Chinese Wuhan Virus Thread

Of course they would. The vaccines not needed now . Multiple mutations have conferred immunity on the population. Now they're in this to pull a fast one. I hope nobody falls for this .
There is very low vaccination in Africa still as on date. That could be the place to start pushing higher target of vaccination. Also this waiver is not final yet, it needs to be approved in WHO and that too with multiple restrictions. I have my own doubts if it is really going to help in major way.
 

India to vaccinate children in 12-14 age group against Covid from Wednesday​

India will start vaccinating children in the 12-14 age group against Covid from Wednesday, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has tweeted. "If children are safe, the country is safe. It makes me really happy to announce that from March 16, children in (the) 12-14 age group can get vaccinated against Covid," the minister wrote. All adults above 60 years of age will be able to get booster doses. So far, only those with illnesses above 60 could get the third dose of vaccine apart from frontline and health workers.


In his tweet, the minister also appealed: "I request all the adults above 60, and family members of children to get the shots." For the 12-14 age group, the vaccine that will be given "would be Corbevax manufactured by Biological Evans, Hyderabad", the government said in a statement.


#COVID19 Update

Government decides to expand #COVID19 vaccination for 𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟑 𝐲𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟑-𝟏𝟒 𝐲𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐞 groups from 16th March 2022

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝟔𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 now eligible for precaution dose of #COVID vaccine from 16th March 2022COVID-19 Vaccination Update pic.twitter.com/zXFggKEWVQ
— PIB India (@PIB_India) March 14, 2022

"The government has also decided that the condition of co-morbidity for Covid-19 precaution dose for population over 60 years of age will be removed forthwith. Hence, from 16th March 2022 onwards, the entire population above 60 years of age will be eligible for precaution dose of Covid-19 vaccine," the statement further underlined.

India began the world's largest vaccination programme in January last year. The first phase was for health workers and frontline workers, and the programme was then expanded to adults above 60 in March 2021, and then to all adults two months later. Amid concerns over new variants, the country began giving booster doses in January. For children, the vaccination for 15-18 age group began in January.

The country has given more than 180 crore doses of vaccines so far. After a huge surge in cases in January, driven by Omicron, the country is now witnessing a drop in cases. On Monday, only 2,503 cases were logged, the lowest daily rise in 680 days.
 

New Covid Variant XE Found In UK, More Transmissible Than Omicron: WHO​

New Delhi:
A new Covid variant has been found in the UK, the World Health Organisation said in its latest report. The new mutant, called XE, may be more transmissible than any strain of COVID-19, the health body said.

XE is a "recombinant" which is a mutation of BA'1 and BA.2 Omicron strains. Recombinant mutations emerge when a patient is infected by multiple variants of Covid. The variants mix up their genetic material during replication and form a new mutation, UK experts said in a paper published in British Medical Journal.

The World Health Organisation said that the new mutation XE appears to be 10 per cent more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.

"Early-day estimates indicate a community growth rate advantage of 10 percent as compared to BA.2, however, this finding requires further confirmation," the global health body added.

Britain's health agency said that XE was first detected on January 19 and 637 cases of the new variant have been reported yet.

Meanwhile, the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron is spreading rapidly across the globe. Some 4.9 million people in the UK are estimated to have had Covid-19 in the week ending March 26, or 600,000 more than the previous week, the latest survey by the Office for National Statistics said.

63 Comments US and China also reported a surge in Covid cases driven by the BA.2 variant. China reported nearly 104,000 domestic Covid infections in March, with 90 percent of the recent cases found in Shanghai or northeastern Jilin province.