Category:

Health

Delta variant now reported in 135 countries, global coronavirus cases could exceed 200 million by next week: WHO

The global number of new cases has been increasing for more than a month, with over 4 million cases reported in the past week – July 26 to August 1, the update said.

“This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific Regions which reported 37 percent and 33 percent increases respectively as compared to the previous week, while the South-East Asia Region reported a 9 percent increase,” it said.

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India withdraws controversial retrospective tax bill, to settle tax disputes with global firms

“This decision helps to clarify our position with the investors,” said Tarun Bajaj, revenue secretary at the finance ministry, channel, adding it would help solve pending cases with Cairn Energy and Vodafone if they withdraw litigation and meet certain conditions.
The government’s proposed amendment in the law comes after a French tribunal last month ordered a freeze on some 20 centrally located properties belonging to the Indian government as part of a guarantee of the amount owed to Cairn.

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COVID: why you still need to wash your hands

Many infections begin when we touch our mouth, nose or eyes. Scientists researching this behaviour find that people are constantly touching their faces. Respiratory viruses, such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, while spread primarily by respiratory droplets can also be spread by contaminated hands touching the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth and eyes.

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Resting heart rate is important health indicator

Due to the high pressure, the muscles of the heart get stressed, which can cause all these problems to the patient. One can stabilise a high resting heart rate by improving lifestyle, meditation, and yoga. Moreover, stress is a silent killer that can take your heart rate shooting through the roof. There have also been studies in which patients have normalised their high resting heart rate in just one week with lifestyle modification.

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Study finds air pollution associated with higher risk of dementia

“We found that an increase of 1 microgram per cubic meter of exposure corresponded to a 16 per cent greater hazard of all-cause dementia. There was a similar association for Alzheimer’s-type dementia,” said lead author Rachel Shaffer, who conducted the research as a doctoral student in the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences.

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COVID-19 herd immunity: It’s not going to happen, so what next?

The evolution of the virus has been so rapid that the Delta variant, which is currently dominating the world, is at least twice as transmissible as the ancestral virus that was circulating.

What this means is that herd immunity is no longer a discussion the world should be having. We should start to avoid using that term in the context of SARS-CoV-2, because it’s not going to materialise – or is unlikely to materialise – during our lifetimes.

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