The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described Delta to be as contagious as chickenpox and could cause severe illness, the New York Times reported, citing an internal CDC document. read more
Detected in some 96 countries, the Delta variant, first identified in India, has become a concern globally, prompting even countries with advanced vaccination programmes such as the United States, Israel and Singapore to re-impose some restrictions.
Category:
Pandemic
Latest
Israel’s president gets third COVID-19 shot, urges boosters for over-60s
“Israel is a pioneer in going ahead with the third dose for older people of the age of 60 and above. The fight against the COVID pandemic is global. The only way we can defeat COVID is together,” Bennett said. The booster campaign, with shots administered by health maintenance organizations, will effectively turn Israel into a testing ground for a third dose before approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
No multilateral protocol at present on international travel of Covid vaccinated people: Govt
Most countries require a negative COVID-19 test report, along with compliance with country specific COVID protocols, the minister stated.
”While there have been multilateral discussions, including under the framework of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), regarding COVID-19 vaccination certificates, no multilateral arrangements in this regard have been reached so far.”
Insurers should pay quickly after UK pandemic ruling: Watchdog
“Our objective remains to ensure that slow payment does not exacerbate financial pressures on policyholders,” the letter from Interim Chief Executive Christopher Woolard said, adding that the FCA could use its regulatory powers if it thought insurers were acting too slowly.
The lawsuit has attracted a lot of attention because it is estimated to affect 370,000 businesses, 60 insurers and billions of pounds in insurance claims.
Phased unlocking since June 1 has revived economic activities: Govt
With the phased unlocking of the Indian economy since June 1, 2020, high frequency economic indicators like PMI Manufacturing, index of eight core industries, E-way bills, Kharif sowing, power consumption, railway freight, cargo traffic and passenger vehicle sales have recovered and indicate growing convergence with previous year’s activity levels,” Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in the Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha passes bill to punish those attacking Healthcare workers
The healthcare service personnel include public and clinical healthcare service providers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical workers and community health workers; any other persons empowered under the act to take measures to prevent the outbreak of the disease or spread thereof; and any persons declared as such by the state government, by notification in the official gazette.
Phase-III trial of Oxford vaccine to begin in Pune next week
“The phase-III trial of ”Covishield” vaccine will begin at Sassoon hospital from next week. It is likely to start on Monday. Some volunteers have already come forward for the trial. Around 150 to 200 volunteers will be administered the vaccine candidate dose,” he said.
Biden rejects Trump claim that COVID-19 vaccine is imminent
Trump again said on Wednesday that a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, could be ready for distribution ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Most health experts, including Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have said a vaccine will likely not be widely available until mid-2021.COVID-19 has killed more than 195,000 people in the United States, the most of any country.
Weekly coronavirus cases top 300,000 in Europe, WHO issues warning
Roughly 30 million people have been infected by the virus worldwide and more than 900,000 have died, triggering some of the deepest recessions on record and disrupting global supply chains,
European countries from Denmark to Greece announced new restrictions on Friday to curb surging coronavirus infections in some of their largest cities, while Britain was reported to be considering a new national lockdown.Cases in the United Kingdom almost doubled to 6,000 per day in the latest reporting week, hospital admissions rose and infection rates soared across parts of northern England and London,
Israel’s government announced Saturday it would impose a three-week nationwide lockdown in an effort to stem one of the world’s highest novel coronavirus infection rates after a surge in cases.
U.N. food chief urges Bezos, other billionaires to step up to help world’s starving
Globally some 270 million people were headed toward the brink of starvation and WFP hopes to reach 138 million people this year, Beasley told the U.N. Security Council
IRDA to unveil standard Term Policy and covers for MSME and small dwellings soon:Khuntia
The guidelines regarding the standard products for term plans, dwelling and MSMEs will be rolled out soon by the regulator, said Subhash C Khuntia, chairman Irdai, while addressing CIIs 22nd Insurance and Pension Summit on Thursday.
The segment regulator is also looking to introduce the risk-based solvency for the insurance companies in next three years.
The regulator also believes that negative growth seen in the new premiums for insurance industry since March, will improve in the months to come.
GIC Re to manage Rs 75k cr Pandemic Pool,mandatory cover & parametric claim payment:IRDA Panel
Pandemic pool,with public-private-government participation, to cater 4 crore MSME workers,around Rs2000 crores of capacity expected from the industry and a substantial capacity coming from government in the form of backstop. Multiple trigger mechanism will be set separately for an epidemic and a pandemic event.Participation will be mandatory for the sectors which have been covered under the pool. This can be provided as a Standalone Product coverage for the event or as an add-on with the existing products.
“We are now putting the report on the formation of Pandemic Pool for the public feed-back and will soon set up the Pool,” said SC Khuntia, chiarman, IRDAI..
Facebook says will no longer show health groups in recommendations
Misleading health content has racked up an estimated 3.8 billion views on Facebook over the past year, peaking during the coronavirus pandemic, advocacy group Avaaz said in a report here last month.
Facebook, under pressure to curb such misinformation on its platform, has made amplifying credible health information a key element of its response. It also removes certain false claims about COVID-19 that it determines could cause imminent harm.