Coronavirus News Highlights: Chhattisgarh rejects Bharat Biotech vaccine approved without efficacy data

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Central Drugs Standards & Control Org, headed by DCGI, has granted permission to manufacture 2 COVID-19 vaccines based on the prescribed procedure & after due evaluation of pre-clinical & clinical trial data.

Only Covishield & Covaxin are being used for vaccination drive in country. Both vaccines being supplied to States/UTs are safe & immunogenic & should be used expeditiously to rapidly confer protection to prioritised beneficiaries.

Gujarat recorded 285 new coronavirus cases and two deaths in the last 24 hours, the state Health Department said on Thursday evening.
The caseload in the state thus rose to 2,64,450, while the death toll due to the pandemic reached 4,399. Both the latest fatalities were reported from Ahmedabad district.

With 302 patients being discharged, the number of recoveries rose to 2,58,270, the release said.

Gujarat''s rate of recovery went up to 97.66 per cent on Thursday. There are only 1,781 active cases in the state at present, 30 of them are on ventilators.

As many as 6,090 frontline workers including Director general of Police Sanjay Kundu were administered the COVID-19 vaccine in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, taking the number of people who have received the jabs in the state so far to 72,204, a senior health official said.
The number of frontline workers receiving the jab has increased to 10,915 after beginning of the second phase of the vaccination drive on Wednesday.

Earlier, 61,289 healthcare workers had been vaccinated in 1,133 sessions during the first phase from January 16 to February 9, Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said.

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is not perfect, but will have a big impact on the pandemic, its chief executive predicted on Thursday, as the drugmaker pledged to double output by April and the African Union gave its backing for the shot.

The two-dose inosculation, developed with Oxford University, has been hailed as a “vaccine for the world” because it is cheaper and easier to distribute than some rivals.

But its rapid approval in Europe and elsewhere has been clouded by doubts over its most effective dosage and interval between doses.

Data at the weekend also showed it was less effective against a fast-spreading variant of the virus in South Africa, prompting the country to pause rollout of the shot, and the company has also been embroiled in a row with the European Union over supply delays.

India, which has reported the world’s second-highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States, has vaccinated more than 7 million front-line workers since January 16 using COVAXIN developed by Bharat Biotech as well as a vaccine licenced from AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

So far the government has ordered 10 million COVAXIN doses and 21 million AstraZeneca shots, locally made by the Serum Institute of India for low- and middle-income countries.

Bharat Biotech, which created COVAXIN with the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research, has said efficacy data from the late-stage clinical trial on nearly 26,000 volunteers will be out by next month, leading to criticism from epidemiologists that it was approved too hastily for emergency use.

After a year of pandemic, we're seeing optimism around us. COVID-19 may have devastated world economy,causing immeasurable damage. Millions lost their jobs andmany pushed back into poverty.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said mobile laboratories for COVID-19 testing will soon be made available across the state.
Speaking at the launch of three laboratory vans for COVID-19 testing, Thackeray said these mobile laboratories can carry out 3,000 tests per day and reports would be available in 24 hours.

Tests will be conducted at the mobile labs for Rs 499, said Mumbai municipal commissioner I S Chahal who was present on the occasion.

The mobile labs by Spice Heath, which are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), have been set up at Bandra Kurla Complex, National Sports Club of India in Worli and NESCO in Goregaon.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at a news conference on Wednesday informed that the country would receive around a million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine sent from India in the early hours of Sunday.

Indian envoy to Mexico Manpreet Vohra also announced, "To assist #Mexico's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, I am delighted to confirm that 500,000 Made-in-India vaccines are scheduled to reach here on Sunday," tweeted the Indian Embassy in Mexico.

The meetings begin each day not long after dawn. Dozens of aides report in, coffee in hand, joining by Zoom from agency headquarters, their homes or even adjacent offices. The sessions start with the latest sobering statistics meant to focus the work and offer a reminder of what's at stake: new coronavirus cases, people in hospitals, deaths. But they also include the latest signs of progress: Covid-19 tests administered, vaccine doses shipped, shots injected.

Where the last administration addressed the pandemic with the vernacular of a natural disaster — using the Federal Emergency Management Agency's mantra of a “federally supported, state managed and locally executed" response — Biden's team is borrowing from the Pentagon and the doctrine of overwhelming force. “We're at war with this virus," Covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said in an interview with The Associated Press between Sunday morning meetings on the response. “We're taking every resource and tool the federal government has to battle on every front."

Amid the rising number of coronavirus cases, Saudi Arabia suspended entry of people for at least 20 countries, including India, said Indian Embassy in Riyadh on on Thursday. Indian Embassy posted its advisory on Twitter mentioning, "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia vide its circular dated 2nd February 2021 have temporarily suspended entry into the Kingdom for passengers coming from the following 19 countries, in addition to India."

Saudi Arabia has restricted travel from India, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the United States of America, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Pakistan, Brazil, Portugal, United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Lebanon, Egypt, and Japan. The coronavirus count in Saudi Arabia has reached 371,356, according to Johns Hopkins University. The death toll has increased to 6,415.

Photosharing platform Instagram, owned by Facebook Inc, has removed the account of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for posting misleading information about COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Kennedy, the nephew of late President John F. Kennedy, and his representatives could not immediately be reached for a comment. Facebook and Instagram did not respond to a request for comment.

The company permanently removed the account "for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines," the Journal said citing an Instagram spokeswoman. Kennedy, a lawyer and environmentalist, is the son of the late former U.S. Senator, U.S. Attorney General and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.