# “We cannot backslide on two decades of progress,” said the WHO chief on Afghanistan, now under the Taliban dispensation. Months of violence and Covid-19 have taken a heavy toll on the country’s fragile health infrastructure. But the World Health Organization has said it will stay on and deliver critical health services to civilians, though its interventions are on hold for the last 36 hours due to ongoing uncertainties.

# The WTO’s Goods Trade Barometer has indicated that global trade is on path the road to recovery post Covid-19. However, it cautioned, Covid-19 continues to pose the greatest threat to the outlook for trade, as new waves of infection could easily undermine the recovery.

# A Covid-19 vaccine for children is expected to be available by September, said Priya Abraham, Director of Pune-based National Institute of Virology, the premier virology institute under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

# The Maharashtra government has said the second Covid-19 wave in the State is under control. The weekly positivity rate in the State is 2.44 per cent.

# Meanwhile, the test positivity rate (TPR) in Kerala held on to the 15 percent-plus level for a second day on Wednesday at 15.50 per cent (15.48 per cent on Tuesday) when 1,38,225 samples were tested. The day also reported 179 deaths, with the cumulative toll crossing the 19,000-mark to 19,049.