# More emergency authorisations? The much-awaited approvals on Covid-19 linked therapies, especially for vaccine Covovax appears to have come through, says a source-based report. An expert panel of the country's central drug authority has recommended granting emergency use authorisation to Serum Institute of India's Covid-19 vaccine Covovax and Biological E's vaccine Corbevax with certain conditions, official sources said.

# Upping production: Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech has said it was ready to meet higher supply requirements of Covaxin - recently approved for emergency use in children between 12 -18 years.

# Graded roll-out for kids: As parents and doctors wait for guidance from the government on getting Covid-19 vaccines to their children, the expert view is that it be rolled-out in a graded manner among adolescents who need it more.

# TN’s genome sequencing lab: Tamil Nadu government has approached the Centre for a quick approval of its whole genome sequencing lab.

# Polls & Covid management: Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has held a meeting with five poll-bound States of Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to review the public health response measures taken for Covid management, and the vaccination status in these states.

# CoWin preps: The Health Ministry on Monday unveiled guidelines for the vaccination of children and the booster shot with the CoWIN platform being prepped to accommodate the new category from January 1.

# Maharashtra’s concern: The Maharashtra Health Department has predicted that the State might witness a rise in the number of active Covid-19 patients next month. The Department also expressed concerns over the slow speed of vaccination.

# Internationally, gloom ahead of New Year: As Omicron spreads ever more gloom around the globe ahead of New Year's Eve, governments are moving at different speeds to contain the scourge, with some reimposing restrictions immediately and others hesitating to spoil the party again.

# France curbs at concerts and bars: The French government announced new Covid-19 measures on Monday in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, yet stopped short of imposing drastic restrictions before New Year’s Eve.

# CDC’s latest: US health officials have cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch Covid from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention officials said that are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.

Published on December 28, 2021