Health Care

XBB.1.16 accounts for 38.2% of Covid infection in India: INSACOG bulletin

The newly emerged recombinant coronavirus variant XBB.1.16 has been observed in different parts of the country, accounting for 38.2 per cent of the infection till date, according to the latest INSACOG bulletin. The bulletin of March 27, which was released on Thursday, said among the samples collected till the third week of March 2023, XBB continued to be the most commonly circulating Omicron sublineages. Noting that Omicron and its sublineages continue to be the dominant variants in India, the bulletin said an increase in infection rate has been observed, especially in western, southern and northern parts of India. A newly emerged recombinant variant XBB.1.16 has been observed in different parts of India, accounting for 38.2 per cent of the infection till date, the bulletin said. The bulletin further said a few BA.2.10 and BA.2.75 sublineage was detected in some part of the country whereas XBB was the most prevalent sublineage of the Omicron variant. The INSACOG said globally, nea

Uttarakhand CM inaugurates 'Health ATM' to facilitate health tests at home

The Uttarakhand government informed in a statement that Yes Bank has installed one health ATM each in Sachivalaya Dispensary, Vidhan Sabha Dispensary and Tanakpur Hospital

World Health Day 2023: All you need to know about this 75th anniversary

The World Health Organization will mark its 75th anniversary on World Health Day on April 7. The theme for World Health Day 2023 is "Health for All"

Supplement your employer's health plan with a sizeable personal cover

Benefits of office policy could be pared; job loss or a switch to entrepreneurship could cause loss of coverage

First case of H3N2 detected in Assam, health dept keeping close watch

The first case of H3N2 influenza was detected in Assam, and the Health Department was keeping a close watch on the situation, an official bulletin said. According to the bulletin issued by the National Health Mission, Assam on Wednesday night, a confirmed case of H3N2 influenza was detected. "The Health Department is keeping a close watch on the evolving seasonal influenza situation in Assam through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on real-time basis," it said. The district surveillance officers under the IDSP network are fully geared to meet this public health challenge in Assam in line with the guidelines formulated by the Centre and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it added. "Globally, influenza cases are typically seen to increase during certain months of the year. India usually witnesses two peaks of seasonal influenza: one from January to March and the other one in post-monsoon season," the NHM said. The cases arising from seasonal influ

Kerala Health dept orders closure of water park due to Leptospiroris scare

The health department meanwhile has decided to check all those who visited the theme park after February 17

Mukesh Ambani's next disruption: Foray into genome testing with a $145 kit

The project to bring affordable personal gene-mapping to India's 1.4 bn people, will potentially create a treasure trove of biological data that can aid drug development and disease prevention

Ahead of World Birth Defects Day, WHO calls to strengthen health systems

Ahead of this year's World Birth Defects Day, the WHO has urged countries, especially in the South-East Asia Region, to strengthen their health systems to prevent and respond to birth defects -- structural or functional anomalies a baby develops in the mother's body. World Birth Defects Day is observed on March 3 to raise awareness on birth defects surveillance, prevention and management. An estimated 8 million newborns suffer from birth defects annually worldwide. Nine out of every 10 children born with a serious birth defect are in low- and middle-income countries, said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO regional director for South-East Asia. In South-East Asia Region, birth defects are the third-most common cause of child mortality and the fourth-most common cause of neonatal mortality, accounting for 12 per cent of all neonatal deaths, she said. She said that birth defects increased as a proportion of child mortality in the region, from 6.2 per cent to 9.2 per cent between 2010 and ..

Social capital and Budgets: The picture is varied, not just black or white

India's ranking on the UN's HDI has remained more or less unchanged, suggesting the country is doing no better or worse than others, though most are growing much slower than India, writes T N Ninan

59% of long Covid patients suffered organ damage a year later: Study

The team included 536 long Covid patients in the study of which 331 (62 per cent) were identified with organ impairment six months after their initial diagnosis

Gujarat health centres under probe for issuing fake Covid vax certificates

A five-member committee headed by the Deputy Development Officer will submit its report within a fortnight and recommend action

Sanitary napkins, diapers likely to be included in essential drugs list

Sub-committees were formed earlier to categorise medicines, medical devices, disposables, and other health and hygiene products according to how essential they are for healthcare

Ayushman Bharat health, wellness centres giving new life to rural patients

The total functional AB-HWCs in Haryana are 2407, which includes 1833 SHCs, 391 Primary health care (PHCs), and 183 urban primary health centres (UPHCs)

Health Ministry working on 'One Nation, One Organ Allocation' policy

The Union Health Ministry is working on a 'One Nation, One Organ Allocation' policy in consultation with states to come up with uniform guidelines for registration, allocation and other aspects of the process, official sources said. Recently, the Supreme Court asked the Health Ministry to examine and take appropriate action on some states imposing the condition of submission of domicile certificates for patients wishing to register in the cadaver transplant registry for organ transplantation. A uniform policy, an official source said, "will help patients in seeking transplant from deceased donors at any hospital in the country giving them a lot of flexibility". Working towards firming up the policy, the ministry has already recommended states to remove the domicile criterion for registering those seeking organs from deceased donor for transplant procedures. Further, it has done away with the 65-year age limit for registration of patients seeking organs from a deceased donor. The

India records 96 new coronavirus cases; active tally rise to 1,785

India on Wednesday recorded 96 fresh COVID-19 cases, while the number of active cases increased to 1,785, according to Union health ministry data. With the new cases, the total tally stands at 4.46 crore (4,46,83,639). The death toll increased to 5,30,746 with one death reported from Uttar Pradesh, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.07 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 0.08 per cent. The active cases comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry website. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,51,108, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.60 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23

Impetus given to health, education in BBMP limits, says Karnataka CM Bommai

'The best schools are constructed than the private schools. Because of this, the children are now studying in a good atmosphere'

The Last of Us: How real is the threat?

The brain-controlling fungal pandemic in HBO's post-apocalyptic thriller is not fiction. It just doesn't affect humans

Apple's VP of health coming to India, to speak at BioAsia event on Feb 25

BioAsia is an annual international event focused on life sciences, biotechnology, pharma, medtech and healthtech sectors

Multilateral bodies must join hands to deal with future outbreaks: SII CEO

Vaccine maker Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla has called for global harmonisation or regulatory standards and said that cooperation among multilateral organisations is a must for dealing with future outbreaks. Speaking during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023, he said he is optimistic about the cooperation. As several leaders here warned against any complacency on the Covid front, Poonawalla said, "We need to keep educating people and dispel vaccine hesitancy". Serum Institute of India (SII) emerged as one of the largest vaccine makers in the world during the pandemic. Poonawalla pitched for advancing vaccine equity and global harmonisation of regulatory standards to allow vaccine manufacturers to make a better real-time impact. "Today, we go through a WHO approval process, you don't want every individual country asking for their own process and clinical trials. We have to be able to accept one level of standard," he added. Poonawalla said he is hopeful th

With 89 new cases, India records lowest daily Covid numbers since Mar 2020

India recorded 89 new coronavirus infections, the lowest since March 27, 2020, while the active cases declined to 2,035, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The Covid case tally stood at 4.46 crore (4,46,81,233). The death toll stands at 5,30,726, the data updated at 8 am stated. The daily positivity was recorded at 0.05 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.09 per cent. The active cases now comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.80 per cent, the ministry said. A decrease of 84 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,48,472, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.17 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. India's COVID-19 ta