Morning Digest | Covishield, Covaxin made fewer antibodies against B.1.617 variant; WHO chief says India’s COVID situation hugely concerning, and more

A select list of stories to read before you start your day.

May 15, 2021 07:36 am | Updated 07:37 am IST

A health worker shows Covaxin and Covishield vaccine. File

A health worker shows Covaxin and Covishield vaccine. File

Covishield, Covaxin made fewer antibodies against B.1.617 variant

Both Covishield and Covaxin, while effective at generating an immune response against the coronavirus, appear to generate only half as many antibodies against the B.1.617 strain, or the Indian strain, according to a series of early reports authored by scientists at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

India’s COVID situation hugely concerning, says WHO Chief

India’s COVID-19 situation remains hugely concerning, with several states continuing to see a worrying number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday, warning that the pandemic’s second year will be “far more deadly” than the first for the world.

Plea in Supreme Court seeks COVID-19 vaccine trials’ data

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to make public the segregated data of clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines administered under the Emergency Use Authorisation granted by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). Further, the petition urged the court to direct the government to not issue any “coercive mandates” for use of “these inadequately tested vaccines”.

Uphold the dignity of the dead, says NHRC

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday issued an advisory to the Centre and States on “upholding the dignity and protecting the rights of the dead” in view of the “large number of deaths during this second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges in management of the bodies.”

A year later, same stand: no virtual meetings of House panels

The parliamentary panels cannot meet virtually till the necessary rules are amended by both Houses of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha secretariat said in reply to a letter written by Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday. The standing committees of Parliament, which are non-partisan platforms to analyse the functioning of the government, have not met since the onset of the second wave of the pandemic.

Farmers coming back to protest site

Protesting farmers on the Singhu border said crowds were coming back to the protest site after the harvest season and they were going strong despite the raging pandemic. Id prayers were also offered by Muslim protesters on Friday.

Bengal farmers get benefits of PM Kisan scheme

The farmers in West Bengal on Friday got the benefits of PM Samman Kisan Nidhi even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of delaying the transfer. About 7 lakh farmers in the State got benefits of the Central scheme where ₹2,000 were transferred to their bank accounts. During the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the eighth instalment of over ₹20,000 crore to more than 9.5 crore farmer beneficiaries under the scheme.

U.S. capital running out of gas, even as Colonial Pipeline recovers

Washington was running out of gasoline on Friday, even as the country's largest fuel pipeline network ramped up deliveries following a cyberattack and U.S. officials assured motorists that supplies would return to normal soon. The six-day Colonial Pipeline shutdown was the most disruptive cyberattack on record. Widespread panic buying continued two days after the pipeline network restarted, leaving filling stations across the U.S. Southeast out of gas even in areas far from the pipeline.

W.V. Raman writes to Ganguly, seeks to clarify stand

A day after being replaced as the India women’s team head coach, W.V. Raman has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly, expressing the desire to explain his perspective on his unceremonious ouster. Raman, the former India opening batsman who has more than two decades of experience as coach, had been in charge of the national women’s cricket team for two and a half years.

Torres scores a hat-trick as record-breaking Manchester City beats Newcastle

Ferran Torres scored a hat-trick as champions Manchester City beat Newcastle United 4-3 to set a record for consecutive Premier League away wins on Friday with their 12th victory on the road. City's lead at the top of the standings stretched to 13 points while Newcastle are in 16th spot.

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