Health

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.

The decision also was driven by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, propelled by the omicron variant.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 28 (NNN-TELAM) – Argentina reported 20,263 new cases of COVID-19 and 31 more deaths related to the disease in the past 24 hours, the country’s health ministry said yesterday.

The daily cases was the highest in five months, only slightly lower than the previous record of 21,590 cases on July 6.

According to the ministry, the latest figures raise the total caseload to 5,480,305 and the death toll to 117,066, with 92,395 currently active cases.

Mumbai, Dec 28 (PTI) Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad on Tuesday said she has tested positive for coronavirus.

The minister, who contracted the viral infection last year also, had been attending the ongoing winter session of the state Legislature and replied to various questions pertaining to her ministry in the state Legislative Council on Monday.

New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI) A yellow alert has been sounded in Delhi and some restrictions imposed under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in view of rising number of Covid cases in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday.

The yellow alert entails restrictions like night curfew, closure of schools and colleges, opening of non essential shops based on an odd even basis, halved seating capacity in Metro trains and buses among others.

26 Dec 2021; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett went into isolation at home on Sunday and will await the results of a COVID-19 PCR test after his 14-year-old daughter tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said.

Bennett left the weekly meeting of his cabinet and headed home after learning of his daughter's positive test, which came amid fast-spreading infections in Israel caused by the Omicron variant.

26 Dec 2021; MEMO: Jordanian health authorities have confirmed 295 new cases of COVID Omicron variant, reported Anadolu Agency.

Abdel Bilbeisi, the prime minister's adviser on containing the COVID-19 pandemic, told the state news agency Petra that the new tally brought to 328 the number of omicron infections detected in the country.

Jordan's virus tally reached 1,051,421 cases, including 12,444 fatalities.

New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) Kerala has again emerged as the top ranking state in terms of overall health performance among larger states, while Uttar Pradesh is the worst, according to the fourth Health Index launched by Niti Aayog.

The fourth round of the Health Index took into account the period 2019-20 (reference year).

The report by the government think tank said Tamil Nadu and Telangana have emerged as the second and third best performers, respectively, on health parameters.

24 Dec 2021; MEMO: An Egyptian medical delegation has arrived in the occupied Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, the enclave's Ministry of Health announced yesterday.

In an official statement, the ministry said that the delegation included "ten medical and surgical specialists, such as cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, orthopaedics, spine and surgery, deformities and limb reconstruction."

Kanpur; 25 Dec 2021 (UMMN): Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology, Kanpur, said that third Covid wave will hit  the country in February 2022.

Scientists urged people not to panic and take necessary precautions for their safety as this wave is likely to be a mild one.

A group of scientists from IIT- Kanpur deployed a statistical methodology on the basis of an algorithm for clustering to estimate the parameters.

New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI) India recorded 122 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in a span of 24 hours, the highest so far, pushing its tally in the country to 358, 114 of which have either recovered or migrated, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The 358 Omicron Covid variant cases have been detected across 17 states and union territories so far, it showed.

Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of 88 cases of the Omicron variant, followed by Delhi with 67, Telangana 38, Tamil Nadu 34, Karnataka 31 and Gujarat 30.