COVID-19 News Updates

The service may be enabled via open APIs (Application Programming Interface) or No-code webpage integration that Co-WIN has created for private and government service providers to retrieve a person's vaccination status with the responses -- not vaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated.

Among the age group of 18-44 years, a total of 44,03,91,026 shots of the first dose and 18,67,51,559 jabs of the second dose have been administered so far.

The traits of the Delta variant include enhanced transmissibility and an ability to infect people who had previous infections/vaccination.

A top Odisha health official on Saturday said that the booster or third dose of Covid-19 vaccine may be required to people as per the standards fixed by the National Taskforce On Immunisation and not the entire vaccinated population.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.96 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 47 days. The weekly positivity rate was 0.93 per cent. It has been below two per cent for the last 57 days.

Moderna requested authorisation of its 50 microgram booster dose for all adults on Wednesday. The company said the FDA based the emergency use authorisation (EUA) on the "totality of scientific evidence shared by the company," including data that showed neutralizing antibodies had waned at about six months.

In a separate trial, patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 had their risk of developing severe disease reduced by 88 per cent, when one dose of AZD7442 was given within three days of developing symptoms.A

The accountant, who was widely thought to be the first person with Covid-19, reported that his first symptoms appeared on December 16, several days later than initially known.

"Obesity is a modifiable risk factor of Covid-19 and our goal should be to achieve a healthy weight at the population level that might reduce adverse outcomes in near future."

Meanwhile, a total of 110 countries have recognised India's vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, and agreed to the mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certificates with India.

Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate at 0.92 per cent has remained less than 2 per cent for the last 56 days now.

The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,478,517 infections and 464,623 deaths), followed by Brazil (21,989,962 infections and 612,144 deaths).

Of eight WHO-approved vaccines against Covid-19 in emergency use listing, two vaccines -- Covaxin and Covishield -- are from India.

Currently, ventilation design is often based on air changes per hour. While these design calculations assume fresh air reaches every corner of the room uniformly, computer simulations and experiments within a real washroom show this does not occur, Sinha said.

The findings come as several countries have loosened masking requirements, citing vaccine efficacy. But experts have warned against lifting mask mandates. Although vaccines have proved to be safe and effective, yet most vaccines do not confer 100 per cent protection. Moreover, it is also not known how vaccines will prevent future transmission of SARS-CoV-2, given emerging variants.