CoWIN platform chief Dr R S Sharma confirmed the gap between the second and booster shot on Monday. “If you are above 60 years of age and have taken both doses and the gap between the second dose and the day you are registering is more than 9 months (39 weeks) then you are eligible,” he said.
From January 1, children in the age group of 15-18 will be eligible to register on the CoWIN platform.
Who has time to waste on pointless and occasionally harmful activities? Yes, research has proven that being physically active may help you live a healthier and happier life at any age, but you must exercise caution if you have an underlying ailment. Regular exercise lowers the risk of developing a range of long-term (chronic) disorders, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and a number of cancers. However, some types of exercise, particularly high-altitude workouts, might make matters worse for diabetic individuals.
According to a recent study, people with diabetes may need to check their blood sugar more closely when participating in high-altitude sports like hiking or skiing. The findings were reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism of the American Society of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Exercise is frequently recommended by doctors for people suffering from diabetes because it offers numerous benefits. It can help with cardiovascular health, insulin sensitivity, and overall quality of life. Exercise, on the other hand, can trigger hypoglycaemia (a dangerously low blood sugar) in diabetics during and after a workout. If a person’s blood sugar falls dangerously low, they may experience seizures, become unconscious, or die.
Cory Dugan, A.F.H.E.A., B.Sc. (Hons), of the University of Western Australia in Crawley, Australia said, “these findings suggest that exercise performed shortly after exposure to high altitude may increase the risk of exercise-mediated hypoglycaemia. We ask that future guidelines consider these findings to increase the safety of people with type 1 diabetes when travelling from low to high altitude areas like the mountains without any acclimatization.”
The researchers tested the blood sugar levels of seven persons with type 1 diabetes before, during, and after two indoor cycling sessions that simulated sea level and high-altitude circumstances. Blood sugar levels were much lower after 1 hour of exercise at 4200 metres (about half the height of Mount Everest) and throughout recovery. These data imply that high-altitude exercise may increase the risk of hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetic patients.
While altitude training may improve your athletic performance, it also has significant drawbacks. Altitude sickness might occur if you workout too hard too soon after arriving at altitude. If you increase elevation too quickly, this can also happen. The following are some of the signs and symptoms of altitude sickness:
Altitude disease can cause high altitude cerebral oedema (brain swelling) or high altitude pulmonary oedema in extreme situations (lung swelling).
Follow these actions to lower your risk of altitude sickness:
According to current study, the Alpha version may have acquired’skills’ to successfully prevent the ‘innate immune system response’ while changing.
The study, which was published in the journal Nature, says that the Alpha version has figured out how to successfully dodge the human body’s first line of defence. This variation disables the airways sensors, which prevents the immune system from being alerted to the presence of a virus in the body.
Since the variant has learnt how to block the functioning of the sensors, the body is unable to produce any anti-viral protein interferon.
“We found that that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant had adapted to avoid triggering our defensive frontline innate immune response much better than the first wave viruses. We discovered it does this by making more of the virus proteins that can disable the innate immune system. These proteins are called N, Orf6 and Orf9b and are known as innate immune antagonists,” explained Co-first author Dr Lucy Thorne (UCL Division of Infection & Immunity).
“By mutating to evade our innate immune system, the Alpha variant can replicate under the radar in the early stages of infection, which we think significantly increases its chances of infecting a person when it lands in their nose, throat or lungs. For a virus this is a resounding success, enabling it to more efficiently spread from person to person.”
Researchers believe that this finding gives an insight into how the deadly SARS-CoV-2 is evolving and can also help in setting up a plan of how to identify the other ‘variants of concern’.
“It will be fascinating to see how the other variants, such as Delta and Omicron, perform comparatively in our lung epithelial systems,” Thorne said.
The Union Health Ministry published COVID-19 vaccination instructions for children aged 15 to 18, as well as a precaution dosage for healthcare and frontline workers, as well as those over 60 with comorbidities, on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that vaccination against COVID-19 for children between 15-18 years will start from January 3, while “precaution dose” for healthcare and frontline workers would be administered from January 10.
He also said that the elderly population above 60 years of age and with comorbidities will also be given precaution dose on the advice of their doctor from January 10 next year as well.
According to the guidelines, the prioritisation and sequencing of the precaution dose would be based on the completion of nine months from the date of administration of the second dose.
Union Health Ministry issues guidelines for COVID19 vaccination of children between 15-18 years, precaution dose to health care & frontline workers, and 60+ population with comorbidities
— ANI (@ANI) December 27, 2021
According to a research, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 may move from the airways to the heart, brain, and practically every organ system in the body within days, where it can stay for months.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health in the United States have discovered that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is capable of replicating in human cells far beyond the respiratory tract, in what they describe as the most comprehensive analysis of the virus’s distribution and persistence in the body and brain to date.
The results, released online Saturday in a manuscript under review for publication in the journal Nature, point to delayed viral clearance as a potential contributor to the persistent symptoms wracking so-called long Covid sufferers. Understanding the mechanisms by which the virus persists, along with the body’s response to any viral reservoir, promises to help improve care for those afflicted, the authors said.
“This is remarkably important work,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of Covid-19. “For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long Covid seems to affect so many organ systems. This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long Covid can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease.”
The findings and the techniques haven’t yet been reviewed by independent scientists, and mostly relate to data gathered from fatal Covid cases, not patients with long Covid or “post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2,” as it’s also called.
Contentious Findings
The coronavirus’s propensity to infect cells outside the airways and lungs is contested, with numerous studies providing evidence for and against the possibility.
The research undertaken at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, is based on extensive sampling and analysis of tissues taken during autopsies on 44 patients who died after contracting the coronavirus during the first year of the pandemic in the U.S.
The burden of infection outside the respiratory tract and the time taken to clear the from virus from infected tissues aren’t well characterized, particularly in the brain, wrote Daniel Chertow, who runs the NIH’s emerging pathogens section, and his colleagues.
The group detected persistent SARS-CoV-2 RNA in multiple parts of the body, including regions throughout the brain, for as long as 230 days following symptom onset. This may represent infection with defective virus particles, which has been described in persistent infection with the measles virus, they said.
“We don’t fully understand long Covid, but these changes could explain ongoing symptoms,” said Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. MacIntyre wasn’t involved with the research, which she said “provides a warning about being blase about mass infection in children and adults.”
Precautionary Approach
“We don’t yet know what burden of chronic illness will result in years to come,” she said. “Will we see young-onset cardiac failure in survivors, or early onset dementia? These are unanswered questions which call for a precautionary public health approach to mitigation of the spread of this virus.”
In contrast to other Covid autopsy research, the NIH team’s post-mortem tissue collection was more comprehensive and typically occurred within about a day of the patient’s death.
The researchers also used a variety of tissue preservation techniques to detect and quantify viral levels, as well as grow the virus collected from multiple tissues, including lung, heart, small intestine and adrenal gland from deceased Covid patients during their first week of illness.
“Our results collectively show that while the highest burden of SARS-CoV-2 is in the airways and lung, the virus can disseminate early during infection and infect cells throughout the entire body, including widely throughout the brain,” the authors said.
The study provides pathologic data that support findings of previous research showing, for example, that SARS-CoV-2 directly kills heart muscle cells, and that those who survive an infection suffer cognitive deficits, said MacIntyre at the University of New South Wales.
‘Viremic’ Phase
The N.I.H. researchers posit that infection of the pulmonary system may result in an early “viremic” phase, in which the virus is present in the bloodstream and is seeded throughout the body, including across the blood-brain barrier, even in patients experiencing mild or no symptoms. One patient in the autopsy study was a juvenile who likely died from unrelated seizure complications, suggesting infected children without severe Covid-19 can also experience systemic infection, they said.
The less-efficient viral clearance in tissues outside the pulmonary system may be related to a weak immune response outside the respiratory tract, the authors said.
SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in the brains of all six autopsy patients who died more than a month after developing symptoms, and across most locations evaluated in the brain in five, including one patient who died 230 days after symptom onset.
The focus on multiple brain areas is especially helpful, said Al-Aly at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.
On Sunday, a prominent epidemiologist at AIIMS, who is the primary investigator of the institute’s Covaxin studies for adults and children, called the Centre’s plan to vaccinate children against Covid “unscientific” and stated it will provide no further benefit.
Dr. Sanjay K Rai, the president of the Indian Public Health Association, stated that evidence from nations that have already begun vaccinating children should be analysed before the decision is implemented.
“But according to whatever knowledge we have about vaccines, they are unable to make a significant dent in the infection. In some countries, people are getting infected even after taking booster shots.
“Also, 50,000 breakthrough infections are being reported per day in the UK. So this proves that vaccination is not preventing coronavirus infection but vaccines are effective in preventing severity and death,” Rai told PTI.
He said mortality due to COVID-19 in susceptible populations is around 1.5 per cent, which means 15,000 deaths per million population.
“Through vaccination, we can prevent 80-90 per cent of these deaths, which means that 13,000 to 14,000 deaths per million (population) can be prevented,” he added.
Serious adverse events following immunisation are between 10 to 15 per million population, Rai said.
“So, if you do the risk and benefit analysis in adults, it is a huge benefit,” he said.
In the case of children, he said, the severity of infection is very low and according to data available in the public domain, only two deaths per million population have been reported.
“In this section (children), 15,000 (people) are not dying and keeping in mind the adverse effects also, if you do the risk and benefit analysis, then the risk is more than the benefits based on the available data,” Rai explained.
“Both the objectives are not being fulfilled by initiating vaccination among children,” he said.
Few countries, including the US, started vaccinating children four-five months ago. The data of these countries should be analysed before initiating Covid vaccination for children, he said.
In an address to the nation on Saturday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccination against COVID-19 for children in the 15 to 18 age group will start from January 3.
This will reduce the worries of children going to schools and colleges and their parents, and boost the fight against the pandemic, he said, adding that the move is also likely to aid in the normalisation of teaching in schools.
“I am a great fan of PM Modi for his selfless service to the nation and taking the right decisions at the right time. But I am completely disappointed with his unscientific decision on children’s vaccination,” Rai said in a tweet tagging the Prime Minister’s Office.
Experts have stated that antiviral medicines used to treat Covid may not be safe for everyone. According to NBC, physicians and pharmacists examined the tablets extensively and found that they can be life-threatening when combined with other prescriptions.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted the green light to two pills: Paxlovid by Pfizer and Molnupiravair by Merck.
It has been authorised for mild to moderate Covid in people as young as 12 years, who have underlying conditions that increase the risk of hospitalisation and death from the coronavirus.
The Paxlovid cocktail consists of two tablets of the antiviral nirmatrelvir and one tablet of ritonavir. However, FDA does not recommend Paxlovid for people with severe kidney and liver disease. This is because one of the two drugs in the antiviral cocktail could lead to severe consequences with widely used medications. These medications range from statins, blood thinners to several antidepressants.
In a report by The Hill, a spokesperson said, “The potential for drug-drug interactions (DDI) for Paxlovid was examined in a series of in vitro studies, as well as clinical DDI studies.”
He further added, “The product’s emergency use authorisation fact sheets include information on drug interactions and contraindications. Healthcare providers should consider the potential for drug interactions prior to and during Paxlovid therapy and review concomitant medications during Paxlovid therapy.”
In the case of Merck’s Molnupiravair, the FDA has already restricted its use to adults, only in scenarios in which other authorised treatments, including monoclonal antibodies, are not “clinically appropriate.”
Emily Zadvorny, a clinical pharmacist who is the executive director of the Colorado Pharmacists Society, in a statement to NBC, said, “Pharmacists are highly trained experts in medication safety and monitoring and are an excellent source of information and advice about interactions between medications and also supplements and herbal products. They will help determine if a significant interaction exists and devise solutions to mitigate the interaction if possible.”
Pfizer’s treatment has previously been authorised in the European Union. The US has already paid for 10 million courses.
The authorisation comes as cases are surging across the US, driven by Omicron, the most infectious variant seen so far.
Paxlovid’s therapy consists of a five-day course of two tablets.
With Omicron cases on the rise, New York health officials have reported an uptick in youngsters being admitted to hospitals, even as the White House committed on Sunday to address the COVID-19 test shortage in the United States.
The New York State Department of Health warned “of an upward trend in paediatric hospitalisations associated with COVID-19 ,” in a statement Friday.
In New York City, it “identified four-fold increases in COVID-19 hospital admissions for children 18 and under beginning the week of 5 December through the current week,” it said.
Approximately half of the admissions are younger than five, an age group that is vaccine ineligible, the department added.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States is on the rise, with an average of nearly 190,000 new infections daily over the past seven days, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The arrival of the new Omicron variant, compounded by holiday celebrations that typically include travel and family reunions, have caused a rush on tests in the United States, where it is difficult to get one in many locations.
Top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci on Sunday acknowledged a COVID “testing problem” and vowed to make more tests available to Americans next month.
“One of the problems is that that’s not going to be totally available to everyone until we get to January and there are still some issues now of people having trouble getting tested,” Fauci told ABC News.
“But we’re addressing the testing problem,” he added, saying it should be corrected “very soon.”
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced a raft of new measures as the United States battles its latest Covid surge, including shipping half a billion free home tests in the wake of the Christmastime testing crunch.
However, the White House, whose strategy has for weeks been mainly focused on vaccinations, has faced strong criticism over the fact that many tests won’t be available until January.
Fauci on Sunday emphasised that the administration was ramping up to tackle the spike and stressed that Omicron was “extraordinarily contagious.”
Apart from overwhelming hospitals and COVID-19 testing sites, the COVID-19 variant has forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights in the United States, as crews called in sick or had to quarantine after exposure to the virus.
Recent studies in South Africa and Britain indicate that Omicron was less likely to lead to hospitalisation than the previous strains of the virus and that the duration of hospital stays and oxygen needs for patients were lower, Fauci noted.
But he also warned that Omicron’s apparent lower severity is likely to be neutralised by how fast it is spreading.
“The issue that we don’t want to get complacent about… is that when you have such a high volume of new infections, it might override a real diminution in severity,” Fauci said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed in a surprise speech to the nation tonight that India will begin vaccinating children between the ages of 15 and 18 on January 3 of next year.
From January 10 next year, “precautionary doses” would be given to healthcare and frontline workers, he added.On a doctor’s suggestion, anyone over the age of 60 with co-morbidities will be able to receive the booster dosage. This will begin on January 10th as well.
The Prime Minister made these three key announcements today:
1) Children between the age group of 15 to 18 years of age will be elgible for Covid vaccination from January 3, 2022.
2) All healthcare workers and frontline workers will be eligible for “precaution dose” of the third booster of the vaccine from January 10, 2022.
3) Those who are 60 plus with comorbidities can also get precautionary doses on the recommendation of their doctors.
The big decision from the central government came out when the country is witnessing a sudden surge in the the number of Omicron cases.
Some nations including the UK and the USA have already approved booster doses for their citizens.
PM Modi urged the citizens to stay prudent, follow all Covid norms and not panic amid the fast spreading cases.
In the light of the rise in Omicron cases, the newest version of SARS-CoV-2, the Union health ministry issued a new warning against the Covid-19 pandemic on Friday. According to health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, during the ministry’s weekly press briefing on Friday, the world recorded over 9 lakh Covid-19 cases on December 23, indicating a new wave of the epidemic.
Here are 10 points the health ministry said:
1. The world is witnessing the 4th surge of the pandemic. On December 23, over 9 lakh Covid cases have been recorded all over the world.
2. Compared with Europe, North America and Africa, Asia is witnessing a decline in the number of fresh cases, but we have to be on guard, Rajesh Bhushan said.
3. India has been recording around 7,000 Covid cases every day. Since the past 4 weeks, India’s daily case tally fell below 10,000
4. India has seen two surges of the pandemic so far: one in September 2020 and the second in May 2021.
5. At present, India’s cases are on the decline: Global case positivity rate is more than 6% while India’s case positivity rate is 5.3%, though there are regional variations.
6. Cause of concern is the case positivity rate in Kerala and Mizoram.
7. Around 20 districts in the country are reporting a weekly positivity between 5 and 10%
8. 108 countries have reported over 1 lakh Omicron cases and there have been 26 deaths. In India, there are 358 Omicron cases in 17 states and UTs. 114 recovery has been reported.
9. Out of 183 cases analysed in India, 121 had foreign travel history, 44 had no foreign travel history but they came in contact with people with foreign travel history. Details of 18 are unknown. Out of these 183 cases, 87 were fully vaccinated, including 3 who received three doses of vaccine. 7 were unvaccinated and 2 were partially vaccinated, the Centre said.
10. Delta continues to be the dominant strain in India, including the recently identified clusters, ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava said.