Coronavirus News Highlights: ICMR says clinical trial data show Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is 'safe'

With vaccine roll out on the cards after Drugs Controller General of India's (DCGI) approval, the country needs to tackle public and administrative challenges to have a smooth vaccination roll-out, said Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Sunday.

"The challenges are going to be both from the administration point of view and public point of view. From the administration, the challenge is to ensure that things run smoothly, and from point of view of public the challenge is to reassure them that this is a safe and effective vaccine," said Dr Guleria.

Hours after Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved restricted use in an emergency situation to Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Sunday said data generated through pre-clinical studies and various phases of clinical trial shows COVAXIN is 'safe.'

Gujarat sees 715 new COVID-19 cases, 938 recoveries

Gujarat's tally of coronavirus positive cases rose to 2,47,228 on January 3 with the addition of 715 fresh infections, the state health department said.
With four more deaths, the number of people who have succumbed to the viral disease in the state went up to 4,318, it said.

A total of 938 patients were discharged from various hospitals during the day, taking the count of recoveries in Gujarat to 2,33,660, the health department said in a in a release.

Educational institutions including schools, colleges, universities, coaching institutes will reopen in Bihar from January 4 after a gap of over nine months since the outbreak of COVID pandemic.

Slide in number of coronavirus cases and high recovery rate of 97.61 per cent in the state seem to have boosted the confidence to resume studies physically in the educational institutions.

The homes of the two highest-ranking members of the US Congress — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — have been vandalised, police said, amid a political battle over a stimulus package to coronavirus-hit Americans.
Fake blood and a severed pig''s head were reportedly left outside top Democrat Pelosi''s California house, which was also daubed with graffiti.

The words "where''s my money" and some expletives were scrawled on Republican McConnell''s house in Kentucky.

The two separate incidents come as Senate Democrats pushed, without success, for a Senate vote on USD 2,000 stimulus cheques on Friday.

Delhi records 424 fresh COVID-19 cases, lowest in over 7 months

Delhi recorded 424 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest in over seven months, and 14 more fatalities due to the disease on Sunday, even as the positivity rate slipped to 0.62%, authorities said.

The COVID-19 case tally in the city stands at over 6.26 lakh and the death toll due to the disease has climbed to 10,585, they said.

Thailand has identified its first four cases of the new coronavirus strain that originated in the United Kingdom, the Thai PBS reported Sunday, citing the chief of the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, Yong Poovorawan.

According to the news outlet, the new mutated strain was found in a family of four UK nationals, who are currently being quarantined at a private hospital. (ANI)

Zydus Cadila gets DCGI nod to initiate Phase-3 clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine

Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Sunday said it has received DCGI approval to initiate Phase III clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D. The company will now be initiating Phase III clinical trial in around 30,000 volunteers, Zydus Cadila said in a statement.

ZyCoV-D was found to be safe, well-tolerated and immunogenic in phase I and II clinical trials, it added.

Thailand's government held off from ordering new nationwide business shutdowns today amid a wave of coronavirus cases but empowered some provincial governors to set their own restrictions and pleaded with the public not to travel.

Thailand, which had largely controlled the virus by mid-2020, saw a second wave of outbreaks beginning in December. Today it confirmed 315 new cases, the majority of which are local transmission, bringing its total to 7,694 cases and 64 deaths since its first case last January. (Input from Reuters)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that schools were safe, and advised parents to send their children in, in areas where rules allow it, responding to concerns about the surge in COVID-19 cases as classes are due to restart after Christmas. "There is no doubt in my mind that schools are safe, and that education is a priority," he told the BBC.

Johnson said the government might need to consider tightening lockdown restrictions, but declined to give examples of what that might look like. (Input from Reuters)

These vaccines are a fitting tribute to our corona warriors! My heartfelt gratitude to all healthcare professionals andfrontline workers for their exemplary efforts during these unprecedented times. Congratulations to all the scientists and researchers for their untiring efforts.

Russia today reported an additional 24,150 new COVID-19 cases from the previous 24 hours, including 3,851 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 32.36 lakh. Authorities said an additional 504 people had died, taking Russia's official death toll to 58,506. (Input from Reuters)

The COVID-19 active caseload in India has dropped below 2.5 lakh with the recoveries exceeding new cases and low number of fatalities per day, the Union Health Ministry said today.

"India's present active caseload consists of just 2.39 percent of India's total positive cases. The new recoveries of 20,923 in the last 24 hours have led to a net decline of 2,963 in the total active cases," the health ministry said in a statement. (Input from PTI)