Health

New Delhi, Jan 19 (PTI) Delhi's air quality turned severe again on Tuesday due to low wind speed and high moisture levels, India Meteorological Department officials said.

The city's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 404 on Tuesday. It was 372 on Monday and 347 the previous day.

Before that, Delhi's air quality remained in the severe zone for three consecutive days.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

Delhi; 19 January 2021 (UMMN): Two men, out of seven, who had developed severe adverse symptoms after being immunized have died.

One man who died is a 46-year-old, a ward staff in government-run Deen Dayal Upadhaya hospital in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. The other, a male aged 43, is from  Bellary in Karnataka.

18 Jan 2021; MEMO: Oman will close its land borders for one week from Monday to curb the spread of the coronavirus, especially a more contagious variant, state news agency ONA said on Sunday, Reuters reports.

The measure will come into effect from 6 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Monday and can be extended for longer than the initial one week closure, ONA said, citing a decision by the Gulf state's coronavirus emergency committee.

Lucknow, Jan 17 (PTI) Samajwadi Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday claimed that the health services in Uttar Pradesh have crippled and the treatment of the poor has become expensive.

The former chief minister also said to ensure that people have faith in the coronavirus vaccine, there should be transparency in the vaccination process and shortcomings should be removed.

SAO PAULO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) unanimously approved on Sunday the emergency use of the CoronaVac vaccine, from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, as well as the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine against COVID-19.

The decision will allow the Brazilian government to start its vaccination plan against COVID-19 with 6 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine, developed by Sinovac in conjunction with the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo.

16 Jan 2021; MEMO: Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait announced that his country needs more than 20 billion Egyptian pounds to provide the coronavirus vaccine to 100 million citizens.

"We have a contract with the Global Vaccine Alliance to get 20 million doses. We have also submitted a request to obtain the Oxford University vaccine, and we expect to get 30 million doses," Maait added.

BEIJING, Jan 16 (APP): The flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Air China, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Airlines and Sichuan Airlines to China were suspended by China’s civil aviation regulator after several passengers tested positive for COVID-19 during recent flights.

Pakistan International Airlines’ Islamabad-Xi’an flight PK854 will be suspended for four weeks starting January 18 after 10 passengers tested positive on the January 2 flight, according to an announcement of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

16 Jan 2021; MEMO: A January shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the Gulf state of Bahrain will not arrive on time, the ministry of health said on Saturday, but second doses of the jab already scheduled will not be affected, reports Reuters.

The small island state of Bahrain has the third-highest rate of vaccinations per capita in the world so far, according to the Our World in Data website, which is run by an Oxford University research programme.

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched India's COVID-19 vaccination drive and asserted that the made-in-India vaccines being rolled out will ensure a "decisive victory" for the country over the coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing the nation ahead of the launch, Modi reminded people that two doses of vaccine are very important and asked them to maintain wearing masks and social distancing even after receiving the jabs.

"'Dawai bhi, kadai bhi," he said.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for "far greater solidarity" in his video message on the 2 millionth death from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"In the memory of those two million souls, the world must act with far greater solidarity. Now is the time," the UN chief said, highlighting the fact that "our world has reached a heart-wrenching milestone: the COVID-19 pandemic has now claimed two million lives."