COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) could be authorised by WHO in January or February: Reuters
Coronavirus News Highlights: Today is the 302nd day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. As many as 13,823 new COVID-19 infections were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,05,95,660 on Wednesday, the Union Health Ministry said. With 16,988 more recoveries, the total number of discharges reached 1,02,45,741. The death toll mounted to 1,52,718 after 162 more deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. At present, the country's active coronavirus cases stand at 1,97,201. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 18,85,66,947 samples tested for COVID-19 up to January 18, of which 7,64,120 samples were tested on Tuesday. Regarding the nationwide vaccination drive, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW) said that the cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 has touched 6,31,417 till 6 pm on Tuesday. Globally, more than 9.6 crore people have been infected by the coronavirus and 20.54 lakh have died so far. India, along with many countries, has granted emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines and has started the process of vaccinating healthcare workers and high-risk groups. India's regulator has granted restricted emergency use approval for two vaccines -- Covishield and Covaxin.
COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) could be authorised by WHO in January or February: Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan, top leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and Indonesia have been publicly inoculated with Chinese vaccines, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.
China on Wednesday boasted that several world leaders have taken its COVID-19 vaccines, but remained silent on why the top Chinese leaders are yet to take the jab. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in her daily media briefing here named leaders of several countries who have taken one of the two COVID-19 vaccines made in China, publicly reposing their faith in them.
While interacting with personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) at their 16th Raising Day celebrations in New Delhi, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said people who have already contracted COVID-19 should also get vaccinated after around four to six weeks of recovery.
He explained: “A vaccine jab is essential for them (recovered from coronavirus) due to two reasons. One is you are not sure how strong is your post-COVID-19 immunity and it has been seen quite a few times that those who had a mild to moderate infection their anti-body response has been less, and we also don’t know how long it will be.”
He added that a vaccine would act as a booster dose for such individuals.
Intranasal COVID-19 vaccines would be easier to administer to school children who bear “very mild” disease load but are infectious nonetheless, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr Randeep Guleria said on January 20.
“It (coronavirus infection) is very mild in children, but they are infectious. They can spread the disease,” he said.
The AIIMS Director added: “The vaccines that have come are not approved for children because there have been no studies conducted on children, but this (vaccination) is a very important step and trials are being done.”
1,12,007 beneficiaries received COVID-19 vaccine shots across 20 states and UTs on January 20 till 6 pm, says Centre
A total of 7,86,842 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 6 pm today as per the provisional reports. No case of severe/serious AEFI has been attributed to vaccination till date.
In total 7,86,842 beneficiaries administered COVID-19 vaccine till Wednesday 6 pm since launch of inoculation drive on January 16.
Maharashtra records 3,015 new COVID-19 cases to take tally to 19,97,992; toll up to 50,582 as 59 patients die.
|Karnataka reported 501 new COVID-19cases, 665 discharges, and 4 deaths today. Total cases: 9,33,578 Total discharges: 9,13,677, Death toll: 12,185, Active cases: 7,697.
Israel has included pregnant women among those getting priority access to COVID-19 vaccines, seeing no risk to them or their foetuses, a senior public health official said on Wednesday.The decision followed the hospitalisation this week of several pregnant women with COVID-19 complications amid surging coronavirus contagions. At least one was put on a ventilator and her baby delivered by Caesarean section, Israeli media said. Israel launched a vaccination drive on Dec. 19 with a focus on the elderly, those with risky medical conditions and some emergency workers. More than a quarter of its citizens have now received the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, health officials say.“Today we are recommending that pregnant women, mainly those with high morbidity risk factors, get the vaccine,” Nachman Ash, the national coordinator on the pandemic, told public broadcaster Kan radio. “We have put them on the priority list.”
|6,815 fresh COVID19 cases and 7,364 recoveries reported in Kerala today. Total numbers of active and recoveries cases in the state are 69,693 and 7,90,757 respectively.
Around 297,500 more people died in the European Union between March and October last year compared with the same period in 2016 to 2019, according to EU data published on Wednesday.March 2020 was when the coronavirus pandemic began spreading across most of Europe and October is the last month for which data for all 27 EU member states are available.Statistics from Eurostat showed that across the bloc, excess mortality - the increase in total number of deaths, from any cause, compared to that of previous years - peaked during the early rise of COVID-19 in April 2020 at 24.9%.Summer lulls began at different times across the region, before numbers rose again in autumn, and still further in November in all member states with available data.Poland led the excess mortality at 97.2% in November, followed by Bulgaria and Slovenia with 94.5% and 91.4% respectively.Denmark, Finland and Estonia saw the smallest number of excess deaths in November, with 5.5%, 5.6% and 6.4% respectively.With 0.7% less excess deaths, Norway - not an EU member state - was the only country Eurostat covered which did not see the number rise in November.
