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Contaminant in Moderna vaccines suspected to be metallic particles -NHK

Japan on Thursday suspended the use of 1.63 million doses shipped to 863 vaccination centres nationwide, more than a week after the domestic distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical (4502.T), received reports of contaminants in some vials.
The NHK report, published late on Thursday, cited ministry sources as saying the particle reacted to magnets and was therefore suspected to be a metal. Moderna has described it as “particulate matter” that did not pose a safety or efficacy issue.

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High blood pressure driven by obesity, poverty – WHO study

Hypertension can be easily diagnosed by monitoring blood pressure, and treated with low-cost drugs, but half of affected people are unaware of their condition which is left untreated, the WHO and Imperial College London said in a joint study published in The Lancet.

While hypertension rates have changed little in 30 years, the caseload has shifted to lower-income countries as wealthy nations have brought it largely under control, the study said.

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The world economy’s supply chain problem keeps getting worse

The cost of sending a container from Asia to Europe is about 10 times higher than in May 2020, while the cost from Shanghai to Los Angeles has grown more than sixfold, according to the Drewry World Container Index. The global supply chain has become so fragile that a single, small accident “could easily have its effects compounded,” HSBC Holdings PLC. said in a note.

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Indian aviation watchdog plans tough new drug abuse rules

Wednesday’s draft rules require random drug tests of flight crew and air traffic controllers, to ensure testing of at least 5% of the total employees of airlines and others in a year. Positive tests will lead to an employee being “immediately removed from the safety-sensitive duty till a confirmatory report is received”, the draft showed.

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Celebrate festivals with caution, second Covid wave not yet over: Centre

The government said 41 districts in India were reporting a COVID-19 weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent.

According to the government, 58.4 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases last week were reported from Kerala.

”Kerala is the only state reporting over 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases, while four states have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases and 31 states have less than 10,000 active cases,” it said.

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UN health agency sees virus cases leveling off

The assessment released Tuesday says there were about 68,000 new deaths reported globally, with Europe and the Americas registering increases of about 10 per cent.
he countries with the highest numbers of new cases were the United States, Iran, India, Britain and Brazil.
WHO also noted several recent studies that show licensed vaccines still provide protection against severe coronavirus disease, but that there is some evidence to show the shots are less effective at preventing people from becoming infected with the more contagious delta variant.

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India logs 44,658 new COVID-19 infections, Kerala reports 30,007 cases

As a part of the ongoing nationwide vaccination drive, the country has administered 61.22 crore vaccine doses till date. Yesterday, the health ministry informed that 50 per cent of the eligible population has been administered with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine under the world’s largest vaccination drive. India’s COVID vaccination drive commenced on January 16 this year.

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Munich Re unveils predictive technology for life insurers

ALLFINANZ Predictor allows clients to seamlessly deploy cutting edge predictive modelling technology into their underwriting process.
Tobias Frenz, Head of Digital Solutions Life & Health, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for Munich Re said: “The co-creation of model development by Munich Re’s AI and Analytics team, and deployment with ALLFINANZ Predictor, has led to the successful launch of the first comprehensive predictive underwriting solutions for life and health insurance in Asia Pacific. This marks the beginning of a new era in underwriting using AI, rules and data to fundamentally transform the onboarding experience.”

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