Over 92 Crore Vaccine Doses Administered in India So Far, Says Health Ministry

WHO has extended giving emergency use authorization to Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 Covaxin to next week.

The World Health Organization is still reviewing data about Russias Sputnik V vaccine as part of hopes that it can be approved by the U.N. health agency for emergency use against coronavirus, but said Tuesday that no decision is imminent.

AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker that developed one of the first COVID-19 vaccines, has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorise the emergency use of an antibody treatment to prevent the disease. The company said Tuesday that the treatment, known as AZD7442, would be the first long-acting antibody combination to receive an emergency use authorization for COVID-19 prevention. The treatment may help protect people whose immune systems don’t respond adequately to vaccination, AstraZeneca said.

Twenty-nine of Odisha’s 30 districts have been declared Green Zones’, as active COVID-19 cases came down across the state, a health department official said. Khurda was the only district identified as Yellow Zone’ for reporting over 2,000 active cases, while the figure in all other districts stands at below 1,000, he said.

Drug firm Cadila Healthcare on Tuesday said it has received permission from the Indian drug regulator for conducting phase III trials for its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D. The company has already received the emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D to be administered in three doses on August 20.

Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record for the third time this month on Tuesday, and new infections once again exceeded 25,000 a day a surge that comes as vaccination rates in the country remain stagnantly low and the government shuns imposing tough restrictions to stem the spread. Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 25,110 new confirmed cases on Tuesday and 895 new deaths the country’s highest daily death toll in the pandemic. This month, records in fatalities came every other day: the previous record, of 890 deaths, was registered on Sunday, and the one before that, of 887 deaths, occurred on Friday.

The Karnataka government has made a negative RT-PCR test report and at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine mandatory for officers and staff on duty and artists, who will perform during the world renowned Mysuru Dasara festival, commencing on Thursday. “It has been made mandatory for all those who are participating in the festival including government officers and the staff on the duty, artists, security and media personnel to have a negative RT-PCR test report which will be done after October 4 and have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine,” Karnataka Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar said in his order.

India recorded 18,346 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the lowest in over 6 months, the Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday. With this, the active caseload of the country stands at 2,52,902; accounting for less than 1 percent of the total cases. As per the ministry, the recovery rate of India is at its highest since March 2020 and currently stands at 97.93 percent.

Strict lockdown-like restrictions were imposed from Monday till October 13 in 61 villages having more than 10 COVID-19 cases in Ahmednagar district, some 122 kilometres from here, officials said on Monday. These villages are in Akole, Karjat, Kopargaon, Newasa, Parner, Pathardi, Rahata, Sangamner, Shevgaon, Shrigonda, and Srirampur tehsils, Ahmednagar Collector Rajendra Bhosale said.

18,346 New Cases in the last 24 hours

Maharashtra on Monday registered 2,026 fresh Covid-19 infections, lowest in eight months, taking the tally to 6,562,514. This is Maharashtra’s lowest single-day count since February 2, when it logged 1,927 new Covid cases. On Monday, Maharashtra also reported 26 deaths caused by the disease. Mumbai, meanwhile, reported 339 new cases, taking the city’s tally to 745,652, as per official data.

Kerala, which is showing a decline in daily fresh cases after crossing the 30,000 mark post-Onam festival in August, on Monday logged less than 10,000 cases 8,850 to be exact and 149 deaths, taking the caseload to 47,29,083 and the toll to 25,526.

The government on Monday announced imposing export curbs on syringes with immediate effect, a move aimed at discouraging outbound shipments of the product in view of the present Covid-19 pandemic situation. The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) in a notification said it has moved syringes export in the restricted category, under which an exporter has to seek a licence or government permission for the shipments.

The national capital reported 34 fresh Covid-19 cases in a day, while the positivity rate stood at 0.10 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here on Monday. No new deaths were reported in the city, the data showed.Delhi has recorded only one death due to coronavirus so far in October. Last month, five people succumbed to the infection.

The work is on. It is going on smoothly. Now, there is no shortage of vaccines too. Mumbai is safe. We do not see a third wave (of the Covid-19) coming, Sakhare said. A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing public interest litigation filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari earlier this year, seeking a direction to both the Union and Maharashtra governments to start door-to-door vaccination for senior citizens aged 75 and above, specially-abled people and those who are bed-ridden. READ FULL STORY HERE

The Supreme Court Monday said no state shall deny the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the deceased due to Covid-19 solely on the ground that death certificate does not mention the virus as the cause of death.