63 dead, 7,626 infected in 24-hours

Isolated North Korea has continued to claim a perfect record in keeping out the coronavirus in its latest report to the World Health Organization.

Chief executive officer of Serum Institute of India (SII) has said the company needs Rs 3,000 crore to scale up its production capacity of Covid-19 vaccine “Covishield”.

One in three people who overcome Covid-19 suffer from a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis six months on, according to the largest study so far published on the mental toll that long-Covid takes on survivors.

Mexico’s health regulator Cofepris has authorised the emergency use of India’s Covid-19 vaccine COVAXIN, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.

The University of Oxford said it had paused a small UK trial testing the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with AstraZeneca Plc in children and teenagers, as it waits for more data on rare blood clotting issues in adults who received the shot.

The European Union today denied blocking shipments of 3.1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to Australia, as the bloc steps up scrutiny of vaccine exports to address shortages.

Two hundred Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and 1,000 new isolation beds will be added to the makeshift hospital in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) kitchen market within a short time, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque today.

India’s fight against COVID-19 over the next four weeks will be “very, very critical” as its faces a faster second surge in infections, senior government health official Vinod Kumar Paul said on Tuesday.

India’s national capital Delhi will be brought under night curfew for seven hours from today for the next 24 days to control the quickly-spreading coronavirus cases in the city.

The government will start administering the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine from April 8.

66 dead, 7,213 infected in 24 hours

Though nationwide weeklong restrictions on transport and public movement have been enforced in Bangladesh with a hope to check the spread of coronavirus, health experts think this “unscientific and half-hearted lockdown” is unlikely to yield any positive result.

Grappling with the deadlier second wave of coronavirus, India is planning to double its monthly Covid-19 vaccine production to 140 million doses, health ministry officials of the country said.

Thousands of Pakistanis rushed to get inoculated in the first round of commercial sales of Covid-19 vaccines that began over the weekend, with vaccination sites in the southern city of Karachi saying on Sunday they had already sold out.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs today issued new guidelines on performing prayers in mosques in an emergency notification to curb the spike in Covid-19 infections in the country.

Those who have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine will start receiving SMS for the second dose from today.

Fifty-two people have died from Covid-19 during 24 hours (till 8am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The government has enough stock to begin administering second dose of Covid-19 vaccine and will begin inoculation on scheduled time, April 8.

Whether the ongoing government-imposed restrictions would be prolonged or not will depend on the Covid-19 infection rate in the country, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said today.