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India faces protracted slowdown as virus clouds rural revival

“The economic situation has in fact worsened since April and May, and we are likely moving towards a longer economic slowdown than earlier expected,” a finance ministry official said.

The official pointed to sluggish consumer demand and a slowdown in rural lending as causes for concern.

“The situation on the economy front is very serious and the government’s hands are tied on the fiscal front,” a government adviser with direct knowledge of India’s budget plans said.

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World Health Organization’s struggle for a global COVID-19 vaccine plan

The WHO has expressed concern that wealthier countries hoarding vaccines for their own citizens could impede efforts to end the pandemic.

“We need to prevent vaccine nationalism,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a Tuesday virtual briefing. “Sharing finite supplies strategically and globally is actually in each country’s national interest.”

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WHO blasts ‘vaccine nationalism’ in last-ditch push against hoarding

The WHO has an Aug. 31 deadline for wealthier nations to join the “COVAX Global Vaccines Facility” for sharing vaccine hopefuls with developing countries. Tedros said he sent a letter to the WHO’s 194 member states, urging participation.
So far, the COVAX facility has attracted interest from 92 poorer countries hoping for voluntary donations and 80 wealthier countries, a number little changed from a month ago, that would finance the scheme, the WHO said.

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On Facebook, health-misinformation ‘superspreaders’ rack up billions of views: report

Facebook’s algorithm is a major threat to public health. Mark Zuckerberg promised to provide reliable information during the pandemic, but his algorithm is sabotaging those efforts by driving many of Facebook’s 2.7 billion users to health misinformation-spreading networks,” said Fadi Quran, campaign director at Avaaz.

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General insurers sell 7,50,000 Covid-19 policies covering 1.28 mn lives, earn a premium of Rs 215 crore:Alamelu

“96 percent of the population don’t have any kind of health cover against Covid -19 . During this time also a small out of pocket expense in hospitals can financially impact the customer. There is a need to reduce this gap,Today, health has become the biggest line of business under the general insurance category and by the year end, it will overtake motor insurance also” TL Alamelu,member, Non-Life, IRDAI, said.

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