At a press briefing on the pandemic, officials said the reproduction number or R number that indicates the speed at which COVID-19 is spreading is more than 1 in five states — Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh — which remains a cause for concern.
Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Nagaland have their reproduction number at 1, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said.
For India, it is around 1, he said.
The National Health Authority (NHA) has been providing the necessary support to the states and Union territories for ensuring free COVID-19 testing and treatment to all eligible beneficiaries under AB-PMJAY.
When the pandemic broke out, the existing packages were used for providing treatment, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said.
ZURICH: Novartis joined rivals Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Roche in predicting the worst of the pandemic may be over for drugmakers, amid signs healthcare systems have learned how to cope with surging infections without shutting down all services. The Swiss...
Economists, including those at the Reserve Bank of India, attributed the recovery to pent-up demand after a strict lockdown imposed in March to contain the coronavirus outbreak hit the consumption of goods and services. While inventory re-stocking will underpin business activity in the coming months, the improvement might still not be enough to prevent Asia’s third-largest economy from contracting in the financial year to March 2021.
The Ahmedabad-based firm is looking to hire contract manufacturers for an additional 50 million to 70 million doses of its plasmid DNA vaccine, on top of the 100 million that will come from its own capacity, according to Managing Director Sharvil Patel. He declined to name the companies and the amount Cadila has invested in developing the vaccine.
“We’re just waiting for phase II to push that part of the process,” Patel, the 42-year-old, third-generation head of family-owned Cadila, said
A total of 72,01,070 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far, pushing the?national recovery rate to 90.62 per cent while the case fatality rate stands at 1.50 per cent.
The number of active cases of coronavirus infection has remained below 7 lakh for five days in a row
There are 6,25,857 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country as on date which comprises 7.88 per cent of the total caseload,the data stated.
Those whose COVID-19 was confirmed with a gold standard PCR test had a less pronounced decline in antibodies, compared to people who had been asymptomatic and unaware of their original infection.
“It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the Covid-19 disease severity is higher,” an AstraZeneca spokesman told Reuters.
There are 6,68,154 active cases in the country which comprise 8.50 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
A total of 70,78,123 people have recuperated from the disease so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 90 per cent while the case fatality rate stands at 1.51 per cent.
While drug companies are making progress in the quest to find a cure for a disease that triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression, questions remain about how effective the first wave of vaccines would be, how easy they will be to distribute to more than 7 billion people and then how many will agree to take them.
Demand creation will have a significant effect on the enhanced production sentiments of producers,increased investments and employment creation. Investments in the infrastructure will refuel the growth trajectory with increased demand for commodities such as steel, cement and power which in turn will rejuvenate private investments and create new employment opportunities in the country,said PHDCCI President Sanjay Aggarwal
The vaccine cold chain hurdle is just the latest disparity of the pandemic weighted against the poor, who more often live and work in crowded conditions that allow the virus to spread, have little access to medical oxygen that is vital to Covid-19 treatment, and whose health systems lack labs, supplies or technicians to carry out large-scale testing.