Washington: The World Health Organization (WHO) has said expressed concern over of international concern and said that it is still a global emergency.

This is the highest level alert that came to the WHO on Monday, 3 years after the corona epidemic peaked.

The WHO has warned that COVID-19 remains a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “COVID-19 remains a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO has also said that the Corona epidemic is still an international crisis and emergency.”

Although the World Health Organization has also acknowledged that the virus may be at an infection point, it is necessary to carefully reduce the potential negative consequences of this infection.

The WHO statement came after the 14th meeting of the International Health Regulation (2005) Emergency Committee on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Friday, January 27.

WHO Director-General agrees with the advice given by the Committee on the Covid-19 Pandemic and agrees to continue the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

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New Delhi: A study has revealed that Covishield vaccine is better than Covaxin in terms of dealing with different variants of corona. Covishield has emerged as a more effective vaccine in studies conducted in several places. Covishield has proved to be more effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its other variants in terms of making antibodies (a virus neutralising protein). It is worth mentioning that Covaxin was developed in India.

This study is yet to be reviewed by other experts. According to the study, when compared with the level before taking the vaccine, it was revealed that both the vaccines helped to produce enough antibodies. But the antibodies made by Covishield were more effective and longer lasting than the antibodies made by Covaxin. Between June 2021 and January 2022, scientists conducted the experiment on 691 people aged 18-45 years. All of them belonged to four urban and rural areas of Bengaluru and Pune.

Participants in this study had taken both doses of Covaxin and Covishield within the stipulated time. At two of these places, the wave of the Omicron variant of corona came in early 2022 when the second dose of the vaccine was received, and at one place when the person had taken both doses. Samples of participants in the study were taken for antibody analysis at six different times.

Samples were taken four times for cellular analysis. Vinita Bal, a scientist at IISER-Pune, said the impact of Covid vaccines has been different in the young adult population.

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Washington: Covid-19 can trigger a strong immune response in men, which may lead to changes in their regular immune system long after recovering, according to a new study. This has been revealed in a study.

Scientists have long believed that the immune system comes back to a stable level after a viral infection. However, a recent study published in the journal Nature has shown that it depends on the gender of the person.

The researchers, including those from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, systematically analysed the immune responses of people who received flu vaccines.

They then compared this analysis to the immune responses of two types of people. On the one hand were people who were never infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the father of Covid-19, and on the other, there were people who contracted covid-19 mildly but recovered from it.

The team found that the immune systems of men who recovered from mild covid-19 infection responded stronger to flu vaccines than women.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” said John Tsang, an immunobiologist at Yale University in the US.

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New Delhi: The Central government today clarified that corona RT-PCR negative test reports are not only mandatory for passengers coming from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea, but also for passengers on flights coming through these countries from other countries. In this regard, the Health Ministry has written a letter to the Union Civil Aviation Authorities.

In a letter to Secretary Rajiv Bansal, Lav Agarwal, Additional Secretary in the Health Ministry, has made it clear that passengers travelling to the above-mentioned high-risk countries will also have to upload the RT-PCR report of corona on the air facility portal 72 hours before travel, even if the passengers belong to any other country and have to travel to another place.

The Health Ministry said that corona tests of two percent of the passengers coming from any country at airports across the country will continue as before. China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Japan continue to see a steady rise in covid-19 cases, prompting the revised guidelines to take precautions against the spread of the virus, the ministry said.

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New Delhi: The Delhi government is also on alert mode amid the growing fear of corona in many countries including China, Japan and US. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday withdrew its order to deploy teachers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to help implement Covid protocols after facing flak from people and teachers.

Earlier, it was decided to deploy government school teachers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) for 15 days. However, the decision to impose the duty of teachers has been withdrawn. Following protests by the Teachers’ Association, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has withdrawn the decision regarding the deployment of teachers.

The authority said civil defence personnel will be deployed at the airport if required. This order has been withdrawn. Government schools in Delhi will remain closed from January 1 to 15 due to winter vacations. Due to which it was decided to deploy teachers at airports from December 31 to January 15.

Last week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that no case of BF.7, a sub-variant of Omicron, has been reported in the city so far and his government is fully prepared to deal with any eventuality.

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Beijing: China’s Zhejiang Industrial Province is reporting 1 million new cases of corona daily and this figure can double in the coming days. According to media reports, due to the rapidly increasing corona cases in China, people are forced to stay at home and shops and restaurants are empty.

Business establishments have been shut down or production has been reduced by the owners of many factories and companies as a large number of workers are falling ill due to Covid-19 infection.

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New Delhi: The situation is worsening due to the new variant BF.7 of Covid-19 in China. Hundreds of people are getting infected daily and death toll is also increasing.

Amid the deteriorating situation in China, India has also become alert and has already started taking all the measures to avoid any dangerous situation, so that Covid can be prevented from spreading in the country.

The situation in India is still under control. Now the question arises why the impact of the BF.7 variant of Omicron on India is not as serious as China?

BF.7 is a sub-variant of Omicron, as Omicron is a variant of Corona, which caused havoc in India during the third wave. BF.7 is the only sub-variant that is wreaking havoc in China at this time.

During the last three months, four cases of this variant have also been reported in India. Given the current Covid situation in India, there is no need to panic at the moment.

Dr Rakesh Mishra, director of the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society, has tried to allay the emerging fears among the people about this variant.

He said that this variant may not be as dangerous for India as it is for China. Dr Mishra has explained two reasons on the basis of which it can be assumed that the BF.7 variant in India will not cause a serious situation, provided we do not relax.

India has already gone through the omicron wave

China did not face the severe waves of Covid due to its strict ‘Zero Covid Policy’, which India has done. India has suffered three waves during the Corona epidemic. This is the reason why people in India have now become immune.

The Omicron variant of Corona had hit many people in January 2022, due to which natural immunity against it has now been developed in people. Dr Mishra explained that most people in India have gone through the omicron wave, so we don’t have to worry about it.

India’s vaccination coverage higher than China’s

The impact of the BF.7 variant of Omicron on India will not be as severe as China because its corona vaccination coverage is much higher than China. A large number of people in India are corona vaccinated. Since the start of the vaccination drive in January 2021, India has administered more than 220 crore vaccine doses to the people so far.

98 per cent of adults in the country have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while more than 90 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated. China’s vaccination coverage has been low, especially among the elderly population. This is the reason why China’s elderly population is getting more infected and dominant than the young.

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New Delhi: There has been an outcry due to corona infection in China. A high level Chinese health official believes that the country is facing the first of three possible waves of Covid infection.

Earlier this month, China lifted lockdown and quarantine restrictions under the Covid policy, since then the number of corona infected patients has started increasing rapidly there.

The latest official figures, however, show a lower number of new daily cases. Only 2097 new cases of corona infection were reported in China on Sunday.

Epidemiologist Wu Xunyo has said he believes the current spike in infections will last until mid-January, while the second wave is likely to extend by the end of January, a media report said.

Millions of people usually travel to China to spend holidays with family on New Year’s eve celebrations. Dr Wu said the third surge in cases will last from late February to mid-March as people return to work after the holiday. He said at a conference on Saturday that due to the increase in the current vaccination, the number of serious cases of corona has come down.

Overall, China says more than 90% of its population has been fully vaccinated. However, less than half of those aged 80 and above have received three doses of the vaccine. Elderly people are more likely to have severe symptoms of Covid.

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Beijing: After nationwide protests, China’s top Covid officials and major cities have indicated a concession in the ‘zero tolerance policy’ in the country. Significantly, there is a strong resentment among the people of China regarding those very strict rules on Covid-19, under which provisions like mass lockdown, continuous testing and quarantining even non-infected people are included.

In addition to the capital Beijing, demonstrations were seen in major cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, according to a news agency, Sun Chunlan, vice premier at the National Health Commission, said on Wednesday that the outbreak of Omicron infection is decreasing and Immunization rates are improving.

Sun, who played a key role in China’s policy making against the epidemic, said that the country is facing a new situation in the prevention and control of the epidemic. He did not mention the zero-covid policy in his latest remarks, but indicated that strict rules that have brought the economy and daily life to a standstill may be relaxed soon and had tightened restrictive measures in several major cities of China, including Beijing and Shanghai, from 24 November, with partial lockdowns being implemented in some areas due to the worsening of the pandemic situation in the country. Due to the new restrictions, protests were seen across the country.

A few days back also there were reports that Chinese officials are now debating whether the quarantine period for travelers coming from outside should be reduced or not. According to the reports, the people associated with this matter said that due to the country’s zero covid policy, China is getting cut off from the rest of the world.

Officials are now planning to reduce the quarantine period to two days at the hotel and then five days at home upon arrival in China. At present, 10 days of isolation is necessary for passengers arriving in China from foreign travel. In this, 7 days have to be spent in the hotel room and then three days at home. Even at home, those people are monitored and regular tests are done.

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Sydney: Thousands of fines imposed during the COVID-19 period in Australia’s largest state, New South Wales, will be withdrawn and the amount will be refunded to the people who pay the fines.

The administration took the decision after the public prosecutor admitted that some of the fines imposed during this period were not correct.

Australian states had imposed strict restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, including travel and exiting the home. In New South Wales, police could fine up to 1,000 Australian dollars for violating government orders. The Redfern Legal Center, which provides free legal services, filed the case in July on the basis of three lawsuits.

In this, it had argued that the 1,000 to 3,000 Australian dollar fines imposed on the three were not correct as the fine notices did not mention the offence.

Prosecutors in the Supreme Court of New South Wales admitted during a hearing today that the fines imposed on these plaintiffs did not meet the legal conditions.

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