Coronavirus Highlights: India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage crosses 155.92 crore

German health officials warned on Friday the coronavirus remained a serious threat as the Omicron variant is set to completely replace Delta in the coming days in a nation whose vaccination rates lag much of western Europe.

Omicron often leads to a milder course of disease, but any positive gains are cancelled out by there being far too many cases, senior virologist Christian Drosten said, underscoring the need for vaccinations. - Reuters.

. Although current Covid vaccines provide a high level of protection against severe disease and death caused by variants of concern (VOC), health experts believe that new vaccines that can prevent infection and transmission are needed.

All major Covid-19 vaccines have been developed against the original strain of SARS CoV-2. While these have proved highly effective, they need to be reinvented to combat newer variants like Omicron which has the potential to escape vaccine immunity.

A booster dose, every six months may not be a sustainable idea, the experts contended. - IANS.

. The estimated range of England's Covid-19 reproduction "R" number is between 1.1 and 1.5, the UK Health Security Agency said on Friday, adding that cases might be growing by slightly less each day.

An R number between 1.1 and 1.5 means that for every 10 people infected, they will on average infect between 11 and 15 other people. Last week the range was 1.2 to 1.5.

The daily growth of infections was estimated at between +1% to +5%, compared to +3% and +6% the previous week. - Reuters.

. Uttar Pradesh reported 16,016 Covid-19 cases, taking the tally of active cases in the state to 84,440, while three more fatalities pushed the death toll to 22,949, according to an official statement released on Friday evening.

With these fresh cases, the total number of cases recorded in the state so far stood at 18,01,231. - PTI.

Of the three deaths, two were reported from Meerut and one from Gautam Buddh Nagar, it said.

. The Kerala High Court on Friday decided to go back to functioning in virtual mode from January 17 due to the spike in Covid cases.

Ernakulam district, where the court is located, has been recording the second highest number of fresh cases for the past one week.

The decision to go virtual was taken by the Administrative Committee of the High Court chaired by Chief Justice S Manikumar and a discussion was held with the Bar Association also. - IANS.

. A safety panel of the European drug regulator on Friday recommended adding a rare spinal inflammation called transverse myelitis as a side effect of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.

European Medicines Agency's safety committee also recommended a similar warning to be included for Johnson & Johnson's one shot vaccine.

The committee, after reviewing data, concluded that a causal relationship between these two vaccines and transverse myelitis is at least a reasonable possibility. - Reuters.

. Israel has detected some 20 cases of a new sub-variant of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid.

The sub-variant, known as BA.2, was discovered during genetic sequencing of Covid patients. It contains more mutations than the original Omicron and may be more violent.

While scientists were concerned about the new development, the danger posed by the new sub-variant is still uncertain. - IANS.

. Ladakh reported 124 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the active number of cases to 598, while the total tally in the union territory has gone up to 22,773, officials said on Friday.

Twenty eight patients were discharged from hospitals in Ladakh, taking the total number of recoveries to 22,153, they said.

Of the 124 fresh cases, 104 were reported from Leh district and 20 from Kargil. - PTI.

. A Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine booster shot is 85 per centeffective in protecting against being hospitalised by the Omicron variant for 1-2 months after it is received, the head of South Africa's Medical Research Council (SAMRC) said on Friday.

Glenda Grey presented the findings of a SAMRC study at a South African health ministry briefing on the Covid-19 fourth wave, which has been driven by the new variant.

"We saw an 85 per centvaccine effectiveness and we saw that this kind of vaccine effectiveness is maintained for up to two months," she said. We are very happy to report very high levels of vaccine effectiveness against Omicron."

. Poorer nations last month rejected more than 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines distributed by the global programme COVAX, mainly because of a rapidly approaching expiry date, a UNICEF official said on Thursday.

The big figure shows the difficulties of vaccinating the world's population, despite growing supplies of shots, with COVAX getting closer to delivering 1 billion doses to nearly 150 countries.

"More than a 100 million have been rejected just in December alone," Etleva Kadilli, director of the supply division at the U.N. agency, told lawmakers at the European Parliament, adding that the main reason for rejection was their short shelf life.

. World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic will not be able to defend his Australian Open crown this year after the Australian Immigration Minister, Alex Hawke, annulled his visa on Friday afternoon.

The nine-time Australian Open champion, who has won consecutive titles at Melbourne Park since 2019, had initially been granted a medical exemption to compete in the tournament.

The 34-year-old Djokovic, winner of 20 Grand Slam titles, had earlier this week won the legal battle in his bid to remain in Australia, with a court ordering his immediate release from immigration detention.

. A World Health Organization (WHO) panel on Friday strongly recommended baricitinib, a drug used for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, for patients with severe or critical Covid-19 in combination with corticosteroids.

The recommendation by WHO Guideline Development Group of international experts, published in The BMJ, is based on evidence that it improves survival and reduces the need for ventilation, with no observed increase in adverse effects.

The WHO experts noted that baricitinib, a type of drug known as a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, has similar effects to other arthritis drugs called interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitors. The health body advised not to use both drugs at the same time, but to choose one based on cost, availability, and clinician experience.

.Delhi is expected to record less than 25,000 coronavirus cases on Friday, Health Minister Satyendra Jain said, while stating that almost 75 per cent of those who have succumbed to the infection were unvaccinated."Delhi is expected to record less than 25,000 cases today," Jain told reporters.The city had on Thursday reported 28,867 Covid-19 cases, the sharpest single-day spike since the pandemic began, and 31 deaths, while the positivity rate surged to 29.21 per cent, according to the health department data.Delhi’s previous biggest daily jump of 28,395 cases was recorded on April 20 last year..After a six-week surge, Africa's fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic driven primarily by the Omicron variant, is flattening, marking the shortest-lived surge to date in the continent where cumulative cases have now exceeded 10 million, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.Weekly cases having plateaued in the week ending on January 9, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement issued by the WHO's regional office for Africa as saying on Thursday..Indonesia has approved Merck & Co Inc's Covid-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir for emergency use, the country's food and drug agency said in a statement.A batch of 400,000 pills had arrived in Indonesia, health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said this week. The pill was jointly developed by US-based Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. . India has reported 2,64,202 fresh Covid-19 cases and 1,09,345 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Active case stand at 12,72,073 with daily positivity rate at 14.78 per cent. Confirmed cases of Omicron stand at 5,753.

.Pfizer Inc said on Friday it applied for Japanese government approval for its oral Covid-19 treatment.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said last month he spoke with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to secure 2 million doses of Pfizer's antiviral pill.. Bengaluru has recorded 12 Covid deaths since January 8 and most of them were senior citizens.

Coronavirus Highlights: India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage crosses 155.92 crore

Reports alleging a ‘significant undercount’ of actual Covid-19 death toll in first 2 waves are baseless, misleading & ill-informed, says Centre

India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage crosses 155.92 crore

Covid still a serious threat, warn German health officials

Vaccines need to be updated to combat Covid variants: Experts

Karnataka reports 28,723 Covid-19 cases, 3,105 recoveries and 14 deaths; active cases at 1,41,337

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