New Delhi, Dec 21,2020: The Government on Monday suspended all flights between India and the United Kingdom beginning 2359 hours Tuesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of the new mutated strand of Corona virus that has emerged in UK.
‘Considering the prevailing situation in UK. Govt. of India has decided that all flights originating from UK to India to be suspended till 31st December 2020 (23.59 hours),’ the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) tweeted.
The suspension of flights will come into effect from 2359 hours on Tuesday (December 22) and flights from
India to the United Kingdom will also remain temporarily suspended during the same period, the Ministry added.
‘This suspension to start w.e.f. 23.59 hours, 22nd December 2020. Consequently flights from India to UK shall stand temporarily suspended during above said period,’ the MoCA said.
The Ministry also announced that passengers who are arriving in India from UK in all transit flights that arrive in India before 2359 hours on Tuesday, will have to take RT-PCR test on their arrival at the concerned airports here, as part of the precaution measure.
New Delhi , December 21,2020: India continues to witness a declining trend in average daily new deaths due to coronavirus amid decreasing new cases in the past few weeks.
With only 351 average daily COVID-19 fatalities reported between December 14-20, India continues to have one of the lowest deaths per million, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW).
“#IndiaFightsCorona India has one of the lowest deaths/mn population globally (105.4). Focussed measures including targeted testing, early identification, timely isolation & prompt hospitalization & Standard Treatment Protocol have ensured that daily fatalities are under 400,” MOHFW tweeted on Monday.
341 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,45,477 on Sunday.
A week earlier from December 7-3, 450 average daily COVID-19 fatalities were reported.
With 26,624 new COVID-19 cases recorded in the last 24 hours, India’s total coronavirus cases reached 1,00,31,223 on Sunday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
India’s present active caseload consists of just 3.04 per cent of the total positive cases.
The difference in the new recoveries outnumbering new cases has also improved the recovery rate to 95.51 per cent.
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) , December 21,2020: A special cabinet meeting held here on Monday has taken a decision to convene a special assembly session on Wednesday to discuss farm laws passed by the Centre.
The special assembly session will be convened to pass a resolution against farm laws which both CPI(M) led Left Democratic Front ( LDF) and Congress-led United Democratic Front are opposing.
Confirming the cabinet decision, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said, “Kerala cabinet decided to convene a special session of the legislative assembly on 23rd December before the scheduled budget session to discuss and reject the controversial farm laws. Kerala is in solidarity with the farmers’ struggle.”
The recommendation by the cabinet to convene a special assembly will be made to the Governor. The short duration assembly session will just be limited to discuss farm laws and the full budget session of the Kerala Assembly will be held from January 8.
NEW DELHI ,Dec 17,2020: India will have to spend $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion in the first phase of a coronavirus vaccination programme, even after getting support under the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme, according to estimates by the GAVI vaccines alliance.
India, which has the world’s second highest caseload of coronavirus behind the United States, plans to inoculate 300 million people over the next six to eight months, likely with vaccines from AstraZeneca, Russia’s Sputnik, Zydus Cadila and India’s own Bharat Biotech.
Documents reviewed by Reuters underline the scale of the funding challenge India faces to immunise its vast population, with 600 million shots required in the first wave alone for critical workers and people most at risk from COVID-19.
If India got 190-250 million shots of the vaccine under the COVAX facility – a best case scenario – then the government would need to line up about $1.4 billion to make up for the shortfall, according to an unpublished report prepared for GAVI’s three-day board meeting that began on Tuesday.
On the other hand, if India received a lower allocation of 95-125 million doses, then the cost to the government of procuring additional shots would go up to $1.8 billion.
By comparison, India’s 2020/21 federal budget allocated just under $10 billion to healthcare.
SUPPORT PACKAGE
The COVAX plan, co-led by the World Health Organization and GAVI, aims to provide poor and middle-income countries with diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines through a fund known as the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, set up last April.
The Indian government has not provided any estimate of the cost of its vaccine programme, though it has said all resources will be provided to protect the population.
GAVI, an alliance of governments, drug companies, charities and international organisations, said it was in discussions with the Indian government over a support package.
NEW DELHI ,Dec 13,2020: India will deploy its vast election machinery to deliver 600 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the most vulnerable people in the next six to eight months through conventional cold chain systems, the expert leading the initiative said.
The government has lined up cold storage facilities with temperatures between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 48°F), said V.K. Paul, who heads the group of experts on vaccine administration for COVID-19 that advises India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Paul said these preparations meet the requirements of what he said were the four emerging candidates in the race for India’s vaccine.
“The four that I can see, including Serum, Bharat, Zydus, and Sputnik need normal cold chain. I see no problem for these vaccines,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, is already mass producing and stockpiling AstraZeneca’s Covishield shot, while Indian biotech players Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila are developing their own vaccine candidates.
And last month, Indian pharmaceutical player Hetero inked a deal with Russia’s RDIF to manufacture over 100 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine per year in India.
The government expects the first approvals “very soon” from the independent drug regulator for emergency use, he said.
“I am hoping at the earliest because we are ready.”
The government, however, was yet to have formal talks on pricing and had no firm purchase orders, he said.
“The Indian companies know the government will give a fair and reasonable price.”
SUPPLIES AND STORAGE
At present, Indian regulators are considering three vaccines for emergency use authorisation, including those from Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech.
But, Pfizer’s limited stockpiles and its extreme storage condition requirements at minus 70 degrees Celsius or below, would likely limit its use in India, which lacks such infrastructure.
Paul said the government is also in talks with Moderna, which also has requirements for ultra-cold storage.
India does not anticipate supplies from either Pfizer or Moderna until the second half of next year, said Paul.
Paul said India may still consider granting Pfizer emergency use authorisation, despite it not having conducted safety and immune response trials in India, but said that decision would be taken by the drugs regulator.
India has the world’s second highest caseload of coronavirus behind the United States, but its death rate has been far lower.
Still, Paul said the immediate task was to protect lives and the government had prepared a plan to administer vaccines to 300 million people – or 600 million doses at two jabs each – in the first part of the programme.
This would be made up of 260 million people above the age of 50, an estimated 10 million below the age of 50 with serious co-morbidities and 30 million frontline workers, who have borne the brunt of infections.
New Delhi, Dec 12,2020: Sticking to their demands, farmer leaders Saturday said they are ready to hold talks with the government, but will first discuss repealing the three new farm laws, and announced further intensification of their ongoing protest against the legislations.
Addressing a press conference at Singhu Border here, farmer leader Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu said that thousands of farmers will start their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march from Rajasthan’s Shahjahanpur through the Jaipur-Delhi Highway at 11 am on Sunday
He said that farmers from other parts of the country are also on their way to join the protesters here and they will take the agitation to the next level in the coming days
?If the government wants to hold talks, we are ready, but our main demand will remain the scrapping of the three laws. We will move onto our other demands only after that,? the farmer leader said
Farmer union leaders will also sit on a hunger strike between 8 am and 5 pm On December 14 against the new agriculture laws, he said
Pannu alleged the government tried to weaken the agitation, but that the protesting farmers did not let it happen. The farmer leader vowed to keep the protest peaceful
The government on Friday asked the protesting farmers to be vigilant against their platform being misused, saying some ?antisocial? as well as ?Leftist and Maoist? elements were conspiring to spoil the atmosphere of the agitation which has been going on for over two weeks now.