Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Booster Dose Not Needed, Huge Covid 3rd Wave Unlikely, Says AIIMS Director; Maha Health Min Disagrees

Thane district of Maharashtra reported 68 new coronavirus positive cases, taking its infection tally to 5,68,615, while the death of two patients pushed the toll to 11,576, an official said on Wednesday. These cases and fatalities were reported on Tuesday. Thane’s COVID19 mortality rate is 2.03 per cent, he added.

The Chief Executive of AngloSwedish biopharma major AstraZeneca, which helped produce the Oxford University’s vaccine to protect against COVID19, on Tuesday credited it for the UK’s relatively better hospitalisation rates amid the pandemic wave hitting Europe. Pascal Soirot said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, being developed and administered in India as Covishield, was initially not used by the European Union (EU) for older age groups due to some doubts cast around efficacy. While in Britain the vaccine was widely used in the early stages for the most vulnerable and older age groups, the EU had chosen other vaccines instead. Its medical regulator approved the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups only in January.

The Chief Executive of AngloSwedish biopharma major AstraZeneca, which helped produce the Oxford University’s vaccine to protect against COVID19, on Tuesday credited it for the UK’s relatively better hospitalisation rates amid the pandemic wave hitting Europe. Pascal Soirot said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, being developed and administered in India as Covishield, was initially not used by the European Union (EU) for older age groups due to some doubts cast around efficacy. While in Britain the vaccine was widely used in the early stages for the most vulnerable and older age groups, the EU had chosen other vaccines instead. Its medical regulator approved the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups only in January.

The West Bengal Health Department has decided to turn most hospitals, which were made dedicated COVID-19 facilities, into non-Covid-units, after a decline in the number of fresh cases, a senior official said on Tuesday. It has also decided to shut several safe homes that were set up during the peak phase of the pandemic to accommodate infected patients, he said. Read the full story here.

India will start administering coronavirus vaccine booster doses once all scientific aspects are “deeply examined”, chief of the country’s Covid task force Dr VK Paul said on Tuesday. “While several studies are coming out, we still are looking for accurate answers to understand which one is the right booster and what is the correct interval to start jabbing,” said Dr Paul, while adding that “once science says it should be given, it will be given”. Read the full story here.

Punjab reported 42 fresh cases of COVID19 in a day which pushed the infection tally in the state to 6,03,043, according to a medical bulletin on Tuesday. With one Covidrelated fatality reported in Mansa district, the death toll reached 16,587, it stated.

West Bengal on Tuesday reported 720 new COVID19 cases, 105 more than the previous day, pushing the tally to 16,11,180, a health department bulletin said. Ten new COVID19 fatalities in the last 24 hours pushed the death toll to 19,407. The metropolis reported four deaths followed by Jalapaiguri district two and one each from North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Dakshin Dinajpur districts, it said.

Two doses of Covaxin are 50 per cent effective against symptomatic disease, according to the first realworld assessment of India’s indigenous COVID19 vaccine published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. Results of an interim study recently published in The Lancet showed that two doses of Covaxin, also known as BBV152, had 77.8 per cent efficacy against symptomatic disease and present no serious safety concerns.

Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday their COVID-19 vaccine remained 100 per cent effective in children 12 to 15 years old, four months after the second dose. The companies said that the new data, which involved 2,228 trial participants, will help support their applications for full approval in the United States and worldwide. No serious safety concerns were observed in individuals with at least six months of follow-up after the second dose.

Meanwhile, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Tuesday evening ruled out the possibility of a “huge third wave” as the infection rate and severity is “declining each passing day”. “The vaccines are holding up, we are not seeing breakthrough infections causing a surge in our admissions, our sero-positivity rate is very high. All of these suggest that as of now, we really don’t need a booster dose. We may need it in the future, that is definitely there. But as of now we don’t need a booster dose,” he said at the launch of “Going Viral”, a book on the making of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said that there is a third wave of Covid-19 infections waiting due to which the state has also recommended vaccination for children in the 12 to 18 age bracket. The state is likely to reopen schools from primary onwards within a fortnight, Tope said. Tope told CNN-News18, “The health department had given a go ahead for reopening of all schools. The department has also recommended vaccination of 12 to 18 age group of children. Experts have predicted the cycle of the virus, and the third wave is expected in December accordingly. But it will be mild if the vaccination process is on track.”