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Breaking News – COVID-19 Update: Maharashtra Health Minister Says Mild COVID Third Wave To Likely Occur in December

Pune: Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope conveyed to the public that the country might go through a mild third wave of COVID-19 in December. According to PTI, “The third wave is expected to be mild and medical oxygen and ICU beds will not be required.” According to Tope’s statement, it seems the pandemic’s third wave will not be as ghastly as the second wave. The shortage of oxygen and ICU beds will not arise during the new wave. Adding to this, Maharashtra Congress has written to CM of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray to request Rs 4 lakh as compensation for the kin who lost their families to the COVID-19 virus in the state. As the situations are going back to normal again with the mass of Indians being vaccinated, the third wave is expected to be mild. There has not been any talk of lockdowns till now. Source: India Today

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Serum Institute of India to resume supply of Covishield to COVAX: Reports

Adar Poonawalla’s Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, will, according to reports, soon resume its supply of Covishield, the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), under the COVAX programme. According to a recent report, the Union government has allowed the SII to export 5 million doses of Covishield under COVAX, which is backed by the United Nations, to Nepal, Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Mozambique. Nepal was scheduled to receive the first batch, on November 24. The delivery has, however, been delayed. “The first consignment from the main Pune facility was scheduled to leave for Nepal today. However, the delivery has been delayed by two-three days due to some reason. The exact date of the consignment dispatch is still awaited,” news agency ANI quoted a Serum Institute official as saying, on Monday. In April this year, the Centre halted the export of Covid-19 vaccines as a severe second wave hit the country. However, with the second wave now under control, the supply to COVAX was expected to restart soon. Covishield is the Indian variant of Britain’s Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab, and is manufactured by the SII under that name in India. It is one of the two most widely-used jabs in the country, with the other being Covaxin, developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited. Covishield and Covaxin were the first two shots to receive emergency use authorisation (EUA) in India for the vaccination drive, which began on January 16. COVAX, meanwhile, stands for ‘Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access.’ It is co-led by Gavi, World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The initiative enables access to coronavirus vaccines, tests and therapies for low-to-middle income countries. Source: Hindustan Times

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Drastic Rise in Dengue Cases in Delhi, Centre Extends Help

Delhi: While Delhi is suffering from an extreme wave of air toxicity, the Dengue epidemic seems to get worse. The city is now witnessing an alarming rise in Dengue cases. In light of the current situation, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has ensured the people that the situation will improve in some days as the weather changes. According to health experts, the number of Dengue cases have increased this year as compared to last year because. In 2020, the spread of Dengue was less due to people being vigilant under the COVID-19 restrictions. Based on the recent civic report, the number of Dengue cases in Delhi has reached to 7,100 this year. The key observations of the civic report are: Out of the total 7,100 dengue cases, 5,600 alone were reported in the month of November. The cases have risen drastically in the national capital making the situation for the people worse. On November 15, the city recorded a wave of fresh 5,277 cases. The rise has been a record high since 2015. For the past one week, the capital has recorded a total of 1,850 fresh Dengue cases. The High Court has issued a notice to the Delhi government and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation regarding the action plan against the Dengue outbreak in the national capital. The Centre has dispatched high-level support teams to help monitor public-measures and to control the outbreak. Source: Financial Express  

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Adopting Plant-based diet can relieve migraine symptoms, suggests doctors: Study

Health Article

Doctors have recently suggested that it’ll be worthwhile to adopt a plant-based diet that’s rich in dark green leafy vegetables, for those that are affected by the symptoms of chronic migraine. This study was published online in the ‘BMJ Case Reports Journal’. the advice comes after they treated a person who had endured severe migraine headaches without aura for over 12 years. He had tried prescribed medicines (Zolmitriptan and Topiramate); cutting out potential ‘trigger’ foods, including chocolate, cheese, nuts, caffeine, and dried fruit; and yoga and meditation in a bid to blunt the severity and frequency of his headaches. Nothing had worked. Over one billion people worldwide have migraines, characterized as one-sided, pulsating headaches lasting 4-72 hours, and sometimes accompanied by sensitivity to noise and light and sometimes prodromal auras. Migraines are either episodic (fewer than 15 days a month) or chronic (15 or more migraine days a month plus migraine features on a minimum of 8 days of the month). Successful migraine treatment is defined as a halving in the frequency and length of attacks, or as an improvement in symptoms. While drugs can help prevent and treat the condition, a growing body of evidence suggested that diet might also offer an efficient alternative with none of the side effects related to some medicines, said the report authors. Six months before his clinic referral, the man’s migraines had become chronic, occurring on 18-24 days of each month. He described the pain as starting suddenly and intensely in the forehead and temple on the left side of his head. The pain was throbbing in nature and typically lasted 72 hours. His headaches were accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and vomiting. On a scale of 0-10, he scored the pain severity as 10-12 out of 10. Blood tests revealed that he did not have high levels of systemic inflammation and that he had a normal level of beta-carotene (53 ug/dl). This was likely derived from his daily consumption of sweet potatoes, which, although high in beta-carotene, are relatively low in the nutrients liable for the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of carotenoids, identified the report authors. These are instead found in dark green leafy vegetables, like spinach, kale, and watercress. Systemic inflammation and oxidative stress are implicated in migraine. The report authors advised the man to adopt the Low Inflammatory Foods Everyday (LIFE) diet, a nutrient-dense, whole-food, plant-based diet. The LIFE diet included eating a minimum of five ounces by weight of raw or cooked dark green leafy vegetables a day, drinking one 32-ounce daily green LIFE smoothie, and limiting the intake of whole grains, starchy vegetables, oils, and animal protein, particularly dairy and red meat. After two months on the LIFE diet, the person said that the frequency of his migraine attacks had fallen to only one day a month; the length and severity of the attacks had also lessened. Blood tests showed a considerable rise in beta-carotene levels, from 53 ug/dl to 92 ug/dl. He had stopped taking all his migraine meds. Even when he tried certain ‘challenge’ foods, like egg whites, salmon, or iced tea, which triggered headache attacks, these were much less painful and much shorter in duration than before. After three months, his migraines stopped completely and that they haven’t returned in 7.5 years. The man was allergic, and previously published research suggests that better control of allergies may cause fewer migraine headaches. in this case, the man’s allergy symptoms improved to the point that he no longer needed to use seasonal medication. He was also HIV positive, and HIV has been linked to a heightened risk of migraines, so it’s certainly possible that the man’s HIV status and antiretroviral drugs had contributed to his symptoms, said the authors of the report. But it wasn’t possible to review this further without stopping the antiretroviral treatment, which is a limitation of the study, they acknowledged. However, they concluded, “This report suggests that an entire food plant-based diet may offer a secure, effective and permanent treatment for reversing chronic migraine.” “While this report describes one very adherent patient who had a noteworthy response, the LIFE diet has reduced migraine frequency within three months in several additional patients (personal communication).” Source: With inputs from ANI

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Research finds Rodents could be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses

According to a new research, ancestral rodents possibly have been infected with SARS-like coronaviruses repeatedly, which has made them form a resistance towards the pathogens. This means that they are likely to be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses. Conducted by Sean King and Mona Singh of Princeton University, this research was published in ‘PLoS Computational Biology Journal’. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 infection, is of zoonotic origin–it jumped from a non-human animal to humans. Previous research has shown that Chinese Horseshoe bats are a host of numerous SARS-like viruses and tolerate these viruses without extreme symptoms. Identifying other animals that have adapted tolerance mechanisms to coronaviruses is important for awareness of potential viral reservoirs that can spread new pathogens to humans. In the new research, King and Singh performed an evolutionary analysis, across mammalian species, of the ACE2 receptors, used by SARS viruses to gain entry into mammalian cells. Primates had highly conserved sequences of amino acids in the sites of the ACE2 receptor known to bind SARS viruses. Rodents, however, had a greater diversity — and an accelerated rate of evolution — in these spots. Overall, the results indicated that SARS-like infections have not been evolutionary drivers in primate history, but that some rodent species have likely been exposed to repeated SARS-like coronavirus infections for a considerable evolutionary period. “Our study suggests that ancestral rodents may have had repeated infections with SARS-like coronaviruses and have acquired some form of tolerance or resistance to SARS-like coronaviruses as a result of these infections,” the authors said. “This raises the tantalizing possibility that some modern rodent species may be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses, including those that may not have been discovered yet,” the authors added. Source: This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Malaria vaccines may improve with new knowledge on naturally acquired immunity

Scientists all over the globe are working to understand malaria parasite infections to fight them. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have come to a significant closer step, as they have found an important difference between naturally acquired immunity and immunity following vaccination. The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’. “The antibodies which the body produces when you have been infected with malaria look different from those produced by the body when you have been vaccinated. And that probably means that our immune system has a more efficient response when we have been naturally infected than when we are vaccinated against malaria,” said Lars Hviid, Professor at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology. The immune system can trigger various mechanisms in order to defend the body. The usual defence against infections with parasites, viruses and bacteria consists of so-called macrophages. “When we are exposed to an attack from the outside, the immune system can produce antibodies that attach to the foreign body that needs to be fought. They are then recognised by some small cells called macrophages, which are attracted to the antibody and eat the bacterium or virus. This is basically how immunity to most infectious diseases works,” explained Lars Hviid. But, now, researchers have discovered that immunity to malaria seems to work differently. Here, the body’s immune system uses some other types of cells to fight infection with the malaria parasite. “We have found that the antibodies look different, depending on whether you have been vaccinated or infected. And that means that the body launches some other defence mechanism as, instead, it uses what we call natural killer cells,” said Lars Hviid. Natural killer cells are usually known to researchers as one of the body’s best weapons to fight cancer cells. But, now, it seems that the defence against malaria has features in common with the immune system against cancer. “In popular terms, you could say that the immune system has a more tailored defence against malaria than against other typical infections. Maybe we have evolved in this way because it is such a contagious and deadly disease — that is difficult to guess,” said Lars Hviid. The researchers made the findings by comparing blood samples from Ghanaian people who had been infected with malaria with blood samples from people who participated in Phase 1 clinical trials of an experimental malaria vaccine. He explained that the new knowledge may be used to develop new and improved malaria vaccines. “Our study points to a new strategy for developing even better malaria vaccines in the future. Because, now, we know how the body mobilises the defence with natural killer cells, and we can imitate that with vaccines,” he said. He looks forward to being able to test — together with other researchers — whether a future malaria vaccine will be able to utilise natural killer cells instead of the macrophages that the current vaccines use. Source: This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text, with slight changes in the headline.

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Over 111 crore vaccine doses administered in India so far: Health Ministry

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 111 crores on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said. Over 52 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Friday till 7 pm. The tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late in the night, it said. The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the ministry underlined. The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1. Source: PTI

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India’s homegrown COVID jab, Covaxin is ‘highly efficacious’: Study

Covaxin, the first COVID-19 vaccine developed in India, is “highly efficacious” and presents no safety concerns, as per a study published in the medical journal Lancet. Covaxin gained emergency approval from the World Health Organization last week, the eighth jab to be given the green light by the health body. The vaccine has already been cleared to be used in 17 countries. Known by the code BBV152, Covaxin is an inactivated virus-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech together with the Indian Council of Medical Research and also the National Institute of Virology. The WHO has described it as “extremely suitable for low- and middle-income countries because of easy storage requirements”. a number of the other approved vaccines must be stored at very low temperatures, which gives logistical and price problems. Covaxin “was highly efficacious against laboratory-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 disease in adults”, the Lancet study said. The jab was also “well tolerated with no safety concerns raised in this interim analysis”, it added. The Indian-developed vaccine features a 78 percent efficacy rate after two doses over a month, according to the WHO. It has joined the COVID vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson&Johnson, Sinopharm and Sinovac on the WHO-approved list. The rollout of Covaxin can “increase the finite global manufacturing capacity, and improve insufficient supply of vaccines, which disproportionately affects low-income and middle-income countries,” said Chinese researchers Li Jingxin Li and Zhu Fengcai, who didn’t participate in the study. They did however mention certain limits to the study, saying that because the trials had been conducted solely in India, there was a less ethnically diverse study group. The studies were also administered between November 2020 and January 2021, before the more contagious Delta variant of the virus became widespread. Despite the trial dates, the researchers involved were able to identify which of the patients were infected with the Delta variant. For this sub-group, the study found that Covaxin still provided protection against COVID-19, but was slightly less effective. Source: Aljazeera

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COVID-19 Update: India recorded 11,466 new cases and 460 deaths in the last 24 hours

As per recent data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has recorded 11,466 new cases of COVID-19 and 460 deaths in the last 24 hours. Out of the total cases reported today, Kerala alone is responsible for 6409 new cases and 47 deaths today. Under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive in India, 109.63 crore doses of vaccine have been administered across the country. The active cases of the virus stand at 1,39,683 which is the lowest in 264 days. As of November 9, Delhi had recorded 33 new cases of Covid-19 and zero deaths. The national capital had recorded four COVID-19 deaths in October and five deaths in September. So far in November, no deaths have been recorded in the city. Haryana too reported no new death due to the virus but did report 15 fresh cases on Tuesday, taking the tally up to 7,71,355, as per health department’s daily bulletin. Maharashtra on the other hand reported a total of 982 fresh cases and 27 fatalities on Tuesday. West Bengal too, reported a spike with a total of 788 new cases. The Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya has revealed that at present, 96 countries have agreed to mutual acceptance of vaccination certificates. The 96 countries include US, UK, Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, and Switzerland. Consecutively, people who are travelling from these countries have a few relaxations as is mentioned in the Union Health Ministry’s Guidelines on International Arrivals issued on 20th October. Source: The news has been published by the Financial Express with a few edits from the ArdorComm news network team.

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India could ship vaccines to COVAX in a few weeks, say sources

India could resume deliveries of COVID-19 shots to global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX in a few weeks for the first time since April, said two health industry sources, ending a suspension of supplies that has hurt poor countries. The World Health Organization (WHO), which co-leads COVAX, has been urging India to restart supplies for the programme, especially after it sent about 4 million doses to its neighbours and partners in October. Based on an off-the-cuff approval from India, COVAX officials have started planning allocations of the Covishield shot for various countries, said one among the sources, both of whom declining to be identified pending a final agreement. Covishield is a licensed version of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker. SII has nearly quadrupled its output of Covishield to up to 240 million doses a month since April, when India stopped all exports so as to inoculate its own people during a surge of cases. “There will need to be purchase orders confirmed to SII, labelling and packing, export authorisation granted for each of these shipments,” said the source. “So, the first deliveries, assuming the Indian government grants export authorisation, won’t happen until a few weeks from now.” SII, the health ministry and also the WHO didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. Earlier in the day, the Ministry has said in a statement that Indian states had over 159 million unutilised doses of varied vaccines, as inoculations have slowed after 79% of the country’s 944 million adults got one dose and 37% got two doses. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that COVAX had the money and the contracts to buy vaccines for low-income countries but “manufacturers have not played their part”. COVAX in September cut its 2021 delivery target by nearly 30% to 1.425 billion doses. Source: Reuters

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