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Earthquake of magnitude 3.1 jolts Manipur’s Churachandpur
Earlier in the day, an earthquake of magnitude 3.6 jolted Uttar...
Nepal earthquake kills at least 128, toll could rise, officials say
Officials feared the death toll in Friday's quake could rise as...
Dam collapse in China could point to a ‘black swan’ disaster
But climate change is bringing a new normal of extremes and flood-risk policies decided a decade or two ago are no longer sufficient, said Benjamin Horton, director at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.
“What really needs to happen is to work with the ecosystems,not against them by building dams,by extending flood wetlands and flood plains and allowing the water to naturally mix with the environment,”he said.
India’s water crisis is forcing farmers to finally rethink what they grow
Water shortages are already acute: nearly half the country’s population faces high-to-extreme water stress and about 200,000 die each year due to inadequate access to safe water. Stoked by climate change, the water crisis has forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to try and turn around decades of established farming practices and convince the country’s most powerful voting bloc to change the crops they plant. Water-guzzlers like rice and wheat are out, corn and pulses are in.
Don’t expect first Covid-19 vaccinations until early 2021, says WHO expert
WHO is working hard to ensure fair distribution of the vaccines, but in the meantime it is key to suppress the spread of the coronavirus, said Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s emergencies programme, as daily new cases around the globe are at near-record levels.
Global coronavirus cases exceed 15 million
The top five countries with the most cases is rounded out by Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa. But, the Reuters tally shows the disease is accelerating the fastest in the Americas, which account for more than half the world’s infections and half its deaths.
Globally, the rate of new infections shows no sign of slowing, according to the Reuters tally, based on official reports.
After the first COVID-19 case was reported in Wuhan, China, in early January, it took about 15 weeks to reach 2 million cases. By contrast, it took just eight days to climb above 15 million from the 13 million reached on July 13.
China offers more financial support for flood-hit areas
Separately, the CBIRC urged insurers to properly perform investigations and claims settlement and arrange financial resources in advance to help flood-hit companies and people resume production and normal lives in a timely manner.Large parts of China were reeling on Friday from the worst floods in decades, which destroyed homes and affected millions of people.
India’s COVID-19 fatality rate drops to 2.43% from 3.36% on Jun 17:Health Ministry
“Nineteen states and UTs are performing more than 140 tests per day per million population. Just doing tests is not enough, they have to be done at a level of 140 tests per day per million so that the rate of positivity reduces and comes down to 10 per cent first and then continue the testing process so that the rate of positivity further reduces to 5 per cent or lower,” he said
People are more likely to contract COVID-19 at home, study finds
A study published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 16 looked in detail at 5,706 “index patients” who had tested positive for the coronavirus and more than 59,000 people who came into contact with them.
The findings showed just two out of 100 infected people had caught the virus from non-household contacts, while one in 10 had contracted the disease from their own families.
“Corona Kavach”can now be offered as a group policy:IRDAI
t will also be extremely useful for various categories of frontline workers as groups. In case the group consists entirely of doctors, nurses or healthcare workers, a discount of 5% will also be available as a mark of recognition of their contribution in fighting the society’s battle against Covid-19. The group policy can provide protection to a large number of employees engaged in manufacturing, services, SMEs, MSMEs, logistics sector, migrant workers and bring peace of mind to them, their family members and the employers.
First human trial of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine shows promise
Researchers said the vaccine caused minor side effects more frequently than a control group, but some of these could be reduced by taking paracetamol, with no serious adverse events from the vaccine.
Floods kill scores in India’s tea-growing Assam; nine rhinos drown
“It’s hard to enforce social distancing when people are being ordered to move away from the rising waters,” said Sanghamitra Sanyal, a member of the northeastern state’s flood management force.