Category:

Non-Life

Can people vaccinated against COVID-19 still spread the coronavirus?

COVID-19 poses a particular challenge because people with asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infections can spread the disease and insufficient contact tracing and testing mean those without symptoms are rarely detected.

Some scientists estimate that the number of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections in the overall population could be 3 to 20 times higher than the number of confirmed cases.

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Smokers face 40-50 pc higher risk of severe diseases, death from Covid: Vardhan

“We have set an ambitious target of reducing tobacco use by 30 per cent by 2025. Our tobacco control targets have been devised keeping in view the targets for control of non-communicable diseases and are consistent with the targets set under the SDGs. We will be soon releasing the findings of fourth round of Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted among 13-15 year school going students,” Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

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China-backed projects in Africa face fierce backlash from environmentalists

“There is no doubt that Chinese commercial actors … have tried to evade environmental requirements,” said Yun Sun, director of the China programme at the Stimson Centre in Washington.

Meanwhile, a senior fellow at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute, said Beijing was not unaware of the potential risks involved with private and state-owned firms operating in belt and road countries.

“Reducing these risks requires more uniformly applied standards and practices on environmental and social issues by China’s outbound actors, which is likely to come only via coherent policy requirements from the top down,” he said.

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India’s Mahindra expects car sales to take two years to rebound after COVID shock

Car sales had started to pick up in the January-March period but a second, more deadly wave of infections forced lockdowns again. This time consumer sentiment has taken a hit and discretionary spending is likely to take longer to recover.

The virus is also spreading to rural India, which was relatively protected during the first wave and had offset the low demand automakers saw in urban centres.

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Carmakers in ‘India’s Detroit’ allowed to operate as workers protest COVID risk

Tamil Nadu government order issued on Saturday said so-called continuous process industries, which include auto factories, would be allowed to function in accordance with measures such as social distancing to stem the virus’s spread.

It also urged vehicle manufacturers to initiate immediate action to vaccinate all their employees within a month.

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