Heena Sharma Blog

European Union finally agrees on relief package: EU leaders Tuesday stitched together a consensus for a historic relief plan to support Europe out of the coronavirus crisis . As per the plan, European Commission, EU’s executive body, will borrow 750 billion euros ($857 billion) using its triple-A-rated debt, and disburse 390 billion euros ($446 billion) in grants and 360 billion euros ($412 billion) in cheap loans to its member nations. Let’s look at the global statistics Total Confirmed Cases: 14,714,500, Change Over Yesterday: 207,009 Total Deaths: 610,149 Total Recovered: 8,305,326 Nations hit with most cases: US (3,830,926), Brazil (2,118,646), India (1,155,338), Russia (782,040) and South Africa (373,628) Two early trials, one from the University of Oxford, and one from a group of researchers in Wuhan, have shown positive results. Both early trials showed efficacy in increasing the presence of antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that leads to Covid-19...

India reported 37,148 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 11,55,191, according to the Health Ministry. This is the sixth consecutive day when Covid-19 cases increased by more than 30,000. India, which has a population over four times as big as the US', has conducted 14,381,303 tests in total, or just 10,175 tests per 1 million people. On a postive side, the early-stage human trial data has revealed that the Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University is safe and induces immune response, with mild side effects in some participants, which the scientists say can be treated with the commonly available pain medication paracetamol. This is indeed raising hopes it could contribute to ending the pandemic. Medical experts in India on Monday hailed the results of Oxford University's early-stage human trials with some saying it's the "most scientifically done" among all such exercises, while others expressing...

The human trial of Bharat Biotech's anti- Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin began at Rohtak's Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on Friday, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij tweeted. Human trial with Corona vaccine (COVAXIN) of Bharat Biotech started at PGI Rohtak today, Vij, who is also the Home and Science & Technology minister said. Three subjects were enrolled today. All have tolerated the vaccine very well. There were no adverse effects, Vij further said in his tweet. Bharat Biotech got the country's drug regulator's approval to start clinical trials of its anti-Corona vaccine Covaxin recently. Read More

As Covid-19 cases spike across parts of the country, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai collectively account for about two thirds of India’s cases. Health infrastructure has been sorely tested and has led to a clash between private healthcare providers and the state and central establishment. What are hospitals bracing for in the months to come and where have fault lines shown up? Watch this interview with Shobana Kamineni, execu-tive vice-chairperson at the Apollo Hospitals Group and former president of CII, who says India would be lucky if it finishes at 1 crore cases of Covid-19 nationwide. The recovery rate in West Bengal has gone downhill since the last two weeks, while the rate of infection has been increasing — and all these when the city is facing an acute shortage of beds in both gov-ernment and private hospitals. In the last two weeks, from 30 June to 14 July, Bengal’s discharge/recovery rate has fallen from 66.48 per cent to 60 per cent. In Kolkata, it has nosedived from 64 ...

Russia's Sechenov University has successfully completed human trials of its vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus , according to reports. Experts say that the global scientific community would now vet the efficacy of the vaccine before it can be used by countries across the world. Even if all goes well, it is still sometime away before it can be distributed globally. Russian news agency Sputnik said that Vadim Tarasov, the Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology, told the agency that the university has completed the trial of the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Institute, an epidemiology research centre in Moscow. According to the report, Tarasov said the first group of volunteers would be discharged on July 15 and the second group on July 20. One group of 18 volunteers received the vaccine on June 18, while another group of 20 volunteers were given the vaccine on June 23 at the Practical Research Centre for Interventional Cardiovasol...

Early detection and a timely clinical management of Covid-19 cases have resulted in increasing daily recoveries, with the recovery rate of coronavirus patients crossing 60 per cent in the country on Friday, the Union health ministry said. The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients stands at 60.73 per cent, the ministry said as the number of India's coronavirus cases soared by over 20,000 in a day for the first time, taking the country's tally to 6,25,544, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 18,213 with 379 new fatalities. "Early detection and timely clinical management of Covid-19 cases have resulted in increasing daily recoveries. During the last 24 hours, a sharp rise of recoveries was observed with 20,033 Covid-19 patients having been cured, taking the cumulative figure to 3,79,891," the ministry said in a statement. Read More

On the night of June 15, BMC issued its usual Covid-19 evening bulletin and the Covid-19 death toll was 2,248. By the next morning, the numbers had jumped by about 40 per cent. On June 15, Delhi’s health bulletin reported 1,400 deaths. On June 16, the cumulative total had grown by one-third. These increases came about as a result of “death data reconciliation” exercises that at least three states — Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu — have undertaken, to fix lags, and errors in the reporting of Covid-19 deaths. An examination of the Covid-19 deaths data reveals both areas of concern and hope. Read more here. In Unlock 2.0, states can no longer seal borders. Why is this important? The Centre on Monday issued guidelines for Phase II of the ‘Unlock’. In view of rising Covid-19 cases, most existing curbs such as the ban on reopening schools and colleges, as well as multiplexes, gyms, and bars, and the operation of Metro rail services, have been maintained. However, the most importan...

US-based healthcare technology maker Abbott on Monday said it can supply over one million of its laboratory-based serology blood test for the detection of the antibody, IgG (Immunoglobulin G), that identifies if a person has had the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). Abbott said it is already in the process of delivering antibody tests to leading government and private hospitals and labs in Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat. "Abbott is pleased to contribute to ICMR's (Indian Council of Medical Research) Covid-19 antibody testing strategy to use IgG CLIA antibody tests," Narendra Varde, General Manager and Country Head at Abbott's diagnostics business in India, said in a statement. Read More

The Centre plans to conduct six hundred thousand rapid antigen Covid-19 tests in Delhi at 169 new facilities being set up in the capital where 50,000 kits have already been supplied, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Thursday. He also said the central government is going to provide 500 additional ventilators and 650 ambulances to hospitals in Delhi, which has seen a spike in number of coronavirus cases over the past few days, "From today onwards, 169 testing centres will be operational in Delhi where rapid antigen methodology will be used. We have targeted to conduct six lakh tests. People living in containment zones and relatives of the positive cases can go for test in any of these centres," Reddy told reporters here. Read More

On Monday, the group of ministers (GoM) in a high-level meeting under the chairmanship of Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, issued a comprehensive advisory on coronavirus ( Covid-19 ) directing states across the country to take social distancing measures as a preventive strategy for implementation till March 31. The ministry reiterated the importance of social distancing, and asked citizens to raise the awareness level and follow guidelines undertaken by the government to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus at every possible level. As the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases crossed the 130-mark in India, the Centre has proposed detailed measures on social distancing urging states to close down all schools, institutions, universities, theatres, swimming pools, gyms, cultural and social centres, and museums till March 31, 2020. Read More

A Google employee at its Bengaluru office has been tested positive for the novel coronavirus and the company has told all its employees to work from home. After Dell India and Mindtree, this is the third case where an employee of a tech giant has been diagnosed with coronavirus in the country. "We can confirm that an employee from our Bangalore office has been diagnosed with COVID-19. They were in one of our Bangalore offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms," a company spokesperson said in a statement. The employee has been on quarantine since then, and Google has asked colleagues who were in close contact with the employee to quarantine themselves and monitor their health. "Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking employees in that Baengaluru office to work from home tomorrow (Friday)," said Google. Read More

Coronavirus ’ ( Covid-19 ) sensitivity to temperature has many people looking at summers with high hopes as the outbreak continues to rage on. Recent studies, however, are not as optimistic. Research by a team from south China’s Sun Yat-sen University, sought to determine how the spread of the virus might be affected by changes in season and temperature, according to a report in The South China Morning Post. “ Temperature could significantly change Covid-19 transmission,” it said. “And there might be a best temperature for viral transmission.” This temperature ‘sweet spot’ -- an optimum level at which the outbreak spreads faster – has given rise to assumptions that seasonal changes will curb the outbreak, the newspaper reported quoting the study. The “virus is highly sensitive to high temperature”, which could prevent it from spreading in warmer countries, while the opposite appeared to be true in colder climes, the study said. Read More