A Q&A with vaccine scientist Peter Hotez, author of 'Preventing the Next Pandemic', on developing a low-cost Covid vaccine, and why Omicron won’t be the end of the pandemic.
Additional Health Secretary Arti Ahuja cited a decline in Covid testing in the states and said strategic testing can avert the progression of the disease to a severe category.
The active Covid cases comprise 4.62% of total infections, while the national recovery rate has decreased to 94.09% with 310 fresh fatalities, the health ministry said.
Going by international experience of Omicron, govt expects it is possible that Covid cases requiring hospitalisation may dip even lower than 5-10% estimated earlier.
Daily growth rates in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand & Bengal are now declining. But this doesn’t mean cases have peaked — that’s expected to happen later this month.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 20-23% of Covid patients needed hospitalisation during 2nd wave. He also asked states to keep a daily watch on the situation of cases.
The daily positivity rate has reached 13.29%, while the weekly positivity rate was at 7.92%. The country also recorded 4,033 new Omicron cases in the last 24 hours.
December oil imports from Russia may drop nearly 50%, but Indian buyers already shifting to non-designated Russian entities and opaque trading channels to keep Russian oil flowing.
New Delhi is interested in firming up bilateral agreements for increased trade, mobility, upgrade of Su-30 MKI fighters and the increased range of BrahMos supersonic missiles.
The India-South Africa series-defining fact is the catastrophic decline of Indian red ball cricket where a visiting team can mock us with the 'grovel' word.
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