Coronavirus: Sputnik V around 90% effective against Delta variant, say its developers

10.57 pm: The East Delhi Municipal Corporation waives off fee charged from vendors at weekly markets in view of the Covid-19 crisis, PTI reports.

10.54 pm: All vaccination appointments scheduled at government-run centres in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district for Wednesday have been postponed to July 6, PTI reports. The district’s Chief Medical Officer Deepak Ohri cites “unavoidable reasons” for the postponement.

10.46 pm: The Centre directs the states to focus on promptly vaccinating priority groups against Covid-19 and monitor districts with a higher count of active cases per million population, NDTV reports.

8.08 pm: Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed Sputnik V, says that the vaccine is around 90% effective against the Delta variant of Covid-19, reports Reuters.

8.05 pm: Telangana records 987 new coronavirus cases, 1,362 recoveries, and seven deaths in a day, reports ANI.

8 pm: Ambassador of European Union to India Ugo Astuto says that a tiny difference in manufacturing conditions of vaccines can result in differences, reports ANI. He was talking about Vaxzevria, the AstraZeneca vaccine being used in Europe, was recognised in the EU’s Covid-19 “vaccination passport” programme but Covishield, manufactured in India was not.

“So each and every product needs to undergo its own scrutiny process,” Astuto adds.

Read:

Coronavirus: Not received request for approving Covishield for ‘vaccination passport’, says EU

7.58 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa says that his government is considering to open malls in Bengaluru with some conditions, reports PTI. He adds that a decision in this regard will be taken soon.

7.56 pm: The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday a fresh plea seeking direction to the Centre and states to fix the maximum rate for the RT-PCR test to Rs 300 across the country, reports PTI. The plea also seeks early refund of the additional amount charged for the Covid-19 test.

7.52 pm: Delhi records 101 new coronavirus and four deaths in the last 24 hours. With this the infection in the national Capital climbs to 14,34,094 and the toll to 24,971 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. The daily positivity rate stands at 0.15%.

6.32 pm: Pharmaceutical firm Cipla has been allowed to import Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine to India, say reports.

6.26 pm: Bharatiya Janata Party President JP Nadda claims that the lowest number of vaccinations in the country are taking place in West Bengal, PTI reports.

“This is the only state where you would see fake vaccination camps are being run,” Nadda claims. “We have never heard about fake vaccination.”

4.53 pm: Hong Kong will ban all flights from the United Kingdom from July 1 to curb the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, reports BBC. The UK has been classified as an “extremely high-risk” country, the highest rating Hong Kong has for travel during the pandemic.

4.51 pm: Russia records 652 new coronavirus deaths in a day, its highest single-day fatality count since the pandemic began in January last year, reports AP. With this, the toll rises to 1,34,545. There are 55 lakh cases in the country.

4.49 pm: Paul adds that the Union government will soon close the deal with Pfizer to use its vaccine in the country, reports ANI.

4.48 pm: VK Paul says that the four vaccines in India – Covaxin, Covishield, SputnikV and Moderna – are safe for lactating mothers.

4.46 pm: VK Paul says currently Moderna will not be produced in India but adds that it can be happen in future.

4.44 pm: VK Paul says that the Moderna vaccine can be stored for seven weeks at -20 degree Celsius.

4.43 pm: VK Paul says there will be no need for abridging trial for the Moderna vaccine as the Centre had fast-tracked approval of foreign-manufactured jabs earlier.

4.41 pm: VK Paul says there are 51 cases of Delta plus variant found in 12 states. He adds that there is no scientific data available to show that the variant is more transmissible or if vaccines work on it.

4.35 pm: Watch the Union health ministry briefing on Covid-19 situation.

4.28 pm: Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul says that the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine has been granted restricted use permission in India, reports ANI.

4.06 pm: Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital reports five cases of cytomegalovirus-related rectal bleeding among Covid-19 patients, reports ANI.

Cytomegalovirus is an infection caused due to contraction of Covid-19 and medicines used to treat it which lead to suppress immunity of patients, the hospital says in a release.

4 pm: Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank gets discharged from All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, reports ANI. He was admitted due to post-Covid complications.

3.57 pm: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announces extension of Covid-19 restrictions in the state till July 10 due to concerns over the Delta Plus variant, reports ANI.

However, bars and pubs will be allowed to operate at 50% occupancy from July 1.

1.55 pm: US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson says it will not be undertaking local trials for its single-shot coronavirus vaccine in India as the government had scrapped that requirement, a spokesperson tells The Economic Times.

In April, the company had sought approval from India’s drug regulator to begin a clinical trial of the vaccine. But, a month later the Indian government scrapped local trails for “well-established” foreign coronavirus vaccines.

“Thus, the requirement for Johnson & Johnson to conduct a bridging clinical study of our single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine candidate no longer exists,” the spokesperson tells the newspaper. The company adds that it is exploring ways to accelerate the availability of its vaccine in India.

1.32 pm: A sero survey conducted on a paediatric population of 2,176 in Mumbai has found that 51.18% of children have been exposed to Covid-19, with most remaining asymptomatic, reports The Indian Express. This indicates that the severity of the infection continues to remain low among children.

1.31 pm: The Delhi government asks private hospitals with 100 or more beds to scale down the number of oxygen beds reserved for Covid-19 patients to 30% of their total capacity after daily cases saw a declining trend in the national Capital, reports PTI.

1.29 pm: A study by Oxford University shows that delayed second and third doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine boost immunity against Covid-19, reports AFP.

1.25 pm: A report released by computer security company McAfee says that India and Chile were the top two countries targeted by fake apps, which lure people with promises of vaccinations, reports The Indian Express. It says that McAfee detected malware reaching 43 million residents at the end of December in the two countries.

1.23 pm: Rajasthan on Monday halted the Covid-19 vaccination drive in various districts, including Jaipur, Barmer, Bharatpur, Pali, Jaisalmer, Jhunjhunu, Pali and Pratapgarh, because of a shortage of shots, reports The Indian Express.

1.20 pm: Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma asks 25 hospitals, including 24 private health institutions, to install their own Oxygen Pressure Swing Adsorption plants to combat any oxygen shortage during the possible third of the coronavirus, reports The Indian Express.

1.19 pm: The New Zealand government says it will resume quarantine-free travel with parts of Australia next week after it lifts Covid-19 curbs in Wellington, reports Reuters.

1.12 pm: The Telangana government orders opening of schools, junior colleges, degree colleges, technical colleges and all other educational institutions in online mode on various platforms including digital, television and the T-SAT app from July 1, reports News18. The government adds taht attendance of teaching staff will be limited to 50%.

1.08 pm: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says that his government will vaccinate 70% of the population of the state against the coronavirus disease by July-end, reports ANI. He also thanks Prime Minister Narendra Modi for free vaccines.

1.06 pm: Residents crossing the Karnataka-Kerala border take RT-PCR test at the Talapady border, reports ANI.

11.47 am: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan says the second wave is still not over. “Cases have definitely gone down sharply in Delhi but our experience of 1.5 yrs tells us that we shouldn’t relax under any circumstance,” he adds.

11.44 am: Dr. Reddys says the commercial launch of Sputnik V may be delayed due to dependency on imported consignments and quality testing, reports The Economic Times.

11.38 am: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel writes to PM Narendra Modi, requesting him to make at least 1 crore doses of vaccine available to the state in July. He adds that the current stock of 9,98,810 jabs will last for only three days.

11.35 am: Karnataka health minister says he will visit Delhi next week to request for more vaccines.

11.34 am: The Uttarakhand government postpones the Char Dham Yatra with immediate effect till further orders after court rap, reports ANI.

Also read

Uttarakhand HC stays decision allowing Char Dham Yatra, says it would ‘invite catastrophe’

11.33 am: Himachal Pradesh reports 76 cases of the Delta variant.

11.31 am: Jharkhand registers 90 new cases. There has been no Covid-19 fatality in the state in the last 24 hours.

11.24 am: The Supreme Court directs all states and Union Territories to run community kitchens for migrant workers till the pandemic situation continues, reports Live Law. It also asks states to implement the “one nation one ration card” scheme by July 31.

9.43 am: Not a single state reported more than 10,000 new cases in the last 24 hours, reports The Indian Express. Kerala reported the highest single-day rise with 8,063 cases.

9.39 am: Serum Institute applies for approval of emergency use authorisation of its vaccine from the European Union, reports The Times of India.

9.16 am: India reports 37,566 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020 to 3,03,16,897. The country’s toll rises by 907 to 3,97,637. India’s tally of active cases stands at 5,52,659.

9 am: Health ministry issues fresh guidelines on administering Covid-19 vaccine to pregnant women, reports ANI.

In case a woman gets infected by Covid-19, she should be vaccinated soon after delivery, says ministry.

Here are the top updates from Monday:

1. India reported 46,148 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020 to 3,02,79,331. The country’s toll rose by 919 to 3,96,730. India’s tally of active cases stood at 5,72,994, while the number of recoveries reached 2,93,09,607.
2. India surpassed the United States in terms of total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the respective countries, the health ministry said. A total of 32.36 crore doses have been given in the country so far, while 32.33 crore jabs have been administered in the US. India, however, lags far behind the US in terms of population percentage that has been inoculated.
3. There are 48 cases of the “Delta plus” variant in 12 states of India, the Centre said, adding that the strain is very localised.
4. Delhi reported 59 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total number of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020 to 14,33,993. The is the lowest number of cases Delhi has reported this year. Only two deaths were reported, taking the city’s toll to 24,967.
5. Gujarat reported less than 100 coronavirus cases after 14 months, according to PTI. The state recorded 96 cases, taking its total number of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020 to 8,23,340. Its toll rose by three to 10,054. Gujarat had reported 78 cases in April 14 last year and 127 infections a day after that.
6. Serum Institute of India’s Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla acknowledged the problems that several Indian citizens were facing in the process of their scheduled travel to the European Union. Poonawalla said that he had taken up the matter at the “highest levels”. The Serum Institute of India manufactures the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine under the brand name Covishield.
7. Pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories announced the commercial launch of oral anti-coronavirus drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose, or 2-DG. The Defence Research and Development Organisation has developed the drug in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s.
8. The finance ministry announced a Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan guarantee scheme for sectors affected by pandemic. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced eight measures for the affected sectors, of which four pertain to new schemes.