Heena Sharma Blog

  India reported 37,593 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours with Kerala contributing to a majority of 24,296 fresh infections. As per the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday, 648 new fatalities pushed the cumulative toll to 4,35,758. The total caseload in the country climbed to 3,25,12,366 including 3,22,327 active cases. Active cases now account for less than 1 per cent of the total cases and is currently at 0.99 per cent. Cumulative recoveries rose to 3,17,54,281 after 34,169 fresh recoveries in the last 24 hours. With this, the recovery rate has gone up to 97.67 per cent. Read More

  India has added 36,401 new COVID-19 infections , taking the total tally of cases to 3,23,22,258, while the death toll has climbed to 4,33,049 with 530 more fatalities, according to Union health ministry data updated on Thursday. The national recovery rate has improved to 97.52 per cent, the highest since March last year, according to the data updated at 8 am. The ministry said that active cases have declined to 3,64,129, the lowest in 149 days, and comprise 1.13 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March last year. A reduction of 3,286 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Read More

  An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study conducted in Chennai has found that the Delta variant has the potential to infect both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, but it reduces mortality among the former group. According to a study published in the Journal of Infection on August 17 and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai indicates that the prevalence of the Delta variant or B.1.617.2 was not different between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. "B.1.617.2 has the potential to infect both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. However, the progression of illness seems to be prevented by vaccination. Therefore, non-pharmaceutical interventions must continue to slow down the transmission. Additionally, the pace and scale of vaccination have to be increased to mitigate the further waves of the pandemic," the report read. "Systematic genomic surveillance must be carried out to moni

  India has administered more than 88.13 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the highest ever vaccination achieved in a single day, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. In a tweet, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, "India achieves the highest single-day record in #COVID19 vaccine doses.Yesterday will go down in the history of the world's #LargestVaccineDrive.Congratulations." Cumulatively, 55,47,30,609 vaccine doses have been administered through 62,12,108 sessions across India, as per the provisional report till 7 am. Besides, the ministry said more than 56.81 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through all sources and a further 1,09,32,960 doses are in the pipeline. Of this, the total consumption including wastage is 55,11,51,992 doses, according to the data available at 8 AM. Read More

  Mumbai has recorded its first death due to the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus with a 63-year-old fully vaccinated woman succumbing to it in July, a civic official has said. Following her death, at least two of her close contacts have also been found infected with the Delta Plus variant, which is considered highly infectious, he said. It is the second death due to this variant in the state as it had claimed the life of an 80-year-old woman from Ratnagiri district on June 13. That woman had not taken even a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, officials said. In the latest case, the woman, a resident of eastern Mumbai suburb of Ghatkopar died on July 27 while undergoing treatment in a hospital ICU. However, it was only on August 11 that the state government authorities came to know that she was infected with the Delta Plus variant which came to light in the genome sequencing report, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. Read More

  India's drug regulator has given approval for a study to be conducted by the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore on mixing of COVID-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield , official sources said on Wednesday. An expert panel of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on July 29 had recommended granting permission for conducting the study. The trial will involve 300 healthy volunteers. "The aim of the study is to assess the feasibility on whether a person can be given two different vaccine shots -- one each of Covishield and Covaxin -- to complete the inoculation course," a source said. Separately, a recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) involving 98 people, 18 of whom had inadvertently received Covishield as the first dose and Covaxin as the second in Uttar Pradesh, showed that combining these two COVID-19 vaccines elicited better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine. Read More    

  With the addition of 183 new cases of coronavirus , the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 5,47,038, an official said on Tuesday. These new cases were reported on Monday, he said. The virus also claimed the lives of six more people, which took the death toll in the district to 11,126. The COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 2.03 per cent, the official said. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,33,759, while the death toll has reached 3,213, another official said. Read More

  Even as foreign Covid-19 vaccines get the Indian regulator’s nod, actual availability may be still some time away. Sources claim that India is not keen to ‘bow down’ to demands related to indemnity against legal liabilities in case any vaccine recipient develops severe adverse reactions post inoculation. “Talks are on with foreign vaccine makers. However, there is a general consensus that if indemnity is given, then it will be for all vaccine players, not just a handful,” said a senior government official who added that no final decision has been taken on the matter yet. US vaccine makers including Pfizer, Moderna have sought indemnity against adverse side effects following vaccination. One source in the government pointed out that indemnity sought in the ‘current form’ may not be granted, and India has proposed some changes in the clauses. “There are enough options available before India now, and supplies are expected to increase from September-October onwards. Unless there i

  Odisha reported 886 new COVID-19 cases , 66 deaths and 1,463 recoveries in the last 24 hours, according to the Odisha Health Department on Sunday. A total of 886 new COVID-19 positive cases include 512 cases of quarantine transmission and 374transmissions via local contacts. The local case of the infection in the state stands at 11,486. Khurda reported the highest COVID-19 cases at 253, followed by Cuttack at 81 cases and Balasore at 62. The total COVID-19 cases in the state reached 9,87,956. Meanwhile, Odisha's total recoveries now stand at 9,69,916. However, the total death toll mounted to 6,501. The state has so far conducted 1,66,26,905 samples for COVID-19. Read More

  Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged 2 billion doses of Chinese vaccines would be supplied to the world through this year, an increase that would add to country's efforts as the largest global exporter of COVID-19 vaccines . Xi's announcement was delivered at the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation, state media reported Wednesday, which China hosted virtually. That figure likely includes the 770 million doses China has already donated or exported already since September last year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most of the Chinese shots have been exported under bilateral deals. It is unclear if the figure also includes the agreements with the COVAX mechanism where two Chinese vaccine manufacturers will provide up to 550 million doses. Xi also promised to donate $100 million to the UN-backed COVAX program, which aims to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday night. Vaccine

  Vaccine maker Novavax announced Thursday it has asked regulators in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine -- offering its shot to some low-income countries before rich ones with ample supplies. US-based Novavax partnered with the Serum Institute of India to apply in the three countries, and plans later this month to also seek the World Health Organization review needed to be part of the COVAX global vaccine programme. Novavax CEO Stanley Erck called the submissions an important step toward access to millions of doses of a safe and effective vaccine for countries with an urgent need to control the pandemic. The company announced it also plans to submit applications in Britain soon, followed by Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, but not in the US until later in the year. The Novavax two-dose shot is made with lab-grown copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus. That's very different than other widely used

  The COVID-19 vaccination drive was suspended at civic and government-run centres in Mumbai on Wednesday due to paucity of vaccine doses, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the BMC said the inoculation drive will resume once it receives a fresh stock of vaccines. "Citizens of Mumbai are constantly informed about the vaccination, depending upon the stock of vaccines received, and an appropriate decision is taken," it said. This is the first time that the city civic authority has suspended the inoculation drive this month due to shortage of vaccines. Last month, it had suspended the vaccination drive in the city at least thrice because of the same reason. According to the BMC, so far 73,36,171 citizens have been inoculated in the metropolis. Out of them, 18,09,075 beneficiaries have received both the doses. Read More

  Digital assistant Amazon Alexa can now help users in India with COVID-19 -related information, including details of nearest testing centres and vaccination points as well as answer queries about inoculation. In 2020, Alexa was able to share information about COVID-19 related symptoms and cases in India, a statement said. Amazon Alexa is now updated with the latest COVID-19 related features for users in India. "Now, Alexa will be able to provide information about testing and vaccination centres, as well as information on vaccination availability, COVID-19 helpline numbers, details to contribute towards COVID-19 relief, and much more. The information is sourced from CoWIN portal, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website as well as MapmyIndia," the statement said. Amazon has teamed up with MapmyIndia to help users find the nearest COVID-19 testing centre along with the travel distance. Read More

  Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is effective against the Delta and Delta plus variant, a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology has said. The study released on Monday showed that Covaxin provides 65.2 per cent protection against the Delta variant which was first detected in India. The Delta variant which has spread to 99 countries is a variant of concern and was also responsible for the second wave in India. The Delta variant has also been identified as the leading cause of breakthrough infections globally among vaccinated individuals, the study said. The study said that a minor reduction in the neutralising antibody titer in Covid-19 recovered cases and full BBV152 vaccinated and post immunized infected cases was observed but the vaccine was found to be effective against the Delta, Delta AY.1 and B.1.617.3 variants. The study published as a pre-print on bioRxiv said that Sera of vaccines among Covid naïve recovered cases with full vacc

  Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have raised the prices of their Covid-19 vaccines in their latest European Union supply contracts, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The new price for the Pfizer shot was 19.50 euros ($23.15) against 15.50 euros previously, the newspaper said, citing portions of the contracts seen. The price of a Moderna vaccine was $25.50 a dose, the contracts showed, up from about 19 euros in the first procurement deal but lower than the previously agreed $28.50 because the order had grown, the report said, citing one official close to the matter. The terms of the deals —struck this year and covering up to 2.1 billion shots until 2023 —were renegotiated after Phase 3 clinical trial data showed vaccines from the two companies are more effective than some rivals, it said. The European Commission said on Tuesday that the EU is on course to hit a target of fully vaccinating at least 70 per cent of the adult population by the end of the summer. Read More

  India registered 40,134 fresh COVID-19 infections , pushing its virus tally to 3,16,95,958, while the number of active cases registered an increase for the sixth consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll from the pandemic climbed to 4,24,773 with 422 daily fatalities. The number of active coronavirus cases has increased to 4,13,718 and comprises 1.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.35 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. An increase of 2,766 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Also, 14,28,984 tests were conducted on Sunday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 46,96,45,494, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.81 per cent. Read More

  India logged 43,509 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,15,28,114, while the active cases registered an increase for the second consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The death toll climbed to 4,22,662 with 640 fresh fatalities. The active cases have increased to 4,03,840 and comprise 1.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.38 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. An increase of 4,404 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.38 per cent, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,07,01,612, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated. Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far has reached 45.07 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive. Read More

  The benefits of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine far outweigh its potential risks amid an ongoing review of reports of a rare neurological disorder, according to an advisory panel to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday. There have been 8.1 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome per 1 million doses, which is higher than expected in the general population and close to eight times the rate seen in Pfizer's and Moderna's shots, according to data presented at a meeting of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Thursday. Guillain-Barre is a neurological disorder in which the body's immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The data came after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new warning on July 12 for the Johnson & Johnson shot after preliminary reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome in some recipien

  With a single-day ris e of 35,342 cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,12,93,062 on Friday, while 483 more fatalities pushed the death toll due to the viral disease to 4,19,470, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active cases has declined to 4,05,513, accounting for 1.3 per cent of the total caseload and the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 per cent, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed. A decline of 3,881 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Also, 16,68,561 tests to detect the infection were carried out on Thursday, taking the total number of such tests conducted so far in the country to 45,29,39,545, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.12 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for 32 consecutive days, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.14 per cent. Read More

  More than 3.20 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are currently available with states, union territories and private hospitals for inoculation, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. States and union territories have so far received a total of 43,79,78,900 vaccine doses through all channels and a further 7,00,000 doses are in the pipeline, it said. The total consumption, including wastage, so far is 40,59,77,410 doses, the ministry said, citing data available at 8 AM on Thursday. More than 3.20 crore -- 3,20,01,490 -- balance and unutilised doses are still available with states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the ministry said. The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace of vaccination and expanding its scope, it said. Read More