ICMR shortlists AIIMS-Patna for clinical trials of Covid vaccine

ICMR shortlists AIIMS-Patna for clinical trials of Covid vaccine

Archi Rani TNN

Patna:  05.07.2020

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has shortlisted AIIMS-Patna among 12 institutes for conducting clinical trials of indigenous Covid-19 vaccine BBV152 developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

ICMR director general Dr Balram Bhargava has written a letter to the 12 shortlisted institutes, informing them about the development.

“This is the first indigenous vaccine being developed by India and is one of the top priority projects being monitored at the topmost level of the government... ICMR and BBIL (Bharat Biotech) are jointly working for the preclinical as well as clinical development of this vaccine... In view of the public health emergency due to Covid-19 pandemic and urgency to launch the vaccine, you are strictly advised to fast-track all approvals related to initiation of clinical trial and ensure that the subject enrolment is initiated no later than July 7,” the ICMR letter reads. A copy of the letter is with this newspaper.

Saurashtra, S Gujarat likely to get heavy rainfall from today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

05.07.2020

Ahmedabad: India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday said that for next five days, districts of South Gujarat and Saurashtra are expected to get heavy to very heavy rainfall. Ahmedabad district might get moderate rainfall, it added.

According to forecast on Saturday, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in Navsari, Valsad, Junagadh, Amreli, Bharuch, Surat, Porbandar, Bhavnagar, Gir-Somath, along with Union territories of Diu, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli on Sunday. The pounding is likely to continue for next four days, added the officials.

“The phenomenon is result of two weather systems at play - there’s a cyclonic circulation over South Gujarat and neighbourhood whereas there is also an offshore trough that runs from south Gujarat to Karnataka coast,” said an official. Some parts of Ahmedabad received light drizzle on Saturday evening as the city and district expected overcast or cloudy sky. The citizens felt humidity with high temperature (maximum temperature touching 37 degrees celsius on Saturday).

CA Foundation exams deferred till November

CA Foundation exams deferred till November

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

05.07.2020

Ahmedabad: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has deferred all exams including the one for the CA Foundation and decided to merge them with the exams that are scheduled in November.

The normal schedule for exams for CA Foundation course was in May, but ICAI had postponed it till July. Now looking at the aggravating Covid-19 pandemic, all the exams have been postponed till November. Those students who were expected to take exams in May will not have to pay registration fee in November.

However, the students will be required to apply afresh for exams in November and they could opt for exam centre once again.

The exams for foundation, intermediate and final were scheduled in May. The tests were first deferred till June and later again for one more month.

At present, the Centre has ordered to close all education institutes till July 31. This practically put an end to possibility of holding exams in July. There are nearly 3 lakh students who take CA exams every year across the country.

Looking at the worsening Covid-19 situation now, all the exams have been postponed till November

Engineering admissions to begin on July 9

Engineering admissions to begin on July 9

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

05.07.2020

Ahmedabad: The government has announced that the online registration for admission in degree engineering courses will start from July 9, but the entrance tests for engineering admissions – Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GUJCET) is not yet decided. The Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE Mains) will take place only in September.

Sources in the education department said the online registration process will not serve a purpose without GUJCET and JEE results. From this year, the state government changed the admission rules for engineering and carved out a quota of 5% seats in government colleges for students from states other than Gujarat. They can secure admission in the quota through JEE, which will take place in September only due to Covid-19 pandemic according to the central government’s announcement.

Similarly, students who clear Class 12 from Gujarat are admitted in BE courses through their GUJCET score. The schedule for GUJCET has also not been announced yet.

Thousands leave Bengaluru fearing fresh lockdown

Thousands leave Bengaluru fearing fresh lockdown

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:  05.07.2020

Faced with a surge in Covid-19 cases and fearing another lockdown, thousands of Bengalureans were headed back to their hometowns, lining up bumper to bumper on the city’s exit roads on Saturday.

Amid murmurs of another lockdown after the SSLC examination, several workers from other parts of Karnataka headed home. There were huge snarls on Tumakuru road and other exit routes. Some said they had vacated their houses in the city and moving back home permanently. Authorities said traffic jams on Mysore Road were due to ongoing repairs. With total lockdown imposed on Sunday, effective from 8pm on Saturday, people left the city early in the morning.

KSRTC officials said many people are moving out of Bengaluru since Class 10 exams are over. Covid cases have surged in Bengaluru in the past 10 days and the health infrastructure has come under strain. As of July 4, the city has 7,250 patients under treatment.

“The cases in Bengaluru are rapidly rising and there are no hospitals to admit these patients. I am very worried about my life. I will work in the fields for my living. I will never come back to Bengaluru,” said a cab driver.

Full report on www.toi.in

HP to open for tourists, but e-pass must

Himachal Pradesh plans to soon allow outsiders and tourists to enter the state. However, the state government has made it mandatory for people willing to travel to the state to ensure they register. “It has been decided to open the state to tourists, the tourism department of the state government will issue standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the functioning of the tourism industry,” chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said. All inter-state movement will be monitored through registration using Covid e-pass software to ensure compliance with quarantine requirements and facilitate contact tracing of persons in the event a Covid-19-positive case is detected. TNN Full report on www.toi.in

Monthly wage loss from first 2 lockdowns ₹34,000cr: Study

Monthly wage loss from first 2 lockdowns ₹34,000cr: Study

‘19.5Cr Would Have Faced Job Loss Risk During Curbs’

Priyanka.Kakodkar@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:  05.07.2020

The estimated monthly wage loss caused by job cutbacks in the country in the first two lockdowns alone would amount to Rs 33,800 crore, according to a study published as a working paper by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR).

The study also estimates that the first two lockdowns, which stretched from March 25 to April 14 and April 15 to May 3, would have resulted in 11.6 crore and 7.9 crore workers facing the risk of job loss.

Assuming these workers remained jobless for a continuous six months, the total expected wage loss would amount to Rs 2 lakh crore, or three times the budget allotted for MGNREGS in the 2020-2021 Union Budget, said the study.

Titled ‘Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Labour Supply and Gross Value Added in India’, the study is based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey data for 2017-18. The wage loss estimates are based on 2017-18 prices.

The study found that most workers who were at risk of job loss in the first two lockdowns were from states with the highest number of Covid infections. It said 40% of the workers at risk of job loss were from the top five states in terms of number of cases. Also, 70% of workers at risk of job loss were from the top 10 states. “Given that these states will continue to follow strict social distancing measures till the epidemic curve is flattened, the labour supply disruptions would persist and more workers would be rendered jobless,” the study said.

Published in June, the study is co-written by Mohit Sharma from Collaborative Research and Dissemination, Sargam Gupta of IGIDR, and Xavier Estupian and Bharti Birla of ILO.

Informal workers are the worst affected, says the study. Of the 11.6 crore workers at risk of losing jobs in Lockdown 1, as many as 10.4 crore workers were informally employed. Of these, 7.9 crore are informally employed in the unorganised sector and faced the highest risk of job loss.

Workers in urban parts have been more affected than rural, found the study. This is because curbs were fewer, with the bulk of activities in rural parts classified as essential.

In Lockdown 1, 42% of the workers in the urban parts and 16% of the workers in the rural parts were at risk of job loss. In Lockdown 2, 34% of workers in urban parts and 8% workers in rural were at risk of job loss, said the paper. “The most impacted sectors in Lockdown 1 and 2 were wholesale trade, the hotel industry, transport, manufacturing and the entertainment sector, including malls and movie theatres,” researcher Mohit Sharma said.

While estimating the cost of Covid-19 on the economy, the study looks at the GVA, or gross value added, which is a measure of the total value of goods and services produced in the economy without accounting for taxes and subsidies. To examine GVA losses, the study considers Lockdown 1 to 4, which ran till May 31. During the period, it predicts a GVA loss of 3.35 lakh crore, at 2011-12 prices, owing to the labour supply shock. This will lead to around 13% reduction in GVA compared to a no-Covid-19 scenario, said the study.

The GVA growth rate in April-June 2020 is expected to decline within a range of -4.6% to -8.8 % compared to 2019-20, forecast the study.

It pointed out that as the pandemic persists, the job crisis will worsen.

Odisha to give monthly pension to transgenders

Odisha to give monthly pension to transgenders

Bhubaneswar:  05.07.2020

The Odisha government has decided to include members of the transgender community in a social welfare scheme which provides a monthly pension to the needy, a minister said.

CM Naveen Patnaik has approved a proposal to cover the members of the community under the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) which aims at providing financial assistance to the destitute elderly, differently-abled persons and widows, he said.

Around 5,000 transgenders will get a monthly pension in between Rs 500 and Rs 900 depending on their age, social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities minister Ashok Panda said. PTI