Health

The district administration in Indian state of Kanpur has banned the sale of Pani Puri amid fears that crowding and lack of social distancing at the roadside food stalls might lead to a spike in Covid-19 cases. District magistrate Dr Brahmadeo Ram Tiwari said Covid-19 safety norms were being flouted at street food carts after the relaxation in curbs under …

KARACHI: Amid worsening Covid-19 situation, cases of extensively drug resistant (XDR) typhoid have raised concerns among health professionals who have called upon the general public to practice safe eating and drinking habits, vaccinate against the disease and, last but not least, avoid self-medication. “While Covid-19 remains our major concern, we are also getting patients of dengue and XDR typhoid. At …

LAHORE: Financially stressed out due to the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Punjab government has allocated only 14.2 per cent of the meagre Rs337 billion development budget for health sector in the provincial budget for financial year 2020-21. The health sector’s development has been allocated Rs33.62bn – Rs22.15bn for the specialised healthcare and medical education department and Rs11.462bn for …

BERLIN: Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands have signed an agreement with pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca to guarantee the supply to the EU of 300 million doses of a possible coronavirus vaccine, the German government announced on Saturday. The four countries have signed an agreement with the group, formed in 1999 from the merger of the Swedish company Astra and British …

ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough on Friday, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) approved indigenous diagnostic kits for the detection of Covid-19 that have been developed by scientists at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust). Drap approved the N-CovKit after scientists at Nust successfully completed its lab trial. In his tweet on June 12, Federal Minister for …

GENEVA: New mothers infected with Covid-19 should generally continue breastfeeding and should not be separated from their babies, the World Health Organisation said on Friday, stressing that the benefits outweighed the risks. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference that the UN health agency had thoroughly investigated the risks of women transmitting the new coronavirus to their …

Brazil on Friday claimed the unenviable position of having the second-highest coronavirus death toll worldwide behind the United States, where several states have posted record daily case totals, signalling the crisis is far from over. US and European stocks ended the week on an upswing after a rout sparked by the US data and fresh evidence of the economic damage …

ISLAMABAD: After a decade, the federal government has finally allocated funds for three hospitals in Karachi — the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH). According to the federal budget 2020-21 statement, the federal government has allocated Rs14.18 billion to run the three hospitals, including Rs9.242bn for the NICVD, …

GENEVA: The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating in Africa, spreading to rural areas after international travellers brought it to capital cities, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday. But the WHO said there was no indication that large numbers of severe cases and deaths were being missed, nor has the virus caused significant infections in refugee camps across the continent. Ten …

MOSCOW: The Russian manufacturer of ventilators involved in two deadly fires at hospitals treating virus patients said Wednesday it has recalled the devices for checks. In a statement sent to AFP, the Urals Instrument-Building Factory that makes the ventilators said it decided to “carry out extra technical tests on the equipment supplied earlier”. Doctors said the Aventa-M ventilators made by the …