The number of active COVID-19 cases in India has fallen to below 1.5 lakh according to official figures. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday that active COVID-19 cases comprise just 1.34 percent of the total number of confirmed cases of the disease. In 21 states and union territories, no deaths […]
COVID-19
COVID-19 lockdowns reduced concentration of air pollutants in Indian cities
For a crisis of such a magnitude as COVID-19, it seems arguably grotesque to seek out a silver lining. However, it is undeniable that India’s lockdowns in response to the pandemic had a positive impact when it came to air pollution. Five cities with ordinarily high rates of pollution showed a temporary reduction in particulate […]
UN peacekeepers get vaccine boon from India
A spokesperson for United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed that the Secretary-General is “extremely grateful” after India granted UN peacekeepers 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses. Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced the gift during a meeting of the UN Security Council. India, Jaishankar said, has already supplied vaccines to 25 countries and anticipates […]
Vaccine stockpiling flagged by group
An anti-poverty advocacy group has flagged COVID-19 vaccine stockpiling by high-income countries in a new report. An analysis by the ONE Campaign, a movement which seeks to end poverty and preventable disease by 2030, said a cohort of wealthy nations had stockpiled more than a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses than required. The report examined contracts […]
Infectious disease
India faces the challenge of a range of infectious diseases. While deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are becoming increasingly prevalent, huge numbers of Indians continue to die annually due to infectious disease. This dual burden of disease has the potential to put a substantial amount of stress on an already underfunded and under resourced health […]
Vaccine nationalism controversy continues with UN outcry
The controversy over so-called ‘vaccine nationalism’ continues. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called out in harsh terms unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, at the expense of poorer nations. In remarks delivered to a high-level Security Council meeting, Guterres lambasted that the “progress on vaccinations has been wildly uneven and unfair. Just ten countries have administered […]
COVID-19 cases much higher than official figures?
A study of Karnataka households suggests India’s true number of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic may be markedly higher than the official tally. The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, collected data from a representative sample of households spanning twenty districts of the southern state, SciDev reports. The research indicated that […]
Where is India in its fight against COVID-19?
Amidst its ongoing fight against COVID-19, a considerable drop in cases in India has been observed over the past few months. However, while there is some cautious optimism, the emergence of new variants is cause for concern. India’s fight against COVID-19: Why are cases dropping? Each day, at the peak of its outbreak, the country […]
Vaccine nationalism, vaccine diplomacy, and India
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who will assume the role of director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) next month, has cast a spotlight on vaccine nationalism and warned that progress in combating COVID-19 will be hindered without equitable access to vaccines. Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian-American development economist, said “both on a human health basis, as well as an […]
Indian COVID vaccinations at sixty lakh, setting another record
As of Monday, India has vaccinated more than sixty lakh people against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19. The country’s immunisation programme, touted as the world’s largest by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, succeeded in inoculating 5,412,270 healthcare workers and 623,390 other frontline workers as of Monday evening. […]