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India needs to invest ₹3K-5K crore to give all Indians Covid vaccine: Zydus Cadila chairman
The requirement of the vaccine doses is going to be very high. Given the fact almost all vaccines are going to work at least two doses, if we look at India’s population and decide to immunise 50 per cent of the population, we would require over 130 crore doses and that’s not the capacity anybody has.
Even if people have the capacity to produce, it cannot happen in one day. It can only happen over a long period,
said Zydus Cadila Chairman Pankaj R Patel.
Another challenge we would have is “how long the immunity will last with this vaccine? If the vaccine is going to give a long-term immunity, it will be wonderful, but if it provides short-term immunity then we will have to keep on immunising people again and again,” he added.
More than 150 nations join global vaccine plan,U.S.,but China absent
With some wealthier nations reticent over COVAX, the plan has highlighted the challenge of distributing vaccines equitably around a world of haves and have-nots.
The vaccine alliance said it expected another 38 wealthy countries to join the initiative in coming days.
It said it had received commitments for $1.4 billion towards vaccine research and development, but a further $700 million-$800 million was urgently needed.
AIR Worldwide Releases updated Multiple Peril Crop Insurance Model for China
An outbreak of African swine fever—a highly infectious and deadly disease—started impacting pigs in China in 2018, resulting in a loss of half of China’s 400 million pigs, or 40% of the world’s total agricultural pig population, as of the first half of 2020.
“China is a leading global producer of wood and paper products; the country’s forests can be insured under the national crop insurance scheme and incur large losses not only from extreme weather but also fire, pests, and disease,In addition, livestock (including poultry) policies now make up about a quarter of agricultural premiums in the country and have a large potential for losses. To get a comprehensive view of agricultural risk in China, companies must consider the risk to crops, forests, and livestock,”said Yizhong Qu, assistant vice president, AIR Worldwide China.
U.S. nears grim milestone of 200,000 COVID-19 deaths
The University of Washington’s health institute is forecasting coronavirus fatalities reaching 378,000 by the end of 2020, with the daily death toll skyrocketing to 3,000 per day in December.
Over 70% of those in the United States who have lost their lives to the virus were over the age of 65, according to CDC data.
The southern states of Texas and Florida contributed the most deaths in the United States in the past two weeks and were closely followed by California.
California, Texas and Florida – the three most populous U.S. states – have recorded the most coronavirus infections and have long surpassed the state of New York, which was the epicenter of the outbreak in early 2020. The country as a whole is reporting over 40,000 new infections on average each day and saw cases last week rise on a weekly basis after falling for eight weeks in a row.
86,961 new COVID-19 cases in India, tally reaches 54,87,580
The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to coronavirus has further declined to 1.6 per cent. There are 10,03,299 active cases in the country as of now, which comprises 18.28 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 6,43,92,594 samples have been tested up to September 20, with 7,31,534 samples being tested on Monday.
Carbon emissions of richest 1% more than double the emissions of the poorest half of humanity:Oxfam
The report assesses the consumption emissions of different income groups between 1990 and 2015 – 25 years when humanity doubled the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It found:
The richest 10 percent accounted for over half (52 percent) of the emissions added to the atmosphere between 1990 and 2015. The richest one percent were responsible for 15 percent of emissions during this time – more than all the citizens of the EU and more than twice that of the poorest half of humanity (7 percent).
Insured losses for Hurricane Sally between USD 1-3 billion:AIR Worldwide
Included in AIR’s estimates are losses to onshore residential, commercial, and industrial properties and automobiles for their building, contents, and time element coverage.
DCGI approves commercial launch of low cost Covid-19 test ‘Feluda’
The Tata CRISPR test is the world’s first diagnostic test to deploy a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus causing COVID-19, it said.Moreover, CRISPR is a futuristic technology that can also be configured for detection of multiple other pathogens in the future.
Commenting on the development, Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO, TATA Medical and Diagnostics Ltd said, “The approval for the Tata CRISPR test for COVID-19 will give a boost to the country’s efforts in fighting the global pandemic.
How to ship a vaccine at -80 C and other obstacles in the covid fight
Companies may have to transport tiny glass vials thousands of miles while keeping them as cold as the South Pole in the depths of winter.
A recent study by DHL and McKinsey found that a cold vaccine would be accessible to about 2.5 billion people in 25 countries. Large parts of Africa, South America and Asia, where super-cold freezers are sparse, would be left out.
“The consequence is to reinforce the staggering bias in favor of the wealthy and powerful few countries,” said Morrison, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
World’s top companies urge action on nature loss ahead of U.N. talks
“Healthy societies, resilient economies and thriving businesses rely on nature. Governments must adopt policies now to reverse nature loss in this decade,” the companies said in a statement.
Others to sign included IKEA, Unilever and AXA .
Business for Nature, the coalition which organised the statement, said it was the first time so many companies had issued a joint call emphasising the crucial role healthy ecosystems play in human well-being.