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Pandemic

Govt not going for lockdowns in big way, says Sitharaman amid Covid-19 wave

 “Even with the second wave, we are very clear that we are not going in for lockdowns in a big way. We don’t want to totally arrest the economy. The local level isolation of patients, or households which have people in quarantines are the methods through which the crisis will be handled, the second wave will be handled. There shall not be lockdown,” she said.

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Businesses in India’s richest state choke under new COVID-19 curbs

“One month (of lockdown) is equivalent to about $5 billion of revenue for retailers from just Maharashtra,” Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Association of India, told Reuters. “We are talking about 1.2 million stores and 5 million jobs.”

Rajagopalan said store shutdowns will hit sectors such as manufacturing, distribution and banking and have a snowball effect on the economy.

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Indian general insurance industry misses Rs 2 trillion premium mark, New India shines in Fy 2020-21

The Health portfolio, propelled by Covid 19 Pandemic might have grown by almost 40 per cent but it has not been able to make up the shrinking of overall motor business, that has fallen by 5 per cent, for the industry in 2020-21.

“It was a hugely challenging year. I am happy that we could pull it off like this. As at the end of October 2020, though the business of general insurance industry on an average was down by some 10-12 per cent, we managed to just keep our head over water by showing some business growth in decimal points but then we went into a tizzy and in subsequent five months we managed to grow our business each month by 15 to 22% each month,’’ said Atul Sahai, CMD, NIA.  

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Fourth COVID wave: Infection spreading faster, high-grade fever, affecting younger population more

‘The younger population goes out for work, uses public transportation and hence, there are more chances of coming into contact with others. Many people are still not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing, which has contributed to the rise in cases,” said Suranjit Chatterjee, a senior consultant at Apollo Hospitals here.

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India records 1,52,879 new Covid-19 cases, highest single-day surge

With 839 new Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll in the country has mounted to 1,69,275. Currently, there are 11,08,087 active cases in the country.Five states — Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala — cumulatively account for 70.82 per cent of India’s active COVID-19 cases which have breached the 11-lakh mark for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic.

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India to have 5 more vaccines by Oct, Sputnik nod likely in 10 days: Report

Explaining the new strategy to manufacture additional vaccine doses, a source said “India currently has 2 Covid-19 vaccines being manufactured locally: Covishield and Covaxin, and we can expect five more vaccines by Q3 2021. These vaccines are Sputnik V vaccine (in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s), Johnson & Johnson vaccine (in collaboration with Biological E), Novavax vaccine (in collaboration with Serum India), Zydus Cadila’s vaccine, and Bharat Biotech’s Intranasal Vaccine. Safety and efficacy are the Union government’s primary concerns while granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to any Covid-19 vaccine in the country.”

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