Corona roundup: 3 vaccines at clinical trial stage, oxygen shortage in states & more

TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Sep 15, 2020, 19:54 IST

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Corona roundup: 3 vaccines at clinical trial stage, oxygen shortage in states & more

NEW DELHI: Three Covid-19 vaccines are at a clinical trial stage in the country and two indigenous vaccine candidates have completed phase one trial, Indian Council of Medical Research DG Dr Balram Bhargava said on Tuesday.
"Three vaccines are at the clinical trial stage in India. Zydus Cadila and Bharat Biotech have completed phase-I trials. Results are being analysed. They have started recruitment for the second phase," Dr Bhargava said at a press conference.
Here are the top developments:
INDIA

The Covid-19 death toll in India crossed 80,000, with the country recording the highest fatalities in the world over the past fortnight. The last 20,000 deaths have come in just 19 days, at an average of more than 1,000 per day. There were 1,070 deaths reported on Monday, taking the total toll to 80,737, as per data collated by TOI from state governments.

As Covid cases surge across India, some states already face an oxygen shortage. Many others are dependent for part or most of their oxygen supply on units outside the state.

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has said India's willingness to play a "big role" in manufacturing Covid-19 vaccine and allow it to supply to other developing countries will be a critical part in containing the pandemic globally. In an interview, Gates, whose foundation is focusing on fighting the pandemic, called it the "next biggest thing" the world has been confronted with after the World War.

TOI Exclusive: Bill Gates on India’s key role in vaccine manufacturing

The government said 1.04 crore migrant workers returned to their home states during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, but that it has no data of migrant workers who died, or were injured during the lockdown period.

The government prevented 14-29 lakh coronavirus cases and 37,000-78,000 deaths due to the disease by imposing the nationwide lockdown that was announced on March 24, the Lok Sabha was informed. Rai said by imposing the countrywide lockdown, India successfully blunted the aggressive spread of Covid-19.
Amid a spurt in Covid-19 cases, the government said India learnt from the experience of nations that suffered high mortalities and was able to "distribute the curve" of coronavirus infection due to a "very effective" lockdown and avoid the "huge peak" those countries had in terms of deaths. Asserting that India has one of the largest number of Covid-19 recoveries, the government said there are 14 states and Union territories where the number of active cases are less than 5,000.
India's Covid-19 recovery rate has risen to 78.28 per cent as a total of 38,59,399 people have recuperated, exceeding the active cases of coronavirus by 28,69,338 as on date, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday. There are 9,90,061 active cases of Covid-19 in the country which comprise 20.08 per cent of the total caseload, according to the health ministry data.

STATES

Maharashtra: Faced with a massive surge in active cases, civic authorities have asked the city’s major private hospitals to divert patients coming from Mumbai Metropolitan Region to jumbo Covid care centres. It has also asked the private hospitals to urgently discharge all asymptomatic positive patients if they are clinically stable.

Arunachal Pradesh: Chief minister Pema Khandu said that he tested positive for Covid-19 and is presently in home isolation in New Delhi. "I have undergone Covid test RT-PCR and have tested positive for Covid19. I am asymptomatic and feeling healthy," Khandu wrote on Twitter.
Rajasthan: The Rajasthan government revised the rates for Covid-19 tests conducted by private labs in the state from Rs 2,200 to Rs 1,200. Health minister Raghu Sharma said the prices of RT-PCR testing kits, reagents, VTM kits and other consumables have reduced and therefore it was decided to provide the testing facility to people at lower prices.
Telangana: The rapid increase in Covid cases has not only created a huge demand for oxygen cylinders but has also triggered an increase in prices. According to manufacturers, price of liquid oxygen, which was Rs 10 per cubic metre before the pandemic, has now gone up to Rs 50 per cubic metre.

Delhi: A sero-prevalance survey conducted in the first week of August in Delhi has found that 79 of the 257 people who recovered from Covid-19 did not have antibodies against the virus. About 15,000 representative samples were taken in the August 1-7 survey from 11 districtsÂ and tested for antibodies (IgG) against the virus.
Tripura: At least 531 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Tripura, pushing the tally in the state to 19,718, a health department official said. The death toll rose to 207 with seven more fatalities.
Uttarakhand: A steady surge in Covid-19 cases in Uttarakhand has led to a greater need for ICU admissions and thereby, a rise in the demand for oxygen support. State officials told TOI that the oxygen supply to Covid-19-dedicated hospitals increased to 6,000 cubic metres in July as against 2,000 cubic metres in June.

UP: The highest single-day spike of 113 Covid-19 fatalities took the death toll in Uttar Pradesh to 4,604, while the tally of coronavirus cases in the state rose to 3,24,036 with 6,895 more people testing positive for the viral disease. The state now has 67,335 active COVID-19 cases.
Goa: The already strained Covid funeral management system in South Goa is now bursting at the seams following a spike in deaths and not enough space to cremate the bodies.

Ladakh: The novel coronavirus toll in Ladakh rose to 41 with another death, while the number of cases climbed to 3,419 with 74 new infections, officials said. There are 903 active cases of the coronavirus disease.
Jharkhand: The district administration directed the Bokaro General Hospital to increase the number of Covid bed and assign newly-appointed doctors on Covid duty to check the rising number of infections in the district.

Nagaland: Single-day recoveries outnumbered new Covid-19 cases in Nagaland as 30 people were cured of the infection and 15 tested positive for the disease, Health minister S Pangnyu Phom said. The Covid-19 recovery rate in the state is 75.1 per cent. It had gone up to 87.82 per cent on August 8.
HP: Himachal Pradesh recorded eight more deaths due to coronavirus, pushing the toll to 89, while the infection count mounted to 10,060 with 143 fresh cases being reported. Of the new fatalities, three were reported from Mandi, two from Una and one each from Kangra, Shimla and Solan.
Puducherry: The Puducherry government tested 5,496 blood and swab samples, the highest ever in the Union territory, and identified 380 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of infections to 20,601.

WORLD

A China-developed coronavirus vaccine could be ready for the public as early as November, a Chinese official has told state television, as the global race to clear the final round of trials heats up. Chinese manufacturers have been bullish about development, with companies Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm even putting their vaccine candidates on display at a trade fair in Beijing this month.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 929,391 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December. At least 29,329,390 cases of coronavirus have been registered. Of these, at least 19,536,900 are now considered recovered.
Germany says it is providing up to 750 million euros ($892 million) to support three domestic pharmaceutical companies that are developing vaccines against the new coronavirus. Science minister Anja Karliczek said that the government has already agreed to provide BioNTech and CureVac with 375 million euros and 230-million euros respectively to develop their mRNA-based vaccines.
An estimated 87 million women and girls are living in extreme poverty in 2020 in India and this number is expected to increase to around 100 million by 2021 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, as per new data released recently by UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme.

After a break of nearly five months, Pakistan began its phased reopening of schools, in view of the falling number of new cornavirus cases in the country. While high schools, colleges and universities reopened on September 15, classes VI to VIII would start from September 23. Primary school will start from September 30, officials said.
A small coronavirus clinical study has been launched in the UK this week to explore the effects of delivering vaccines directly to the body's airways using an inhaler. Imperial College London researchers said they will assess the safety and effectiveness of two of the UK's coronavirus vaccines in development when inhaled into the lungs.
Israel to set to impose a national lockdown for the second time beginning from September 18, in view of the surge in coronavirus cases in the country. According to The Times of Israel, Israeli ministers on Sunday approved a three-week national lockdown as the country is reporting around 4,000 Covid-19 cases everyday.
Nepal will be resuming both domestic flights and inter-district vehicular movement from September 21, said Yogesh Bhattarai, minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation. Meanwhile, the health ministry has reported 1,170 new coronavirus cases till Monday, taking the national tally to 55,329.
The United Arab Emirates has announced it approved the emergency use for healthcare workers of a coronavirus vaccine still in the final phase of human trials. "The vaccine will be available to our first line of defense heroes who are at the highest risk of contracting the virus," said the government.

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