Serum Institute gets DCGI nod to resume clinical trial of Oxford vaccine

DCGI gave permission to Serum Institute to resume clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the country

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr V G Somani on Tuesday gave permission to Serum Institute of India to resume clinical trial of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the country while revoking its earlier order of suspending any new recruitment for phase two and three trial.

The DCGI, however, put certain conditions like taking extra care during screening, providing additional information in informed consent and close monitoring for adverse events during follow-up of the study which have to be “scrupulously” followed by Serum Institute of India (SII). SII has also been asked to submit to the DCGI’s office details of medication used in accordance with the protocol for management of adverse events.

The DCGI had on September 11 directed Serum Institute of India to suspend any new recruitment in the phase two and three clinical trial of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate till further orders in the backdrop of pharma giant AstraZeneca pausing the clinical trials in other countries because of ”an unexplained illness” in a participant in the study. On Saturday, British-Swedish biopharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said clinical trials for their coronavirus vaccine have resumed in the UK after the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority’s (MHRA) confirmed that the trials were safe…

Record 36,145 Covid-19 patients recover in a single-day, says govt

The Covid-19 case fatality rate has further dropped to 2.31 per cent

As many as 36,145 patients have recuperated from Covid-19 in a span of 24 hours, the highest recorded in a day, pushing the recovery rate to 63.92 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. The Covid-19 case fatality rate has further dropped to 2.31 per cent, the ministry said. The total recoveries has surged to 885,576 so far, as India’s Covid-19 tally climbed to 1,385,522 on Sunday.

Also Read : Covid-19 Factoid: Delhi leads in tests, Bihar lags as India cases zoom

More patients are recovering and their total number exceeds active infections by 417,694. “Recovered cases are 1.89 times the active cases,” the ministry said. Besides, for the first time a record number of more than 440,000 tests have been conducted in a single day. Also, the number of tests for detection of Covid-19 has crossed the 16-million mark…

Coronavirus protein redesigned in lab, may enable stable vaccine production

Scientists have redesigned a key protein from coronavirus which it uses to enter and infect human cells, an innovation that may lead to faster and more stable production of vaccines

Scientists have redesigned a key protein from the novel coronavirus which it uses to enter and infect human cells, an innovation that may lead to much faster and more stable production of vaccines against COVID-19. According to the researchers, including those from the University of Texas at Austin in the US, most COVID-19 vaccine candidates train the human immune system to recognise a key protein on the surface of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 called the spike (S) protein to fight infection.

In the current study, published in the journal Science, the scientists designed a new version of this protein which can be produced up to 10 times more in cells than that of an earlier synthetic S protein already in use in multiple COVID-19 vaccines. “Depending on the type of vaccine, this improved version of the protein could reduce the size of each dose or speed up vaccine production,” said study senior author Jason McLellan from the University of Texas at Austin. “Either way, it could mean more patients have access to vaccines faster,” McLellan said.

The new protein, dubbed HexaPro, is also more stable than the team’s earlier version of the S protein, which according to the scientists should make it easier to store and transport. They said the new S protein also keeps its shape under heat stress, during storage at room temperature, and through multiple freeze-thaws — qualities that are desirable in a robust vaccine.

Covid-19 lockdown: Passenger trains to be back on tracks from Tuesday

Initially 15 set of trains will be started and online bookings for these will begin from 4 pm on Monday

The Indian Railways will run fully air conditioned passenger trains from Tuesday (May 12) after about a month and a half of shutting the service in its 167-year history. Initially 15 set of trains will be started and online bookings for these will begin from 4 pm on Monday (May 11) on the website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the government said in a statement on Sunday.

“Indian Railways plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12 with 15 pairs of trains (30 return journeys),” the government said. These special trains will be run from New Delhi, and connect Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ranchi, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad, and Jammu Tawi. Fares will be equivalent to that of Rajdhani trains.

ALSO READ: Won’t cut flat price after lockdown is lifted: Godrej Properties MD

“Ticket booking counters at railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter stations. It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face coverings and undergo screenings at departure,” the statement said, adding that only those who don’t show any signs of coronavirus disease would be allowed to board…Read More

Covid-19 may be sensitive to heat but let's not bet on it, say studies

Covid-19 may have a temperature sweet spot at which it spreads fastest but it may not react to heat the same way other pathogens do

Coronavirus’ (Covid-19) sensitivity to temperature has many people searching at summers with excessive hopes as the outbreak continues to rage on. Recent studies, however, aren’t as optimistic. Research by means of a group from south China’s Sun Yat-sen University, sought to determine how the spread of the virus might be affected via modifications in season and temperature, in keeping with a report in The South China Morning Post.

“Temperature could significantly trade Covid-19 transmission,” it said. “And there is probably a fine temperature for viral transmission.” This temperature ‘candy spot’ — an most beneficial level at which the outbreak spreads faster – has given upward push to assumptions that seasonal adjustments will lessen the outbreak, the newspaper reported quoting the take a look at.

The “virus is enormously sensitive to high temperature”, which could save you it from spreading in warmer international locations, whilst the opposite seemed to be proper in chillier climes, the observe stated. As a result, it counseled that “nations and regions with a lower temperature adopt the strictest manipulate measures”. A separate have a look at with the aid of a collection of researchers from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, located that sustained transmission and rapid increase in infections was viable in quite a number humidity conditions – from cold and dry provinces in China to tropical locations.

“Weather alone, [such as an] increase of temperature and humidity because the spring and summer months arrive within the Northern Hemisphere, will not always cause declines in case counts with out the implementation of full-size public health interventions,” stated the examine, which was posted in February…Read More