INDIA NEWS
Sept 1-15, 2021 - Vol 2, Issue 5
HEALTH
Covid vaccine slot can be booked Global Covid-19 caseload tops 213 million on WhatsApp now in India IANS
New Delhi, August 25 (IANS): The Indian Union Health Minister announced on August 24 that people can now book slots for Covid vaccination using the MyGov Corona Helpdesk on WhatsApp. The messaging app has partnered
with the Health Ministry to provide the users vaccination appointment through its platform. The app will also help the users locate the nearest vaccination centre. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted, "Paving a new era of citizen convenience. Now, book #COVID19 vaccine slots easily on your phone within minutes. Send 'Book Slot' to MyGovIndia Corona Helpdesk on WhatsApp. Verify OTP and follow the steps." To contact the MyGov Corona Helpdesk chatbot, users need to send 'Book Slot' to the WhatsApp number 9013151515. This will generate a six-digit one-time password on the respective
mobile number. Users will then choose a preferred date and location, based on the pincode and vaccine type. The users can follow this sequence to get a confirmation of their centre and day of their vaccine appointment.
Washington, August 25 (IANS): The global coronavirus caseload has topped 213 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.45 million and vaccinations soared to over 4.99 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Earlier on August 5, MyGov and WhatsApp had introduced the facility to download vaccine certificates from the messaging app and so far, over 32 lakh certificates have been downloaded by the users from across the country.
In its latest update on August 25 morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and vaccination tally stood at 213,098,413, 4,450,408 and 4,995,430,625, respectively.
The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare continues to extend slot booking and certificate download support on the Co-WIN portal, Aarogya Setu and Umang mobile app.
The US continues to be the worsthit country with the world's highest number of cases and
India's first mRNA vaccine phase-I clinical trial gets approval New Delhi, August 24 (IANS): The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), India's National Regulatory Authority, has approved Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Limited's work on the country's first mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine for its clinical data of the phase-1 study. "Vaccine Subject Expert Committee (SEC) reviewed the interim phase-1 data and found that HGCO19 was safe, tolerable, and immunogenic in the participants of the study. The Director General (I), CDSCO, approved the proposal submitted for the phase 2 and 3 studies by Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Limited, a Pune-based biotechnology company,"
the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a release on August 24.
Gennova's study titled "A prospective, multicentre, randomized, active-controlled, observer-blind, phase-2 study seamlessly, followed by a Phase-3 study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the candidate HGCO19 (Covid-19 vaccine) in healthy subjects'' and will be conducted in India at nearly 10-15 sites in phase-2 and 22-27 sites in phase-3. "Gennova plans to use the DBT-ICMR clinical trial network sites for this study," the release added. Gennova's mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine development programme
in the country's second national top level lockdown starting August 17 midnight. That brings the total number of community cases to seven. Under the lockdown, businesses and schools are closed except for essential ones such as supermarkets and service stations, Xinhua reported. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said genome sequencing results confirmed that it is the Delta variant that is linked to genome sequencing of cases in Australia's New South Wales outbreak.
Wellington, August 18 (IANS): New Zealand confirmed six new Delta cases of Covid-19 in the community on August 18, including one fully-vaccinated nurse from an Auckland hospital. All the six cases were linked to the first community case that resulted
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"Our case has originated in Australia," Ardern told a press conference. The trans-Tasman free quarantine travel started in April and was suspended in July due to the outbreak in Australia's several states. One of the six new cases is a 20-year-old workmate of the first case announced on August 17 who was a 58-year-old man
In terms of infections, India follows in second place with 32,474,773 cases. The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (20,614,866), Russia (6,690,633), France (6,734,077), the UK (6,586,181), Turkey (6,253,681), Argentina (5,148,085), Colombia (4,894,702), Spain (4,804,424), Iran (4,756,394), Italy (4,494,857), Indonesia (4,008,166), Germany (3,889,364) and Mexico (3,231,616), the CSSE figures showed. In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 575,742 fatalities.
India's Covid cases rise by 25,467, deaths by 354
DNA India
was partly funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in June 2020. Later, the DBT further supported the programme under the Mission Covid Suraksha -- the Indian Covid-19 Vaccine Development Mission -- implemented by BIRAC.
BIRAC is a not-for-profit public sector enterprise which stands for 'Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council' that has been set up by the DBT. It acts as an interface agency to enhance and encourage the evolving biotechnology industry to implement strategic research and development activities for the product development needs of the country.
NZ confirms 7 Delta cases in latest community outbreak Stuff.co.nz
deaths at 38,053,653 and 630,663, respectively, according to the CSSE.
in Auckland's North Shore. The other three are flatmates of this workmate, with the remaining two being friends with the four cases, said Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield. One of the three flatmates is the fully vaccinated 21-year-old nurse who works at the Auckland City Hospital and had been working in recent days, Bloomfield said, adding that the hospital has taken some immediate actions to shut down any potential spread, including stopping unnecessary movements between wards and testing all staff and patients on the ward. Ardern said the nationwide lockdown was appropriate. "Our whole ambition here is: do it once, do it right. Short and sharp is better than light and long and I think we all agree," she told New Zealand local media during a morning interview.
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New Delhi, August 24 (IANS): India on August 24 registered a total of 25,467 fresh Covid cases across the country. A total of 354 deaths were also reported, pushing the death toll to 4,35,110, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs continue the trend as less than 50,000 daily cases were reported for fifty-eight consecutive days. India's recovery rate from Covid infections has increased to 97.68 per cent, the highest since March 2020. High recoveries and a low number of new cases have subsided the active caseload to 3,19,551 which is at its lowest in 156 days. At 0.98 per cent, active cases
presently form less than 1 percent of the country's total positive cases. Active caseload is at its lowest since March 2020, as per the health ministry data. A total of 39,486 patients were discharged from the hospitals and health centres, taking the total number of cured to 3,17,20,112 to date in India. The weekly positivity rate remains below 3 percent and currently stands at 1.90 per cent. The daily positivity rate continues to remain below 3 per cent for 29 continuous days and currently stands at 1.55 per cent. India's Covid vaccination coverage has surpassed the cumulative figure of 58.89 crore and stands at 58,89,97,805 as per provisional reports on August 24 morning.
Covid spikes in Kerala with daily tally at over 24,000 Thiruvananthapuram, August 24 (IANS): After a lull in daily testing, Kerala again saw daily Covid case numbers rise high, with 24,296 people testing Covid positive after 1,34,706 samples were tested. The state leads in India in new daily cases, the number of active cases, and the number of daily Covid deaths. The daily test positivity rate has reached 18.04 per cent, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement. For the past few days, the daily positive cases had fallen after the
state celebrated Onam and fewer tests were being conducted. The day's figures were released shortly after a high level meeting of Vijayan and others to assess the situation decided that existing Covid protocols would not be tinkered with now, and that the already announced August 22 total lockdown in the state will continue. Vijayan's statement also said that 19,349 people turned negative, taking the total active cases to 1,59,335.
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