Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tested Covid-19 positive on Thursday, days after his daughter Veena had tested positive for Covid-19.
The CM is stable ,asymptomatic and is not having any other major health issues at present,the Times of India reported.
He will be shifted to the Kozhikode Medical college soon
CM has taken his first Covid jab on March 3.
Meanwhile, with the Covid test positivity ratio in Kerala climbing to above 5 per cent, a high-level meeting held here on Wednesday decided to tighten Covid protocols with immediate effect.
The decision came as it was found that 3,502 people on Wednesday had tested positive from 60,554 samples tested in the past 24 hours.
Across the state, there are now 31,493 Covid positive patients while 11,08,078 people have been cured so far.
Daniele Franco, Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, said confronting the economic damage from the pandemic is the G20’s top priority…reports Asian Lite News
Finance Ministers and central bank governors from the world’s largest economies have agreed on continued financial backing for countries struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic “as long as required”, said the co-chair of a virtual G20 summit.
At the summit on Wednesday, Daniele Franco, Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, said confronting the economic damage from the pandemic is the G20’s top priority, reports Xinhua news agency.
Franco said the participants at the second G20 meeting of the year agreed to use “all available policy tools for as long as required” in order to save lives and livelihoods.
Franco also said increasing the global availability of coronavirus vaccines in an “equitable and accessible” way was part of that effort.
G20 Italy(Twitter)
Franco and Ignazio Visco, Governor of the Bank of Italy and the other co-chair of the talks, spoke to more than 100 reporters on Wednesday via video hook-up from Rome.
That was the same format used by Ministers and governors for the negotiations.
While the coronavirus pandemic was the central topic at the virtual summit of representatives from 19 major economies and the European Union, discussions also touched on other pressing issues, such as the need for global action on climate change and the development of standards for a global corporate tax rate.
G20 Italy(Twitter)
Franco noted that the International Monetary Fund had just upped its estimate for GDP)growth to 6.0 per cent, up from 5.5 per cent in January.
He said that was a positive sign, but he warned that the global economic outlook remained “clouded by uncertainty” due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Together, G20 countries account for 80 per cent of the world’s GDP
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson saidthat Britons should be “realistic” about international travel for holidays amid concerns over the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on the European continent.
The government is yet to make a decision on whether Britons can go for a foreign holiday from May 17 as previously planned, Xinhua news agency quoted Johnson as saying on Tuesday.
“That doesn’t mean we’ve given up on May 17. I know how impatient people are to book their holidays but I think we just have to be prudent at this stage.”
The Prime Minister said that Britain should continue rolling out the AstraZeneca vaccine despite concerns about occasional reported cases of blood clots.
Johnson said the current advice of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK’s medicines regulator, is to “keep going out there, get your jab, get your second jab” and “we need to keep that going”.
The vaccines are already “starting to have a beneficial effect on the trajectory of the disease”, said Johnson, noting the falling number of cases and deaths in the country.
On Monday, Johnsonconfirmed that from April 12, non-essential shops will reopen and pubs and restaurants will reopen outdoors as Britain moves to step two of the roadmap out of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Meanwhile, hairdressers and barbers as well as gyms can reopen, along with zoos, theme parks, libraries and community centres.
However, experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is “still not out of the woods” amid concerns over new variants and the third wave of the pandemic across Europe.
Morrison said that delays to Australia’s vaccine rollout caused by AstraZeneca blockage from exporting more than 3 million doses…reports Asian Lite News
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday called on the European Union (EU) to release doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
Morrison said that delays to Australia’s vaccine rollout were a matter of “straightforward maths” with AstraZeneca blocked from exporting more than 3 million doses, reports Xinhua news agency.
“It’s straightforward maths – 3.1 million out of 3.8 million doses did not come to Australia,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“That obviously had a very significant impact on the early rollout of the vaccination program, until we got into a position when the domestically produced AstraZeneca vaccine would be in place.”
Earlier the European Commission said that only 250,000 doses of the vaccines had been formally blocked.
In response, the Australian government said in a statement that the Commission was “arguing semantics”.
Morrison has previously announced that 1 million of the vaccines will be redirected to Papua New Guinea (PNG) if they are allowed to leave Europe.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister said he would write to the EC asking that they be exported.
Morrison was joined by Brendan Murphy, the Secretary of the Department of Health, who said that the domestic production of AstraZeneca vaccines was continuing to escalate but had not reached the goal of manufacturing 1 million doses per week.
So far about 920,334 vaccines had been administered in Australia, short of the government’s initial target of 4 million by the end of March.
The statement came as the Prime Minister was speaking at a virtual Downing Street press conference to give an update on his government’s anti-coronavirus plan…reports Asian Lite News
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that from April 12, non-essential shops will reopen and pubs and restaurants will resume outdoor dining as the country moves to step two of the roadmap out of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Meanwhile, hairdressers, barbers as well as gyms can reopen, along with zoos, theme parks, libraries and community centres, Xinhua news agency quoted Johnson as saying on Monday.
“The net result of your efforts and of course the vaccine rollout is that I can today confirm that from Monday, April 12, we will move to step two of our road map,” said the Prime Minister.
The statement came as the Prime Minister was speaking at a virtual Downing Street press conference to give an update on his government’s anti-coronavirus plan.
“But we can’t be complacent… We still don’t know how strong the vaccine shield will be,” he said.
Johnson said England has managed to meet the “tests” set by the government sufficiently to go ahead with further easing restrictions on Monday.
The government previously set out four “tests” for easing lockdown: the vaccine program continues successfully; vaccines are effective in reducing hospital admissions and deaths; infection rates do not risk overwhelming the British National Health Service (NHS); the variants of concern do not pose a large risk.
Nearly 31.6 million people have been given the first jab of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the official figures.
The US has reported a total of 4,376,629 confirmed coronavirus cases so far, with 127,106 deaths.
The MHRA previously said there had been 30 cases of rare blood clot events reported out of the 18.1 million AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine doses administered in Britain….reports Asian Lite News
After more than 18 million people have received vaccinations with AstraZeneca’s jab in the UK, the country’s health regulator said seven people had died due to rare blood clots, although the cause remains unclear.
“The benefits in preventing a Covid-19 infection and its complications continue to outweigh any risks and the public should continue to get their vaccine when invited to do so,” dpa news agency quoted June Raine, Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), as saying.
The MHRA previously said there had been 30 cases of rare blood clot events reported out of the 18.1 million AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine doses administered in Britain.
As of March 24, a total of 22 cases of cerebral vein thrombosis and eight other types of thrombosis had been reported, the agency said, noting that here too, it was unclear whether these were connected.
Reports of unusual blood clot cases in patients who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine have led some national regulators to place restrictions on who can receive the jab.
AstraZeneca vaccine
Canada, for instance, suspended use for those under the age of 55 while Germany has largely halted the jabs for those under 60.
Britain has said the vaccine is safe for all age groups.
The European Medicines Agency, an EU regulator, said the vaccine is safe, although it is planning more consultations in the wake of the decisions by national health officials.
Meanwhile in Britain, more than 31 million people have received the first dose of the vaccination, more than 18 million of them with AstraZeneca.
The number of cases has improved significantly, with the seven-day incidence figure at 55 per 100,000 inhabitants.
There has also been a significant fall in the number of daily deaths.
The pandemic has so far claimed 62,999 lives in Iran, up by 123 in the past 24 hours…reports Asian Lite News
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is already underway in two provinces.
“If people in other provinces do not honour (health guidelines), they may experience the fourth wave as well,” Xinhua news agency quoted Rouhani as saying on Saturday.
“According to the statistics, compliance with health guidelines has decreased,” he warned.
On Saturday, the Health Ministry registered 11,420 new Covid-19 cases, raising the overall caseload to 1,920,394.
The pandemic has so far claimed 62,999 lives in Iran, up by 123 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Ministry.
Iran:People wearing face masks walk on a street in downtown Tehran
Of the newly infected, 1,060 were hospitalised, she added.
Covid-19 infections were witnessing steady decline for approximately 10 weeks,but trends are changing, and cases have increased during the past 12 days…reports Asian Lite News
The US is witnessing an increase in Covid-19 cases, including infections from new and emerging variants, as experts have expressed concerns about another surge amid the upcoming spring break.
Covid-19 cases in the country were steadily decreasing for approximately 10 weeks, however, trends are changing, and cases have increased during the past 12 days, Xinhua news agency quoted the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as saying in an update on Saturday.
The current seven-day moving average of daily new cases, which stands at 62,167, increased 8.4 per cent compared with the previous seven days.
Meanwhile, the seven-day average of daily hospital admissions of infected patients, which stands at 4,948, is a 4.8 per cent increase from the previous seven-day period, according to the CDC.
children walking in street during covid 19 surge in us
Overall, Covid-19 deaths in the country have decreased for the past 11 weeks, except for an increase during March 27 and 28.
Compared with the highest daily death peak on January 13, which was 3,379 deaths, the current seven-day moving average of 880 daily new deaths decreased 74 per cent, CDC data show.
Experts are concerned about another surge of new cases and increasing variants infections as lots of people are planning travels during the spring break.
The country recorded more than 13,000 infection cases of coronavirus variants as of Thursday, according to the latest data of the CDC.
Among these cases, 12,505 cases were caused by the variant known as B.1.1.7, which was originally detected in Britain.
There were 323 cases of the strain initially discovered in South Africa, called B.1.351, and 224 cases of the P.1 strain first discovered in Brazil.
In addition, the B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants, two coronavirus strains first detected in California, are also being closely monitored by the CDC.
The five coronavirus strains are currently classified by the CDC as “variants of concern”, as evidence shows an increase in their transmissibility, increased hospitalisations or deaths, significant reduction in neutralization by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures.
People line up to enter a mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the United Center in Chicago, the United States,
“These variants of concern are mutated versions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and have the potential to cause COVID-19 to be more severe, spread more easily between humans, require different treatments, or change the effectiveness of current vaccines,” the CDC said in a report.
As of Saturday, more than 104 million people in the US have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, according to the CDC.
Massive vaccination
A total of 161 million vaccine shots have been administered by Saturday, while more than 207 million doses have been distributed across the country.
Currently nearly 60 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, about 18 per cent of the whole population, according to the CDC.
“The race to vaccinate people and contain the virus is underway. The actions we take today determine how long it will take to stop the virus and end the pandemic,” said the CDC.
The US is still the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 30,671,074 and 554,779, respectively, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
A girl looks at a giraffe at ZSL (the Zoological Society of London) London Zoo on the first day of its reopening since lockdown restrictions eased in London, Britain
The UK government is currently carrying out a review on the ethical dilemmas around vaccine passports and overseas travel…reports Asian Lite News
For the UK government, vaccination of children will be the “next big ethical debate” as the country seeks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, local media reported.
The government is currently carrying out a review on the ethical dilemmas around vaccine passports and overseas travel, Xinhua news agency quoted a Sky News report as saying on Wednesday.
The latest development came as US drug company Pfizer announced that trails of its vaccine show 100 per cent efficacy and a strong immune response on 12 to 15-year-olds.
It is understood that children are less likely to be seriously ill with or die of coronavirus, but they can easily spread the disease to adults.
Pfizer has said it will ask for emergency US and European authorization for younger age groups.
It remains unclear what will happen in the UK as the current vaccines are authorised only for adults.
Nearly 31 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the official figures.
According to the doctor, this monument depicts the strength of the human body, the human resolve against any form of unwanted foreign invasion…writes Siddhi Jain.
People around the world is fighting against Covid 19 in different ways. In a cultural addition to the ongoing fight against Covid-19, noted radiologist and founder of MedscapeIndia, Dr Sunita Dube has announced the creation of ‘the statue of immunity’ and research centre, as a symbol of human resolve against the pandemic.
According to the doctor, this monument depicts the strength of the human body, the human resolve against any form of unwanted foreign invasion, whether it is the perilous virus Covid-19 which shook the entire world, or intangible negative thoughts.
The monument, the brainchild of Dr Dube, aims to become the new symbol of good health, which will inspire humanity to continuously resist the unknown threats and develop inner strength. It depicts the immunity within ourselves that fights and defeats any unwanted ingress in the health system, she said in a statement.
“Being a Covid-19 warrior, I really understand that the wellbeing of human is of grave concern and how we empower people with good health, strong immunity and healthy body and mind. We Indians and the entire world are fighting against Covid-19, and the war is still on but the winners are the ones who have good immunity. Immunity is what keeps us healthy and alive and that’s what this monument will depict. It will be like an epitome of human kind winning over the death and future generations to remember and prepare for any future pandemics.”
“I welcome all national, international, private and public government institutional bodies as well as corporations to come forward and contribute in the construction of this noble monument in India and for the entire world. We are working in five regions including three Indian states, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh along with two international regions, Dubai and Western Europe. Based on the feasibility of things, the availability of land, technical and financial support, we will accordingly select any one location for creating this monument,” she further added.
COVID:19.
‘The Statue of Immunity’ will not only be a stand-alone monument but an entire experience in itself, says MedscapeIndia. It will have pillars of strength around it which will depict various countries standing for the cause of ‘Immunity’, open forum discussion to exchange knowledge on immunity. Future plan includes research centre for immunity and scientists from across the world will be invited to conduct research on building immunity for mankind, minds to matters. It will not only be a hub of information but will be an educational and tourist spot, said the statement.
