India reported 17 more cases of the <keyword id="1609796" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="omicron" source="Orion">Omicron</keyword> variant of <keyword id="8763838" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COVID-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword> on Sunday - nine persons in Rajasthan capital Jaipur, seven in Maharashtra's Pune district and a fully vaccinated man who arrived in Delhi from Tanzania - taking the tally to 21 in the country. Most of those who tested positive either recently arrived from African countries or were in contact with such people. With this, four states and the national capital have now reported cases of the potentially more contagious variant which has sparked a fresh alert across the world. The nine people who tested positive in Jaipur include four members of a family who returned from South Africa recently. "Genome sequencing has confirmed that nine persons are infected with the omicron variant," Rajasthan health secretary Vaibhav Galriya said. The new cases in Maharashtra include a woman who along with her two daughters came from Nigeria, her brother and a man who returned from Finland in the last week of November, officials said. The total number of confirmed Omicron cases in Maharashtra has gone up to eight now. In a statement, the state health department said, "The 44-year-old, woman, who is a Nigerian citizen of Indian origin, her daughters aged 18 and 12, arrived on November 24 from Lagos in Nigeria to meet her brother in Pimpri Chinchwad area. "The woman, her two daughters, her 45-year-old brother and his two daughters aged 7 and one-and-a-half years, have tested positive for the Omicron variant as per the report given by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV)." Their thirteen contacts had been traced and tested, it said. The country reported the first two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Thursday in Karnataka -- a 66-year-old South African flyer and a 46-year-old Bengaluru doctor with no travel history. Both men are fully vaccinated. On Saturday, a 72-year-old NRI from Gujarat and a 33-year-old man from Maharashtra's Thane tested positive for the new strain. The marine engineer, who had arrived in Delhi from South Africa on November 23 and had then taken a flight to Mumbai, is currently undergoing treatment at a COVID-19 care centre in Kalyan town, located about 50 km from Maharashtra capital. "He is stable and responding well to treatment," deputy director of health services, Mumbai circle, Dr Gauri Rathod told PTI. The first patient to test positive for Omicron in Delhi is a 37-year-old resident of Ranchi who had travelled from Tanzania to Doha and from there to Delhi on a Qatar Airways flight on December 2. He stayed in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a week, officials told PTI. The person is fully vaccinated and is currently admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital with mild symptoms , an official said. He had to take a connecting flight to Ranchi, where he lives with his family. Since he gave his sample at the IGI Airport which came out positive, we admitted him to LNJP hospital, the official said. Authorities are trying to locate and isolate 10 people who occupied the seats close to this passenger on the flight. Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain said 17 COVID-19 patients and six of their contacts have been admitted to the LNJP Hospital so far. The Omicron variant has been found in one of the 12 samples sent for genome sequencing so far, according to a preliminary report," he said "The patient complained of sore throat, fever and body ache. He is stable now," Medical Director Suresh Kumar said. The Delhi health minister said banning international flights is the most effective way to contain the spread of the Omicron variant even as he appealed to people to wear masks and take COVID-19 vaccine. He said there is a 99 percent chance that the mask can save people from all COVID-19 variants, be it Alpha, Beta, Delta or Omicron. Under the new norms, RT-PCR tests are mandatory for passengers arriving from the "at-risk" countries and they will be allowed to leave the airport only after the results come. According to the Centre, the countries designated as "at-risk" are European countries, including the UK, and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel. Also, two percent of the passengers arriving on flights from other countries will be subjected to the test randomly. India saw a single-day rise of 2,796 fatalities with Bihar and Kerala carrying out a reconciliation exercise of COVID-19 data, pushing the country's death toll to 4,73,326, while 8,895 new infections were reported, according to Union health ministry data updated on Sunday. As many 2,426 deaths in Bihar and 263 deaths in Kerala were added. India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has increased to 3,46,33,255, the data updated at 8 AM showed. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has remained below 50,000 for 161 consecutive days now. The active cases stand at 99,155, comprising 0.29 percent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.35 percent, the health ministry said. States are re-tightening preventive measures and ramping up vaccination in the face of the Omicron threat. The Union Territory of Puducherry has made it mandatory for all persons to get the COVID-19 vaccine and those skipping it would face penal action. The Director of Health and Family Welfare Services G.Sriramulu stated this in an order on Saturday night. Tamil Nadu's Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the state has not detected any cases of Omicron variant and the five individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving from the at-risk countries were 'asymptomatic' and were 'fine' at the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research hospital in China the city. The government has intensified the preventive measures in all the international airports and also at the border districts of the state, he said. With people resuming activities following the easing of curbs, cluster cases are being reported in some places. Telangana reported that 43 students of a private medical college in Karimnagar district have tested positive for COVID-19. In Karnataka, 59 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Chikkamagaluru district were among those who tested positive for COVID 19. Two women publishers from Pune attending the 94th Marathi literary meet in Nashik in Maharashtra have tested positive for coronavirus, civic officials said. Thousands of people had attended the three-day Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan from December 3 to 5. Officials said the two women will be quarantined either in Nashik or will be allowed to travel to their places and authorities concerned will be asked to keep them under observation. Authorities are trying to track the people who had come in contact with the two infected women. These contacts will be tested as per the protocol, according to the officials. Even amid the emergence of new variants like Omircron, vaccination remains one of the strongest pillars of protection against disease and infection, according to experts. The issue of administering an 'additional' dose of COVID-19 vaccine to immunocompromised individuals will be deliberated upon in the meeting of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation scheduled to be held on December 6, official sources said. According to officials, an additional dose of vaccine is different from a booster dose. A booster dose is given to an individual after a predefined period when the immune response due to primary vaccination is presumed to have declined, while an additional dose is given to immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals when a primary schedule of vaccination does not provide adequate protection from the infection and disease, they explained. 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India's Omicron COVID-19 strain tally rises to 21 with 17 more testing positive for the new variant

<ul><li>This year will likely be remembered for marking its emergence as the world's most populous nation.</li><li>By 2050, the UN expects <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> will have 1.6 billion residents and China 1.3 billion.</li><li>A growing working-age population is an important source of economic growth, so India's emergence will give it new power in international politics.</li></ul> If any major middle-income country is truly outperforming in the coming decades, it's the world's soon-to-be third largest economy (and its largest democracy), India, Eurasia Group said in a report. "In my view, 2023 will be remembered for India's emergence as the third pole of the world," wrote <keyword id="15992875" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shigesaburo-okumura" source="Orion">Shigesaburo Okumura</keyword>, Editor-in-Chief of Nikkei Asia, in a recent article. Another important factor not to be neglected is India. This year will likely be remembered for marking its emergence as the world's most populous nation, Okumara wrote. According to the UN, China's population last year was 1.426 billion while India's was 1.417 billion. In July, the UN forecast that China's population would fall in 2023 while India's would surpass it. By 2050, the UN expects India will have 1.6 billion residents and China 1.3 billion. A growing working-age population is an important source of economic growth, so India's emergence will give it new power in international politics, Okumara said. Moreover, decoupling between the US and China and the rebuilding of technology supply chains to exclude China benefits India. <keyword id="6354427" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="apple" source="Orion">Apple</keyword> is building iPhone 14s in India. <keyword id="292865" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="natarajan-chandrasekaran" source="Orion">Natarajan Chandrasekaran</keyword>, chairman of <keyword id="46894" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="tata-sons" source="Orion">Tata Sons</keyword>, has talked of plans to produce semiconductors in the subcontinent. In March, India will host the plenary session of the <keyword id="833063" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="trilateral-commission" source="Orion">Trilateral Commission</keyword> for the first time. This year, it is also chairing the Group of 20, a role that will involve a leaders' summit and many ministerial meetings. The Modi government will be eager to show leadership ahead of India's own elections in 2024, Okumara wrote. "The new year thus could mark the beginning of a tripolar world, involving the US, China and India. New Delhi is undeniably on the rise," Okumara concluded. <keyword id="47256" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="challenges" source="Orion">Challenges</keyword>, however, are mounting for India's economy with the GDP forecast at a half-century low. Motilal Oswal Financial Services forecast in a note that after growing strongly for two consecutive years, India's real GDP growth would decelerate to 5.2 per cent YoY in FY24, while nominal GDP growth would weaken even sharply to 7-7.5 per cent, led by easing inflation. A combination of factors such as slower global economy, fading pent-up demand and normalising base effects would contribute to slower real growth. With an expected retail inflation print at just 4.3 per cent and a mere 1 per cent growth in the wholesale price index (<keyword id="46000" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wpi" source="Orion">WPI</keyword>) in FY24, the GDP deflator could be around 2 per cent, dragging down India's nominal GDP growth to the lowest level compared to any year between the early 1970s and FY19 (that is, half-a-century pre-Covid period), the report said. Such slow growth rate would have some serious implications for the macro economy and financial markets. "Overall, we believe that unlike the past 12-15 months, the narrative will reverse in FY24. Inflation concerns will take a back seat and growth worries will resurface. This may be true not only for India, but also for the entire global economy. At the same time, restrictive monetary policy will fail to boost financial markets. Accordingly, CY23 could be very painful," the report said. Revenue of listed companies is highly correlated with nominal GDP growth (and WPI-inflation). In case of single-digit nominal GDP growth, corporate sales growth is also expected to weaken from an average of &gt;30 per cent YoY in the past seven quarters to single digits in FY24. With an expectation of weaker nominal GDP growth in FY24, we estimate India's debt growth to also weaken. Thus, bank credit growth could also moderate from 15-16 per cent in FY23 to 12 per cent in FY24 with a downward bias, the report said. As central banks across the world simultaneously hike interest rates in response to inflation, the world may be edging toward a global recession in 2023 and a string of financial crises in emerging market and developing economies that would do them lasting harm, according to a comprehensive new study by the <keyword id="6354424" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="world-bank" source="Orion">World Bank</keyword> in September. Several historical indicators of global recessions are already flashing warnings. The global economy is now in its steepest slowdown following a post-recession recovery since 1970. Global consumer confidence has already suffered a much sharper decline than in the run-up to previous global recessions. The world's three largest economies -- United States, China, and the Euro zone -- have been slowing sharply. The experience of the 1970s, the policy responses to the 1975 global recession, the subsequent period of stagflation, and the global recession of 1982 illustrate the risk of allowing inflation to remain elevated for long while growth is weak. The 1982 global recession coincided with the second-lowest growth rate in developing economies over the past five decades, second only to 2020. It triggered more than 40 debt crises and was followed by a decade of lost growth in many developing economies, the World Bank said. India's current account deficit expectedly swelled to a 37-quarter high of $36.4 billion (4.4 per cent of GDP) in Q2 FY23 from $18.2 billion in Q1 FY23 (2.2 per cent of GDP). The resulting net balance of payments (BoP) position registered a deficit of $30.4 billion (3.7 per cent of GDP), its weakest since the 2008 global financial crisis, compared to a surplus of $4.6 billion in Q1 FY23, Acuite Ratings said. Amid an uncertain geopolitical environment and slowing global growth, however, risks will remain on both current account balance and capital flows, it said. With excessive demand supply disparities, bloated supply chain management and battle against inflation weighing down on global economic growth, the New Year started on a gloomy outlook as IMF predicts global GDP growth topping at 2.7 per cent, narrowly escaping recession, Nuvama Professional Clients Group said in a note. The economy has been supported by sturdy domestic demand as indicated in GST collections and consumer spending. However, the industrial output contracted by 4 per cent YoY in October, the worst in over two years, hobbled by the drop in orders from western markets and weak investment at home, the note said. Standard Chartered said in a report that 2023 global macroeconomic backdrop is likely to be challenging given the heightened risk of a slowdown as lagged effects of monetary policy tightening leads to a weaker demand scenario and lower corporate earnings performance. As the monetary policy rate cycle peaks amid receding inflationary pressures in the second half of the year, risk sentiment could improve with the growth outlook stabilising. "In our assessment," the bank noted, "India's growth-inflation dynamics is stable and better than its peers." The post-pandemic economic recovery cycle remains strong amid supportive government policies and a pick-up in investments. Further, the likely broadening of the rural economy's recovery and of the service sectors is a strong tailwind, the note said. 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India could emerge as the third pole despite GDP growth worries say experts

New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) The late phase trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield in India, are well underway at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, the institute said on Thursday. The officials at the premier institute told IANS that no adverse side-effects among the volunteers have been observed so far. "Very few people developed fever or body ache post vaccine administration. It is expected and very normal after the vaccine dose is given. Nothing to get alarmed about," an official informed. The institute is listed as one of the 17 trial sites for conducting the second and third phases of human clinical trials of the Coveshield vaccine. The officials added that 53 participants in the trials have already completed seven days of post vaccination period without developing any major side-effects. They also informed that the institute has screened 97 volunteers till date and 65 of them have already been administered the first dose of the vaccine. The Covishield vaccine has been developed by the Oxford University and is being mass-produced by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII). PGIMR started the vaccine trials on September 25 when two females aged 57 and 26 years and a 33-year-old male were administered the vaccine candidate at the institute. The trials at the PGIMER were started after the institute received safety approval from the Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) for the first 100 candidates selected to undergo the trials last month. The institute will administer multiple doses of the vaccine candidate to check its safety and efficacy over more than 250 participants. A gap of 28 days would be maintained between the doses measuring 0.5 ml each. The trials of Covishield were halted last month in the UK and India after an advert incident happened with a participant in London. The participant had reported a suspected severe adverse reaction when he was administered a booster dose of Covishield. Following that, the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority of the UK had halted the trials there. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had also taken conginasance of the reported incident and had ordered the SII to halt the trials in India. The trials were resumed in the UK on September 12 after a go-ahead from the UK's drug regulatory authority. Trials resumed in India the same week. --IANS str/arm

No major adverse side-effects reported so far in vaccine trial at PGI Chandigarh

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday that compulsory COVID-19 tests required by overseas travellers no earlier than 48 hours before arriving in England will be scrapped from Friday morning. Addressing the year's first Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons, Johnson said the government is also lifting the requirement for international travellers, including those flying from India, to self-isolate on arrival in England until receiving a negative PCR test result. Instead, people can take a cheaper lateral flow test on day two of their entry into the <keyword id="6354868" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="uk" source="Orion">UK</keyword>. "When the Omicron variant was first identified, we rightly introduced travel restrictions to slow its arrival in our country; but now Omicron is so prevalent, these measures are having limited impact on the growth in cases, while continuing to pose significant costs on our travel industry, Johnson said in his COVID-19 update to Parliament. "So I can announce that in England from 4am on Friday we will be scrapping the pre-departure test, which discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense, he said. "We will also be lifting the requirement to self-isolate on arrival until receipt of a negative PCR, returning instead to the system we had in October last year, where those arriving in England will need to take a lateral flow test no later than the end of Day 2 and, if positive, a further PCR test to help us identify any new variants at the border, he added. It came as the UK continues to record very high daily infections with another 194,747 COVID cases on Wednesday, down from Tuesday's 218,724 cases. Johnson highlighted in his statement that as many as 90 per cent of those in intensive care with COVID have not had their booster vaccine dose and over 60 per cent have not had any vaccination at all. He urged members of Parliament to spread the vaccination message in their constituencies as he confirmed that no further lockdown measures will be imposed over and above the Plan B measures involving mandatory face coverings, work from home where possible guidance and COVID vaccination certificate checks for larger events. "Together with the evidence that Omicron causes less severe disease than previous variants, and the way the public have conscientiously changed their behaviour in response to Plan B, this level of protection means we are in a very different position than during previous waves," he said. Johnson also confirmed an earlier announcement by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) of a change in COVID testing rules within the country, amid concerns of massive staff absences due to lengthy self-isolation even among asymptomatic cases. Thanks to the sheer size of the Omicron wave, we still need to take steps to ensure our testing capacity reaches those who need it most. So we will be suspending the need to do a PCR to confirm the result of a positive lateral flow test, said Johnson. Lateral Flow Devices (LFDs) are made available for free by the National Health Service (NHS) for home testing and are believed to be a reliable indicator of an individual's COVID infectiousness level, requiring them to self-isolate following a positive test. They can end their isolation after a week if they test negative on day six and seven consecutively, or carry on isolating for 10 days. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/diwali-and-christmas-may-have-saved-dmarts-quarter/articleshow/88718606.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Diwali and Christmas may have saved DMart’s quarter</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/amazon-vs-future-vs-reliance-delhi-high-court-stays-singapore-arbitration-proceedings/articleshow/88713142.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Delhi high court stays Amazon arbitration proceedings against Future-Reliance deal</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/elon-musks-starlink-faces-its-first-setback-in-india-even-before-launch/articleshow/88702976.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Elon Musk’s Starlink faces its first setback in India even before launch</a>

UK lifts pre-arrival COVID-19 test rule for overseas travelers

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, has administered the first dose of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine -- Covishield -- to three candidates on Friday, informed PGI Chandigarh Director Prof Jagat Ram. The clinical trials of Oxford vaccine has started at PGI Chandigarh after the institute administered first dosage of the vaccine to three volunteers on Friday, Prof Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER told IANS. Ram said that two females and a male were given dosage of 0.5 ml. "Two females aged 57 and 26 years and a 33-year-old male were administered the vaccine candidate at the institute," he specified. The PGIMER is one of the seventeen sites where phase II trials of the 'Covishield' vaccine developed by Oxford University and being mass-produced by Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII) is being conducted. A source privy to the development confirmed that the candidates will be monitored for 28 days after the 0.5 ml dose of vaccine and then the second dose will be given followed by a monitoring of 28 days. After that a blood sample will be taken and they will be observed for a span of six months. Besides, the candidates have been asked to note any development of symptoms like fever in their personal diary. 18 candidates have been found eligible till now to undergo the trial. The institute plans to take 100 candidates into the phase II study while it has made commitment for 253 candidates to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The criteria fulfilling the eligibility prerequisites for the study included the minimum age of 18, no underlying medical condition and no prior Covid-19 infection. Besides, family members of the candidates are also required to be Covid negative. The trials started after the institute received safety approval pending from the Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) for the first 100 candidates selected to undergo the trials last week. The trails have been delayed by more than two weeks. The institute had earlier claimed to start the trials by the first week of September. However, it was initially delayed due to pending safety approvals of the candidates from DSMB. Later, the trials were suspended pan-India by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) after COVID-19 vaccine trials were put on hold in the United Kingdom (UK) as one of the participants there reported a severe adverse reaction following administration of a booster dose. The suspension was revoked by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) last week only. --IANS str/rt

PGI Chandigarh starts Oxford Covid vaccine trial

New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria in an interview to IANS said we may reach a stage down the line where we may have a good amount of immunity, and the people may feel that there is now good immunity and the utility of the vaccine is not there. He added, if the virus doesn't mutate or does not cause changes then people may not think to again vaccinate themselves and then, there will be less utilization of vaccine down the line. Excerpts from the interview: Q: If a vaccine is available off the shelf by beginning of 2022 or end of 2021 for common people, wouldn't they have attained immunity against this viral infection, or maybe Covid-19 scenario improved by then. People may treat this viral infection like common cold and cough, which does not have an adverse health impact? A: There are two issues: One is immediate availability of vaccine to decrease and prevent the pandemic. So if a vaccine is available, if you are able to give it to the high risk group and those who have a higher chance of the infection as a priority, we would be immediately able to decrease the number of cases and also decrease the number of deaths. But, we may reach a stage down the line where we may have a good amount of immunity and the people feel there is now good immunity, the utility of the vaccine is not there. And, if the virus doesn't mutate or does not cause changes that may need you to again vaccinate yourself, because you may get re-infection, then there will be less utilization of the vaccine down the line. One issue is how the virus changes and what is the chance of reinfection and if that is a big issue, then should we get ourselves vaccinated to prevent the reinfection. We are learning how the virus behaves over the next few months and based on that there will be a decision on how frequently the vaccine is required. If we have good herd immunity whether it is required or not, this is a big challenge because a lot of money gets invested in vaccine doses and manufacturing and sometimes the vaccine industry is very concerned that they may have a drop in the demand. Q: You have mentioned about people having long-term side effects post their recovery from Covid-19 disease? If Covid-19 is from the coronavirus family, then why do patients develop medical complications that may have lasting health effects or prolonged illness? A: Most of the previous viral infection we had, has been due to other viruses like influenza. Coronavirus, we have almost seven other viruses in subsets in this coronavirus family. Four of them just cause flu-like symptoms, which are very mild. The other three we have, one was SARS, which was controlled and did not lead into a pandemic. We also have MERS coronavirus, which is not that infectious, so we have small outbreaks. This is the first pandemic of this magnitude with coronavirus, the previous pandemic was with influenza virus. What we are realizing with this coronavirus, which is a new virus, and is of the bat origin. This virus, although causes respiratory tract infection, but it does also cause a systemic effect. The virus attaches to receptors which are present in many organs in the body, the ACE2 receptor. It causes swelling of the blood vessels and if these blood vessels are in the heart, then it may cause myocardial damage to the muscles of the heart. It leads to higher chances of clotting and this leads to strokes. This virus can cause what we call long-Covid. Post Covid squeal, which is not anticipated to be a serious problem, as most viral infections tend to recover and people have post-viral effects lasting for a few days then they become alright. The government is working aggressively on developing post-Covid-19 clinics at all levels, this could be at district level and in medical colleges, and to provide holistic support to these individuals. Many of them need supportive treatment, which could also be meditation, yoga, so it is looking at a comprehensive plan: Allopathic, Yoga and Ayurvedic medicines. Q: There is data to show that BCG protects against viral infections. Can a booster dose boost the immune system and protect people against Covid-19? A: There is controversial data as far as BCG is concerned. There is in-vitro data from labs, which suggests BCG vaccination does give some degree of immune response, which has an anti-viral effect also. One retrospective study from Israel did not show any benefit to people who had the BCG vaccine. But there is another study from Netherland, which looked at people who are given the BCG vaccine five years ago for some other trial, and they found they had some degree of protection, as far as Covid-19 was concerned. The recent trial being done under the ICMR, does tend to show there may be some benefit, but currently some vaccinated in the older age group are small. There are two trials going on in India, which are multi-centric: one is the BCG vaccine in elderly and the other is the BCG vaccine in younger age groups with co-morbidities. Theoretically, it may be more beneficial, but we need more data, to say it is worthwhile to vaccinate all the elderly with BCG booster dose. (Sumit Saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in) --IANS ss/dpb

AIIMS Director: Herd immunity may come before Covid vaccine goes off the shelf

(Eds: Combining related stories) New Delhi, May 15 () The nationwide tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases crossed 85,000 on Friday with more people testing positive for the deadly virus infection from Kashmir to Kerala and from Karnataka to Bihar, even as indications emerged about greater relaxations in the fourth phase of the lockdown beginning Monday to contain economic costs of the pandemic. Going by the numbers declared by different states and union territories, India has now surpassed China's official tally of 82,933 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Though some new cases have emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan -- the epicentre of the deadly virus -- less than 100 people are now undergoing treatment across China, which recorded 4,633 deaths due to COVID-19 but more than 78,000 have been discharged after recovery, as per their official data. Globally, more than 3 lakh people have died and nearly 45 lakh have tested positive for the deadly virus since its emergence in Wuhan last December. While China and several other countries have begun reopening their economies, fresh concerns have begun mounting about a possible re-emergence of the virus. India is now the 11th most affected nation in the world, but each one of the top-ten have one lakh or more cases. The US tops the charts with more than 14 lakh cases, followed by Russia, UK, Spain, Italy and Brazil with over 2 lakh cases each; and France, Germany, Turkey and Iran having over 1 lakh cases each. In its morning 8 AM update, the Union Health Ministry said the death toll due to COVID-19 across India has risen to 2,649 and the number of cases has climbed to 81,970, registering an increase of 100 deaths and 3,967 cases in the last 24 hours since Thursday morning. There are more than 51,000 active cases, while nearly 28,000 have recovered, giving a recovery rate of over 34 per cent. However, a tally of numbers reported by states and UTs, as of 9 PM, put the total number of confirmed cases across the country much higher at 85,538. This also showed at least 2,679 deaths and nearly 30,000 recoveries. Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Bihar and Karnataka breached the 1,000-mark in terms of the number of people having tested positive, while testing and containment measures were ramped up in places like, Kerala, Goa and Manipur that were being seen as being mostly virus-free till a few days back. Even a quarantine centre had to be sealed in Manipur. On the other hand, large numbers of cases continued to get detected in big urban clusters. Maharashtra, the most-affected state, reported 1,576 new cases to take its tally to 29,100, while its death toll rose to 1,068. Tamil Nadu crossed the 10,000 mark with 434 new cases, while Gujarat saw 340 more people testing positive to push its tally to 9,932. According to the Union Health Ministry, 30 municipal areas account for 79 per cent of India's coronavirus infection caseload. At a meeting of a group of ministers chaired by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, it was stressed that the focus of COVID-19 management strategy needs to be on the states with the highest number of confirmed cases and fatalities. Also, focus is needed on treatment and case fatality management, for which timely detection and contact tracing were the best way forward. The Finance Ministry in the meantime unveiled the third booster dose, mainly consisting of measures aimed at helping farmers and for reforms in agriculture and allied sectors, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Rs 20 lakh crore 'special package' for making India self-reliant in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Modi said the third tranche will help the rural economy and boost farmers' income. India has been under a lockdown since March 25, which was initially scheduled to end on April 14 but has got extended twice -- first till May 3 and then till May 17 with some relaxations. A final decision on the fourth phase is expected soon, but officials said there could be greater relaxations and more flexibility for states and union territories while measures being explored include gradual reopening of the railways and domestic airlines. Schools, colleges, malls and cinema halls may not be allowed to open anywhere in the country, but salons, barber shops and optical shops may be allowed everywhere barring COVID-19 containment areas. E-retailers may be allowed to deliver non-essential items too. Final guidelines will be issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs after going through the suggestions of various state governments. During his last interaction with chief ministers, Modi had asked them to submit their suggestions by May 15. According to officials, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Telangana want the lockdown to continue, while some states have sought powers to decide the zoning of districts -- green, orange and red -- as per the COVID-19 situation. This request of the state governments may be accepted so that they can restrict or allow movement of people or economic activities in a particular place depending on the ground situation, an official told . Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Monday, had said that the lockdown 4.0 will have a "completely different form", with new rules. "No state wants complete withdrawal of lockdown but all want gradual resumption of economic activities," the official said. Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka are among some states which are not in favour of complete resumption of train and air services, at least till May-end. The railways have already started special trains to 15 destinations from Delhi and have been running several hundred 'Shramik Special' trains from different parts of the country to various places for transportation of migrant workers stranded due to the lockdown. Air India is also engaged in evacuation of thousands of Indians stranded abroad during the lockdown under the 'Vande Bharat Mission'. However, there have been cases of people testing positive after reaching their native places using these trains and flights. Officials said local trains, buses and metro services may start running with limited capacity in non-containment areas of red zones. Autos and taxis are also expected to be allowed in all zones with restrictions on the number of passengers, barring areas identified as 'containment zones'. Maharashtra has favoured strict lockdown measures in Mumbai, its suburbs and Pune, and a complete ban on inter-state and inter-district transport. However, Gujarat wants resumption of economic activities in major urban centres. Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have also favoured opening up of economic activities. Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, which have seen a spike in the COVID-19 cases after arrival of migrant workers, want the lockdown to continue with strict curbs on movement of people. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has urged Modi not to open state boundaries for the next few months, except for migrants or essential services. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the state has written to the Centre urging extension of the lockdown by two more weeks. Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the Centre may announce many relaxations in the lockdown after May 17. The Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to resume state transport bus service to various destinations from May 18, while the Haryana Roadways has already resumed bus services on select routes within the state. 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COVID-19: India surpasses China tally with 85,000 confirmed cases; Bihar, K'taka, J&K cross 1k mark

New Delhi, From the depths of despair to an adrenaline-pumping ascent, <keyword id="6422161" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="equity-investors">equity investors</keyword> traversed the whole gamut of emotions in 2020 as a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic followed by equally unprecedented stimulus measures whiplashed <keyword id="156526" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Global-stock-markets">global stock markets</keyword>, upended conventional wisdom and blurred the lines between investing and speculation. Dalal Street witnessed gut-churning fluctuations, with the BSE <keyword id="6484188" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="sensex">Sensex</keyword> swinging between historic losses and eye-popping gains, sometimes in the same session, and confounded veterans and rookies alike. No one had anticipated that the Sensex and Nifty would be bludgeoned in late March, or that they will stage a remarkable recovery almost immediately and soar to all-time highs by the end of the year. But, 2020 has been a year full of events outside the realm of imagination. The year started off on an ominous note for financial markets when on January 3 top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq, ratcheting up tensions in the Middle East. The Sensex tumbled more than 900 points over two sessions but resumed its upward march to hit life highs later that month. Equities largely shrugged off initial reports of a coronavirus outbreak in China, in tandem with the global bourses, and looked ahead to the Budget. However, the Sensex logged one of its biggest single-day declines on February 1 after the Union Budget failed to live up to market expectations of growth-boosting measures and fiscal discipline. The real test, alas, was ahead. From mid-February, world stocks started getting skittish as it became clear that the COVID-19 crisis would not be limited to China. To add to the woes, Yes Bank was placed under a moratorium in a rare move, triggering a crisis of confidence in the domestic banking sector. The explosive cocktail of a global market meltdown and domestic troubles proved too much to take for Dalal Street. Four of the biggest single-day declines in the history of BSE Sensex came in March 2020, leaving participants shell-shocked. Its biggest-ever plunge (in absolute terms) was on March 23, when the benchmark crashed 3,934.72 points or 13.15%. Astonishingly, March also saw some of the index's biggest up-moves amid the RBI stepping in with emergency liquidity support. The Sensex's largest-ever single-session gain came a little later on April 7, when it zoomed 2,476.26 points as investors wagered on more stimulus measures from the government to battle the economic fallout of the pandemic. The turbulence on the domestic bourses also mirrored global market turmoil. The Dow Jones suffered its worst fall, emerging market assets were routed and in a mind-boggling moment, US oil futures turned negative for the first time in history. For a while, the world stopped making any sense. With the world economy comatose and governments overwhelmed by a cataclysmic health crisis, the task of propping up the financial markets and restoring investor confidence fell to the global central banks. "2020 will probably go down in history as a year when global central bankers injected close to USD 11 trillion as stimuli to combat the COVID pandemic," said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities. The massive money printing by the US Federal Reserve and its peers sparked a breathtaking turnaround in global stock markets. Never bet against the Fed, as the saying goes. Flush with funds, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) poured in billions of dollars into emerging markets, with India topping the chart in Asia. FPI net inflows into Indian equity markets have crossed ₹1.5 lakh crore (over USD 20 billion) this year -- a lifetime peak. The Sensex erased its 2020 losses on November 5, while global investors monitored the results of the tightly-contested US elections. The next booster dose for world markets came over the following few days as companies like Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca began announcing positive results from their COVID-19 vaccine trials. Human innovation once again triumphed against all odds, setting off a record-shattering relief rally in equities. From November 9 to December 18, the Sensex hit fresh record highs in 22 out of the 29 sessions. For the calendar year (till December 24), the Sensex has gained 13.86%, while the Nifty has delivered returns of 12.99%. Compared to the March lows, both the indices are up by a hefty 80%. <keyword id="595023" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Benchmarks">Benchmarks</keyword> had another engine propelling them higher this year - <keyword id="6355199" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-industries">Reliance Industries</keyword> (RIL), which became the first Indian company to reach a market capitalisation of ₹15 lakh crore (USD 200 billion) in September. Beginning April, the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate announced a slew of deals to sell minority stakes in its telecom and retail arms to marquee investors like Facebook, Google, Silver Lake, KKR, Mubadala, and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. The company has raised around USD 25 billion so far this year as it seeks to ramp up its consumer-facing businesses. For a good part of the year, RIL almost single-handedly drove the domestic benchmarks higher in the absence of any buying triggers. The COVID-19 crisis also forced investors to take a relook at their sectoral allocations. "From the lows, markets started stabilising and pandemic sectors like FMCG, IT, pharma and chemicals benefitted. As the economy further opened up, growth and cyclical sectors reversed positively," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. However, while stocks seem to have found their animal spirits back, there are also some murmurs of discontent. Analysts say world stock markets have developed a dangerous addiction to endless money printing by central banks, and show withdrawal symptoms of a junkie at the slightest indication of a moderation in monetary stimulus. Back home too, around half of the government's ₹20.97 lakh crore economic stimulus package comprised RBI's liquidity measures. This glut of global liquidity has pushed markets so far ahead of economic fundamentals that some are beginning to question whether the real economy matters in equity investing at all. For example, no one would be able to tell looking at the Sensex chart that the Indian economy shrank 23.9% in the first three months of FY21, and 7.5% the next quarter. Globally too, markets have been on a manic upswing even as millions have lost their jobs, small businesses are battling for survival and entire industries have been decimated. While the real economy has been ravaged by the pandemic, most financial market indicators are ruling at stratospheric levels. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at a price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of 32.89, the highest on record. To put it differently, investors are paying ₹32.89 for every rupee of future earnings of the 30 Sensex firms, compared to the previous 20-year average of around ₹19. Global market capitalisation -- the value of all the listed stocks in the world - topped USD 100 trillion for the first time ever in December. And in a classic sign of market mania, there's a rush of first-time investors eager to make a quick buck. A record 68 lakh new dematerialised (or demat) accounts were opened in India between April and October 2020, compared to nearly 49 lakh in the entire FY20, which was the highest in a decade. Experts attribute this trend to factors like increased time at home due to the lockdown, efforts to make up for lost jobs or incomes, and also FOMO, or the fear of missing out on this rally. This is also reflected in the growing popularity of discount broking apps like Zerodha and Upstox, which have dislodged traditional broking houses in terms of active clients. Like the Robinhood app in the US, such platforms have attracted the tech-savvy crowd with their slick interface and mobile-first approach which has 'gamified' the once-stodgy field of stock market investing. With Fed and FOMO playing in tandem, many questioned technicalities like PE and PB ratios. But, some analysts also maintain that 2020 was an outlier in terms of corporate earnings and hence valuation metrics like PE ratios this year are not strictly comparable to historical averages. However, even they agree that every segment of the economy would have to stage a synchronous and sensational comeback to catch up with the market projections. And if that comes to pass, 2021 would be an even more incredible year for the bourses. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/mrs-bectors-food-ipo-investors-saw-their-money-double-on-listing-day/articleshow/79934860.cms">Mrs Bector’s Food IPO investors saw their money double on listing day</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/from-taking-on-yahoo-to-being-tamed-by-chinas-communist-party-its-been-a-roller-coaster-decade-for-jack-ma/slidelist/79935613.cms">From taking on Yahoo to being tamed by China’s Communist Party— it’s been a roller coaster decade for Jack Ma</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/ey-is-looking-to-hire-9000-techies-in-2021-to-boost-its-digital-services/articleshow/79936576.cms">EY is looking to hire 9,000 techies in 2021 to boost its digital services</a>

You Searched For "booster doses in delhi" and got 8 results

India's Omicron COVID-19 strain tally rises to 21 with 17 more testing positive for the new variant

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India could emerge as the third pole despite GDP growth worries say experts

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No major adverse side-effects reported so far in vaccine trial at PGI Chandigarh

IANS

UK lifts pre-arrival COVID-19 test rule for overseas travelers

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PGI Chandigarh starts Oxford Covid vaccine trial

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AIIMS Director: Herd immunity may come before Covid vaccine goes off the shelf

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COVID-19: India surpasses China tally with 85,000 confirmed cases; Bihar, K'taka, J&K cross 1k mark

PTI

Virus, vaccines and volatility: Stock market takes a wild ride in 2020

PTI