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India in talks to find ‘middle ground’ with Pfizer, others for vaccine imports: govt official

“We have to find the middle ground,” government advisor Vinod Kumar Paul told the news channel CNBC TV-18 when asked about the progress of talks with Pfizer and Moderna

Any final decision on vaccine imports has to be compatible with Indian laws and the government was hopeful that these vaccines would be available in the country before the end of this year, Paul said.

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Britannia offers insurance coverage to 10,000 sales personnel, merchandisers

The company is offering a term insurance policy and hospitalisation insurance of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Britannia Industries said in a statement.Besides, it is also contributing Rs 2 lakh each to the bereaved families of the personnel who were not insured earlier.

Britannia is also offering domiciliary COVID-19 treatment worth Rs 7,500 for patients who need support at home, apart from reimbursing vaccination costs.

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Irrespective of co-morbidities, classified as deaths due to Covid: Centre

The MHA in its affidavit said: “All deaths with a diagnosis of Covid-19, irrespective of co-morbidities, are to be classified as deaths due to Covid-19. The only exception could be where there is a clear alternative cause of death, that cannot be attributed to Covid-19 (e.g. accidental trauma, poisoning, acute myocardial infarction, etc), where Covid-19 is an incidental finding.”

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Life insurers may see short-term pressure on profitability due to pandemic: ICICI Pru Life

“In the short-term, the profitability of the insurance industry is expected to be an area of concern given the increase in mortality and morbidity rates induced by the pandemic. Even more than a year after the pandemic first struck, there continues to be significant uncertainty regarding its absolute impact on mortality and morbidity experience,” the insurer said.

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SC reserves judgment on PIL seeking direction to provide Rs 4 lakhs ex gratia to kin of COVID-19 victims

The petition also sought the issuance of direction to respondents, respective State Governments to fulfill their obligation to take care of victims of the calamity and their family members. The lawyers- Reepak Kansal, and Gaurav Kumar Bansal– in their petition, filed before the Supreme Court, sought immediate appropriate directions to the concerned authorities to pay financial help or ex gratia amount of Ra 4 lakh, as laid down by the Central government in its statute and rules to the family members of the deceased, who succumbed to COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Doctors protest in Delhi over violence against healthcare professionals; seek legislation

”There are many central health laws such as the PCPNDT Act and the Clinical Establishment Act. Currently, 21 states have local laws, but what we need is a strong central law to protect doctors from violence,” the doctors’ body had said.
The Health Services Personnel and Clinical Establishment (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2019, which sought to impose a jail term up to 10 years for assaulting on-duty doctors and other healthcare professionals, was dismissed by the Home Ministry saying the special law was not feasible as health is a state subject, the IMA had said on Thursday.

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With positivity rate below 5% for 14 days, is second Covid wave over?

With the current positivity rate at less than 5 per cent, India’s COVID-19 second wave is on the wane as quickly as it rushed to its peak, but the end of it may yet be far away as more transmissible new variants such as Delta plus variant are emerging, said Naga Suresh Veerapu, associate professor at the School of Natural Sciences (SoNS), Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR.

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India spent Rs 2,386 cr in 2020 on oral cancer treatment: Study

‘India’s cancer scenario is burdened with oral cavity cancer being the most common among men. In fact, India accounted for almost a third of the global incidence in 2020.”

Dr R.A. Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Center said, “As per the GLOBOCAN statistics, the rate of new cases being diagnosed has increased by a staggering 68 per cent in the past two decades alone, making it a real public health crisis.

“To add to this, accessibility to health services is low, which coupled with poor health literacy results in a majority of cases presenting with advanced stage disease that is often difficult to treat.”

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