COVID-19 News Updates

Even amid the emergence of new variants like Omircron, vaccination remains one of the strongest pillars of protection against disease and infection, according to experts.

"The study is still in its early stages, but we hope that the discovery will be used in the future to develop an accessible and effective drug, preventing infection with the coronavirus. Our findings at this stage arouse cautious optimism," TAU's Prof. Alexander Golberg added in the study published in PeerJ -- a peer-reviewed science journal.

Three days after emergence of first case of Omicron variant in India, New Delhi reported country’s 5th case of the variant on Sunday.

Following Union Health Secretary’s concerns over ‘rising Covid infection and fatality rate in certain districts of Odisha’, director of State Health Services, Bijay Mohapatra clarified that Odisha is in a much better position as compared to the national trends.

Amid growing concerns over Omicron, the new variant of Covid-19, international travellers arriving at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar as well as Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Jharsuguda are being strictly monitored.

In response to the Central government’s concern about a spike in Covid-19 cases and a fall in the number of tests, Director Health Services Bijay Mohapatra Sunday said the State’s testing rate is much better than the national average. 

The active cases stand at 99,155, comprising 0.29 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.35 per cent, the health ministry said.

The other worst countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (10,479,955), Russia (9,598,283), Turkey (8,883,730), France (7,927,361), Iran (6,131,356), Germany (6,177,992), Argentina (5,339,382), Spain (5,202,958) and Colombia (5,078,987), the CSSE figures showed.

In view Omicron variant of Covid-19, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has issued revised state-wise travel guidelines to ensure safety of passengers.

Referring to the transformational changes brought in the governance over the past seven years, he said that these changes are both empowering and enabling the 1.3 billion people to deliver on their potential.

To test the chewing gum, the team grew angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in plants, paired with another compound that enables the protein to cross mucosal barriers and facilitates binding, and incorporated the resulting plant material into cinnamon-flavoured gum tablets.

The ministry, in separate letters addressed to the six states -- has said that in the context of the new Variant of Concern -- Omicron, all states have been advised to undertake enhanced surveillance of international travellers, continued monitoring of emerging hotspots, prompt and comprehensive contact tracing of positive individuals and follow up for 14 days,

The Odisha Family Welfare Director, Bijay Panigrahi on Saturday (Dec 4) revealed that the Covid-19 vaccination in the state has been stopped temporarily due to Cyclone Jawad which is likely to reach near Coast on Dec 5th.

At a time when there is a growing concern over Omicron, the Odisha government on Saturday asked the Centre to provide a portal so that the contract tracing can be carried out effectively. 

About 80 per cent of people with disabilities live in developing countries, according to the UN. Nearly 46 per cent of people aged 60 and older have a disability.