Narendra Modi chairs high-level meet on COVID-19 situation amid concerns over new strain Omicron

-

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a meeting on the situation relating to coronavirus and the vaccination drive with top officials.

The meeting was attended by top officials including Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Principal Secretary to the prime minister PK Mishra, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul.

The meeting comes amid rising global concern about the B.1.1.529 strain of the coronavirus, which the World Health Organisation named as Omicron on Friday and termed as a ‘variant of concern’.

According to WHO, this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning.

Europe has already recorded its first case of the new COVID-19 variant in Belgium. Health minister Frank Vandenbroucke confirmed the same, saying, "We have a case that is now confirmed of this variant. This is someone who came from abroad, who tested positive on 22 November, who was not vaccinated."

Several European countries including France, Germany and Italy, and the United States along with Canada and Australia have already imposed new travel restrictions with South Africa and neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, India called for rigorous screening of passengers from South Africa, Botswana, and Hong Kong, and the Health Ministry said: "This variant... has serious public health implications in view of recently relaxed visa restrictions and opening of international travel."

India registered 8,318 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. This is 21.1 percent lower than what was recorded on Friday morning. India's cumulative caseload now stands at 3,45,63,749. In the last 24 hours, India also reported 465 coronavirus deaths, taking the country's toll to 4,67,933. India administered 73,58,017 COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours. The total number of doses administered in India so far is 1,21,06,58,262.

With inputs from agencies



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/316D23C
FP Staff

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

Aditya L1 Mission: Spacecraft is nearing its final phase, says ISRO chief

-
Aditya L1 spacecraft is nearing its final phase, and manoeuvres to enter the L1 point are expected to be completed by January 7, 2024, according to ISRO Chairman S Somanath. “Aditya is on the way. I think it has reached almost its final phase,” the ISRO chief told PTI on the sidelines of an event organised at VSSC to commemorate the 60th year of the First Sounding Rocket Launch. Aditya L1, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, was successfully launched on September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft, after travelling about 1.5 million km from Earth over 125 days, is expected to be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, considered closest to the Sun. He said that the last preparations for the spacecraft’s entry into the L1 point are currently underway incrementally.”Possibly by January 7th, the final manoeuvres will be done for entering into the L1 point,” Somanath added. Among other tasks, it will capture and tr
Read more