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Covid-19 during pregnancy linked with higher risk of preterm birth: Lancet study
1,016 claims settled till Aug 5 under PMGKP scheme for health workers fighting Covid: Govt
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP): Insurance Scheme for Health Care Workers Fighting COVID-19 was launched on March 30, 2020 to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs 50 lakh to 22.12 lakh health care providers including community health workers and private health workers who may have been in direct contact and care of Covid patients and may be at risk of being impacted by this.
The scheme is being implemented through an insurance policy from New India Assurance Company Limited, a public sector insurance company under Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance. Initially, the insurance policy had validity of 90 days which was extended twice and it finally ended on March 24, 2021 on the expiry of its validity.
All citizens in the country to get free COVID-19 vaccine: union minister Sarangi
The governments of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Puduchchery have already announced free of cost COVID vaccines for the people of their states, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has demanded free vaccine for all citizens across the country.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that all people will be provided free of cost vaccines. An estimated Rs 500 odd will be spent on vaccination of each person,
Changing global retirement planning
Global life expectancy went up by five years between 2010 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s. A post-pandemic boost to healthcare investment may make us all live longer, on average.
Asians naturally don’t want to die working, and many societies have some form of non-family safety net. Japan has a public long-term care insurance. In South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, retirees expect the government to play a role in ensuring income security.
Indians have an even keener wish. Given the country’s youthful demographics, constrained state finances and underdeveloped pension markets, even limited financial assistance for the elderly may have to be “purchased” by them from the next generation.
WHO reports third straight daily record in virus cases
According to the WHO’s figures, there have been more than 42.3 million confirmed cases of the respiratory disease, while nearly 1.15 million people have lost their lives, including 6,570 on Saturday.
Nearly half of Saturday’s new cases were registered in the WHO’s Europe region, which logged a one-day record high of 221,898 cases.
In total, more than nine million cases have now been registered in the region.
South Korea urges people to get flu vaccinations despite death tolls
“Vaccination offers far greater benefits compared to side effects, and both the WHO and domestic and overseas experts agree,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a briefing on Sunday, in a reference to the World Health Organization.
Last year, more than 1,500 elderly people died within seven days of receiving flu vaccines, but those deaths were not linked to the vaccinations, the government said.
As South Korea presses on with its inoculations, southeast Asia’s tiny city state of Singapore became one of the first nations this week to call a temporary halt to the use of two influenza vaccines, as a precaution.
India’s coronavirus infections rise by 45,148
India recorded its lowest death toll in about four months on Monday with 480 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 119,014.
U.S. breaks daily record for coronavirus cases with over 84,000 new infections
Health experts have not pinpointed the reason for the rise but have long warned that colder temperatures driving people inside, fatigue with COVID-19 precautions and students returning to schools and colleges, could promote the spread of the virus.
The United States has the most cases in the world at 8.5 million and the most fatalities with 224,000 lives lost. The United States has reported over the past week an average of 60,000 new cases per day, the highest seven-day average since early August.
Countries battle rising coronavirus cases as WHO sees ‘exponential’ rise
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had on Friday warned that “too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases and that is now leading to hospitals and intensive care units running close to or above capacity — and we’re still only in October.”
“We urge leaders to take immediate action to prevent further unnecessary deaths.”
Antibodies against coronavirus detectable up to seven months post COVID-19 onset, says study
“The results of this six months cross-sectional study show a classic pattern with a rapid increase of antibody levels within the first three weeks after COVID-19 symptoms and, as expected, a reduction to intermediate levels thereafter,” he added.
53,370 new cases take India’s COVID-19 tally to 78,14,682
The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.51 per cent.
According to ICMR, a cumulative total of 10,13,82,564 samples have been tested up to October 23, with 12,69,479 samples tested on Friday.
India seeks health worker database for possible COVID-19 vaccination
“Vaccine would be supplied by the government of India to all states for free,” Pradipta Mohapatra, the top health bureaucrat of Odisha state who attended a video conference with federal health officials, told Reuters.
“First to be vaccinated are the health workers both in government and private sector. The policy is uniform for the whole country.”
Mohapatra said states would have to provide details of such workers to the federal government by next Friday.