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GST Council to meet on Friday; rate review, tax concession to 11 COVID drugs on cards

The Council, comprising central and state finance ministers, will deliberate on the proposal of extending the existing concessional tax rate structure on Amphotericin B, Tocilizumab, Remdesivir, and anti-coagulants like Heparin, till December 31, 2021, from the present September 30.

Tax rate on Amphotericin B, Tocilizumab was cut to ‘Nil’, while Remdesivir and Heparin were reduced to 5 percent in June 2021.

The Council on Friday may also discuss the proposal of reducing GST from 12 percent to 5 percent to seven more drugs till December 31, 2021. These are Itolizumab, Posaconazole, Infliximab, Bamlanivimab & Etesevimab, Casirivimab & Imdevimab, 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose, and Favipiravir.

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Asia supercharges vaccination efforts after slow start, U.S. lags

While each country’s inoculation strategies differ, Asia’s momentum reflects pent-up demand for the shots as a means to ease lockdowns, said Paul Griffin, an infectious disease expert at the University of Queensland in northeast Australia.

Australia is giving priority supplies to its largest cities, which are in lockdown to contain a third wave of infections fuelled by the Delta variant. It expects to have enough to complete vaccinations of those older than 12 by mid-October. read more

Japan has overcome initial logistics hurdles to give about a million shots a day since mid-June, as urgency has grown after Delta unleashed an unprecedented wave of infections and serious cases in August.

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Allianz Partners expands its Digital Health Assistant to ten markets in Asia-Pacific

“We are very excited to bring Digital Health Assistant to our customers and partners in the Asia-Pacific region. Allianz Partners’ focus on accelerating its Digital Access to Care initiatives comes at a time of increasing demand for telehealth solutions and comprehensive digital health services particularly in the context of the ongoing Pandemic. We’ve reached a new milestone in bringing peace of mind and reassurance to our customers with this all-in-one platform. Allianz Partners will continue to invest in bringing market leading health and mental wellbeing solutions to support our customers and communities,” comments Vinay Surana, CEO Asia Pacific, Allianz Partners.

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Woman accuses fertility doctor of secretly using own sperm

The case is one of more than 20 instances in recent years where fertility doctors have been accused of using their own sperm, rather than samples from anonymous donors, to treat patients. The discovery of such scenarios has been made possible with the rise of genealogy sites like Ancestry.com and 23andMe.

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India top source of social media misinformation on COVID-19: Study

The study, “Prevalence and Source Analysis of COVID-19 Misinformation in 138 Countries”, was published in Sage’s International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions journal.
“Social media (84.94 per cent) produces the largest amount of misinformation, and the internet (90.5 per cent) as a whole is responsible for most of the COVID-19 misinformation. Moreover, Facebook alone produces 66.87 per cent of the misinformation among all social media platforms,” it stated.

Earlier, the World Health Organisation had also warned that false information on COVID-19 is spreading and putting people in danger.

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Yellen, Harris to push childcare investments as boost for overall economy

Congress is considering a $3.5 trillion package of measures that would include free preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds; boost pay for childcare workers, 95% of whom are women; cut the costs of such care in half for most families; and make permanent a child and dependent care tax credit.
“A well-funded child care sector will help parents remain in the labor force, work the number of hours and schedule that are best for their career and family, earn a living and join in our shared economic prosperity,” it said.

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Experts say sepsis will be more fatal than cancer and heart attack

The study also revealed that India has a higher death rate from sepsis, a life-threatening organ dysfunction response to infections, than other South Asian countries except Afghanistan.

“Sepsis will kill more people than cancer or heart attack by 2050 — it is going to be the biggest killer. Also in developing countries like India, multi-drug resistance due to gross overuse of antibiotics is probably causing a higher mortality,” said Yatin Mehta, Chairman, Institute of Critical Care and Anaesthesiology, Medanta — The Medicity, Gurugram.

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