An expert panel Okayed Covishield's emergency use and now DCGI has to take a final call. This was on a day four more cases of the new mutated strain of the coronavirus took the total to 29.
On the farmers' protest front, kisaan unions met at the Delhi-Haryana border to discuss their next course of action. In science, a well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many organs still intact was found in Siberia. In good news, GST collection in December has been found to be at an all-time high with over Rs 1.15 lakh crore revenue.
Here are the top 5 news trends in India at 7 pm:
DCGI TO TAKE FINAL CALL ON COVISHIELD
Covishield, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca, has become the first vaccine to secure a recommendation for emergency use in India. The recommendation was made by a government-appointed expert panel on Friday. However, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will take a final call on the matter. In India, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India is manufacturing Covishield.
Prior to this, Argentina and the United Kingdom have already given emergency use approval to Covishield and started the vaccine rollout process.
INDIA DETECTS FOUR MORE CASES OF NEW MUTATED CORONAVIRUS STRAIN
Four more people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in India have been found to be infected with the new mutated strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. With this, the number of people infected with the UK variant of the virus in India has reached 29.
These cases included the 20 people who were found positive with the mutated strain on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 29 cases are spread across Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, and Kalyani.
FARMER UNIONS MEET TO DISCUSS NEXT COURSE OF ACTION
Farmer unions met at the Singhu border (which connects Delhi and Haryana) on Friday to discuss their next course of action. The meeting was held two days after the government and the farm unions arrived at a consensus over the rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning.
While the two reached common ground, they remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Farmers have maintained that there is no question of withdrawing from the two issues.
ICE AGE WOOLLY RHINO FOUND IN SIBERIA
A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia's extreme north.
Russian media reported Wednesday that the carcass was revealed by melting permafrost in Yakutia in August. Scientists are waiting for ice roads in the Arctic region to become passable to deliver it to a lab for studies next month.
GST COLLECTION IN DECEMBER AT ALL-TIME HIGH
The NDA government's booster shots for the economy seem to have triggered a step-up in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection as December saw a mop-up of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore, the finance ministry said on Friday.
This is 12 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month in 2019. In November 2020, the GST collection had crossed Rs 1 lakh crore mark.