Health

New Delhi/Pune, Jan 12 (PTI) The first consignment of Covishield vaccines reached Delhi from Pune on Tuesday, four days ahead of the launch of a nationwide drive against the coronavirus

A SpiceJet flight carrying the vaccines landed at the Delhi airport around 10 am. It had left for the national capital around 8 am, three hours after three trucks with the maiden consignment of the vaccines rolled out of the Serum Institute of India (SII) facility, 15 km from the Pune airport

Dehradun, Jan 11 (PTI) Amid an avian influenza scare in several states, nearly 200 birds, mostly crows, have been found dead in Uttarakhand's Dehradun and Rishikesh, officials said on Monday.

A total of 165 birds were found dead in different parts of Dehradun on Sunday, including 121 crows in the Bhandari Bagh area only.

There were 162 crows, two pigeons and an eagle among the dead birds found in Dehradun, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajiv Dhiman said.

10 Jan 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's king received his first vaccine dose of the novel coronavirus Friday, according to state media, Anadolu Agency reports.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) posted two pictures and a short video on Twitter showing a healthcare professional injecting Salman Bin Abdulaziz with the vaccine.

Saudi Arabia reported a total of 363,582 infections and 6,282 fatalities linked to the coronavirus so far.

10 Jan 2021; MEMO: Foreign companies will not be allowed to test COVID-19 vaccines on the Iranian people, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, a day after Iran's Supreme Leader banned vaccine imports from the United States and Britain, Reuters reports.

Bhopal, Jan 10 (PTI) Bird flu cases have so far been confirmed in 13 districts of Madhya Pradesh, while around 1,100 crows and other wild birds have been found dead across 27 districts since the flu virus was first detected in the state last month, a government official said on Sunday.

A poultry market in Agar Malwa district has been shut for a week after the bird flu virus was detected in one sample there, the official from the public relations department said.

Raipur, Jan 9 (PTI) Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo on Saturday said the use of COVID-19 vaccine `Covaxin' must not be allowed in the state as its third-phase trial data has not been published yet.

He said he was not "confident" about asking people to take this vaccine.

Covaxin, indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech, has got approval for emergency use alongwith Oxford -AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine.

"The third phase trial of Covaxin is under process.

Amethi (UP), Jan 10 (PTI) Amid a bird-flu scare in several states, six crows were found dead under mysterious circumstances in the Sangrampur area in this Uttar Pradesh district, officials said on Sunday.

Chief Veterinary Officer of Amethi Dr MP Singh said the crows were found dead at different places of Kaiti village in the Sangrampur police station area. A team of doctors, along with forest officers, is being sent to the village and the samples of the dead birds will be sent for testing, he added.

New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,04,50,284 with 18,645 infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries have surged to 1,00,75,950, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Sunday.

The death toll reached 1,50,999 with 201 more people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

09 Jan 2021; MEMO: The Israeli occupation army announced on Friday 1,149 COVID-19 cases among its soldiers, while 11,024 other soldiers are currently in quarantine, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Israeli army statement noted that 25,685 soldiers had until Friday received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Beijing, Jan 9 (PTI) Beijing has gone on an alert mode following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in the neighbouring Hebei province while China has administered nine million coronavirus vaccines so far in a stepped-up nationwide drive to contain the virus.

The National Health Commission (NHC) on Saturday reported 33 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, of whom 17 were locally transmitted and the rest arrived from outside the mainland.