Covaxin supply suspension by WHO not to impact travel by people: MEA

 WHO suspending the supply of Covaxin through UN procurement agencies over “process and facility upgrade” requirements will not have an impact on travel

World Health Organization (WHO) suspending the supply of Covaxin through UN procurement agencies over “process and facility upgrade” requirements will not have an impact on travel by those who have taken the COVID vaccine, Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Answering a query about the impact on people travelling abroad due to the present suspension of Covaxin supplies, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that in terms of their travel, the vaccine continues to be recognized under the emergency use listing of WHO and various countries have already accepted it.

“I think there has been a statement issued by Bharat Biotech as well as from WHO, both of which are very clear in emphasizing that the vaccine is safe, its effective. Its efficacy is not in question,” Bagchi said at the regular media briefing. “There is something about process issues that are being worked out between the company and WHO. You will have to ask them about the details,” he added.

India in talks to join COVAX vaccine allocation scheme, says WHO official

The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance are leading the COVAX facility, aimed at helping buy and distribute vaccination shots against the novel coronavirus fairly around the world

The World Health Organization is in talks with India about joining the “COVAX” global vaccine allocation plan, a senior WHO adviser said on Monday. “India is certainly eligible, like all countries in the world, to be part of the COVAX facility and discussions are ongoing in that regard,” Bruce Aylward told a briefing in Geneva. “We would welcome Indian participation …India has extensive experience (with vaccines).”

The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance are leading the COVAX facility, aimed at helping buy and distribute vaccination shots against the novel coronavirus fairly around the world. But some countries that have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the United States, have said they will not join COVAX.

Covid-19 pandemic 'once in a century', but still 'in our hands': WHO

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press conference that the world has never seen anything like this pandemic for decades

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the COVID-19 pandemic is “a once-in-a-century health crisis,” but it is still “in our hands.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press conference on Monday that the world has never seen anything like this pandemic for decades, and its effects might last for decades more, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Since we started probably recording, this is the first ever coronavirus-caused pandemic which has two dangerous combinations: it moves fast, and at the same time it’s a killer,” the WHO chief explained. However, he noted, although the crisis is very severe, there are still solutions and hopes. “I’m not saying there is no solution now. Whatever happens in the next few months or years, I also believe that it’s in our hands,” he said.

“Since the outbreak started, many countries have shown that it can be controlled, or serious transmission can be suppressed,” Tedros said, adding that he has mentioned many such countries in the past, including Spain, Italy, China and South Korea.

Donald Trump blames China's 'secrecy, cover-up' for spread of Covid-19

Trump has expressed disappointment over China's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the past

China must be held fully accountable for its "secrecy, deception and cover-up" that allowed it to spread the coronavirus all over the world, US President Donald Trump has said, upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. Addressing the nation for a second time in as many days on the occasion of 244th Independence Day on Saturday, President Trump touted the country's "progress" against the Covid-19 disease despite a nationwide spike in the number of coronavirus cases.

China must be held fully accountable for its "secrecy, deception and cover-up" that allowed it to spread the coronavirus all over the world, US President Donald Trump has said, upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. Addressing the nation for a second time in as many days on the occasion of 244th Independence Day on Saturday, President Trump touted the country's "progress" against the Covid-19 disease despite a nationwide spike in the number of coronavirus cases.

On Friday, Trump made a direct appeal to disaffected white voters four months before Election Day, accusing protesters who have pushed for racial justice of engaging in a "merciless campaign to wipe out our history.".. Read More

WHO waits for China to share info on new cases; notes 100,000 cases daily

Tedros noted that it took over two months to reach 100,000 reported cases now that is a daily norm

The emergencies chief of the World Health Organization said he fully expects China to share the genetic sequences from the resurgence of coronavirus that have recently hit Beijing, even though they have not yet done so. Chinese officials said that their examination of the virus shows it originated in Europe, but they have not yet shared the sequences with WHO or the global scientific community.

“We fully expect our colleagues in China will share that information,” said Dr. Michael Ryan at a press briefing on Monday. Ryan said the finding that this virus genome may represent a strain commonly transmitting in Europe is significant but that verifying the hypothesis requires the sequences be shared.

ALSO READ: WHO concerned about Covid-19 impact on women, children, adolescents

Ryan said the new cluster of cases in China was of particular concern given that Beijing had gone 50 days without a new case, but expressed confidence Chinese authorities would be able to contain it. In a story published earlier this month, the Associated Press found China delayed sharing critical virus information with WHO for more than a week after three government labs had decoded the information.

The emergencies chief of the World Health Organization said he fully expects China to share the genetic sequences from the resurgence of coronavirus that have recently hit Beijing, even though they have not yet done so. Chinese officials said that their examination of the virus shows it originated in Europe, but they have not yet shared the sequences with WHO or the global scientific community.

Covid-19 has not changed in terms of transmissibility, severity: WHO expert

The statement came in the wake of the recent media reports, citing Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Italy’s Milan, that the novel coronavirus was losing its potency

There is no evidence that the novel coronavirus has changed both in terms of the transmissibility and the severity of the disease, said Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization.

The statement came in the wake of the recent media reports, citing Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Italy’s Milan, that the novel coronavirus was losing its potency, while the fatality risk was decreasing. According to the doctor, a test run over the past 10 days showed that a viral load in quantitative terms was much less compared to the one carried out a month or two months ago.

“In terms of the transmissibility, that has not changed. In terms of the severity that has not changed,” Van Kerkhove said.Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the world is “losing its ability” to use critically important antimicrobial medicines. Speaking at a virtual press conference on Monday, the WHO chief said that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increased use of antibiotics, which ultimately will lead to higher bacterial resistance rates, news agency IANS reported…Read More

Give priority to coronavirus, but focus on malaria, polio too: WHO

The global number of those infected with coronavirus has increased by almost 85,000 in the past 24 hours, climbing to 2,804,796 Covid-19 cases

Despite the severe strain on public health systems due to the Covid-19 pandemic, countries around the world must also focus on other health emergencies like malaria or polio, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday.

“Public health systems are coming under severe strain as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Countries must also continue to focus on other health emergencies and make progress against diseases such as malaria or poliomyelitis (polio),” WHO said in its daily coronavirus situation report. The global number of those infected with coronavirus has increased by almost 85,000 in the past 24 hours, climbing to 2,804,796 Covid-19 cases.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: 33 healthcare workers infected at Delhi’s Max hospital

Europe is still leading the count with 1,341,851 confirmed cases and 122,218 deaths, followed by the Americas with 1,094,846 cases and 56,063 fatalities. Like Europe, the hardest-hit continent is planning to ease the lockdown norms, the WHO “has published key considerations for the gradual easing of the lockdown restrictions introduced by many countries in response to the spread of Covid-19 across the region.”

“The transition out of lockdown is set to be a complex and uncertain phase. Challenges and circumstances vary from country to country and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It is vital that countries clearly communicate this to the public to build trust and ensure that people observe restrictions specific to their situation,” WHO said…Read More

Trump blames WHO for ‘covering up’ Covid-19 spread; stops US funding

The Trump administration has accused WHO of taking side with China in the coronavirus outbreak that has brought America’s economy to a standstill

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday halted America’s funding of the World Health Organisation, while ordering a review to assess the institution’s role in “severely mismanaging and covering up” the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan City of central China’s Hubei province in November, has so far killed at least 119,000 people globally, including more than 25,000 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organisation while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organisation’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows what has gone on there,” Trump told reporters at his daily White House news conference on the pandemic.

The Trump administration has accused WHO of taking side with China in the coronavirus outbreak that has brought America’s economy to a standstill. American taxpayers provide between $400 million and $500 million per year to the WHO, in contrast, China contributes roughly $40 million a year and even less, he said…

From ventilators to testing kits, IITs step up to fight Covid-19 outbreak

IIT Guwahati, which is set to get a Technology Innovation Hub at the campus, has developed a mask in line with World Health Organization guidelines, and plans to 3D print about 100 of these

IITs across the country have joined the fight against Covid-19, activating their incubation centres to develop solutions that could help contain the virus. While some researchers are developing prototypes for ventilators to overcome their shortage, others have teamed up to develop testing kits.

A team of innovators from IIT Kanpur’s incubator company Nocca Robotics has developed a ventilator prototype, currently in the testing phase. “Our next step is to test the prototype and get it validated with the doctors to fine-tune the design, which will take at least two more weeks. Once the testing is over, we will begin mass-scale manufacturing,” said Abhay Karandikar, director of IIT Kanpur.

Given that almost all components are locally sourced, the price will be much less compared to imported ones that cost over ~4 lakh, he added. IIT Guwahati, which is set to get a Technology Innovation Hub at the campus, has developed a mask in line with World Health Organization guidelines, and plans to 3D print about 100 of these. A team of researchers at the campus is also trying to develop a vaccine. It is currently analysing the sequence of the virus from samples collected from Kerala and China. Besides, IIT Guwahati students have also developed sanitisers on a World Health Organization (WHO) formulation…Read More

Coronavirus outbreak can now be classified as a pandemic, says WHO

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was troubled by the spread and severity of the outbreak, along with a lack of action taken to combat it.

The new coronavirus episode would now be able to be portrayed as a pandemic, the leader of the World Health Organization declared Wednesday. WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was disturbed by the spread and seriousness of the episode, alongside an absence of activity taken to battle it.”WHO has been surveying this episode nonstop and we’re profoundly concerned, both by the disturbing degrees of spread and seriousness, and by the disturbing degrees of inaction,” he told a news gathering in Geneva.

“We have in this way made the appraisal that COVID-19 can be portrayed as a pandemic.” The quantity of cases in more than 100 nations around the globe has ascended to more than 124,000, with more than 4,500 passings, remembering a hop for fatalities in Iran and Italy specifically, as per an AFP count. China remains the most exceedingly awful influenced nation with in excess of 80,000 affirmed cases and more than 3,000 passings. Tedros said that in the course of recent weeks, the quantity of cases outside China had expanded 13-overlay and the quantity of influenced nations had significantly increased. He said he anticipated the quantity of cases and passings would develop in the coming days and weeks.

“Pandemic isn’t a word to utilize softly or recklessly,” he told correspondents, however he focused on that “depicting the circumstance as a pandemic doesn’t change WHO’s evaluation of the risk presented by the infection.”It should not be taken by countries as a signal to give up on efforts to contain the virus with methods like contact-tracing, he said.

Can coronavirus spread through cough and sex? Here’s all you need to know

Whether you catch the infection or not depends on how close you get and how long you are near the person

Coronavirus is highly contagious and is spreading at a lightning speed around the world. The virus has already infected people in close to 70 countries. According to the World Health Organisation, there are 92,819 confirmed cases and 3,164 deaths reported globally. In India, total number of confirmed cases rose to six on Tuesday after an Italian tourist in Jaipur tested positive. So what is coronavirus and how can it be transmitted? Here is what you need to know:

What is coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. The present scare is because of COVID-19, an infectious diseases caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. The outbreak began in Wuhan in China in December, 2019. The virus can be transmitted between animals and people. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

Will the coronavirus spread through cough?

People can catch the virus from others. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person coughs or exhales. These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch the virus by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. People can also fall victim to virus even if they breathe in droplets from a person infected who coughs out or exhales droplets. This is why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick.

China virus death toll reaches 1,110; world warned of ‘very grave threat’

Coronavirus is believed to have emerged last year in a market that sells wild animals in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak.

The number of fatalities from China’s new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,110 nationwide on Wednesday after hard-hit Hubei province reported 94 new deaths. In its daily update, Hubei’s health commission also confirmed another 1,638 new cases in the central province, where the outbreak emerged in December. There are now more than 44,200 confirmed cases across China, based on previously released figures from the government.

The new virus is believed to have emerged last year in a market that sells wild animals in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak. The virus was officially named “COVID-19” at a conference in Geneva held by the World Health Organization, where the body’s chief said countries had a chance of stopping its global spread. WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that although 99 percent of cases are in China, where it remains “very much an emergency,” it also “holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world.” He urged countries to share data in order to further research the disease.

Chinese authorities dismissed two senior health officials from Hubei on Tuesday, where tens of millions of people have been under lockdown since late last month, and tightened restrictions in its capital Wuhan.

Coronavirus: China opens hospital built from scratch in under two weeks

The World Health Organisation has declared the crisis a global health emergency, and the first death outside China was confirmed in the Philippines on Sunday

Coronavirus patients arrived on Tuesday at a Chinese field hospital built from scratch in under two weeks at the frontline of the outbreak, state media said, following a round-the-clock construction marathon that became a national social media sensation. The 1,000-bed facility was built to relieve hospitals swamped with patients in Wuhan, the city in Hubei province at the epicentre of the national health emergency that has killed more in China than the 2003 SARS outbreak.

Fifty patients arrived at the military-run facility, the state-backed China Daily reported, with images showing workers in protective suits pushing people in wheelchairs up a ramp and into the pre-fabricated structure. The virus has killed more than 400 people and infected a further 20,000, nearly all of them in Hubei, and spread to two-dozen countries since it emerged in December at a market that sold wild animals in the city.

The World Health Organisation has declared the crisis a global health emergency, and the first death outside China was confirmed in the Philippines on Sunday. As reports surfaced of bed shortages in hospitals in Wuhan, construction began on Huoshenshan — “Fire God Mountain” in Chinese — on Friday January 24. Workers toiled day and night amid a forest of earthmovers and trucks carting materials around the site, southwest of the centre of the city of 11 million…

WHO says maximum one-hour screen time per day for kids under 5: Key points

Infants under 1 year old should not be exposed to electronic screens and that children between the ages of 2 and 4 should not have more than one hour of “sedentary screen time’.

Current Affairs: Young children should not spend more than an hour a day watching television and videos or playing computer games and infants less than one year old should not be exposed to electronic screens at all, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Limiting, and in some cases eliminating, screen time for children under the age of 5 will result in healthier adults, said WHO, adding that quality sedentary time spent in interactive non-screen-based activities with a caregiver, such as reading, storytelling, singing and puzzles, is very important for child development..

Physically active and good sleep key for kids under 5

The United Nations agency, issuing its first such guidelines, said under-fives should also be physically active and get adequate sleep to help develop good lifelong habits and prevent obesity and other diseases in later life.

Kids between the age of 1 and 3 should spend 3 hours a day doing physical activity

In its guidelines to member states, the WHO said children between one and four years old should spend at least three hours in a variety of physical activities spread throughout the day.

No screen time for children below the age of 1

Infants under one should interact in floor-based play and avoid all screens, it said. Being inactive is fueling a rise in the numbers of obese or overweight people worldwide, the WHO said. Excessive weight can lead to premature death from heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and some forms of cancer…