Health

Johannesburg, Feb 17 (AP-PTI) South Africa is preparing to give its first COVID-19 vaccinations shots of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine still being tested to health care workers this week, the health minister said Tuesday.

The first batch of 80,000 doses of the J&J vaccine, which has not been authorised for general use in South Africa or anywhere else in the world, is expected to arrive in the country imminently and will be administered to health care professionals across the country, Zweli Mkhize told parliament.

Ahmedabad, Feb 15 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has tested positive for coronavirus, said a hospital where the CM is admitted after he fainted in a rally.

On Sunday, Rupani, 64, fainted on stage while addressing a rally in Vadodara for the upcoming civic polls in the state, following which he was flown to Ahmedabad and admitted to the U N Mehta Hospital here.

Rupani's sample was collected on Sunday night and sent for RT-PCR test which has come out positive for coronavirus, said a health bulletin issued by the hospital on Monday.

14 Feb 2021; MEMO: Efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus and preempt its fourth wave in Iran have been dampened by a surge in new infections in some provinces and alarming spread of the UK variant of the virus, Anadolu Agency reports.

According to officials, the sharp spike in new cases and fatalities in western provinces, bordering Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, has complicated the fight against the pandemic in the country.

Beijing, Feb 13 (AP-PTI) Railway journeys in China during the usually frenetic Lunar New Year holiday travel rush are down by almost 70 per cent amid calls for people to stay where they are to avoid a new outbreak of COVID-19.

The China State Railway Group on Saturday reported 52.33 million passenger trips from Jan 28 to Feb 11 a decline of 68.8 per cent from the same period last year.

Toronto, Feb 13 (AP-PTI) Air travellers to Canada will quarantine in a hotel starting on February 22 as they await the result of a coronavirus test, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said.

Trudeau previously announced stricter restrictions would be imposed on nonessential air travellers in response to new, likely more contagious variants.

Washington, Feb 13 (AP-PTI) The Biden administration is moving to roll back Medicaid work requirements in its latest effort to undo a controversial Trump-era policy.

Federal health officials planned Friday to inform 10 states that they would revoke permissions granted by the Trump administration to impose such requirements, according to a Biden official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans. Officials were also set to withdraw the past administration's invitation for states to apply for approval for work requirements.

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) A total of 2,072 Indians died due to the coronavirus in various countries with the highest death toll of 906 being reported in Saudi Arabia followed by 375 in the United Arab Emirates, the government said on Thursday.

Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said 369 Indians died of coronavirus infection in Kuwait while 166 deaths were reported from Oman.

Tehran, Feb 11, IRNA – Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki said on Thursday that Iran will turn into a major hub of manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines in the region and one of the main exporters of vaccines in the next two or three months.

Upon the order by President Hassan Rouhani, Iran began vaccination against COVID-19 with a Russian-developed vaccine – Sputnik V – on Tuesday.

The son of Health Minister Saeed Namaki was the first Iranian person to receive the vaccine.

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) DMK member Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take a COVID vaccine shot in public as such a move will give confidence to people since many are not trusting the vaccine.

Participating in the discussion on Union Budget 2021-22 in Lok Sabha, he also said that apart from the prime minister, President, home minister and defence minister should take the vaccine shots in public.

GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said Monday the emergence of new COVID-19 variants has raised questions about whether or not existing vaccines will work, calling it “concerning news” that the vaccines developed so far may be less effective against the variant first detected in South Africa.