# Maharashtra reverses decision to open schools, as advised by its Covid taskforce.

# In the US too, infectious diseases expert Dr Fauci cautions about the transmissible Delta variant and children, though there is little evidence it causes a more severe disease.

# With Onam round the corner in Kerala, a medical expert says it’s only reasonable to expect a surge in Covid-19 cases a month or so after the Onam festival, just as was the case last year when both daily new cases and test positivity rate (TPR) peaked in Kerala.

# Meanwhile on vaccines, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is expected to get an emergency listing by the WHO, mid September.

# India’s IPCA is also in the news as it supplies malaria drug Artesunate to the WHO for the second phase of international solidarity trials. Artesunate is one of three therapies that will be tested on hospitalised Covid-19 patients, as part of the next phase of Solidarity trials, the WHO has said.

# In Karnataka, the government is conducting health check-ups after Covid-19 infection was detected among children.

# Back to Kerala, a central team faulted Kerala’s approach to Covid-control.

# On the third dose: US regulators okay transplant recipients and others with severely weakened immune systems to get an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna Covid vaccine to protect against the Delta variant.

# And a getaway from Covid stress and lockdowns - encourage children to escape into a book. New research shows how reading books can help young people escape from their sources of stress, find role models in characters and develop empathy.

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