India Coronavirus Dispatch: 70% Maharashtra prisoners got at least one jab

Vaccination at govt centres in Gurgaon suspended today, top health expert warns new Covid strains can emerge-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Over 41,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 41,506 fresh coronavirus infections on Sunday, taking the cumulative caseload to 30.8 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 895 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 408,040. The active caseload is at 454,118, while the total recoveries have surged to nearly 30 million. As many as 376 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 3.7 million were given on Saturday. Read more

Sputnik V gives 90% protection against Delta strain: Scientist

Russian virologist Sergey Netesov has said viral vector and mRNA vaccines, including Sputnik V, protect against the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, a report in the Hindustan Times said. Sergey is the head of the Novosibirsk State University's Laboratory and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). "According to data from the UK, the US and other countries, mRNA and vector vaccines, including our Sputnik V, protect against it [the Delta variant], albeit to a lesser extent, but they do protect against it. They offered 95 per cent protection against the initial strain and now they give 90% protection against the 'delta' variant," Netesov said. Read more

Maharashtra: 70% prison inmates have received at least one shot of vaccine

The Maharastra Prison Department has been able to inoculate about 70 per cent of the 33,600 prisoners it is holding, a report in The Indian Express said. As many as 23,300 inmates across prisons in the state have received at least one shot till July 11. This is a sharp rise from the 7,600 who had received the first dose till June 11. Of the 23,300, 19,200 are undertrials and 4,100 convicts, the report said. Read more

Gurgaon: Vaccination at govt centres suspended today

Covid vaccination has been suspended at government centres in Gurgaon on Sunday due to a short supply of vaccines, a report in The Indian Express said. “We have limited availability of Covid vaccines at the moment. As such, today (Sunday), we are not doing any vaccination at any of our sites. We are going to be accumulating our entire stock and planning the vaccination campaign for the coming days. Only second doses will be administered at government sites for the next one or two days,” Dr Virender Yadav, the civil surgeon of Gurgaon, told the paper. Read more

New Covid strains can emerge, says top health expert

A top public health expert has warned that new kinds of variants may arise in the future as the virus will keep mutating, a media report said. Dr Mathew Varghese, public health expert, and former director, St. Stephen’s Hospital, New Delhi, said, “Mutation is normal for viruses and they will keep mutating as long as their viruses are multiplying. That is the norm.” Read more