Coronavirus India LIVE updates: NEET aspirant waits for metro train in Kolkata (Express Photo / Partha Paul)
Coronavirus India Live Updates:
Monday’s four-hour session of the Lok Sabha on the first day of the Monsoon Session was somewhat dominated by the pandemic. From members who arrive masked to their seats rearranged to maintain seats with physical distancing standards, and from opposition members’ criticism of the decision to eliminate Question Time to repeated reminders by President Om Birla that the Chamber is meeting in an “extraordinary situation”, the pandemic loomed over the proceedings.
More than two dozen MPs from various parties tested positive, sources confirmed. Lok Sabha’s secretariat declined to release details.
Contrary to apprehension, the participation seemed to have surprised the secretariats of both Houses. At Lok Sabha, Birla expressed his satisfaction with the elaborate preparations and the cooperation he received from MPs, crossing party lines. “I am happy that large numbers of deputies have appeared,” he said. The sources said that more than 300 MPs attended the process.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca, which is creating a vaccine for the new coronavirus in partnership with the University of Oxford, halted its global vaccine trial on September 6 after a participant in the UK showed signs of serious illness. Several news reports described it as a neurological disorder that affects the spinal cord.
Days later, the company resumed human testing of the candidate vaccine in the UK. She said she would work with health authorities “around the world” and “receive guidance” on when other clinical trials can resume. Uncertainty remains in India, where the candidate vaccine is undergoing phase 2 and phase 3 trials simultaneously.
The Serum Institute of India (SII), which is conducting the trials, had to pause testing after a notice from India’s top drug regulator about the global problem. So far, around 100 participants have received the vaccine in India. The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine was among the leading global candidates.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the hiatus was not a setback, but a “wake-up call”, as vaccine development was not always a “straight and fast path”.
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