Coronavirus live updates: Moderna vaccine works against UK, South African variants

The Merck is giving up on two potential Covid-19 vaccines following poor results in early-stage studies. The drugmaker said on Monday that it will focus instead on studying two possible treatments for the virus that also have yet to be approved by regulators. The company said its potential vaccines were well tolerated by patients, but they generated an inferior immune system response compared with other vaccines.

Devotees who wish to attend the forthcoming Kumbh mela must bring a COVID-19 negative RT-PCR test report, according to a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Centre for holding the religious congregation. The RT-PCR test must be conducted within 72 hrs of the date of the visit, stated the document by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Uttarakhand government shall ensure that healthcare and other frontline workers engaged during Kumbh Mela medical and public health operations are vaccinated on priority.

"In Kerala, the test positivity rate is going up. Yesterday's number of 12.48 percent is indicating the virus is spreading beyond control," Jayadevan told ANI."In Kerala, many people are testing daily and our ICUs are a reliable indicator of how many cases are there in the community. Slowly ICUs are getting full. Ten days ago, about 70 percent of the ICUs in Ernakulam district were full," he added.

"As of 2 PM today (25th Jan 2021) Karnataka has safely vaccinated 2,06,577 healthcare workers with COVID-19 vaccine. First state in the country to vaccinate and protect more than 2 lakh healthcare covid warriors," the Karnataka Health Department tweeted. The state had crossed one lakh vaccination mark on January 19. COVID-19 vaccination drive began in the state on January 16.

Faced with the problem of circulation of rumours about the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, the Centre has asked the states to check the spread of such misinformation and advised them to take penal action against those who are found to be involved in dissemination of wrong and ill-informed news. In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and UTs, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also strongly emphasised that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found that the two vaccines -- Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, developed and manufactured by the Bharat Biotech Limited -- were safe and immunogenic. The central government, in close collaboration with the state governments and UT administrations, has launched the inoculation drive of Covid-19 vaccination from January 16 across the country with the two vaccines.

A Bench headed by Justice Justice AM Khanwilkar was informed by ASG SV Raju that government isn't agreeable in giving extra chance.