World leaders at the United Nations General Assembly meeting have criticised the haphazard global response to the coronavirus pandemic, with the Kazakhstan’s President terming it as “a critical collapse of global cooperation.” Many leaders called for any COVID-19 vaccine that is developed to be shared equally.
In India, Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi became the first Union Minister to succumb to the virus. The 65-year-old leader had tested positive for COVID-19 on September 11 and was hospitalised for 15 days before his demise.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra apologises
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Thursday publicly apologised for his remark a day earlier that he did not wear a mask at programmes.
“It is felt the law has been violated by my statement about wearing a mask,” Mr. Mishra, often spotted without a mask at public events, wrote on Twitter. “This was not in accordance with the sentiments of the Prime Minister. I express regret while accepting my mistake.”
Further, Mr. Mishra said he would wear a mask and would appeal to society to wear it too and follow physical distancing norms.
Johnson & Johnson kicks off study of single-shot COVID-19 vaccine
Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday began a 60,000-person trial of an experimental single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that, if proven effective, could simplify distribution of millions of doses compared with leading rivals requiring two doses.
The J&J vaccine also does not need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures, Dr. Barouch noted, another advantage over some rival vaccine candidates.
The company expects results of the Phase III trial by year end or early next year, and plans to manufacture as many as 1 billion doses in 2021, and more after that.
Union Minister Suresh Angadi dies of COVID-19
Suresh Angadi in September 2019. | Photo Credit: PTI
Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, on September 23. He was hospitalised there earlier this month after he contracted COVID-19.
The 65-year-old BJP leader, a four-time MP, tested positive on September 11.
“He passed away at 8 p.m. on September 23 and was under medical care at AIIMS Trauma Centre for the past 15 days,” said a senior AIIMS official. Earlier this month, the Minister made the announcement of his diagnosis on Twitter. He had said, “I have tested COVID-19 positive. I am doing fine.”
30% people in Karnataka had to use ‘connections’ to get an ICU bed: Survey
Seven months into the pandemic, people in Karnataka are still struggling to get an ICU bed. With more and more patients in home isolation developing complications and turning critical, the demand for ICU beds with ventilators went up in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, since the beginning of this month.
An online survey conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, found that over 30% of the 2,456 respondents in Karnataka said they had to use “connections” and “clout” to get a COVID-19 ICU bed, while only 7% of the respondents said that they got a bed through the routine process.
While 16% of the respondents had to follow up aggressively with the hospitals, 2% even used social media to draw the attention of the administration to get an ICU bed. Some of them even complained to the government.
Doctors report rise in ‘unusual symptoms’ among COVID-19 patients
Over the past two weeks, doctors across hospitals in Bengaluru have been seeing an increase in the number of patients with “unusual symptoms” testing positive for COVID-19. Symptoms range from diarrhoea and headache to skin rashes. This, doctors say, is different from the initial flood of cases where patients suffered from the more well-known symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, and loss of taste and smell.
Doctors are hoping that the State government and local authorities create more awareness on the lesser-known symptoms. In a few cases, patients are also reporting to hospitals after having suffered a stroke.
Scientists may know about vaccine by December: Dr. Anthony Fauci
U.S.' leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said that by the end of this year, government scientists should know whether they have a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19.
Dr. Fauci said that people who recover from the virus develop antibodies against it, which gives him confidence a vaccine that triggers the immune system will work.
He added that several kinds of vaccines are in final-stage testing in the US. A single-dose candidate is the most recent trial, which requires thousands of volunteers. - AP
West Bengal extends period of austerity measures till March 2021
The West Bengal government has decided to extend the period of austerity measures taken to meet the expenditure for tackling the coronavirus pandemic from this September to March 31 next year.
“The validity of this department memorandum specifying additional austerity measures to be followed by all state government and semi state government offices to tackle the huge unforeseen expenditure for combating Covid-19 disease in our state extended upto September 30.