The global vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is scaling up. However, the vaccine drive continues to miss out many countries. Since the vaccine drive commenced in December, more than 345 million vaccine doses have been administered. India began its own vaccine drive in January and, as of Sunday, has administered 29.74 million doses. 24.31 million people […]
COVID-19
Will COVID-19 become endemic in India?
COVID-19 cases have fallen considerably in India since their peak in mid-September of last year. However, India, as with many other countries, is reaching a fairly consistent low point that has had many speculating that the disease will not be eradicated but rather remain endemic in the country. Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain said on […]
“Lack of fear” of COVID-19 leading to a resurgence?
India has mounted a considerable effort against COVID-19 — one that has seen official numbers largely plummet. However, as individuals yearn to go back to their daily lives, some have speculated that a “lack of fear” of COVID-19 could lead to a resurgence. Indeed, in Maharashtra, this may already be the case. According to Union […]
COVID-19 variants a concern following new research
Research indicates that emerging COVID-19 variants may be able to escape the protection offered by antibodies and vaccines. The research, conducted by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the U.S., studied COVID-19 variants first identified in Brazil, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. As explained in a release, the “research…indicates that […]
Vaccination campaign ramps up in India
India’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign has scaled up substantially in the last two days, a boon in the fight against the pandemic. Wednesday saw almost ten lakh shots administered and Thursday almost eleven lakh given out. This marks a significant increase from the recent average of approximately five lakh doses given out a day. The uptick […]
Covaxin shows promising results in trials
Covaxin, India’s homegrown COVID-19 vaccine candidate, has shown promising results in interim phase-III trials. The vaccine, manufactured by Hyderabad, Telangana-headquartered firm Bharat Biotech, demonstrated an almost 81 percent interim clinical efficacy according to the company following the release of results from the interim phase-III trials on Wednesday. “Covaxin demonstrates high clinical efficacy trend against COVID-19 […]
COVID-19 cases up by seventeen lakh
India’s COVID-19 cases increased by more than seventeen lakh on Wednesday, the highest in 53 days. The spurt in COVID-19 cases came alongside 89 daily new fatalities. India’s active COVID-19 caseload represents 1.55 percent of total infections according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Upticks in new cases are being seen in […]
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 […]
Zero discrimination when it comes to health worldwide
Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS and under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, has issued a forceful call for equity in global access to COVID-19 vaccines, urging zero discrimination when it comes to health. Her message comes on the occasion of Zero Discrimination Day, where “UNAIDS is highlighting the urgent need to take action to end […]
Mutations detected in COVID-19 variants in India
Indian researchers have identified more than 24,000 mutations in well in excess of 7,000 variants of COVID-19 circulating in India, IANS reports. Multiple countries have identified new variants of COVID-19, among them the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil, and South Africa. The detection of new variants, many of which are considered to be more transmissible and […]