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U.S. will not lift travel restrictions, citing Delta variant -White House

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky said on Thursday the seven-day average of new cases in the United States was up 53% over the previous week. The Delta variant, which was first found in India, now comprises more than 80% of new cases nationwide and has been detected in more than 90 countries. Psaki also cited the fact that last week, the CDC urged Americans to avoid travel to the United Kingdom, given a jump in cases.

IMF cuts India’s GDP growth forecast to 9.5 pc for FY22

IMF joins a host of global and domestic agencies which have cut India’s growth estimates for the current fiscal. Last month, S&P Global Ratings projected a 9.5 per cent GDP growth in the current fiscal and 7.8 per cent in 2022-23.

IMF’s Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said IMF estimates the pandemic has reduced per capita incomes in advanced economies by 2.8 per cent, relative to pre-pandemic trends over 2020-2022, compared with an annual per capita loss of 6.3 per cent a year for emerging market and developing economies (excluding China).

SC asks Centre why no ban on disinfectant tunnels despite saying chemicals harmfuL

In the meeting it was recommended, “spraying of disinfectants on humans is not recommended under any circumstances. Spraying any chemical disinfectant is physically and psychologically harmful. Further, chemicals are harmful to human skin and the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, if needed”, it said.

External spraying of any chemical disinfectant does not kill a virus that has already entered the body of a person, who has earlier been exposed to the virus, the Centre said.

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“Pandemics,climate change,cyber top the current risk chart”:Munich Re

The coronavirus pandemic needs to be a lesson to us all: We must take action more rapidly and vigorously to ensure that we are not as unprepared as we were with COVID-19 for risks such as cyber attacks or climate change. It is possible to better safeguard against the financial consequences of such risks for the benefit of humanity. It needs to be clear that systemic risks like pandemics also require systemic countermeasures – for instance, the creation of state-backed risk pools to make uninsurable risks bearable,said Torsten Jeworrek,Member of the Board of Munich Re.

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The costs of India’s Covid crisis are too high

It’s now likely that the pandemic has, as feared, moved out of urban areas into India’s vast, and crowded, rural hinterland. Here, health services will be far less equipped for a surge in cases — and a distant state machinery itself may not know of localized outbreaks till it is too late.The government,faced with a crashing economy and with its cupboards completely bare, has no real way to directly improve the welfare of those most affected. Programs like Britain’s furlough scheme or the U.S.’s $600 per week unemployment aid are a distant dream in India.

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Select intl passengers can avail COVID-19 tests on arrival at entry airports

If the RT-PCR test result is negative, the international passenger will be allowed to catch his or her connecting domestic flight and he or she will not need to undergo any institutional quarantine at the destination city, the ministry’s order said.

The test result will come in a maximum of seven hours. Till the results come, the passenger will have to remain in the waiting lounge of the entry airport, the order noted.

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