In your evening news brief, From the Newsroom, Moderna Inc says its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective; World Health Organization head says a vaccine would not by itself stop the coronavirus pandemic; Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, has entered phase-3 trials; The wholesale price-based inflation rose to an eight-month high of 1.48 per cent in October; External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar says that world is gradually becoming aware of the global nature of international terror.
Here is the top news of November 16, 2020:
Moderna Inc said on Monday its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing Covid-19 based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial, becoming the second US company in a week to report results that far exceed expectations.
Together with Pfizer Inc's vaccine, also shown to be more than 90% effective, and pending more safety data and regulatory review, the United States could have two vaccines authorized for emergency use in December with as many as 60 million doses of vaccine available by the year's end.
The head of the World Health Organization said Monday that a vaccine would not by itself stop the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic is raging months after it broke out, with infections soaring past 54 million and claiming more than 1.3 million lives.
"A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them," director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "A vaccine on its own will not end the pandemic."
Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, being developed by Bharat Biotech is now undergoing phase-3 trials, Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Biotech said on Monday.
Speaking virtually at a programme organised by the Indian School of Business, Ella said the company is also working on another vaccine for Covid-19 which would be in the form of nasal drops and can be ready by next year.
"We partnered with ICMR for Covid-19 vaccine as we speak it entered the phase 3 trials," he said. Bharat Biotech is the only vaccine company in the world which has BSL3 production facility (Biosafety level 3), he said.
The wholesale price-based inflation rose to an eight-month high of 1.48 per cent in October, as manufactured products turned costlier.
The WPI inflation was 1.32 per cent in September and zero per cent in October last year.
This is the highest level of Wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation since February when it was 2.26 per cent. While food article prices softened in October, manufactured items witnessed hardening of prices, according to data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Monday.
Relentless efforts by India helped in keeping the spotlight on cross-border terrorism it faced and the world was gradually becoming aware of the global nature of international terror, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.
Without naming Pakistan, he said one of India's immediate neighbours was indulging in state-sponsored cross-border terrorism.
"We have in our immediate neighbourhood, a particularly egregious example of state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. The world is gradually becoming aware of the global nature of international terrorism," he said, in a virtual address at a programme organised by the Indian School of Business (ISB) here.
Source: PTI/ Reuters/ AFP
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