Health

Srinagar, May 24 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday declared black fungus (Mucormycosis) an epidemic in the state.

A notification regarding the same was issued by Health and Medical Education Department of the Union Territory under Section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act 1897.

This comes few days after the Centre directed all the states and UTs to make black fungus a notifiable disease.

Patna, May 24 (PTI) The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Monday extended till June 01 the COVID-induced lockdown that has been in force for nearly a month and was to be effective till Tuesday.

An announcement to this effect was made by the Chief Minister on his official twitter handle.

CAIRO, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has received the first batch of the raw materials to manufacture China's Sinovac vaccine, said the Chinese embassy in Egypt on Sunday.

Along with the Sinovac raw materials, a new shipment of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines also arrived at the Cairo International Airport on Friday, according to a Chinese embassy's statement.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand placed barbed wire and checkpoints in several southern villages along the Malaysian border Monday after identifying a cluster of infections with a coronavirus variant that’s believed to spread faster.

The lockdown came as Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha sought to assure people that his government could manage a recent surge as it is set to start a national vaccination campaign next month.

“Please understand that we can manage this,” Prayuth said as he received the second dose of his coronavirus vaccine.

Tokyo, May 23 (AP) If John Coates was trying to stir controversy, he succeeded.

An International Olympic Committee vice president, Coates was asked a few days ago by a Japanese reporter at an online news conference if the Tokyo Olympics would go ahead, even if a state of emergency were in force in Japan.

Coates replied: Absolutely, yes.

Colombo, May 23 (PTI) A total of 46 more COVID-19 deaths were reported in Sri Lanka, recording the highest single-day fatalities in the country so far, according to media reports on Sunday.

As many as 2,906 positive cases were reported on Saturday, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 161,242, the Colombo Page newspaper reported, quoting health officials.

Of the 2,909 new COVID-19 cases, three are foreign arrivals currently in quarantine, it said.

New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) The Serum Institute has disassociated itself from its executive director's statement that the government began the COVID-19 vaccination of multiple age groups without taking into consideration the available stock, stating that this is "not the view of the company".

Muzaffarnagar, May 22 (PTI) The district authorities sealed a private hospital here after finding that it was being run by unqualified staff, an official said on Saturday.

City Magistrate Abhishek Singh said the Apollo Nursing Home staff here failed to produce any document to show the required qualification.

He said the owner of the hospital too lacked qualification to treat people. The authorities have ordered a probe into it, he said.

Mangaluru, May 22 (PTI): A police station at Padubidri in Udupi district of Karnataka has been sealed for 24 hours after 10 police personnel, including the sub-inspector, tested positive for coronavirus.

One of the policemen tested positive when he was subjected to the test after he developed fever recently, sources said on Saturday.

Subsequently, all the personnel were tested and results of 10 of them turned out positive, they said.

All the infected personnel have been placed under quarantine, the sources said.

Lucknow, May 22 (PTI) The condition of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan is stable, the hospital treating him said in a statement here on Saturday.

Khan and his son Abdullah were shifted from the Sitapur jail to Medanta Hospital here on May 9 for coronavirus treatment.

"On May 22, SP MP Azam Khan (72) was given two litres of oxygen. His condition is stable," the hospital said.

The condition of his 30-year-old son too is stable and he has been kept under the observation of doctors, the statement said.