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Non-Life

Why India is shattering global infection records

Despite warnings and advice that precautions were needed, authorities were unprepared for the magnitude of the surge, said K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India.

Critics have pointed to the government deciding to not pause Hindu religious festivals or elections, and experts say that these may have exacerbated the surge.

“Authorities across India, without exception, put public health priorities on the back burner,” Reddy said.

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Vaccinating everyone above 18 yrs to cost just 0.36% of GDP: India Ratings

”This means that the total size of the population that will now be eligible for vaccination would be 84.19 crore out of the total population of 133.26 crore,” India Ratings and Research said a note.

Assuming two doses of vaccines at Rs 400 per dose for new vaccine procurement and 5 per cent wastage, the cost for the central government will come to Rs 62,103 crore for 155.4 crore doses, it said.

The total of the two comes to Rs 67,193 crore which ”works out to be just 0.36 per cent of GDP,” it noted.

The maximum impact is likely to be on Bihar (0.60 per cent of gross state domestic product or GSDP), followed by Uttar Pradesh (0.47 per cent), Jharkhand (0.37 per cent), Manipur (0.36 per cent), Assam (0.35 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (0.30 per cent) and Odisha (0.30 per cent).

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Covishield comprises over 90 pc of 12.76 cr COVID vaccines administered so far

The current production capacity of indigenously developed Covaxin vaccine will be doubled by May-June 2021 and then increased nearly 6-7 fold by July-August 2021 i.e increasing the production from 10 million vaccine doses in April, 2021 to 60-70 million vaccine dose per month in July-August,” said the ministry of science and technology in a statement on Monday.

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Tesla drives on Autopilot through a regulatory grey zone

The Texas crash follows a string of crashes involving Tesla cars being driven on Autopilot, its partially automated driving system which performs a range of functions such as helping drivers stay in lanes and steer on highways. Tesla has also rolled out what it describes as a “beta” version of its FSD system to about 2,000 customers since October, effectively allowing them to test how well it works on public roads.

Harris County police are now seeking a search warrant for the Tesla data and said witnesses told them the victims intended to test the car’s automated driving. NO REQUIREMENTS

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France To Impose 10-Day Quarantine For Travellers From India

The move comes a few days after Paris announced a ban on all flights from Brazil to stave off the P1 coronavirus variant, and required quarantines for passengers on flights from Argentina, Chile and South Africa.

“For certain countries where the health situation is very serious and worrisome in particular, we will again tighten the screws,” Attal said after a cabinet meeting on the pandemic response.

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Governments need to be ‘insurers of last resort’ to protect businesses from pandemic risks: Report

Jad Ariss, Managing Director, The Geneva Association, said: “It is a tragedy that businesses, particularly SMEs, have suffered so much financial loss during the pandemic as a result of the lockdowns, which were beyond their control. The public sector had to step in with multi-trillion dollar emergency relief measures. Governments and insurers must work together on how to close the massive protection gap exposed by COVID-19, with governments as the leading players.”

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