caseload, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.28 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. An increase of 207 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it added. Read More

  India reported 10,197 fresh Covid cases and 301 deaths in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family welfare on Wednesday morning. With the addition of 301 new deaths, the total deaths toll has climbed 4,64,153. The recovery of 12,134 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,38,73,890. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.28 per cent, highest since March 2020. The active caseload stands at 1,28,555, lowest in last 527 days. Active cases presently constitute 0.37 per cent of the country's total positive cases, the lowest since March 2020. Also in the same period, a total of 12,42,177 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 62.70 crore cumulative tests. Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate at 0.96 per cent has remained less than 2 per cent for the last 54 days now. Read More

  In February this year, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways made FASTag mandatory for all vehicles. The government directed that all the lanes in toll plazas at national highways be declared FASTag lanes. It also said that vehicles without FASTag would have to pay double the toll. The move was aimed to reduce congestion at the toll plazas. The cost of buying FASTag will vary, depending on the type of vehicle and the channel where you are buying the FASTag from. For instance, on Paytm, you can buy FASTag for your car for Rs 500, out of which Rs 250 will be your refundable security deposit and Rs 150 will be your wallet balance. You can recharge your FASTag digital wallet using internet banking, credit or debit cards and UPI. A FASTag is valid for five years from the date of purchase and the recharge amount does not have any extended validity period associated with it. Paytm is now planning to launch FASTag-based parking services across the country, after it launc...

  India's Covid tally rose to 3,44,47,536 with 10,229 more people testing positive for coronavirus , while the active cases have declined to 1,34,096, the lowest in 523 days, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Monday. The death toll reached 4,63,655 after 125 new fatalities were reported, the data updated at 8 am showed. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 38 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 141 consecutive days now. The active cases have declined to 1,34, 096 comprising 0.39 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Health Ministry said. A decrease of 1,822 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.12 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 42 days....

  India recorded a single-day rise of 12,516 COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the country's tally of infections to 3,44,14,186, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Meanwhile, the count of active cases in the country has declined to 1,37,416, which is the lowest in 267 days. The daily rise in new COVID-19 infections has been below 50,000 for 138 days. The tally of active cases has declined to 1,37,416, which comprises 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020. The national COVID-19 recovery rate is at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. The country also recorded 13,155 recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the total number total recoveries in the country to 3,38,14,080. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.07 per cent. This has been less than 2 per cent for 39 days, the ministry said. The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,62,690, with 501 more fatalities in the last 24 hours. The f...

  India reported 13,091 fresh COVID-19 cases and 340 fatalities in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Thursday. Of this, Kerala reported 7,540 new COVID-19 cases and 211 fatalities. The total cases reported in the country so far mounted to 3,44,01,670 with the active caseload standing at 1,38,556, which is the lowest in 266 days. Active cases account for less than one per cent of the total cases. Further, 13,878 recoveries were reported during the past 24 hours thereby mounting the recovery tally to 3,38,00,925. With this, the recovery rate currently stands at 98.25 per cent which is the highest since March 2020. The daily positivity rate stands at 1.10 per cent which is less than two per cent for the last 38 days. The weekly positivity rate stood at 1.18 per cent and has been less than two per cent for the last 48 days. Read More

  India could resume deliveries of COVID-19 shots to global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX in a few weeks for the first time since April, two health industry sources said, ending a suspension of supplies that has hurt 8 poor countries. The World Health Organization (WHO), which co-leads COVAX, has been urging India to restart supplies for the programme, especially after it sent about 4 million doses to its neighbours and partners in October. Based on an informal approval from India, COVAX officials have started planning allocations of the Covishield shot for various countries, said one of the sources, both of whom declining to be identified pending a final agreement. Covishield is a licensed version of the AstraZeneca shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker. SII has nearly quadrupled its output of Covishield to up to 240 million doses a month since April, when India stopped all exports in order to inoculate its own people during ...

  India logged 10,126 new coronavirus infections , the lowest in 266 days, while the active cases dipped to 1,40,638, the lowest in 263 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. With the fresh cases, the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 3,43,77,113. The death toll climbed to 4,61,389 with 332 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 32 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 135 consecutive days now. The active cases settled at 1,40,638 comprising 0.41 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.25 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 2,188 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Read More

  Assam reported 270 fresh COVID-19 cases and seven fatalities in the last 24 hours, informed the state health department on Tuesday. As per the state health bulletin, with the addition of the new cases, the active caseload in the state stands at 2,385. With 159 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours, the total recoveries mounted to 6,01,468. As many as 6,11,211 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the state so far and the death toll in the state stands at 6,011. The daily positivity rate stood at 0.75 per cent. The recovery rate is 98.41 per cent while the case fatality rate is 0.98 per cent. A total of 2,47,90,707 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the state so far including 36,201 tests conducted in the last 24 hours. Read More

  India added 10,423 new coronavirus cases , the lowest in 259 days, while the active cases declined to 1,53,776, the lowest in 250 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. With the fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,42,96,237. The death toll climbed to 4,58,880 with 443 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 25 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 128 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.45 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.21 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decline of 5,041 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.03 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 29 days. The weekly po...

  There is no smartwatch that complements the iPhones the way Apple’s own watches do, even if they are not perfect. Therefore, even if the new models do not bring any significant upgrades over the previous-generation models, they still make a compelling buy for iPhone users looking to upgrade to a new model. A case in point is the Apple Watch Series 7 . Over the Watch Series 6 (review), the Series 7 brings a bigger display with curved edges and negligible display bezels, redesigned user interface optimised for larger display, and new watch faces to complement the curved display profile. Starting with the display, the Watch Series 7 boasts 20 per cent more screen area over the Watch Series 6. Interestingly, the bump in screen size does not translate into any significant changes in dimensions of the case. This is because the screen is stretched by narrowing the borders. That said, the Apple Watch Series 7 is just 1mm (45mm, review unit) bigger than its predecessor. The screen on th...