Category:

Health

U.S. breaks daily record for coronavirus cases with over 84,000 new infections

Health experts have not pinpointed the reason for the rise but have long warned that colder temperatures driving people inside, fatigue with COVID-19 precautions and students returning to schools and colleges, could promote the spread of the virus.

The United States has the most cases in the world at 8.5 million and the most fatalities with 224,000 lives lost. The United States has reported over the past week an average of 60,000 new cases per day, the highest seven-day average since early August.

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Countries battle rising coronavirus cases as WHO sees ‘exponential’ rise

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had on Friday warned that “too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases and that is now leading to hospitals and intensive care units running close to or above capacity — and we’re still only in October.”

“We urge leaders to take immediate action to prevent further unnecessary deaths.”

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India seeks health worker database for possible COVID-19 vaccination

“Vaccine would be supplied by the government of India to all states for free,” Pradipta Mohapatra, the top health bureaucrat of Odisha state who attended a video conference with federal health officials, told Reuters.

“First to be vaccinated are the health workers both in government and private sector. The policy is uniform for the whole country.”

Mohapatra said states would have to provide details of such workers to the federal government by next Friday.

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AstraZeneca resumes U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trial and next week J&J prepares to do same

AstraZeneca said that it is not unusual for some trial participants to fall ill during large scale vaccine trials but that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reviewed all safety data from the trials globally and deemed it safe to continue testing the vaccine.

AstraZeneca trials in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa resumed last month even as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration continued its investigation into the case.

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COVID-19: India records 54,366 new infections, 690 deaths

A total of 69,48,497 people have recuperated from the disease so far pushing the national recovery rate to 89.53 per cent while the case fatality rate due to COVID-19 was recorded at 1.51 per cent.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 10,01,13,085 samples have been tested up to October 22 with 14,42,722 samples being tested on Thursday.

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Next 3 months decisive in determining Covid situation: Harsh Vardhan

Addressing a review meeting with officials of the Uttar Pradesh government, Vardhan said, “Appropriate measures are being taken to combat COVID-19. But the next three months are going to be decisive in determining the situation of COVID in the country. If we take adequate precaution and follow COVID-appropriate behaviour in the coming festival and winter season, we will be in a better position to fight corona.”

He asserted that the state needs to focus on increasing testing, surveillance, contact tracing, and early diagnosis to keep fatality rate low.

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