Coronavirus News highlights: Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine show no antiviral effect against Covid-19, says study

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. Remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) showed no antiviral activity in hospitalised patients with Covid-19 in Norway, according to a study published on Tuesday. Read more

. The World Health Organization's chief scientist on Monday advised against people mixing and matching Covid-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a "dangerous trend" since more data is needed about the health impact. Read more

. Kerala's Covid-19tally rises to 30,87,673 with 14,539 fresh cases. With 124 more fatalities, the state's death toll now stands at 14,810.

. Over 76 per cent of the eligible population of Tripura have been inoculated against Covid-19 and around 25 per cent got both doses of the vaccine, an official said on Tuesday. The positivity rate of coronavirus in the state currently is 4.3 per cent and it is likely to decline after two weeks. Of the 26.24 lakh people who are eligible for inoculation, over 20 lakh (76.22 per cent) have received the vaccine while 6.47 lakh (24.64 per cent) have taken both doses, National Health Mission (NHM) director in Tripura, Dr Siddhartha Shiv Jaiswal, said. ( PTI )

. A US-based study on six fully vaccinated people who got the Covid-19 infection after attending a wedding in Texas in April found that the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine recipients survived whereas the one who was administered Covaxin died. Read more

. Schools in Chandigarh will start functioning physically from July 19 for class 9 to class 12 subject to parents’ consent. Online mode of teaching will continue, according to the administration.

The Chandigarh Administration has also allowed thereopening of coaching institutes from July 19 with condition that all the eligible students andstaff are administered at least one dose of vaccine.The administration has also allowedcinema halls andspas to function with 50 per centcapacity.

. Vaccine production is rising gradually. It is a planned affair and with this increment, the vaccine is being made available, says Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog.

. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has urged that only a minimum number of people should participate in the annual Kawad Yatra and directed the strict implementation of the Covid-19 protocol, an official spokesman said here on Tuesday. Read more

. >Central teams have been deputed to 11 states including Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur to support them in Covid-19 management.Besides northeastern states, the teams have been sent to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Kerala andOdisha, as they were reflecting a growth trajectory.

>Nearly 73.4% of new Covid-19 cases reported so far in July are from Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha.

>55 districts in India have been reporting more than 10%Covid-19 positivity rate for the week ending July 13.

> The ministry warned against the gross violations of Covid-19-appropriate behaviour that have been observed in several parts of the country, saying that it can nullify gains made so far.

>A further surge in cases is being noted in some stateslike Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh. Similarly, there are some states, where cases have come down but are still being witnessed in the form of the plateau, Lav Agarwal, JointSecretary, Union Health Ministry, said.

. Scientists have used CRISPR gene-editing technology to successfully block the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in infected human cells, according to research released Tuesday that could pave the way for Covid-19 treatments. Read more

. A woman medico, who was India's first Covid-19 case, has tested positive again for the virus, health authorities in Thrissur said on Tuesday. "She is reinfected with Covid-19. Her RT-PCR is positive, antigen is negative. She is asymptomatic," Thrissur DMO Dr K J Reena told PTI . Her samples were tested as she was prepared to go to New Delhi for study purposes. Then the RT-PCR result turned out to be positive, she said. Read more

. The daily pace of Covid vaccinations has increased in about a dozen countries due to the arrival of the more contagious Delta variant and governments expanding their vaccination drives, a data analysis by Reuters found.

Israel's rate of vaccinations has seen a sharp pickup. The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Spain are all vaccinating at their fastest speed to date. Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are not far behind.

. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Kerala on July 16 to discuss the Covid-19 situation in these states. Read more

. During the ongoingCovid-pandemic,steroidshave been widely used in the treatment to deal with viral infection. However, after mucormycosis, Avascular Necrosis (AVN), a new health complication thatcauses deathofbonetissues, can be seen in manypost-Covidpatientsowing to the long-termuseof corticosteroids, especially in high doses.

. The Serum Institute of India (SII) will begin producing the Russian vaccine Sputnik V from September, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said on Tuesday.

. Vietnam will offer the coronavirus mRNA vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech as a second dose option for people first inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, its government said on Tuesday.

Vietnam's mass inoculation campaign is in its early stages, with less than 300,000 people fully vaccinated so far. It has so far used the AstraZeneca vaccine and last week took delivery of 97,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. - Reuters.

. A record number of French people have been booking appointments forCovid-19 jabs after President Emmanuel Macron announced restrictions on the unvaccinated, including mandatory tests to enter restaurants.

The head of the Doctolib website, the main site to book vaccination appointments, said traffic was at an all-time high following Macron's televised speech on Monday night.

"We recorded 20,000 appointments per minute, an absolute record since the start of the campaign, and it's continued during the night and into this morning," boss Stanislas Niox-Chateau told BFMTV. - AFP.

. Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday added 1,481 'backlog Covid-19 deaths', taking the states' death toll to 10,506.

The addition to the cumulative deaths came after the state government reportedly issued a letter to all district authorities urging them to report any deaths till June 30 which were not added so far on the government's panel.

. Australia will donate 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam soon, the Southeast Asian country said in a statement on Tuesday

After successfully containing the virus for months, Vietnam has recently brought in movement restrictions in major cities after a spike in infections, fuelled by the more infectious Delta variant first found in India. - Reuters.

. Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday hit out at the government's Covid-19 vaccination programme, terming its promise of vaccinating all adults by December end as an "empty boast".

He said the states of Odisha and Delhi are facing vaccine shortage and asked the Union health minister to spell out his plans to ensure regular and uninterrupted supply of vaccines to states.

"Vaccine shortage is a fact. Vaccine production is exaggerated. Vaccine import is a mystery. Vaccinating the entire adult population by December 2021 is an empty boast," he said. - PTI

. A group of citizens working towards the Covid-19 vaccination of the underprivileged people has now extended its reach to the transgender community in Maharashtra's Pune city.

As part of the 'VaxAll Initiative', 169 transgenders were vaccinated at a private hospital here on Monday, an official from the medical facility said.

. Four weeks ago, Israel was celebrating a return to normal life in its battle with Covid-19.

After a rapid vaccination drive that had driven down coronavirus infections and deaths, Israelis had stopped wearing face masks and abandoned all social-distancing rules.

Then came the more infectious Delta variant, and a surge in cases that has forced Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to reimpose some Covid-19 restrictions and rethink strategy.

. Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, which soft-launched Russia's Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India on May 14, has expanded the pilot project to over 50 other cities and towns in the country.

. With 31,443 new coronavirus infections, India's total tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 3,09,07,282, while the total recoveries crossed three crore, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

. Delhi has run out of Covishield stock and some Covid vaccination centres are likely to be closed on Tuesday, officials said on Monday.

The national capital had 19,000 doses of Covishield and 2,39,000 doses of Covaxin on Monday morning, according to a bulletin.

. The Delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in cases and deaths, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said, warning that the variant, now in over 104 countries, is expected to soon be the dominant Covid-19 strain circulating worldwide.

. For athletes competing at the Tokyo Games, the Olympic Village will be almost all they see, with strict coronavirus rules preventing them from leaving the compound except to train and compete.

. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the chief ministers of eight north-eastern states on Tuesday to discuss the Covid-19 situation amid concerns over the coronavirus numbers in the region.

. France and Greece on Monday joined countries that are reimposing tighter Covid-19 restrictions to stem the surge of Delta variant infections threatening the global fight against the pandemic.

The virus has killed more than four million people since first emerging in China in late 2019, and attempts to halt its spread are being hampered by mutations creating highly contagious variants such as Delta, first seen in India.

. In an interview with DH, noted scientist Gagandeep Kang talks about the expected third wave, the Delta variant and India’s vaccination strategy.

. Rich countries should not be ordering booster shots for their vaccinated populations while other countries have yet to receive Covid-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said deaths were again rising from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Delta variant was becoming dominant, and many countries had yet to receive enough vaccine doses to protect their health workers.

. New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, reported on Tuesday 89 locally acquired cases of Covid-19, a day after recording the biggest daily rise for this year, as officials fight to contain an outbreak in state capital Sydney.

. US regulators on Monday added a new warning to Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine about links to a rare and potentially dangerous neurological reaction, but said it's not entirely clear the shot caused the problem.

The Food and Drug Administration announced the new warning, flagging reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome, an immune system disorder that can causes muscle weakness and occasionally paralysis. Health officials described the side effect as a “small possible risk" for those getting the shot.

. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people on Monday to show caution when nearly all remaining Covid-19 restrictions are lifted in England next week, saying an increase in cases underlined that the pandemic was by no means over.

. Bharat Biotech on Monday said it has submitted all documents required for the emergency use listing (EUL) of its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin to the World Health Organization and expects a nod at the earliest.

Last week, World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan had said that the global health body is likely to take a decision on Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin in the emergency use listing within four to six weeks.

. Over 200 coronavirus patients at a civic hospital who were administered monoclonal antibodies showed a remarkable recovery following the treatment, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Monday.

. Panama's health ministry on Monday said it would allow the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 as emergency use for children 12 years old and older but gave no details on when it would start.

. Australian authorities warned Sydney residents to brace for an extended period of lockdown as another record daily number of Covid-19 infections in the country's largest city was expected to be announced Tuesday.

The Sydney outbreak, fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant, has been expanding rapidly despite the city of more than 5 million people entering its third week of lockdown. ( Reuters )

. Assam reports 2,575 new Covid-19 cases, 37 fatalities. Infection tally rises to 5,36,238, death toll at 4,865. The state now has 19,594 active cases of the disease. ( PTI )

. Panama's health ministry on Monday said it would allow the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 as emergency use for children 12 years old and older but gave no details on when it would start.

Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine is already authorized for those older than 16 years. ( Reuters )

Coronavirus News highlights: Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine show no antiviral effect against Covid-19, says study

Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine show no antiviral effect against Covid-19: Study

WHO warns against people mixing and matching Covid vaccines

Kerala reports 14,539 fresh Covid-19 cases, 124 deaths

The Uttarakhand government has decided to cancel Kawad Yatra this year in the view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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