This is something very special and I see it myself because I'm on weekly teleconferences with our colleagues in India, you make a recommendation, and within days it's done and not only done, but it's done well and with incredible rigor and thought and creativity, Dr Hotez said

\"The spread of the variants is driving the increase, but not only,'' said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing \"also the opening of society, when it is not done in a safe and a controlled manner.\"

UK Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the vaccine doses developed by the Serum Institute of India, in collaboration with Oxford/AstraZeneca, were always intended for Britain and that assurances have been sought that the delivery would not impact other supplies

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has directed state authorities to make COVID-19 negative reports mandatory for travellers coming from Maharashtra

In its report, Freedom House had expressed apprehensions that the world's largest democracy is moving towards authoritarianism under the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

IT major Infosys on Wednesday said it will cover the vaccination cost for its employees in India and their family members; Bharat Biotech has announced the Phase 3 clinical trial results for its coronavirus vaccine candidate Covaxin; The COVAX initiative, co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and the World Health Organization (WHO), will supply 237 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine to 142 countries by May-end. Watch this and more on News Blast.Also Read: Canada receives first shipment of 5 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses from Serum Institute

Bharat Biotech published the interim efficacy report of phase 3 clinical trial on its COVID-19 vaccine, officially known as Covaxin. The indigenous COVID-19 vaccine is found to be 81 per cent effective in preventing the virus

Government data shows that only 10% of about 12.6 million people immunised in India have taken the COVAXIN shot, which was found to be 81% effective in an interim analysis of the late-stage trial, its developer Bharat Biotech said

Digital media norms to be administered by Centre, not states The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry on Wednesday issued memorandum to states and union territories saying that the new rules for digital news publishers and over-the-top (OTT) platforms are to be administered by the Centre, not the states. The government had notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Codes) Rules, 2021 on February 25. Defence equipment sales to India sho...

Very early this morning, our first half a million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine from the Serum Institute arrived in Canada, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

So far, the Pfizer-BioNTtech and Moderna vaccines, made through a novel platform technology never used in humans before, are proven to have maximum efficacy

Catch top stories from the world of business and economy with BusinessToday.In's Biz EOD report

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced a costly extension of his emergency aid programmes to see Britain's economy through its current coronavirus lockdown, but announced a tax hike for many businesses as he began to focus on fixing the public finances

Meanwhile, consulting and processing services provider Accenture also said that it will cover the cost for employees and dependents eligible for vaccination.

Data from 25,800 participants who received a vaccine or placebo in 1:1 ratio showed that the vaccine was well-tolerated; Bharat Biotech said the trial conducted with ICMR was the largest in India

Flipkart expands grocery services to more than 50 cities; UK to get 10 million doses of AstraZeneca jab from India; Economic recovery lost steam in Jan-Feb, according to a recent report. Watch this and more on News Blast.Also Read: Want to go to the moon? Japan billionaire seeks crew for space trip

The researchers, including those from Public Health England (PHE), compared the rate of hospitalisation and deaths in confirmed COVID-19 patients aged over 80 who were vaccinated more than 14 days before testing positive, with unvaccinated cases

Stock Market Updates Today: Sectorally, all the indices were rising, with 1.8% rise in media, financial services, PSU Bank and private banking indices.

The country has already reported three mutated strains of the coronavirus - the UK strain, the South African strain and the Brazilian strain

Separate data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the number of employees on company payrolls in January rose by 83,000 from December, the second monthly increase and its biggest since January 2015