Health

“Our Ayush network has performed incredibly well in Covid times, not just to boost immunity but also for scientific research. Ayush infrastructure has helped the country a lot. Along with Indian drugs and vaccines our spices and ‘kadas’ have contributed immensely and the world is experiencing their benefits. Our traditional medicine has made a place on the world stage,” the PM said on Tuesday as he interacted with stakeholders on health budget provisions which he described as unprecedented.

India on Wednesday announced that it will gift 2,00,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine to United Nations peacekeepers.

India has crossed a significant milestone in the fight against the global pandemic. As on 19thFebruary, 2021, till 8:00 AM, the cumulative vaccine doses administered to healthcare and frontline workers against COVID19 in the country have surpassed 1crore.

India on Thursday earned a pat on the back from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as the global body said the number of infections in the country has been on the decline. “Over three months now, cases of Covid-19 in India have been consistently going down… Considering the magnitude of the population…it’s something the Government of India should be very, very proud of,” Roderico Ofrin, WHO’s India representative, was quoted as saying by ANI.

“e-Hospital is an initiative of #DigitalIndia that has made it easy for the citizens to take appointments in major hospitals. Now there is no need to stand in long queues to take appointments, when you can get it online,” the Minister said.

There is no status gap between modern medicine and AYUSH as both systems are working in collaboration with integrated approach to address the healthcare in the country.

A team of scientists from the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani, West Bengal, have found a biological reason for the slower spread of a mutant of coronavirus in Asia compared to the West. The team has explained how higher levels of a human protein — neutrophil elastase — helps the virus to enter the human cell, multiply and also spread faster from infected individuals.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said India is set to fulfil 70 per cent of the world’s coronavirus vaccine needs and two vaccines are currently being exported to 14 countries.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said that India is working to develop seven more COVID-19 vaccines. This would be in addition to Covishield—AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford—and Covaxin—India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR—already being used to inoculate frontline workers.