Delhi Cop Sheds 46 Kg In 8 Months With Diet, Exercise Plan

NEW DELHI, Dec 28: A senior Delhi Police officer was rewarded by the police commissioner for losing 46 kilograms over eight months.

Weighing 130 kilograms, Deputy Commissioner of Police Metro Jitendra Mani faced multiple health issues. Diabetes, high blood pressure and increased cholesterol levels were some of the ailments putting the officer's health at constant risk.

Deciding to turn his life around, the officer made a stark change in his lifestyle habits. He started by walking 15,000 steps daily and eating healthier. “I switched from a high-carbohydrate diet of rotis and rice to more nutritious options like soups, salads and fruits,” he said.

Following a strict diet, in just eight months, he lost 12 inches from his waist and brought down his cholesterol levels by a fifth. “When I decided to make a change, I set a goal to walk 4.5 lakh steps every month. In the last 8 months, I walked over 32 lakh steps,” said DCP Mani, who now weighs 84 kilograms.

His efforts were appreciated by Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora who presented him with a commendation certificate on the behalf of the police department at a ceremony attended by over 90,000 police personnel.

The officer also credited his superiors and colleagues for their constant support in motivating him to keep working on losing weight.

'Hybrid, Not Herd Immunity, Keeps India Safe': Covid Panel Chief Dr NK Arora

NEW DELHI, Dec 28: India's fight against COVID-19 is shaping up much better than neighbouring China due to robust "hybrid immunity", the head of the country's vaccine task force said in a TV interview.

Dr Arora said those who have already received a booster dose won't be able to register for the nasal vaccine on CoWIN. He warned people against getting a second booster.

Dr NK Arora, who has been closely involved with the rollout of vaccines from the onset of the pandemic, also said that there is a huge opacity in China about their vaccination status, the severity of cases and the kinds of variants spreading there.

"The situation in China has led us to activate high level precautions...there should be not a moment where we are scrambling," Dr Arora said.

He said India is much better placed in fighting the pandemic than China due to several factors, one of them being "hybrid immunity", which is a mixture of vaccination and natural immunity.

"Herd immunity is a complex matter. Let's not go into that. What we have in India is strong hybrid immunity...India has seen waves after waves of infection and many people have got exposure to natural infection," Dr Arora said.

He said at least 96 per cent children below 12 years in India have been exposed to Covid, which has led to natural immunity. "India also has the benefit of people getting two primary doses," said Dr Arora.

India's genomic surveillance is on top of everything, he said, adding most of the strains reported from China have been isolated.

On concerns over BF.7 variant, Dr Arora said China is seeing a mixture of variants and the BF.7 only accounts for 15 per cent of the cases.

He cited a report from 48 hours ago that said China is facing an onslaught of a mixture of variants. The BN and BQ series account for 50 per cent cases in China, and SVV variant is 10-15 per cent.

"The Chinese vaccine which their people got is probably not effective," Dr Arora said.

Dr Arora is the Chairman of the Covid Working Group of NTAGI, short for the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, which works on introduction of new vaccines and strengthening the universal immunisation programme.

India Holds Covid Drills Across Cities

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: Hospitals across the country will hold a drill on Tuesday to assess their preparedness to tackle any spike in Covid cases. The exercise will be led by health ministers of the states concerned.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya oversaw the drill at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. "Such exercises would help our operational readiness, help in filling gaps if any and will consequently strengthen our public health response," Mandaviya had said at a meeting with Indian Medical Association (IMA) yesterday.

The drill will focus on parameters such as availability of health facilities in all districts, capacity of isolation beds, oxygen-supported beds, ICU (intensive care unit) beds and ventilator-supported beds.

It will also focus on human resource capacity in terms of healthcare professionals trained in Covid management and healthcare professionals skilled in ventilator management and operation of medical oxygen plants.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had written to all states and Union Territories last week, asking them to hold the drill today.

Earlier spikes in Covid cases, particularly the second wave, had brought the health infrastructure to its knees, throwing up scenes of patients struggling to breathe due to lack of medical oxygen and relatives struggling to find hospital beds for their loved ones.

The Delhi government has approved a budget of ₹ 104 crore for hospitals to buy general medicines as part of preparations to deal with any Covid emergency.
Delhi's residents will be able to access real-time data on the availability of beds, oxygen cylinders and ventilators on a government portal, starting Tuesday, a news agency quoted officials as saying.

Karnataka has introduced precautionary measures by directing the use of masks at theatres and educational institutions. It has also made two doses of Covid vaccination compulsory at bars and restaurants.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian asked people to wear masks in crowded places, saying Covid protocol had never been relaxed in the state.

The West Bengal government has said it has a six-point plan that focuses on genomic surveillance, oxygen capacity, testing and emergency responses.

China Covid Surge Infecting 37 Million People A Day

BEIJING, Dec 23: Nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with Covid-19 on a single day this week, according to estimates from the government's top health authority, making the country's outbreak by far the world's largest.

As many as 248 million people, or nearly 18% of the population, likely contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December, according to minutes from an internal meeting of China's National Health Commission held on Wednesday, confirmed with people involved in the discussions. If accurate, the infection rate would dwarf the previous daily record of about 4 million, set in January 2022.

Beijing's swift dismantling of Covid Zero restrictions has led to the unfettered spread of the highly contagious omicron variants in a population with low levels of natural immunity. More than half the residents of Sichuan province, in China's southwest, and the capital Beijing have been infected, according to the agency's estimates.

How the Chinese health regulator came up with its estimate is unclear, as the country shut down its once ubiquitous network of PCR testingbooths earlier this month. Precise infection rates have been difficult to establish in other countries during the pandemic, as hard-to-get laboratory tests were supplanted by home testing with results that weren't centrally collected.

The NHC didn't respond to a request for comment faxed by Bloomberg News. The commission's newly founded National Disease Control Bureau, which overseas the Covid response, also didn't respond to phone calls and faxes on Friday.

People in China are now using rapid antigen tests to detect infections, and they aren't obligated to report positive results. Meanwhile, the government has stopped publishing the daily number of asymptomatic cases.

Chen Qin, chief economist at data consultancy MetroDataTech, forecasts China's current wave will peak between mid-December and late January in most cities, based on an analysis of online keyword searches. His model suggests the reopening surge is already responsible for tens of millions of infections daily, with the largest case counts in the cities of Shenzhen, Shanghai and Chongqing.

The minutes of the meeting didn't note discussion on how many people have died. They did cite Ma Xiaowei, the head of the NHC, reiterating the new, much narrower definition used to count Covid fatalities. While acknowledging that deaths will inevitably occur as the virus spreads rapidly, he underscored that only people who die from Covid-induced pneumonia should be included in the mortality statistics.

Officials said Beijing - which was hit first - is starting to see severe and critical Covid casespeak even as its overall infection rate is waning. Meanwhile, the outbreak is spreading from urban centers to rural China, where medical resources are often lacking. The agency warned every region to prepare for the coming surge in severe disease.

The 37 million daily cases estimated for December 20 is a dramatic deviation from the official tally of just 3,049 infections reported in China for that day. It is also several times higher than the previous world record for the pandemic. Global cases hit an all-time high of 4 million on Jan. 19, 2022, amid an initial wave of omicron infections following its emergence in South Africa, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The scale of infection suggested by the official estimates underscores the challenge China faces after it abruptly pivoted from the Covid Zero regime that largely kept the virus at bay for the past three years. Hospitals in major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai have been overwhelmed with a sudden surge in patients, while crematoriums struggle to handle the onslaught of deaths.

India Launches Nasal Vaccine For Covid

NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Mock drills will be conducted at hospitals across the country from Tuesday onwards in view of a spike in Covid cases in some countries, the union health ministry said today, adding that it is preparing fresh guidelines for Christmas and New Year.

"The pandemic is not over yet. During the festive season, it is imperative to create awareness for adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour," the health ministry said.

Bharat Biotech's intranasal Covid vaccine has been approved by the Union Health Ministry for inclusion in the vaccination programme as a booster dose for those above 18 years of age, official sources said today. Those who have taken Covishield and Covaxin can take the nasal vaccine as a heterologous booster dose.

The needle-free vaccine will be available at private centres. It will be introduced on the Co-WIN platform on Friday evening, sources said. The nasal vaccine -- BBV154, or iNCOVACC -- received approval of the Drugs Controller General of India in November for restricted use in an emergency situation for those above 18 as a booster dose.

"There has been a trend - COVID starts spreading from China, Korea, Brazil, and then comes to South Asia. It has reached India in 20–35 days. We have to remain vigilant," the health ministry said, and added that 10 counties are contributing 81.2 per cent to global cases. Japan tops the list, it said. R number (how many people one sick person may infect) in China is 16, it added.

Quoting researchers, the health ministry said the outbreak can be attributed to weak vaccines, low vaccination, lack of natural immunity, and abrupt lifting of curbs.

The Centre earlier today also issued guidelines for international arrivals, to come in force from tomorrow. All travellers should preferably be fully vaccinated according to the rules in their countries, it said.

Use of masks, and social distancing, will be required in flight and at entry and exit points of airports. Passengers with symptoms will be isolated and segregated from other passengers, and shifted to an isolation facility for follow-up treatment.

Post arrival, around two per cent of the total passengers in the flight shall undergo random testing at the airport. Such travellers in each flight shall be identified by the concerned airlines (preferably from different countries), the guidelines said. They will submit the samples and shall be allowed to leave the airport thereafter.

India, too, has the presence of a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, called BF.7, which is driving the new surge in China. Its four cases have been reported in India — the first one in July and the latest in November. Overall cases in India continue to be relatively meagre, at fewer than 200 daily for several days now.

Precautionary dose data from the Cowin website shows a dramatic rise in registration and inoculation since December 18, amid the new surge in China and appeals by authorities to get vaccinated. Around 4,000 people took the precautionary dose on December 18, which shot up to 57,000 on December 22.

India's Latest Move To Track Virus Variants Amid China's New Covid Horror

NEW DELHI, Dec 20: COVID-19 horror stories leaking out of China and new cases reported from the US have prompted the centre to be prepared for any situation. The Health Ministry has written to all states to increase genome sequencing of positive cases to track coronavirus variants through the INSACOG network.

"ln view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through...INSACOG network," Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in the letter to all states.

"Such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures for the same," Mr Bhushan said.

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, or INSACOG, is a consortium of over 50 laboratories to monitor genomic variations in the COVID-19 virus. Genome sequencing is a technique used to identify and understand the characteristics of new virus strains.

The centre said sample of all positive cases should be sent every day to INSACOG genome sequencing labs mapped with all states and Union Territories.

Some 35 lakh Covid cases continue to be reported every week globally, the centre said. India recorded 112 new Covid cases this morning; active cases fell to 3,490, according to Health Ministry data.

Crematoriums across China are straining to deal with an influx of bodies as the country battles a wave of Covid cases that authorities have said is impossible to track, according to a news agency.

Cases are soaring across China, with hospitals struggling and pharmacy shelves stripped bare in the wake of the government's sudden decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.

The United States has warned the outbreak is now of concern to the rest of the world, given the potential for further mutations and the size of China's economy.

In China's capital Beijing, local authorities on Tuesday reported just five deaths from Covid, up from two the previous day.

Beijing health officials said only those who had directly died of respiratory failure caused by the virus would be counted under Covid death statistics.

"At present after being infected with the Omicron variant, the main cause of death remains underlying diseases," Wang Guiqiang of Peking University First Hospital told reporters.

China Covid Outbreak Toll Of Concern To Rest of The World: US

WASHINGTON, Dec 20: The US is concerned China's runaway Covid-19 outbreak might spawn new mutations of the virus, as the world's most populous country continues to grapple with the impact of loosening "Covid Zero" protocols that had kept the pandemic at bay.

"When it comes to the current outbreak in China, we want to see this addressed," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a briefing on Monday. "We know that anytime the virus is spreading in the wild that it has the potential to mutate and to pose a threat to people everywhere."

Chinese cities are witnessing a wave of Covid-19 cases, with concerns growing that the government may be hiding the true toll of the virus after years of insisting that the Communist Party had handled the virus more skillfully than the West. On Monday, police and security guards pushed journalists back from a Beijing crematorium.

A spokesperson at the Chinese Embassy in Washington didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Price's remarks.

The outbreak has grown following the government's decision to lift a raft of strict restrictions, including quarantine and isolation protocols, that had largely insulated China's 1.4 billion people from the worst impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

China's U-turn on Covid-19 followed protests in late November in numerous Chinese cities after the containment measures were blamed for deaths after a fire in the country's western Xinjiang region.

Health agencies, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have been on the lookout for new variants such as delta or omicron as Covid-19 waves hit different countries around the world. New variations "allow the virus to spread more easily or make it resistant to treatments or vaccines," according to the CDC.

The US - which is sending a delegation led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing early in the new year - hopes China can get its current Covid-19 outbreak under control in part because any further blow to the Asian nation could further harm the global economy, Price said.

"The toll of the virus is of concern to the rest of the world, given the size of China's GDP," he said. "It's not only good for China to be in a stronger position vis-a-vis Covid, but it's good for the rest of the world as well."

China May See Over 1 Million Covid Deaths Through 2023, Predicts New Model

CHICAGO, Dec 17: China's abrupt lifting of stringent COVID-19 restrictions could result in an explosion of cases and over a million deaths through 2023, according to new projections from the US-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

According to the group's projections, cases in China would peak around April 1, when deaths would reach 322,000. About a third of China's population will have been infected by then, IHME Director Christopher Murray said.

China's national health authority has not reported any official COVID deaths since the lifting of COVID restrictions. The last official deaths were reported on December 3.

Total pandemic deaths stand at 5,235.

China lifted some of the world's toughest COVID restrictions in December after unprecedented public protests and is now experiencing a spike in infections, with fears COVID could sweep across its 1.4 billion population during next month's Lunar New Year holiday.

"Nobody thought they would stick to zero-COVID as long as they did," Murray said on Friday when the IHME projections were released online.

China's zero-COVID policy may have been effective at keeping earlier variants of the virus at bay, but the high transmissibility of Omicron variants made it impossible to sustain, he said.

The independent modeling group at the University of Washington in Seattle, which has been relied on by governments and companies throughout the pandemic, drew on provincial data and information from a recent Omicron outbreak in Hong Kong.

"China has since the original Wuhan outbreak barely reported any deaths. That is why we looked to Hong Kong to get an idea of the infection fatality rate," Murray said.

For its forecasts, IHME also uses information on vaccination rates provided by the Chinese government as well as assumptions on how various provinces will respond as infection rates increase.

Other experts expect some 60% of China's population will eventually be infected, with a peak expected in January, hitting vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, the hardest.

Key concerns include China's large pool of susceptible individuals, the use of less effective vaccines and low vaccine coverage among those 80 and older, who are at greatest risk of severe disease.

Disease modelers at the University of Hong Kong predict that lifting COVID restrictions and simultaneously reopening all provinces in December 2022 through January 2023 would result in 684 deaths per million people during that timeframe, according to a paper released on Wednesday on the Medrxiv preprint server that has yet to undergo peer review.

Based on China's population of 1.41 billion, and without measures such as a mass vaccination booster campaign, that amounts to 964,400 deaths.

Another study published July 2022 in Nature Medicine by researchers at the School of Public Health at Fudan University in Shanghai predicted an Omicron wave absent restrictions would result in 1.55 million deaths over a six month period, and peak demand for intensive care units of 15.6 times higher than existing capacity.

Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said there are 164 million people in China with diabetes, a risk factor for poor COVID outcomes. There are also 8 million people aged 80 and older who have never been vaccinated.

Chinese officials are now encouraging individuals to get boosted from a list of newer Chinese-made shots, however, the government is still reluctant to use foreign vaccines, Huang said.

China's National Health Commission said on Friday it was ramping up vaccinations and building stocks of ventilators and essential drugs.

World's first Trial Of Lab-Grown Red Blood Cells Underway In UK

LONDON, Dec 13: The first clinical trial of laboratory-grown red blood cells is currently underway in the United Kingdom, according to Science Alert, with the goal of determining whether red blood cells made in the laboratory last longer than blood cells made in the body.

The Recovery and Survival of Stem Cell-Originated Red Cells (Restore) Trial is the name of the study. It is a collaboration between NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the University of Bristol, as well as several researchers from the University of Cambridge.

"This challenging and exciting trial is a huge stepping stone for manufacturing blood from stem cells. This is the first-time lab grown blood from an allogeneic donor has been transfused, and we are excited to see how well the cells perform at the end of the clinical trial," said Professor Ashley Toye, Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Bristol and Director of the NIHR Blood and Transplant Unit in red cell products.

According to a release by the University of Cambridge, "The trial is studying the lifespan of the lab-grown cells compared with infusions of standard red blood cells from the same donor. "The lab-grown blood cells are all fresh, so the trial team expects them to perform better than a similar transfusion of standard donated red blood cells, which contains cells of varying ages."

"Additionally, if manufactured cells last longer in the body, patients who regularly need blood may not need transfusions as often. That would reduce iron overload from frequent blood transfusions, which can lead to serious complications."

Covid Was Man-Made Virus, Says Wuhan Lab Scientist In New Book

NEW YORK, Dec 5: In what appears to be an astonishing revelation, a US-based scientist, who worked at a controversial research lab in China's Wuhan, has said that COVID-19 was a "man-made virus" that leaked from the facility.

Covid was leaked from Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a state-run and funded research facility, two years ago, the New York Post reported, quoting US-based researcher Andrew Huff's statement in the British newspaper The Sun.

In his latest book, "The Truth About Wuhan," epidemiologist Huff claims that the pandemic was caused by the US government's funding of coronaviruses in China. Excerpts of Huff's book have been out in the UK-based tabloid The Sun.

According to the New York Post report, Huff is the former vice president of the EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit organisation based in New York that studies infectious diseases.

Huff claims in his book that China's gain-of-function experiments were conducted with inadequate security, resulting in a leak at the Wuhan lab, according to New York Post.

The Wuhan lab has been the centre of heated debates over the origins of COVID, with both Chinese government officials and lab workers denying that the virus originated there.

"Foreign laboratories did not have the adequate control measures in place for ensuring proper biosafety, biosecurity, and risk management, ultimately resulting in the lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology," Andrew Huff, said in his book.

For more than a decade, the organisation has been studying several coronaviruses in bats with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has forged close ties to the Wuhan lab.

The NIH is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research.

Huff, who worked at EcoHealth Alliance from 2014 to 2016, stated that the non-profit assisted the Wuhan lab for many years in developing the "best existing methods to engineer bat coronaviruses to attack other species"

"China knew from day one that this was a genetically engineered agent," Huff wrote. "The US government is to blame for the transfer of dangerous biotechnology to the Chinese.

"I was terrified by what I saw," he told The Sun, as per New York Post. "We were just handing them bioweapon technology."

The Post also reports that according to a recent investigation published by ProPublica/Vanity Fair, the WIV is home to China's riskiest coronavirus research.

This research institute has been under immense pressure from the ruling Chinese Communist Party to produce scientific breakthroughs to raise its global status despite the lack of resources.