Health

Coimbatore, July 9 (PTI) The city-based AGs Health Care, an outpatient centre to be approved by the Tamil Nadu government as a COVID-19 vaccination centre, is launching a Sputnik V vaccination drive from July 12.

The centre would vaccinate frontline workers (doctors, health care workers, mediapersons and police personnel), senior citizens, transgenders, specially challenged individuals, and people with co-morbidities, said director of AGs Health Care Dr Adityan Guhan said in a release on Friday.

Beirut, Jul 7 (AP-PTI) Coronavirus infections have been on the rise in the 22 countries of the eastern Mediterranean region after two months of steady decline because of increased international travel, low protection and limited vaccination, World Health Organization officials said Wednesday.

The region, which includes the Gulf, North African and Asian countries, has registered over 11 million infections and over 220,000 deaths since last year. Iran has been the worst impacted by the pandemic, followed by Iraq.

New Delhi, Jul 8 (PTI) Mansukh Mandaviya took charge as the country's new health minister on Thursday.

Mandaviya, a BJP leader from Gujarat's Saurashtra region, replaces Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was dropped from the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.

His portfolio assumes utmost significance as the country is in battling a coronavirus pandemic.

Mandaviya will also lead the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, whose handling of the COVID-19 crisis drew flak from critics, resigned from the Union Council of Ministers on Wednesday, official sources said.

The resignation came hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi carries out a major expansion and reshuffle of his Council of Ministers in which 43 new members are expected to take oath.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) India's technology platform for COVID vaccination - CoWin -is being made open source and soon it will be available to all countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, asserting that India has been committed to sharing its expertise and resources with the global community in combating the pandemic.

Addressing the CoWIN Global Conclave via video conference, Modi said experience shows that no nation, no matter how powerful, can solve a challenge like this pandemic in isolation.

05 July 2021; MEMO: Lebanon is suffering from an acute shortage of imported drugs, particularly for chronic diseases, amid a lack of foreign exchange in the country, Lebanese pharmaceutical importers warned on Sunday, reports Anadolu Agency.

"The importing companies have run out of hundreds of essential medicines that treat chronic and incurable diseases," the Syndicate of Lebanese Pharmaceutical Importers said in a statement, noting that this situation has been ongoing for weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling a vaccination “the most patriotic thing you can do,” President Joe Biden on Sunday mixed the nation’s birthday party with a celebration of freedom from the worst of the pandemic. He tempered the strides against COVID-19 with a warning that the fight against the virus wasn’t over.

“Today, all across this nation, we can say with confidence: America is coming back together,” Biden declared as he hosted more than 1,000 service members, first responders and other guests for a July Fourth celebration on the South Lawn of the White House.

04 July 2021; MEMO: Iran may face a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections as the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads through the Middle East's worst-hit country, President Hassan Rouhani warned on Saturday, reports Reuters.

"There are concerns that the whole country may enter a fifth wave if enough care is not taken in following health protocols. Today, reports are that just 69% of the people are observing the precautions," Rouhani said in remarks broadcast on state TV.

Lisbon (Portugal), Jul 3 (AP-PTI) Countries across Europe are scrambling to accelerate coronavirus vaccinations and outpace the spread of the more infectious delta variant, in a high-stakes race to prevent hospital wards from filling up again with patients fighting for their lives.

Kendrapara, Jul 3 (PTI) An ASHA worker, who had received both the doses of COVID-19 vaccine, succumbed to the infection in Odisha's Kendrapara district, an official said on Saturday.

Saraswati Mallick, 35, an accredited social health activists (ASHA) worker of the Derabish community health centre, was admitted to a Covid hospital in Chhata last week.

She was put on a ventilator after her oxygen level started dipping and she died on Friday night, said Yashaswini Sahani, the assistant manager of ASHA in the Kendrapara district headquarter hospital.