Coronavirus India updates

  • Nicolas Gravel « Economiquement, le confinement pose question »: Nicolas Gravel, Director of ‘Centre de Sciences Humaines’ (CSH, CNRS UMIFRE, in New Delhi), elaborates the concepts that economics has developed for understanding the criteria for taking decisions in uncertain situations, and illustrates their application with an emphasis on the Covid-19 pandemic…..read more
  • As it happened: India infections second-worst in the world: India recorded more than 90,000 new cases of Covid-19, taking its total above that of Brazil…… read more
  • Eleven teams of Indo-US scientists selected to jointly scout for COVID 19 solutions: Eleven teams of Indian and US scientists will soon start jointly scouting for out of the box solutions ranging from novel early diagnostic tests, antiviral therapy, drug repurposing, ventilator research, disinfection machines, and sensor-based symptom tracking for COVID 19…..read more
  • Portable Sterilization unit using new hybrid sterilization technology can decontaminate PPEs rapidly: Scientists have developed a portable sterilisation unit using a new technology called the hybrid sterilization system that can decontaminate personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary for combating COVID 19, easily and rapidly, allowing them to be used multiple times….read more
  • India might have a separate Phase 3 clinical trial for Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V: Report: As Russia begins producing vaccines for civilian use, India might have a separate Phase 3 clinical trial that would be evaluated by regulators here, according to a report in the Indian Express….read more
  • Similarity of common cold, COVID-19 symptoms leading to confusion: The fluctuating weather and intermittent rains have resulted in the rise of seasonal viral illnesses including fevers, upper respiratory tract infections, vector-borne diseases such as dengue and water-borne diseases such as typhoid and gastrointestinal problems.  But, with the similarity of the symptoms of these diseases to COVID-19, people are becoming increasingly confused as to whether they have contracted a common cold and cough or COVID-19…..read more
  • India records over 90,000 cases in a day: India’s COVID-19 tally went past 41 lakh with a record 90,632 people being infected in a day, while 31,80,865 people have recuperated so far pushing the national recovery rate to 77.32% on Sunday, according to the Union Health Ministry data…..read mor
  • Delhi records highest spike of 2,914 new Covid-19 cases in 69 days: Delhi recorded 2,914 fresh Covid-19 cases on Friday, the highest single-day spike here in 69 days, as the tally mounted to over 1.85 lakh, while a senior official claimed that there was no chance of another lockdown as it “wasn’t an alarming surge”……read more
  • A single person spreads coronavirus to 23 others in a bus ride : With the Central government issuing the Unlock 4 guidelines that will allow many activities that attract large crowds to gather outside the containment zones, including the operation of metro rail services from September 7, there is heightened risk of a surge in coronavirus cases. Metro rail coaches with sealed windows, closed doors and air-conditioning seem particularly prone to spreading the virus….read more India registers world’s highest single-day rise of 78,761 cases; total tally breaches 35-lakh markA record single-day spike of 78,761 infections has pushed India’s COVID-19 tally to above 35 lakhs, with the death-toll crossing 63,000, Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 a.m. on Sunday showed…..read more
  • An average of 7.7 contacts traced for every COVID-19 patient in Bengaluru: With the number of COVID-19 cases on the rise, particularly in Bengaluru, the city civic authorities are struggling with contact tracing. However, in the last one week, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has stepped up efforts and on a average as many as 7.7 contacts are traced for every person who has tested positive…..read more
  • IIT-Hyderabad start-up launches reusable N-95 equivalent mask: U Safe Healthcare, a startup promoted by the Centre for Healthcare Entrepreneurship (CfHE) at the Indian Institute Technology, Hyderabad (IITH), virtually launched an N95 equivalent respirator mask, ‘US9’, here on Tuesday. These masks were used and tested by doctors at Gandhi, Osmania and Fever hospitals. The cost of the product is one tenth of other respirators available in the market….read more
  • Covid-19: Delhi again records highest spike in cases in August; death count rises to 4404: Delhi recorded 1,954 fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the city’s highest single-day spike in August till date…..read more
  • Serum Institute begins clinical trial of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate; 6 people to get first dose today: In a significant development in Covid-19 vaccine development, the ‘Covishield’ vaccines developed by Serum Institute of India (SII) were administered to five persons in Pune, marking the commencement of clinical trial…..read more
  • CSIR conducting serosurvey in 38 labs to check presence of Covid-19 antibodies in its employees
    The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is conducting a survey in its 38 laboratories and institutes across India to gauge the serological prevalence among its employees and also understand how long antibodies against Covid-19 remain…read more
  • IIT students, alumni launch portal to help JEE, NEET candidates in need of transport facility: During Covid-19 crisis, one of the major concerns amongst students is regarding difficulty in reaching the exam centres. Students and alumni of IITs have promptly come forward and launched a dedicated portal to connect with good samaritans who may want to help the needy candidates…..read more
    India crosses crucial milestone of testing over 1million people in a day: Keeping its commitment of exponentially increasing daily COVID-19 tests, India has crossed a significant milestone of testing more than 1million samples in a day, taking the cumulative tests to more than 3.4 crore….read more
  • With 3 million positive cases, experts say rise unlikely to abate soon: India crossed three million cases after adding nearly 69,239 cases on Saturday — the fourth straight day that it had added over 69,000 cases. India continued to be placed behind Brazil and the United States in the overall case load and, at 56,706 deaths, had only half as many as Brazil and less than a third as that of the U.S….read more
  • Coronavirus Vaccine: Indians to get free shot in 73 days, says report: India is all set to get its first coronavirus vaccine. Covishield — the Oxford University-Astra-Zeneca vaccine candidate will be commercialised in 73 days, a top official at the Serum Institute of India said on Saturday….read more
  • Centre eyes 5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in initial procurement; mulls prioritisation: Report: The central government is looking at procuring about 5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine initially. According to a Times of India report, the first round of doses will be prioritised for front-line workers, army personnel and some specific categories of individuals….read more
  • 29% in Delhi have developed antibodies, sero-survey shows: Antibodies against coronavirus infection have been found in 29.1 per cent of people in the latest sero-prevalence survey in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said…..read more
  • 19 million salaried people lost jobs during Covid-19 lockdown, shows CMIE data: A total of 18.9 million (1.89 crore) salaried people have lost their jobs in India since April, a little after the Covid-19 lockdown began. In July alone, five million salaried people have been rendered jobless, according to data released by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)……read more
  • Millions in India face eviction amid coronavirus recovery push :Thousands of people were evicted across India during lockdowns to contain the coronavirus pandemic, with millions more at risk of being uprooted as authorities push infrastructure projects to spur economic growth, housing rights…..read mor
  • Serum Institute plans to raise $1 billion for Covid-19 vaccine: Report: Serum Institute of India (SII) is in talks with private equity investors including Blackstone and KKR among other entities to raise up to $1 billion to develop a Covid-19 vaccine….read more
  • COVID-19 tests in India cross 3 crore mark The total number of tests for detection of COVID-19 has crossed the 3 crore mark in India, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data…..read more
  • COVID-19 has changed how Ayurveda centres administer treatments With COVID-19 forcing all business that re-open to be constantly vigilant, a verbal confirmation is not enough. Now, a photo-id card, such as Aadhar card as proof of address too, is mandatory for those seeking Ayurveda treatments in Kerala. Appointments are based on questionnaires that seek detailed travel history and quarantine details, in keeping with Ministry of Ayush guidelines…..read more
  • CSIR moots ‘mega labs’ to boost COVID-19 testing To speed up testing as well as improve the accuracy of testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) positive cases, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is working on developing “mega labs” where large machines, called Next Generation Sequencing machines (NGS), which are also used for sequencing human genomes, will be repurposed to sequence 1,500-3,000 viral genomes at a go for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus…..read more
  • Without proper data Russian COVID-19 vaccine’s efficacy, safety unknown: CCMB Chief The efficacy and safety levels of the vaccine developed by Russia for treating COVID-19 patients is not predictable in the absence of data, a top official of the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology….read more
  • Not all COVID survivors can donate plasma A week ago, Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr. K. Ramesh Reddy said that antibodies in very mild symptomatic patients might protect them from second infection. But it will not be enough to protect others…..read more
  • Russia not world’s first to develop coronavirus vaccine: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Biotechnology industry veteran Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has questioned Russian claims of developing the world’s first safe coronavirus vaccine, citing the absence of data on clinical trials and “more advanced” programmes elsewhere….read more
  • ECMO used by Kolkata doctors help Covid-19 patients recover: Report Even as Russia released its first Covid-19 vaccine, doctors in Kolkata are using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to treat the ravaging after-effects of the virus left on the patient….read more
  • Now, an IISc project to ‘hear’ Covid-19 symptoms The Project Coswara team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is building a diagnostic tool for Covid-19 based on respiratory, cough and speech sounds. It requires users to provide a recording of breathing sounds, cough sounds; vowel sounds and count for five to seven minutes……read more
  • IISc introduces measures to tackle Covid-19 outbreak on-campus The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) said it has introduced measures to tackle an outbreak of Covid-19 in the Institute. In a release, the institute said that the total number of students, staffers and former faculty affected was 53, out of which 19 are on-campus….read more