Monday, September 7, 2026
Home Blog Page 1341

Health Min includes Remdesivir as ‘investigational therapy’ for emergency Covid use

Remdesivir
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): Remdesivir drug has been included as an “investigational therapy” only for restricted emergency use in Covid-19 treatment, the Union Health Ministry said today.

The Ministry has released guidelines for its use along with off label use of Tocilizumab and Convalescent Plasma.

The Health Ministry’s status on the drug comes amid reports in a section of the media regarding the use of Remdesivir as part of the Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19, and its availability in the country.

An updated Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19 was released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare yesterday.

The said protocol also clearly mentions that the use of these therapies is based on limited available evidence and limited availability at present. “Use of Remdesivir under emergency use may be considered in patients with moderate disease (those on oxygen) but with no specified contraindications,” the ministry said in a statement.

This drug has still not been approved (market authorization) by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), where like India it continues only under an Emergency Use Authorization, it said.

Restricted emergency use of drugs in the country for treatment of suspected or laboratory confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalised with severe disease is subject to the following conditions- Written informed consent of each patient required, results of additional clinical trials to be submitted, active surveillance data of all treated patients to be submitted, risk management plan along with active post marketing surveillance and reporting of serious adverse events also to be submitted. Additionally, first three batches of imported consignments are to be tested and reports submitted to Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the ministry statement read.

M/s Gilead had applied to the Indian Drug Regulatory Agency, namely CDSCO, for import and marketing of Remdesivir on May 29 this year. After due deliberations, permission under Emergency Use Authorization was granted on June 1, 2020 in the interest of patient safety and obtaining further data, MoHFW said.

Six Indian companies, namely M/s Hetero, M/s Cipla, M/s BDR, M/s Jubilant, M/s Mylan and Dr. Reddy’s Labs have also applied to CDSCO for permission to manufacture and market the drug in India.

Five of these have also entered into an agreement with M/s Gilead. These applications are being processed by the CDSCO on priority and in accordance with the laid down procedures.The companies are at various intermediate stages of inspection of manufacturing facilities, verification of data, stability testing, emergency laboratory testing as per protocol etc.

Being an injectable formulation, testing for assay, identity, impurities, bacterial endotoxin test and sterility become very critical for patient safety and this data need to be provided by the companies. CDSCO is awaiting the data and is providing complete support to these companies. It has already waived off the requirement of local clinical trials for these companies by invoking emergency provisions. The regulatory processes are being facilitated and expedited by CDSCO, the Health Ministry said.

Amit Shah calls all-party meet tomorrow to review Covid-19 crisis in Delhi

Home Minister Amit Shah at a meeting to review COVID-19 situation in Delhi on June 14.

New Delhi (NVI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah will hold an all-party meeting in Delhi tomorrow to review the Covid-19 crisis in the national capital which has seen a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the last few days.

The Covid-19 cases in Delhi have seen a surge after the Centre announced the lifting of the lockdown in a phased manner across the country.

Earlier today, Home Minister held a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and other senior officials here to discuss the pandemic situation in the national capital.

Crucial decisions regarding the prevention of Covid infection from spreading in Delhi and the treatment of patients were taken at the meeting.

Tomorrow’s meeting will take place at 11 am and is likely to be attended by Delhi-based parties including the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Delhi unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In the meeting held today, Amit Shah assured all possible help from Centre to the national capital to combat the spread of coronavirus.

In a series of tweets, Shah said that taking note of the lack of beds for Covid-19 patients, Centre has taken an urgent decision to provide 500 railways coaches to Delhi. He said these railway coaches will not only increase 8,000 beds in Delhi but they will also be equipped with all facilities to combat Covid-19 infection.

Apart from that, the Home Minister said that corona testing will be tripled in Delhi after the next six days. “Corona testing in Delhi will be doubled in the next couple of days and it will be further tripled after six days,” he said, adding that testing facility will be started at every polling booth in containment zones.

Shah also said that to enable contact mapping in a better way, a comprehensive door to door survey of each person will be done in containment zones in Delhi. “Its report will come in a week. Besides, for effective monitoring, every person will be asked to download Aarogya Setu App,” he said.

He added that the Centre has decided to form a committee of senior doctors at AIIMS for telephonic guidance to small hospitals in Delhi regarding correct information and instructions. He said that this helpline number will be released tomorrow.

He has directed the Central Government, Delhi Government and all three Municipal Corporations of Delhi to ensure proper implementation of the decisions taken in the meeting held earlier this morning such as house-to-house survey, Corona testing etc to the lowest level, the MHA said in a statement.

Delhi is now nearing the 40,000 mark while the coronavirus has claimed over 1200 live so far. Delhi has recorded 38,958 confirmed cases so far with 1,271 deaths. There are 22,742 confirmed cases and 14,945 recoveries, according to the latest data with the Health Ministry.

Southwest monsoon advances over entire Maharashtra: IMD

New Delhi (NVI): The southwest monsoon, which hit Maharashtra four days back, has now covered the entire state including its capital Mumbai, the Indian Meteorological Department said today.

The weather department in a release said that the monsoon has advanced over entire Maharashtra including Mumbai, parts of south Gujarat and some more parts of central and East India.

“The Southwest Monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of Central Arabian Sea, some parts of northeast Arabian Sea, Gujarat state, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, remaining parts of Maharashtra (including Mumbai), some parts of Madhya Pradesh, most parts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and some more parts of Bihar,” the Ministry of Earth Science said.

“The Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) now passes through Lat.20°N/Long.60°E, Lat.20°N/Long.70°E, Surat, Nandurbar, Betul, Seoni, Pendra Road, Ambikapur, Gaya, Patna and Lat.27°N/Long.85°E,” it added.

IMD in its latest report said that conditions are becoming favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of North Arabian Sea, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, remaining parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar and some parts of East Uttar Pradesh during next 48 hours.

Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is very likely to continue over Maharashtra, Gujarat, most parts of central and east India during next 4-5 days with isolated heavy to very heavy falls over Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Gujarat and isolated heavy over south Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Marathwada during next 2-3 days, it added.

Pakistan’s Covid-19 tally crosses 1,41,000; death toll at 2,647

(Representational Image)

New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan has been witnessing a daily surge in the number of coronavirus cases as the tally crossed 1,41,000 today with 2,647 deaths.

The country’s health ministry said today that Pakistan has witnessed its highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases with 6,825 new infections. More than 80 people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, it said.

The Sindh Province reported maximum 2,287 new cases in the country, even as the Pakistan government aims to conduct 1,00,000 daily Covid tests by the end of July.

“We were only testing 500 people at the start of the pandemic. Now we are able to conduct 30,000 tests per day and the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has decided to take our capacity to more than 100,000 tests per day by the end of July. We are constantly increasing our capacity,” Pakistan’s Federal minister Asad Umar was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

The minister added that the federal government would help the provinces in increasing oxygen capacity in hospitals.

Meanwhile, the total confirmed cases in the country stand at 1,41,517 out of which 51,735 have recovered.

Sindh province has the maximum number of cases at 53,805, Punjab has 52,601, Balochistan 8,028, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 17, 450, Islamabad 7,934, Gilgit Baltistan 1,095 and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir has 604 positive cases.

Migrant labourers returning home may get work under Jal Jeevan Mission: Centre

Representational Image

New Delhi (NVI): As migrant labourers are returning to their villages amid the Covid-19 pandemic situation and have no immediate plans to go back to cities, the Centre is planning to deploy such workers in its flagship Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide them with employment.

“In the prevailing CoVid-19 pandemic situation, works related to water supply and water conservation to commence immediately in villages to provide works to the skilled/semi-skilled migrant workers to provide livelihood as well as to provide potable water in the households of rural people,” the Jal Shakti Ministry said in a statement.

The Mission aims to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) i.e. Har Ghar Jal to every rural household by 2024.

JJM aims at ensuring potable water supply in adequate quantity (@ the rate of 55 litres per person per day) and of prescribed quality to every rural household on regular and long-term basis.

“Since the objective of the Mission is universal coverage, emphasis is laid on the principle of ‘equity and inclusiveness’ i.e. every family in the village gets tap water connection in their households and none is left behind,” the ministry said.

In addition to this, the provision of household tap connection in rural areas will help in removing ‘drudgery’ of women, especially girls as fetching water is their responsibility. It will also improve the ‘ease of living’ for people living in rural areas.

The Ministry further stated that safe access to potable water in household premises will not only improve the health of rural people in terms of control of water-borne diseases, it will also provide opportunity for economic activities for rural women by saving their precious time, which otherwise is lost in fetching water from a distance.

Under the mission, the government is focusing on ensuring functionality of water supply systems and more emphasis is given on ‘service delivery’ with the objective to convert PHED (Public health Engineering Department) and Gram Panchayat or User groups as ‘public utilities’, rather than merely creating water supply infrastructure, the ministry said.

The Jal Shakti Ministry further stated that to achieve the objectives of the Mission to provide tap connection to each rural household in every habitation/village on long-term basis, skilled manpower in areas like masonry, plumbing, fitting, electricity, etc., needed for creation of water supply schemes and their operation & maintenance and such manpower will be required in each village/habitation.

The Ministry has roped in National Skill Development Corporation to create a pool of skilled Human Resources in rural areas to make villages a self-reliant unit without depending on others for regular upkeep and maintenance of water supply systems.

With an outlay of Rs 3.60 lakh crore for the Mission, the Centre’s share is 2.08 Lakh Crore and the remaining Rs 1.52 Crore is to be borne by states. Announced on August 15, 2019 by the Prime Minister in his Independence Day address to the nation, in 2019-20, Rs. 10,000 Crore was allocated for JJM and during 2020-21, provision of Rs. 23,500 Crore has been made for the JJM.

The funding pattern under JJM is 100:0 for UTs without legislature; 90:10 for North-Eastern and Himalayan States, and UTs with legislature; and 50:50 for all other States. Further, to instill a sense of competition among the States, good performance, in terms of physical and financial progress, is incentivized in the form of additional fund, the Ministry said.

Sushant Singh Rajput dies by suicide

New Delhi (NVI): Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who rose to fame with his role in MS Dhoni biopic, was found dead today at his Mumbai residence. The 34-year-old actor was found hanging at his residence.

His body was sent for postmortem today and Mumbai Police is investigating the death.

Sushant was born in Patna, Bihar on 21 January, 1986. Before his success in Bollywood, he was appreciated for his role as male lead of Ekta Kapoor’s TV show Pavitra Rishta alongside Ankita Lokhande.

The actor made his Bollywood debut with the 2013 film Kai Po Che! Sushant was last seen in Drive opposite Jacqueline Fernandez.

The actor’s death was condoled by Bollywood fraternity as well as sports stars and political leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the death of actor and tweeted: “Sushant Singh Rajput…a bright young actor gone too soon. He excelled on TV and in films. His rise in the world of entertainment inspired many and he leaves behind several memorable performances. Shocked by his passing away. My thoughts are with his family and fans. Om Shanti.”

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar also took to Twitter said he was shocked by the death of the young actor. “Shocked and sad to hear about the loss of Sushant Singh Rajput. Such a young and talented actor. My condolences to his family and friends. May his soul RIP,” he tweeted.

500 train coaches to be provided to Delhi, testing to be tripled: Amit Shah

Amit Shah meets farmer leaders
File Photo: Union Home Minister Amit Shah

New Delhi (NVI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah today held a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal where he assured all possible help from Centre to the national capital to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and senior officials from the government were also present in the meeting. In a series of tweets, Amit Shah listed the decisions taken during the meeting.

“Modi government is committed to stopping the spreading coronavirus in national capital Delhi. Taking note of the lack of beds for Covid-19 patients, Centre has taken an urgent decision to provide 500 railways coaches to Delhi,” Shah said in one of his tweets.

“These railway coaches will not only increase 8,000 beds in Delhi but they will also be equipped with all facilities to combat Covid-19 infection,” he added.

Apart from that, the Home Minister said that corona testing will be tripled in Delhi after the next six days. “Corona testing in Delhi will be doubled in the next couple of days and it will be further tripled after six days,” he said, adding that testing facility will be started at every polling booth in containment zones.

Shah said that to enable contact mapping in a better way, a comprehensive door to door survey of each person will be done in containment zones in Delhi. “Its report will come in a week. Besides, for effective monitoring, every person will be asked to download Aarogya Setu App,” he said.

He also said that the Centre has decided to form a committee of senior doctors at AIIMS for telephonic guidance to small hospitals in Delhi regarding correct information and instructions. He said that this helpline number will be released tomorrow.

Besides, he said that a committee has been made to enable that 60 per cent beds at private hospitals can be availed by corona patients at reduced rates. The committee, which will give its report tomorrow, will also decide rates for corona treatment and testing in these hospitals, he said.

The Central government has also assured Delhi of providing important resources like oxygen cylinder, ventilator, Pulse oximeter to fight Covid-19, he added.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted after the meeting saying it was productive and any key decisions were taken. “Extremely productive meeting betn Del govt and Central govt. Many key decisions taken. We will fight against corona together,” he tweeted.

Delhi has recorded 38,958 confirmed cases so far with 1,271 deaths. There are 22,742 confirmed cases and 14,945 recoveries, according to the latest data with the Health Ministry.

After Poonch, Pakistan violates ceasefire in Kashmir’s Baramulla

Representational Image (File)

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): A heavy exchange of firing is going on since morning at Rampur sector in Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla as Pakistan army violated ceasefire after it engaged in heavy shelling along the LoC in Poonch last night, officials said. The Indian Army is giving a befitting response.

An Indian Army jawan was killed and two other soldiers were injured in the intense firing and heavy shelling along LoC in Poonch last night.

Locals in Uri said that they woke up to deafening sounds of mortars fired by the Pakistani army in the wee hours. “This is for the third time in the recent past that we have witnessed such an intense shelling from across LoC,” a group of villagers from Churunda village told NVI, adding that many families were seen moving towards the main town for safety, carrying their belongings.

“Our life has become hell as exchange of firing between the two sides is taking a toll on our psyche. We are fed up with this firing between the two sides,” Abdul Aziz Khatana, a village elder of Nambla village said.

Defence spokesman in Srinagar Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that Pakistan violated ceasefire in Rampur sector in Baramulla district in the wee hours after it resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation along the LoC. “Pakistani army fired mortars and other weapons. Befitting response is being given,” he said.

Villagers said that firing was going on between the two sides intermittently and they have kept their livestock locked in sheds while the majority of the civilian population in Uri villages have kept themselves confined to their homes.

Senior Superintendent of Police Baramulla, Abdul Qayoom said that they are aware of the ceasefire violation in Rampur sector and are closely monitoring the situation. “So far there is no civilian causality or damage to the property. We are in constant touch with the concerned to get the details,” he said.

Coronavirus cases cross 77 lakh mark globally; Brazil 2nd, India at 4th spot

US sees highest single-day spike in Covid cases

New Delhi (NVI): Covid-19 has infected over 77 lakh people across the world, while 4,30,128 people have died to the deadly pandemic. The United States tops the list with 21,15,233 cases, followed by Brazil at 8,50,796 cases and Russia at 5,20,129 cases.

While Brazil has emerged as the new epicenter of the pandemic, India has climbed up the list on the fourth spot with 3,20,922 confirmed cases.

Meanwhile, China, from where the virus originated and spiraled into a pandemic in December last year, reported 57 new coronavirus cases yesterday, its highest daily count since April.

Lockdowns were imposed in parts of Beijing on Saturday to try to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus cluster.

Spain, which emerged as the epicenter a few weeks ago, is now at sixth spot with 2,43,605 cases and 27,136 deaths. The UK is at the fifth spot with 2,94,375 cases and 41,662 deaths.

Italy, Peru, Germany are at seventh, eighth, and ninth spots respectively.

Soldier killed, 2 others injured in Pak firing along LoC in J&K’s Poonch

Ceasefire
Representational image

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): An Indian Army jawan was killed while two other soldiers were injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along Line of Control (LoC) at Shahpur and Kirni sectors in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, defence officials said today.

They said that late last night, Pakistani army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violations in Shahpur, Kirni and Qasba sectors of Poonch district in which three soldiers sustained splinter injuries. “All the three soldiers were evacuated to army hospital where one of the injured succumbed later in the night,” a defence official said.

He said that the Pakistani army fired small and medium arms besides mortar shelling in Shahpur, Kirni and Qasba sectors of Poonch district. “The troops responded effectively and gave a befitting reply to the Pakistani side. The exchange of fire remained on for some time,” he said.

The deceased soldier has been identified as Sepoy Lungambui Abonmei, defence spokesman Lt Colonel Devender Anand said.

“Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation on the line of control (LoC) in Poonch Sector on 13 Jun 2020. Own troops responded strongly to the enemy fire. In the incident, Sepoy Lungambui Abonmei was critically injured and later succumbed to his injuries,” Press Information Bureau (Defence Wing) said in a release.

Locals living close to the LoC said that due to frequent exchange of fire and mortar shells between the two armies, their lives have been severely affected and they are living under constant fear.

“At times we are not even able to move for cover given the intensity of the firing between the two sides. Not all of us have underground bunkers to take cover during the firing. Majority of us remain confined to our homes, but a mortar shell can land on anybody’s house,” a group of people living close to Qasba sector said.

This year, a record number of 1,630 ceasefire violations have been recorded in J&K on LoC as Pakistan has used small arms and mortar shells, besides indiscriminate gunfire, according to security officials. “Every time Pakistan resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation, the army has given them a befitting reply by retaliating effectively,” a defence official said.

1...1,3401,3411,342...1,728Page 1,341 of 1,728

MUST READ