Omicron Coronavirus India Highlights: COVID vaccine effectiveness 99.3% in those fully jabbed, says Centre

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Vaccine effectiveness of 99.3% seen in individuals fully inoculated against COVID: Mansukh Mandaviya

Responding to a question, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed the India COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker, by merging mainly three national…

Chhattisgarh on Friday reported 2,113 new COVID-19 cases, down from 2,454 a day ago, taking the tally to 11,36,435, while 19 fresh deaths pushed up the toll to 13,914, an official said. All eligible people above 18 years have been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Chhattisgarh, health department data showed.

Vaccine effectiveness of 99.3 per cent has been seen in individuals fully inoculated against coronavirus according to the data uploaded on India COVID-19 Tracker till January 2, the Lok Sabha was told on Friday.Responding to a question, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed the India COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker, by merging mainly three national databases — CoWIN, National COVID-19 Testing database and COVID-19 India portal.The tracker depicts vaccine effectiveness against death — the ability of vaccines to reduce death — using person time analysis from April 12, 2021 to January 2, 2022.

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The declining trend in daily Covid cases continued in Jammu and Kashmir with 1,429 being reported on Friday, officials said. They said the union territory also reported three deaths related to the pandemic that pushed the toll to 4,702.Of the fresh cases, 607 were recorded from the Jammu division and 822 from the Kashmir division, the officials said. Srinagar district recorded the highest of 266 cases, followed by 228 cases in Jammu district, they added.A total of 4,43,891 cases have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir so far. There are 24,080 active Covid cases in the union territory as of now, while the number of recovered patients was 4,15,109, the officials said.

Meghalaya'sCOVID-19 tally rose to 92,021 on Friday as 211 more people tested positive for the infection, while two fresh fatalities pushed the northeastern state's coronavirus death toll to 1,538, a health official said.East Khasi Hills district, under which Shillong falls, recorded the highest number of new cases at 88, followed by 54 in WestGaroHills and 17 inRi-Bhoi, Health Services Director DrAmanWar said.The state now has 1,839 active cases, while 88,644 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 375 in the last 24 hours. The administration has tested over 13.39 lakh samples for COVID-19, and inoculated over 22.99 lakh people so far, of whom 9.35 lakh have received two doses of the vaccine, he added.

Daily COVID-19 cases in Kerala further decreased on Friday with the state recording 38,684 fresh infections which raised the total caseload to 62,11,116. The southern state had reported 42,677 COVID-19 cases on Thursday.Kerala on Friday also reported 595 deaths which raised the total fatalities in Kerala to 57,296, according to a government release. Of the deaths, 28 were reported in the last 24 hours, 197 were those which occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 370 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, the release said.

A law requiring most adults in Austria to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is ready to take effect, but the sense of urgency that accompanied its announcement in November has largely evaporated. Few other countries look likely to go as far as attention turns to loosening restrictions.

The Austrian mandate for residents 18 and over to get vaccinated — the first of its kind in Europe — cleared its last legislative hurdle Thursday when parliament’s upper house approved what Health Minister WolfgangMuecksteincalled “a forward-looking and active step.” The president signed the legislation Friday.

It’s expected to become law in the coming days but it will be a while before Austrians notice any practical change. And it isn’t clear when or even whether the toughest part of the plan, which was watered down from the initial proposal, will take effect.

Active cases continued to decline inAndhraPradesh as the state reported 4,198 fresh infections in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday.According to the latest bulletin, the state recorded 9,317 recoveries and five deaths during the period. The number of active cases is now at 88,364, while the tally of positive cases is at 22,97,369, recoveries 21,94,359 and deaths 14,646, the bulletin said.East Godavari district reported the highest of 555 fresh cases andVizianagaramthe lowest 54 in 24 hours.Gunturbecamethe third district in the state, behind East Godavari andChittoor, to cross the two-lakh coronavirus cases mark.Chittoordistrict reported two fresh fatalities andGuntur,SPSNelloreandPrakasamone each in a day.

People who are triple-vaccinated against COVID-19 develop a high-quality antibody response which can neutralise the Omicron variant efficiently, according to a study. This also applies to people who are infected with the virus thrice, to those having recovered and then received two vaccinations, and to double-vaccinated individuals who experience a breakthrough infection, the researchers said.The study, published recently in the journal Nature Medicine, tracked the antibodies of vaccinated and recovered individuals for two years. The participants comprised 98 recovered persons and 73 people without prior infection. Both groups were offered vaccination with the mRNA-based Pfizer vaccine.

The researchers from Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany found that a total of three exposures to the viral spike protein lead to production of virus neutralising antibodies that are high in quantity as well as quality. These high-quality antibodies bind to the viral spike protein more vigorously, and are also capable of effectively fighting the Omicron variant.The spike protein is used by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter and infect the cells. The team found the same effect in triple-vaccinated people, in those who had recovered from COVID-19 and then had two vaccinations, and double-vaccinated people who then had a breakthrough infection. "The immunity built up or strengthened by means of vaccination is key to effective protection against future variants of the virus," said Percy Knolle, professor at TUM. "A recent breakthrough infection -- as irritating and undesirable as it is -- has in fact the same effect as an additional vaccination on this important arm of the immune system," Knolle said.