The flight operations between India and the United Kingdom will resume from January 8, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday. The operations will be restricted to 15 flights per week till January 23 for carriers of the two countries to and from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad only, the Minister further said. Pune makes medical checkups mandatory for travellers from Europe and South Africa.
Reuters quoted sources close to development as saying that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Friday approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for emergency use. The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid19 vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by Serum Institute of India, was reportedly recommended to the drug controller by a Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on Covid-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). The SEC will make appropriate recommendations to the DCGI which will take the final decision, the ministry said. Bharat Biotech is developing Covaxin in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.
As many as 20,035 new cases of coronavirus cases were detected in India on the last day of 2020, taking the total number of infections to 1 crore and 2.86 lakh. Of these, about 8.24 lakh were detected in December, the lowest since July. December has recorded the lowest number of infections since July.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, which means poorer countries may soon access the shot already available in Europe and North America. On late Thursday, the global body had said that the decision to issue its first emergency use validation for a coronavirus vaccine “opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine.” The UN health agency said that its review found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has already received clearance in the United States, Britain, the European Union and a dozen other countries, “met the must-have criteria for safety and efficacy set out by WHO.”
Covid vaccination dry run to begin in seven Chhattisgarh districts on January 02
A dry run to assess preparedness to roll out the COVID-19 vaccination drive will be conducted in seven districts in Chhattisgarh on Saturday, an official said. The dry run will be conducted in three centres in each of the seven districts, namely Raipur, Surguja, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Bastar and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM), as stated by state Mission Director of National Health Mission (NHM) Priyanka Shukla.
District hospital, community health centres (CHCs), and primary health centres (PHCs) have been selected as centres for the exercise which will start from 10 am onwards and 25 people will be part of the dry run in each centre, as said by Shukla, who is also the nodal officer for the state’s COVID-19 vaccination drive.
“During the mock drill, assessment of cold chain management, vaccine supply, storage and logistics along with management of entry, registration, vaccination and observation of persons who will be administered the vaccine, will be carried out,” Shukla informed.
Lucknow to hold the inoculation dry runs at 6 places on January 02
A total of 15 people died of Covid-19 and 871 tested positive for it in the 24 hours from morning December 31 to morning 8 am January 01 in Uttar Pradesh, taking the death toll due to the disease in the state on Friday to 8,379 and total cases of infection to 5,86,751. A dry run for vaccination against Covid-19 would be held at six places in the state capital on Saturday, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said in the state’s daily health bulletin. He also added that the government is making all preparations for administering vaccines.
The active cases in the state stood at 13,831 with 5,924 people recuperating at home and 1,291 in private hospitals, Prasad said. The number of those cured has gone up to 5,64,541 with the recovery rate clocking 96.21 percent now in the state, he added.
Restrictions to prevent virus-spread
In India, Delhi had announced night curfew on New Year’s Eve, restricting more than five people to assemble at a public place. Maharashtra had also announced night curfew. Restrictions in the city of Ahmedabad were placed on the New Year Eve from 10 pm on December 31 to 6 am on January 01.
(Source: PTI)
