Centre in talks with international vax makers for a year: NITI Aayog member

A health worker feeds a Covid patient inside Dhanvantri hospital, in Ahmedabad, on Thursday. Pic/PTI

As soon as Pfizer indicated vaccine availability, the Centre and the company started working together for the earliest possible import of the vaccine, NITI Aayog member V K Paul said on Thursday.

Paul, who heads India's Covid-19 task force and is the Chair of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19, said the Centre has engaged continuously with all the major international vaccine manufacturers right from mid-2020. "Multiple rounds of discussions have happened with Pfizer, J&J and Moderna. The government offered all assistance to have them supply and/or manufacture their vaccines in India." But, Paul said their vaccines aren't available in free supply. Pfizer, which is ready to offer 5 crore doses to India between July and October, has sought certain relaxations, including indemnification.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech has filed a new request to the Brazilian authorities for certification of its vaccine. It had faced a red flag from Brazil's health regulator for supply of Covaxin to the South American nation over the issues of Good Manufacturing Practices in its plant.

White fungus case in Delhi

Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has come across a first-of-its-kind case of white fungus causing multiple perforations "throughout the intestine" in a Covid-19 patient, doctors said on Thursday. There have been reports of white fungus causing one or two perforations in the intestine of Covid-19 patients. In this case, there were multiple small holes starting from the food pipe down to the large intestine, Dr Anil Arora, chairman of the Institute of Liver, Gastroenterology and Pancreaticobiliary Sciences at the hospital, said. "White fungus (candida) causing multifocal perforations in the food pipe, small bowel and large bowel in Covid-19 infection has not been reported in literature to the best of our knowledge," he said.

India registered 2,11,298 new Covid-19 cases and 3,847 deaths in a span of 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry on Thursday.

‘Arrest toh unka baap bhi nahin kar sakta'

Baba Ramdev. File pic/AFP

Amid the controversy over his disparaging remarks against allopathy, a new video of Ramdev has surfaced on social media. Responding to #ArrestRamdev trends, he says in the clip, "Arrest to khair unka baap bhi nahin kar sakta Swami Ramdev ko (even their father can't arrest Swami Ramdev)." Meanwhile, The Indian Medical Association on Thursday lodged a police complaint against him, seeking an FIR for "willfully and deliberately spreading false, baseless and malicious information" about Covid treatment.

Also Read: Mumbai: 450 kits for Covid-19 tests of 20,000 passengers arriving at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus

2,73,69,093
Total no. of coronavirus cases in India so far

3,15,235
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far

21,57,857
Total no. of active cases in India

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