# Unambiguous waiver: With a week to go for the World Trade Organization’s 12 th Ministerial Conference, the call is getting louder for an “unambiguous waiver” of intellectual property (IP) on Covid-19 products—vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics.
Call for an “unambiguous” IP waiver on Covid-19 products ahead of WTO ministerial conference
# Daily tally: India reported 4,518 new cases in the last 24 hours and nine deaths.
Covid-19: India has administered more than 194 crore total doses so far
# Corbevax as booster: Biological E, a late entrant to the Covid-19 vaccine space, has received the nod of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for the use of its Corbevax vaccine as a heterologous booster dose.
Corbevax gets DCGI approval as a Covid booster vaccine
# Maharasthra’s rise, but no masks yet: State Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said that there is a slight surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, and Raigad districts. Speaking to reporters in Pune, Tope said that the State has issued a note to district collectors and municipal commissioners to keep a close watch on the situation.
Maharashtra: ‘Slight surge in Covid-19 in some districts; but mask not compulsory’
# Kerala’s uptrend: Daily new Covid-19 cases have topped 1,000 in Kerala for five days at a stretch, with the number crossing 1,500 on Saturday and test positivity rate (TPR) breaking into double-digits (11.39 per cent) for the first time in three months, even as authorities do not find evidence of a new variant fuelling the latest surge.
Daily new Covid cases top 1,000 in Kerala for five days on a trot
# Rumour mongering: For decades, anti-vaccine movements have generated and spread rumours that vaccines cause serious health problems. The rollout of Covid vaccines has provided new opportunities to spread misinformation.
Social media spreads rumours about Covid vaccine harms… but it doesn’t always start them
# Homeopathy & managing Covid: Listen in to Dr Batra speaking on the use of Homeopathy during the peak of Covid-19, among other things.
Hospitals should have a homeopathy division, people should have a choice: Dr Batra