Starting from Thursday, new emergency measures aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19 in Cyprus will come into force, Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas announced…reports Asian Lite News
Everyone except those who have received a booster shot will have to present a negative 24-hour test before entering what Hadjipantelas called ‘high risk ‘ places, such as entertainment venues, dance clubs and reception halls for weddings, reports Xinhua news agency.
The maximum number of people allowed into such places has also been limited to 300.
Meanwhile, the number of public services and business employees working from home will be increased from 10 per cent to 40 per cent.
Hadjipantelas said that as of December 30, football stadiums will operate at 50 per cent of their capacity, with obligatory wearing of masks.
Football authorities said that some matches may have to be postponed due to a large number of infections among players and club officials.
Twenty-nine coronavirus cases have now been identified in nine football clubs.
Restrictions at airports will also be tightened as of January 4, following a sharp rise in coronavirus cases among incoming passengers.
All passengers will be required to present a 48-hour negative test before boarding, and take another PCR test on arrival, at their own expense.
The measures were announced after an extraordinary night-time meeting of the Council of Ministers, as authorities announced that new infections jumped on Wednesday to 3,002 from 2,241 on Tuesday, in a population of less than one million.
Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Cyprus has reported 157,928 confirmed Covid cases and 635 deaths.
This is a breakthrough because it is an energy-efficient fuel, which can help carry additional payloads/satellites into orbit as it is significantly lightweight…writes Ganesh Bhatt
The Indian Institutes of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-GN) has discovered a molecule which can completely reduce prostate cancer in just 50 days.
IIT-GN Director Sudhir Kumar Jain, who has now been appointed Vice Chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), spoke at length on topics related to the varsity and the institute. Excerpts of interview:
How research and innovations at IIT Gandhinagar make common people’s life easier and more convenient?
A team of our IIT has discovered a new molecule called ‘J54’, which has shown great potency to completely reduce tumour (prostate cancer) in just 50 days. One of our PhD alumna and her supervising faculty developed a non-electric and affordable water purification system, which can remove more than 99 per cent of bacteria. It can be very useful in underdeveloped and remote areas where potable water is scarce. Another team of researchers has invented a Virtual Reality (VR) based treadmill exercise platform to prevent the risk of fatal accidents because of over-exercising.
You are the new VC of BHU, How do you see this role?
I am exceedingly proud to be associated with BHU, which is an institution of remarkable legacy, reputation and scale. I am looking forward to working with students and colleagues to drive BHU to ever greater heights and propel it into the leagues of the world’s most prestigious universities. I also hope to engage and partner with its large network of illustrious alumni and well-wishers for BHU’s advancement and rejuvenation.
What are the most ambitious plans of IIT-GN?
We are working with C-DAC for installation of a 650 TF Super Computing System at the Institute under the National Supercomputing Mission.
Has IIT-GN done any research or innovation to fight against corona?
We have developed an unique anti-viral surface coating material that is highly effective on non-pathogenic viruses. The team is in the process of testing the coating against coronavirus. After one-time coating, it keeps away viruses for many days.
Another team developed a “COVID-19 Dashboard” that can help in containing community infections. Another team developed an Artificial Intelligence-based deep learning tool for detection of Covid-19 from Chest X-ray images, which can be used for quick preliminary diagnosis before a medical test.
What are the big achievements of IIT-GN?
We are one of the most globalised campuses in the country. Eighty-five per cent of our faculty received their degree or have postdoctoral experience from overseas institutions; more than 40 per cent of our undergraduate students have studied abroad, Ten per cent of faculty has multi-discipline appointments, nearly 14 per cent of PhD advisors at IIT-GN are from outside the discipline, 13 per cent of our research publications have interdisciplinary authors, and nearly 21 per cent of projects have multidisciplinary PIs and Co-PIs.
How corona and lockdown affected functioning of the institute?
Much like the rest of the world, the pandemic was extremely disruptive to our operations. However, we implemented stringent safety protocols and presently almost all community members are fully vaccinated. Most of our students are back on campus. We are shifting to fully in-person education in January.
What is IIT-GN doing to make India ‘aatmanirbhar’?
On the research front, apart from the examples I have already mentioned, a research team recently developed a new class of boron-based nano-additives for fuels used in space and defence applications. This is a breakthrough because it is an energy-efficient fuel, which can help carry additional payloads/satellites into orbit as it is significantly lightweight.
Breast Cancer.
Many of our students have opted for entrepreneurship and founded startups early in their careers in the areas such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology, 3D concrete printing technology, FinTech, fibre-optic sensor technology, and so on. We have established an incubation centre, IIT Gandhinagar Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (IIEC), which promotes innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology commercialisation activities.
Has IIT-GN done any big international collaboration, if yes then for what?
Our international collaborations are spread across more than 40 universities, industries and R&D organisations around the world, including the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Israel, Japan, Italy, South Korea, and others, for student and faculty exchanges, as well as research collaborations. Internationalisation is woven throughout the academic experience at IITGN. Between 10 to 15 per cent of our faculty at any point is visiting faculty, principally from abroad.
“It is important to note that this review examined ketamine administration in carefully controlled clinical settings where any risks of ketamine can be safely managed,” Mollaahmetoglu added….reports Asian Lite News.
Ketamine therapy has a swift short-term effect on reducing symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts, new research has found.
The findings indicated that the strongest evidence emerged around the use of ketamine to treat both major depression and bipolar depression, with symptoms reducing as swiftly as one to four hours after a single treatment.
The effect lasted up to two weeks.
Stress.
“Our findings suggest that ketamine may be useful in providing rapid relief from depression and suicidal thoughts, creating a window of opportunity for further therapeutic interventions to be effective,” said lead author Merve Mollaahmetoglu from the UK’s University of Exeter.
“It is important to note that this review examined ketamine administration in carefully controlled clinical settings where any risks of ketamine can be safely managed,” Mollaahmetoglu added.
As per the research, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry Open, similarly, single or multiple doses of ketamine resulted in moderate to large reductions in suicidal thoughts.
This improvement was seen as early as four hours following ketamine treatment and lasted on average three days, and up to a week, the research said.
For other psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders, there is early evidence to suggest the potential benefit of ketamine treatment, it added.
Moreover, for individuals with substance use disorders, ketamine treatment led to short-term reductions in craving, consumption and withdrawal symptoms.
For the study, the team included 33 systematic reviews, 29 randomised control trials, and 21 observational studies.
“We’re finding that ketamine may have promising benefits for conditions that are notoriously hard to treat in the clinic. We now need bigger and better-designed trials to test these benefits,” said co-author Celia Morgan from the varsity.
While some countries are now rolling out blanket vaccine booster programs, three in four health workers in Africa still remain unvaccinated by the end of 2021….reports Asian Lite News
Blanket vaccine booster programs are likely to prolong the Covid-19 pandemic rather than ending it, as a result of unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing that “diverting supply to countries already having high levels of vaccination coverage” will give the virus “more opportunity to spread and mutate”, Xinhua news agency reported.
WHO has previously called on countries to reach a target of vaccinating 40 percent of their populations by the end of the year, but only half of WHO member states have been able to make it, which has largely been a result of the global inequity of vaccine distribution, according to Tedros.
While some countries are now rolling out blanket vaccine booster programs, three in four health workers in Africa still remain unvaccinated by the end of 2021, a year since the first vaccines were administered, he said.
If those vaccines had been distributed equitably, the 40 percent target could have been reached in every country by September, he added.
As vaccine supply continues to improve, WHO projections have shown that it should be sufficient to vaccinate the entire global adult population and to give boosters to high-risk populations by the first quarter of 2022, but only later in 2022 will supply be sufficient for extensive use of boosters in all adults.
Also on Wednesday, the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) issued an interim statement on booster doses. Although SAGE confirmed that vaccine effectiveness against severe Covid-19 decreased by about eight percent over a period of six months in all age groups, particularly in adults above 50 years, it still remained cautious on booster programs.
SAGE warned that “in the context of ongoing global vaccine supply constraints and inequities, broad-based administration of booster doses risks exacerbating vaccine access by driving up demand in countries with substantial vaccine coverage and diverting supply, while priority populations in some countries, or in subnational settings, have not yet received a primary vaccination series.”
It thus called on booster programs to be evidence-driven and targeted to the population groups at highest risk of serious disease and those necessary to protect the health system.
Fused cells are often seen in respiratory tissues taken following severe disease…reports Asian Lite News.
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 may be significantly better than previous variants at evading vaccine-induced antibodies, but preliminary evidence also suggests that it is less likely to cause severe illness in the lungs compared to Delta.
In a yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, a team of researchers led by Indian-origin Professor Ravi Gupta from the University of Cambridge, created synthetic viruses – known as ‘pseudoviruses’ — that carried key mutations found in the Delta and Omicron strains — to study the virus’s behaviour.
The pseudoviruses were used to infect cells in lung organoids – ‘mini-lungs’ that model parts of the lung.
Despite having three mutations that were predicted to favour the spike cleavage, the researchers found the Omicron spike protein to be less efficient than the Delta spike at cleaving the ACE2 receptor and entering the lung cells.
In addition, once Omicron had entered the cells, it was also less able than Delta to cause fusion between cells – a phenomenon associated with impaired cell-to-cell spread. Fused cells are often seen in respiratory tissues taken following severe disease.
Indeed, when the team used a live Omicron virus and compared it to Delta in a spreading infection experiment using lung cells, Omicron was significantly poorer in replication, confirming the findings regarding impaired entry.
“We speculate that the more efficient the virus is at infecting our cells, the more severe the disease might be. The fact that Omicron is not so good at entering lung cells and that it causes fewer fused cells with lower infection levels in the lab suggests this new variant may cause less severe lung-associated disease,” said Gupta from the varsity’s Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease.
The team also tested the pseudoviruses against blood samples from vaccinated individuals who had received two doses of either the AstraZeneca (ChAdOx-1) or Pfizer (BNT162b2) vaccines.
On average, Omicron required around a 10-fold increase in the concentration of serum antibodies in order to neutralise the virus, compared to Delta. Of particular concern, antibodies from the majority of individuals who had received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were unable to neutralise the virus. The data were confirmed in live virus experiments.
Omicron becomes dominant strain of Covid-19 in Ireland
“The Omicron variant appears to be much better than Delta at evading neutralising antibodies in individuals who have received just two doses of the vaccine. A third dose ‘booster’ with the Pfizer vaccine was able to overturn this in the short term, though we’d still expect a waning in immunity to occur over time,” Gupta said.
He added that further work is needed to corroborate the findings. However, Gupta also urged caution.
“Omicron still represents a major public health challenge. Individuals who have only received two doses of the vaccine – or worse, none at all – are still at significant risk of Covid-19, and some will develop severe disease. The sheer number of new cases we are seeing every day reinforces the need for everyone to get their boosters as quickly as possible.”
The “true-blue animal lover” also makes a point to speak up for animals of all species, and raises awareness around animal cruelty on Twitter…reports Asian Lite News.
Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar, who will soon share the screen in ‘Raksha Bandhan’, have been named the Most Beautiful Vegetarian Celebrities of 2021 by PETA India.
Bhumi, who also champions the cause of environmental conservation and the climate crisis through her campaign Climate Warrior, became vegetarian over a year ago as for her eating meat just “didn’t feel good anymore”.
For Akshay, “Health matters most” and the actor relies solely on a plant-based diet for protein requirements. The “true-blue animal lover” also makes a point to speak up for animals of all species, and raises awareness around animal cruelty on Twitter.
PETA India Director of Celebrity and Public Relations, Sachin Bangera said, “From being one of the fittest actors in Bollywood to leading a climate revolution from her dinner table, Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar are showing everyone how easy it is to stay fit and eco-friendly while saving animals. PETA India is recognising them for being beautiful inside and out.”
Earlier, prominent figures like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, actors Shraddha Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Manushi Chhillar, Anushka Sharma, Kartik Aaryan, Vidyut Jammwal, Shahid Kapoor, Rekha, Amitabh Bachchan and footballer Sunil Chhetri have been conferred with the title, which until 2020 was called the Hottest Vegetarian Celebrity Award.
If your child has had a stressful week and the anxiety goes away once things have calmed down, then it’s normal…writes Dr. Khushboo Thakker Garodia
Children are as susceptible to stress as adults. While adults can process their stress better, sometimes a child may experience stress but may not be able to express themselves adequately. Even small changes can impact a child’s feelings of safety and security. They may present with
Physical Symptoms like
. Change in appetite
. Headache
. Bedwetting
. Nightmares
. Sleep disturbances
. Stomach aches
. Feeling cold
. Teeth grinding
. Nail-biting
. Sweaty palms and soles
. Other physical symptoms with no actual physical illness
Emotional symptoms like
. a sudden change in attitude,
. withdrawing from family and friends,
. excessive crying for no reason,
. difficulty in concentration,
. extreme clinginess to the parent,
. aggression
. anxiety,
. Newfound fears
. Temper tantrums
Some of the commonly known triggers in children include:
. Arrival of a new sibling
. Change in routine
. Unfamiliar situation
. Delay in milestones
. Pandemic – that stopped the world
. Starting school
. Changing schools
. Learning difficulties
. Conflict with friends
. Bullying
. Moving to a new location
. Tight schedules leave no time to play
. Illness / Death of family members
. Relationship issues between parents / Divorce
. Financial problems in the family
. Going through bodily changes (noticed mainly during adolescence)
. Unable to cope with pressure from self / parent / peer / school
. Illness or Hospitalization
. If your child has had a stressful week and the anxiety goes away once things have calmed down, then it’s normal. Children have their own methods of coping, but if the stress is significant, frequent, or doesn’t go away, that’s when it’s time to seek help.
You can help your child by learning to recognise the signs of stress and teaching them healthy ways to deal with it. Children learn how to respond to stress as they grow and develop.
About 20 km from Budgam district headquarters, this village receives several feet of snowfall every year, bringing life to a virtual halt in winters…writes Abid Hussain
The abandoned Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Keach belies the government’s claims of development in Kashmir, particularly in the health sector, post the nullification of Article 370.
It is one of the three large abandoned health facilities in remote areas of Budgam district in central Kashmir. On account of public demand, construction began on PHCs in Keach, Gurwait and Zanigam villages of the Khansahib area in 2006-2007. Crores were spent on these PHCs that aimed at providing health facilities to dozens of villages. On completion of construction, residents were desperately waiting for the inauguration. However, years have passed, and their endless wait continues as the health department has disowned two of three PHCs.
Creation and desertion – all in a day’s work
The locals are now up in arms against the health department for failing to make the hospitals functional. Nazir Ahmad, a resident of Keach, said that an enormous amount was spent on the structure but without providing any relief to thousands of households. “Keach PHC has over two dozen rooms, including a labour room, operation theatre, and other facilities. However, they have not been utilised to date due to the apathy of the government,” he rued. Ahmad said that an ambulance was sanctioned to the PHC but was later taken to the Khansahib sub-district hospital.
During the first and second Covid waves, the villagers faced tremendous distress. “Despite having a spacious building meant for the welfare of locals, we had to visit other areas for treatment,” Ahmad told 101Reporters. “Had the PHC been functional, it would have provided relief to people during Covid,” he added.
The story of the abandoned Zanigam PHC is similar. Every facility was built at the hospital, but the gates remain closed, said Fayaz Ahmad, a resident of Zanigam, adding that the government had let the PHC deteriorate.
When a PHC was sanctioned to Gurwait nearly 15 years ago, it brought a sense of relief. About 20 km from Budgam district headquarters, this village receives several feet of snowfall every year, bringing life to a virtual halt in winters. The PHC was to provide healthcare at their doorstep. However, like Keach and Zanigam, the Gurwait PHC remains padlocked.
Ghulam Mohammad Najar, a Gurwait resident, said that the locals face immense difficulties accessing healthcare. “During winters, our area receives over 5 feet of snowfall. We have to transport patients on charpais as the road remains blocked. At times, when patients are not taken to the hospital quickly enough, they die,” he told 101Reporters.
Elections over healthcare
Surprisingly, the gates of Keach and Gurwait PHCs were never opened for patients but instead made available to paramilitary forces for poll duty. The abandoned hospital structures have only served the purpose of the government during elections in the valley. When polls are near, the troops come and occupy the buildings, allegedly causing damage to the structures.
Locals said that soldiers had damaged geysers, electricity fittings, bulbs and other equipment in the buildings. Earlier in 2019, the landowner of the Gurwait PHC had lodged a complaint against the troops in the local police station for damaging the structure.
Reyaz Ahmad Lone, a local Sarpanch said that the villagers were poor, could not afford personal vehicles, and relied on public transport. “Most people belong to the poorest sections of society in Gurwait, and they cannot even afford the fare to visit other hospitals,” he said.
Blaming both the health department and local politicians for the misery of people, Firdous Nabi, a local Congress leader, said, “The former MLAs, MLCs and the health department have neglected the people in remote places.” Nabi added that he had raised the issue of the abandoned PHCs with every person concerned – from the Block Medical Officer (BMO) to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to the Director of Health Services, Kashmir, and the Lieutenant Governor’s administration – but all in vain.
Authorised in a vacuum
When contacted, the officials concerned said that two among three non-functional PHCs had no government approval. Arshid Hussain, BMO, Khansahib, said that the Keach and Zanigam hospitals were constructed without any authorisation, and therefore cannot be utilised. Tajamul Hussain Khan, CMO, Budgam, also seconded his subordinate. The officers stated that former Khansahib MLA and minister Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen had constructed the PHCs without any approval from the health department.
Former MLA Yaseen vehemently denied the health officials’ version and said that the money for PHCs came through proper channels. “How is it possible to construct PHCs without approval? If the PHCs were not sanctioned, who released the Rs 6 crores for their construction?” he reasoned. Yaseen also pointed out that the health centres’ foundation stone was laid in the presence of concerned officials, including the then Director Health Services, Kashmir, CMO Budgam and BMO Khansahib. The former MLA demanded action against those officials who have put the government assets at risk and consequently increased the suffering of common people.
When confronted with the former MLA’s claims, the BMO countered with a non-committal statement, “We do not know where the money for the construction of PHCs came from as it happened a long time back.”
About Gurwait PHC, both the officers said that there was a land dispute between the health department and the landowner whose land was acquired to construct the PHC.
The landowner, Mohamad Afzal, said that the health department had promised employment and compensation for providing three kanals of land to the PHC in 2007. “I don’t have any land left. I had only three kanals, which were given to the government after the assurance of employment and compensation. The government betrayed me,” he declared. Afzal, a father of six, said that his family had been cultivating paddy on the land, but after the PHC’s construction and the subsequent abandonment by the government, they have been left empty-handed. Following this, Afzal approached the courts in 2017. Since then, the issue has been sub judice. “It has been over 15 years since my land was taken away after false assurances. The department has made our lives terrible. Why would we give our fertile land to the government without any reason?” he asked.
“This revolutionary product needs to be included in familiar foods, including porridge, rotis, idlis, pancakes, even bakery products.”…reports Asian Lite News.
Previous studies have provided evidence of jackfruit flour having anti-diabetic properties, but the results were unclear until a randomised control trial was performed on a group of 40 people living with diabetes.
Of them, 20 in the intervention group received 30g of green jackfruit flour daily, replacing an equal volume of wheat flour or rice flour in their meals. The remaining 20 patients in the placebo group received equal volumes of rice flour or wheat flour.
At the end of 12 weeks, the patients in the intervention group showed a statistically significant reduction in their blood glucose levels – fasting, post-prandial and mean – compared to the placebo group, clearly demonstrating a practical use for green jackfruit flour in medical nutrition therapy for people living with diabetes.
Not only in studies, but experts have seen positive health impacts in real-life cases as well. Dr Vinod Abichandani, Diabetes & Endocrine Physician at the Bodyline Multispeciality Hospital, Ahmedabad, mentions the case of a patient who had been on medication for about three months, but there was only a marginal improvement, despite the patient following the medicine routine and making lifestyle changes.
So, instead of increasing the medicine dosage, Dr Vinod asked his patient to replace a portion of the regular wheat flour in his diet with 15g of green jackfruit flour twice a day. The results were visible from Day 11 and within a matter of 45 days, his blood glucose levels showed remarkable improvement.
Along with this, the patient also lost two kilos and his LDL, HDL and triglyceride levels also showed favourable results. Dr Vinod commented: “A 3,000-year-old nutritional gem from India has been rediscovered and 15 patients in my clinic and every member of my family and my staff are now taking 30g green jackfruit flour per day and I see benefits in each instance.”
Elaborating on the mechanisms through which jackfruit flour is able to achieve such exceptional results, Dr Ishi Khosla, Clinical Nutritionist, Columnist, Author, Entrepreneur and Researcher, said, “Today, we are not managing diabetes in a conventional way based on only fats and carbohydrates. Instead, we are treating diabetes as an inflammatory disease. In my clinical practice, I have seen a reversal of early diabetes in patients who follow an anti-inflammatory diet.”
Dr Khosla added: “Nature’s gift to people living with diabetes, jackfruit flour is not only gluten-free but also anti-inflammatory. Loaded with phytonutrients, it also contains an impressive amount of fibre. The soluble fibre and resistant starch content also serve as prebiotics, which is essential for gut health.”
Mentioning the other likely benefits of jackfruit flour, Dr Khosla said: “This is only a part of the success and I believe we can manage and prevent virtually every chronic disease, from digestive disorders to cardiovascular diseases, for when food favourably impacts the gut, it has a cascading effect on the other mechanisms of the body.”
She concluded: “This revolutionary product needs to be included in familiar foods, including porridge, rotis, idlis, pancakes, even bakery products.”
Another important aspect highlighted by Ms Sheryl Salis, Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, Author, Lecturer and Founder, Nurture Health Solutions, was the satiety factor — that is, how early you feel full after eating.
Ms Salis said: “Just 30g of jackfruit flour replaces 50g of wheat/rice/millet flour, because of the low bulk density. We have seen in our patients that earlier they were eating three rotis, but now, after the replacement of other flours with jackfruit flour, they’re able to eat only two because satiety is achieved much faster. They also feel happy and motivated because incorporating just one change in their meals has brought about a major change in their blood glucose levels.”
She added: “The product is so versatile that it can be added to almost any recipe because it doesn’t alter the taste. Even if you add just one tablespoon of the flour to a bowl of curd and have it before meals, it is going to have a positive impact on your satiety as well as in controlling post-meal blood sugar levels.”
James Joseph, Founder & CEO, Jackfruit365 (ANI)
Ms Salis concluded on a happy note. She said: “Green jackfruit flour has made a world of difference to my practice. My patients, especially parents of children with diabetes, are very happy.”
Experts using green jackfruit flour in their households are unanimous that in the given dosage of one tablespoon per meal, green jackfruit flour can have positive health benefits for all people, whether or not they are living with diabetes. Of course, people living with diabetes are advised to use jackfruit flour only as medical nutrition therapy and not as a replacement for medicines.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid appeals to the public to take booster jabs as soon possible to stem the tide of Omicron
“Vaccines are our best weapon of defence against COVID-19 but with Omicron cases doubling every two or three days, it has never been more vital to get a booster jab to top up your immunity,” said Mr Javid.
“Our strategy for tackling the threat posed by Omicron remains to buy time for our scientists to thoroughly assess the variant and build up our defences. We know from the latest data that a third dose is 70 percent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19. So we all have a part to play to Get Boosted Now.
“That is why we are speeding up our COVID-19 booster programme to deliver as many jabs in arms as quickly as possible.
“It has been fantastic to see the enthusiasm of people to play their part – from the massive numbers of people booking for their vital top-up jab this week to the huge queues of people walking into vaccination centres across the country.
“More than 24 million people have already received their booster helping to keep themselves, their friends and family safe this winter but we need everyone to come forward – including South Asian communities – and support this national mission.
“It has never been easier to get your booster – all adults in England can now book online or find their nearest walk-in centre if it has been three months since their second jab.
“I urge everyone to roll up your sleeves and Get Boosted Now.”
