Health

ISLAMABAD: As many as 46 people on Thursday were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the capital and a slight increase was seen in the positivity ratio as it climbed to 1.04pc whereas 113 people recovered from the disease. Officials of the capital administration said that during the last 24 hours 4,419 tests were conducted and there are 1,264 active cases in …

ISLAMABAD: The number of active cases of Covid-19 in the country has declined by 65 per cent in about two months and positivity rate continues to hover around 3pc for the last two weeks, according to data shared by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). The number of patients admitted to hospitals, which was around 7,000 in April, was …

The Sindh government on Friday clarified that no vaccination centre had been closed in the province, including Karachi, despite a shortage of vaccines, adding however that the timings of some centres had been curtailed as the province awaits its stocks to be replenished. In response to queries regarding reports of vaccine shortages and closures of centres, Chief Minister Syed Murad …

SHANGHAI: A senior Chinese expert said the United States should be the priority in the next phase of investigations into the origin of COVID-19 after a study showed the disease could have been circulating there as early as December 2019, state media said on Thursday. The study, published this week by the US National Institutes for Health (NIH), showed that …

TOKYO: Japan will decide this month on whether to allow domestic spectators at the Tokyo Olympics, the government’s chief spokesman said on Wednesday, after experts signed off on a plan to allow crowds of up to 10,000 people at events. The final call on attendance at the Games will be made taking into account coronavirus infection conditions and the prevalence …

German biotech CureVac said on Wednesday its COVID-19 vaccine was only 47% effective in a late-stage trial, missing the study’s main goal and throwing in doubt the potential delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to the European Union. The disappointing efficacy of the shot known as CVnCoV emerged from an interim analysis based on 134 COVID-19 cases in the …

Britain is looking at easing travel restrictions, including allowing those who are double vaccinated against Covid-19 to enjoy a foreign holiday without intrusive red tape, a step that indicates vaccine passports are firmly back on the agenda. Countries in the European Union (EU) last week agreed to an easing of travel restrictions over summer that will allow fully vaccinated tourists to avoid …

cISLAMABAD: An initial assessment carried out by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has revealed that most universities in Pakistan are not well-equipped to offer education through online mode as of the total 205 universities only 40 had well-established learning management system. The universities in Pakistan have been compelled to adopt an online mode of education to protect their faculty members, …

LONDON: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ COVID-19 antibody cocktail reduces deaths in hospitalised patients who have not mounted their own antibody response, a large British study published on Wednesday found. The therapy, REGEN-COV, has been granted emergency use authorisation for people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in the United States, but results from the RECOVERY trial provide the clearest evidence of its effectiveness among hospitalised …

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Tuesday announced an increase of 30 per cent in the health allocation for financial year 2021-22 while setting aside Rs24.73 billion to combat coronavirus pandemic and separately earmarking Rs.1.5bn for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines. In his budget speech, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah declared the health sector as the priority of his …