Pregnant women get tested for Covid-19 in Mumbai on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)Coronavirus India Live Updates: An expert panel of the country’s central drug authority on Wednesday recommended against granting permission to the Serum Institute of India (SII) to conduct the phase 2/3 trial of Covid-19 vaccine Covovax on children aged two to 17 years, news agency PTI reported. SII had applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Monday seeking permission for conducting a trial of Covovax on 920 children, 460 each in the 12-17 and 2-11 age groups, at 10 sites.
Meanwhile, India has requested members of the European Union to individually consider allowing Indians who have taken Covishield and Covaxin vaccines to travel to Europe, news agency PTI reported citing sources said.
The sources said India has requested the EU member nations to accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal under its ‘Green Passport’ scheme.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the medical fraternity on the occasion of the National Doctors’ Day on Thursday. In a tweet, PM Modi had earlier said, “India is proud of the efforts of all doctors in fighting COVID-19. 1st July is marked as National Doctors Day. At 3 PM tomorrow, will address the doctors community at a programme organised by @IMAIndiaOrg.”
This comes at a time when the Indian Medical Association has said that as many as 800 doctors lost their lives during the second wave of the pandemic. “So far, we have the data of 800 doctors in our registry and initial observations indicate that a majority were yet to be fully vaccinated. Not many had got the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine,” Dr Jayesh Lele, secretary general of IMA headquarters, said.
A beneficiary poses for a photograph after getting a shot of the Sputnik V vaccine in Pune. (Express Photo: Ashish Kale)
The Indian Medical Association has said that around 800 doctors have died during the second wave of the pandemic. A majority were from Bihar and Delhi, as per the IMA, which has maintained a state-wise registry of doctors who died of Covid-19.
Analysis is underway to assess how many were fully vaccinated or had received one jab. Preliminary findings, however, show few among them had received full vaccination. A majority also had to receive their first vaccine dose. To date, the IMA data shows that more than 1,500 doctors have died of Covid-19. The IMA has declared ‘Save the Saviours’ as the theme of this year’s National Doctors’ Day, which is observed on July 1. (Read Anuradha Mascarenhas’s report)
Covid-19 spreads through the respiratory route. To minimise the risk of infection, we must pay attention to the flow of air in indoor spaces such as homes, classrooms, restaurants, offices, neighbourhood grocery stores, etc.
When a person infected with the coronavirus speaks, shouts, laughs, sneezes, or coughs, they emit droplets. These droplets range in size from the very small (referred to as aerosols) to large, but still less than a millimetre in size.
Therefore, comes the importance of masks. Masks trap droplets, dramatically decreasing the range over which they are carried. Thus, they are a very effective way to minimise the number and range of droplets emitted by people. Read our Explainer