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Health

Pvt hospitals, labs welcome Delhi govt’s announcement on capping of rate of RT-PCR and RATs

Welcoming the decision Dr Bhagwan Mantri, Senior Consultant, Respiratory and Chest Medicine at Moolchand Hospital said, ”RT-PCR tests are required for everything these days – for travel purposes and for hospital admissions. Capping of prices will help people in going for tests and they will not be hesitant. It will also prevent people from going in for fake test reports that are available for Rs 200-300.”

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U.S. developing plan to require foreign visitors to be vaccinated -official

The White House is not ready to immediately lift travel restrictions because of the rising COVID-19 case load, the official said.

The Biden administration has interagency working groups working “in order to have a new system ready for when we can reopen travel,” the official said, adding it includes “a phased approach that over time will mean, with limited exceptions, that foreign nationals traveling to the United States (from all countries) need to be fully vaccinated.”

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What is a breakthrough infection? Here’s a guide to what you need to know

No vaccine is 100 per cent effective. Dr Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was 80 per cent-90 per cent effective in preventing paralytic disease. Even for the gold standard measles vaccine, the efficacy was 94 per cent among a highly vaccinated population during large outbreaks. Comparably, clinical trials found the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were 94 per cent 95 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 much more protective than initially hoped.

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COVID-19: Mumbai gets its first genome sequencing lab

Another project- Spinraza therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in children was also launched at the T. N. Medical College & BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, one of the premier medical institutes in the city as part of its centenary celebrations.
Spinraza Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) encompasses a group of inherited progressive, degenerative neuro-muscular disorders, in which children die at a young age due to respiratory failure or they are wheelchair-bound for a lifetime, the statement said.

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WHO calls for moratorium on booster COVID-19 vaccine shots until end of Sep

A small group of nations, including some in Europe, are planning additional shots for the fully inoculated even as the COVID-19 continues to infect and kill at alarming rates across the Global South, where vaccination levels remain “catastrophically low,” The Washington Post reported.

The report stated that the decision by wealthy countries to give booster shots to their own people rather than donating those doses to poorer countries is controversial. Health experts have called this move immoral.

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Depression affects more than 260 million people globally:UN

Depression affects more than 260 million people in the world while around half of all mental health conditions start by the age of 14, according to the news release. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in young people aged 15-29.
Working from home, unemployment, school closures and social isolation have affected people around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic; the challenges for people with mental health conditions, for whom access to treatment has, in many cases, been disrupted, are even greater.

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Breastfeeding central to eliminating child malnutrition: Agency chiefs

“Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, followed by exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond, offers a powerful line of defence against all forms of child malnutrition, including wasting and obesity.

“Breastfeeding also acts as babies’ first vaccine, protecting them against many common childhood illnesses,” they added.

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