NEWS

A double dose of Covid-19 vaccines is almost as effective against the fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus first identified in India as it is against Britain’s dominant strain, English health officials said. Britain’s health minister said the data was groundbreaking and he was increasingly hopeful that the government would be able to lift more COVID restrictions next month. A study by Public Health England found the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 variant two weeks after the second dose. That compared with 93% effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 “Kent” strain which is Britain’s dominant COVID variant. Two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 60% effective against symptomatic disease from the Indian variant compared with 66% effectiveness against the Kent variant, PHE said.

Appointment of UP Basic Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi’s brother at a university under the economically weaker section quota has sparked a controversy, with the Congress claiming the involvement of the politician.

The minister has junked the allegations, saying he is ready to face the probe. Meanwhile, Siddharth University Vice-Chancellor Surendra Dubey said they will initiate “penal action” if Arun Dwivedi’s EWS certificate was found fake.

Arun Dwivedi was appointed as assistant professor at the Psychology Department under the economically weaker section (EWS) quota on May 21, the VC said. The university had invited applications for two posts, one under the EWS quota and the other in the OBC category.

Uttar Pradesh recorded less than 5,000 fresh coronavirus cases for the first time since the middle of last month. A total of 4,844 new cases were registered in the state in the last 24 hours, making it the lowest single-day count for Uttar Pradesh since mid-April. As many as 14,086 have recovered from the disease.

The drop in fresh cases is by 34,000 when compared to 38,055 infections registered at the pandemic’s peak on April 24. At present, the total active cases stand at 84,800. This was 3,10,783 on April 30. The recovery rate has surpassed 93 per cent. The positivity rate has dipped to 1.51 per cent from a high of over 16.84 per cent in April.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday broke down while expressing condolences to the families of those who died of Covid during the second wave of the virus.

With the country grappling with the crisis, PM Modi got emotional while virtually reviewing the Covid situation in Uttar Pradesh's Kashi with doctors and frontline workers working there.

"Corona has snatched many of our loved ones from us. I pay my respects to all those people, express my condolences to their families," the prime minister said, his voice choking.