The shutdown at Ningbo-Zhoushan is raising fears that ports around the world will soon face the same kind of outbreaks and Covid restrictions that slowed the flows of everything from perishable food to electronics last year as the pandemic took hold. Infections are threatening to spread at docks just as the world’s shipping system is already struggling to handle unprecedented demand with economies reopening and manufacturing picking up.
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US FDA okays Covid booster dose for those with weak immune system
The third dose will be administered at least 28 days following the two-dose regimen of the same vaccine to individuals 18 years of age or older (ages 12 or older for Pfizer-BioNTech) who have undergone solid organ transplantation, or who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise, the agency said in a statement on Thursday.
Covid-19 infection linked to problems in thinking, attention: Study
“Our study adds to an increasing body of research that is looking at different aspects of how COVID-19 might be impacting the brain and brain function,” said study first author Adam Hampshire from Imperial College London in the UK.”This research is all converging to indicate that there are some important effects of COVID-19 on the brain that need further investigation,” Hampshire said.
India’s Serum says produced 40 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
Serum said it has enrolled 1,600 participants in India for late-stage trials of AstraZeneca’s candidate, and also plans to seek regulatory approval to run late-stage trials for the Novavax vaccine.
Smell, taste changes provide early indication of COVID-19 community spread: Study
“Our research suggests that an increase in the incidence of sudden smell and taste change in the general population may indicate that COVID-19 is spreading,” said study co-author John Hayes, professor of food science at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in the US
Job creation,IT Relief and Rs 900 cr grant for COVID-19 vaccine research In Stimulus 3.0
Employees contribution (12 per cent of wages) and employer’s contribution (12 per cent of wages) totalling 24 per cent of wages would be given to establishments for two years, she said.
Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, every Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) registered establishment taking new employees would get this subsidy.
Japan suicides rise as economic impact of coronavirus hits home
According to preliminary police data, the total number of suicides for October was 2,153, an increase of more than 300 from the previous month and the highest monthly tally since May 2015.
Of October’s cases, 851 were women, a rise of 82.6% over the same month in 2019. The number of suicides by men rose 21.3%.
Cases of suicide had been falling steadily until July but then the economic impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak hit home and the numbers started rising, activists say.
HC allows Delhi govt to reserve 80% ICU beds for COVID-19 patients in 33 private hosptials
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad allowed the appeal of Delhi government challenging a single judge’s interim order staying the government’s decision to reserve 80 per cent ICU beds.The high court vacated the stay order passed by the single judge and listed the matter for further hearing on November 26 before the single bench and till then the reservation of 80 per cent of ICU beds will continue.
Nepal COVID-19 cases cross 200,000 amid fears of health catastrophe
“The government is not prepared to handle the catastrophic situation. There are no community based isolation centres and ICU beds are limited,” said Aayas Luintel, a doctor who has been treating coronavirus patients in Patan Hospital near Kathmandu.
Santa Kumar Das, of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, in Kathmandu, said medics were seeing more severe cases of community transmission after relatively mild cases from outside previously.
Pandemic to deliver $12 trillion hit to global output – Swiss Re
“Overall the insurance industry has handled this well because it entered the crisis with lots of capital. So it knew about the risk,” Chief Executive Christian Mumenthaler told a Bloomberg financial conference.
Many market players hedged early, he said, figuring the COVID-19 respiratory disease would spread around the world after first being identified in Wuhan, China, late last year.
“And then the overall loss as we can see it now – between $50 billion and $80 billion – is manageable for the insurance industry. You compare that to more than $140 billion in 2017 in terms of nat cat (natural disaster) losses,” he said.
Deep-freeze challenge makes Pfizer’s shot a vaccine for rich
The expense of deploying the Pfizer shot will likely heighten existing fears that wealthier nations will get the best vaccines first, despite a World Health Organization-backed effort called Covax that aims to raise $18 billion to purchase vaccines for poorer countries.
“The requirement for extremely cold temperatures is likely to cause spoilage of a lot of vaccine,” said Michael Kinch, a vaccine specialist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Pfizer vaccine trial success signals breakthrough in pandemic battle
“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” said Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla, noting the data milestone comes with “infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.”
Russia says its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is 92% effective
Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Institute which developed the vaccine, said the interim results demonstrated that Sputnik V was effective and mass vaccinations would be rolled out in Russia in the coming weeks.