India bans TikTok permanently; app evaluates notice Following the temporary app ban dated June 29, 2020, the government of India has issued a notice to TikTok on the permanent ban of the app in the country. Along with TikTok, the government has issued a similar permeant ban notice to 177 Chinese apps which were banned earlier, says sources. Conversely, one of the banned Chinese app has been unblocked. WEF 2021: Jinping calls for global cooperation, says strong should not bully the weak ...

India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) says Pfizer officials failed to turn up to meetings after the company's application was made in early December

The batch of medicines being identified for treating patients include ivermectin, a drug used to treat livestock and people infested with parasitic worms

In a survey conducted by New Delhi-based online platform LocalCircles, 62% of 17,000 respondents were hesitant to get vaccinated immediately, mainly due to worries over possible adverse reactions

As per the government's norms, it is mandatory for a foreign vaccine-making firm to conduct at least a Phase-3 trial with Indian volunteers even if it is approved outside India

The government has given a go-ahead to a local pharmaceutical company for the import and distribution of the Russia-developed Sputnik V, the Dawn newspaper quoted an official as saying

The U.K., which has Europe's deadliest coronavirus outbreak, adopted the policy in order to give as many people as possible a first dose of vaccine quickly

In response to Brazil's President Bolsonaro's tweet PM Modi said that India will continue to strengthen its cooperation with Brazil on healthcare

 Brazil's government has received 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from India, but experts warned the shipment will do little to shore up an insufficient supply

Fire at Serum Institute: 5 dead, company to pay Rs 25 lakh compensation to families Serum Institute of India (SII) Chairman & Managing Director Cyrus Poonawalla on Thursday expressed sorrow on the loss of lives due to the fire that broke out at its under-construction facility in Pune. He said that the company will be offering a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each of the families of the deceased, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms. SII is manufacturing the Covishield vacc...

Details on the size of the deal or the price per dose COVAX would pay were not immediately clear, but the sources said the allotment would likely be relatively small

SII Chairman & Managing Director Cyrus Poonawalla said that the company will be offering a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each of the families of the deceased, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla reassured that there would be no loss of Covishield production due to multiple production buildings that had been kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies

The blaze was reported at an under-construction building in the Manjri area of the city. The Serum Institute of India's plant is spread over 100 acres in Pune

If allowed to go ahead, this would be the first trial of any coronavirus vaccine in Bangladesh and could give the densely-populated country of more than 160 million faster access to the shot for mass use

The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Tuesday recommended Bharat Biotech's intranasal vaccine for conducting phase 1 clinical trials for the coronavirus

A total of 16,755 vaccinators participated in the vaccination process across India, the ministry added. Not a single case of hospitalisation post-vaccine administration has been reported yet

In the first phase of the vaccination drive over 3 crores frontline healthcare workers are expected to be given the vaccine. They will receive either Covaxin or Covishield COVID-19 vaccines which were approved for emergency use earlier by the country's drug regulators

In the consent form for getting Covaxin vaccine, recipients have been promised that in case of any adverse situation following the administration of the vaccine and if it is determined that the vaccine was the cause then the recipients will be given compensation and medical

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