The virus is spreading quickly through unvaccinated populations, especially in the Deep South. Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi have had hospitals overrun with patients.
The US first crossed the 100,000 average number in November and peaked at about 250,000 in early January before bottoming out in late June.
The World Food Program sounded the alarm further last week in a joint report with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, warning that “conflict, the economic repercussions of Covid-19 and the climate crisis are expected to drive higher levels of acute food insecurity in 23 hunger hot spots over the next four months,” mostly in Africa but also Central America, Afghanistan and North Korea.
Modi further directed that keeping in view the geographical span and diversity of the country, the access to the vaccine should be ensured speedily.
National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) in consultation with state governments and all relevant stakeholders have prepared and presented a detailed blueprint of vaccine storage, distribution, and administration.
However, whether the shot can safely protect people from the COVID-19 disease that has killed more than 1 million people worldwide will only become clear when final Phase III trials – which are ongoing outside China – are complete.
“Seventy-four per cent of India”s executives said their business continues to use offline workflows, the lowest among all other countries surveyed (US 89 per cent, UK 98 per cent, Australia 98 per cent),” said ServiceNow Managing Director (India and SAARC) Arun Balasubramanian.
The survey was conducted during September 1-10 among 900 C-suite executives and 8,100 office professionals from companies of 500 or more employees in countries including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, India, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.
In India, The Work Survey was conducted amoung 100 C-suite leaders and 1,000 employees from various industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, telecommunications and public sector.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) has remained in the “very poor” category all week due to slowing wind speeds that allow deadly pollutants such as PM2.5 particles to remain suspended in the air.“Air pollution will weaken the respiratory tract, lung functions will be compromised. The probability of catching COVID-19 would increase substantially,” said Vivek Nangia, principal director and head, Max Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi.
The rating agency has already downgraded or cut the outlooks on nearly 60 countries this year, but only relatively few have been higher-rated richer nations.
With some though piling on 15-20 points of debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) – amounts that would normally take four or five years to accumulate – and locked into higher spending for the next 3-5 years, that could be about to change.
The associated lockdowns, restrictions and continued uncertainty have caused investments, trade, and remittance flows to plummet, eroded jobs and human capital, kept children out of school, and pressured food and medical supply chains, it said.
The monetary institutions warned that the humanitarian crisis can further exacerbate fragility, conflict, and violence as well as intensify risks, including in small island states. The economic crisis is threatening the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable populations, including women-led households, youth and the elderly, refugees and displaced people.
Equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines globally will be key to avoiding long lasting scars on the world economy, the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee said in its statement.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate due COVID-19 was recorded at 1.52 per cent.
“India continues to have one of the lowest COVID-19 deaths per million population globally, currently pegged at 80,” the ministry said.According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 9,22,54,927 samples have been tested up to October 15, with 10,28,622 samples being tested on Thursday.
“What needs to be done? Well, clearly protecting the most vulnerable people, well-targeted support, protecting small and medium sized enterprises/firms so they do not collapse, and using what the government is now aiming to do, a further injection of support in a way that gives a better chance to turn a corner,” Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva said.
Malpass said that the world was currently experiencing a K-shaped recovery.
For the developing countries, and especially the poorest developing countries, that downward leg in the K is an increasingly desperate recession or depression that is facing people in the poorest countries because of the loss of jobs, the loss of income, and also the loss of remittances coming from workers, working outside the country, Malpass said.