In a major breakthrough in the field of cancer prevention, a common mechanism has been discovered that activates disruption of a single RNA binding protein, MSI-2 binding to mRNAs of the cancer-causing proteins and significantly reduces the synthesis and accumulation of these proteins, reducing HCV infection and proliferation.

Hifzur Rahman Siddique of Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), in coordination with Dr. Keigo Machida, University of South California have discovered the mechanism.

Doctors in Pune gave a toddler, suffering from rare pneumonia, a fresh lease of life.

Varath (name changed), aged 2.5 years old was suffering from bilateral pneumonia -- a serious infection that can inflame and scar the lungs. He showed symptoms like fever, cold, cough, and difficulty in breathing and was put on a ventilator for more than 150 days.

The X-rays results showed that nearly 80 per cent of his lungs were infected with the virulent bacterium -- Streptococcus pneumoniae.

To drain the air pockets that formed in and outside of his lung tissue, special catheters were inserted, but further treatment was necessary to improve lung function.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 to a Covid-19 "variant of interest" (VOI) due to its "sustained increase" and "growth advantage" reported from several countries.

XBB.1.16 is a descendent lineage of XBB, a recombinant of two BA.2 descendent lineages. XBB.1.16 was first reported on January 9, this year and designated a variant under monitoring (VUM) on March 22.

So far, 3,648 sequences of the Omicron XBB.1.16 variant have been reported from 33 countries, including India, on open research platform GISAID, the global health body, said.

"Following a sustained increase in the prevalence of XBB.1.16 and growth advantage reported from several countries, WHO classifies XBB.1.16 as a VOI," said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for Covid-19 response at WHO on Friday.

Van Kerkhove noted that XBB.1.16 has shown "growth advantage and immune escape".

While "no changes in severity have been reported, it can cause full range of disease", she said, adding for the need to "be vigilant".

A new Omicron subvariant is spreading in the United States, and has accounted for nearly 10 per cent of new weekly Covid-19 cases reported across the country, according to data updated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The subvariant XBB.1.16, referred to as "arcturus", has been added by the CDC to its variant tracker.

The percentage is expected to increase in the coming weeks, and it may become the next dominant coronavirus strain in the country, experts warned.

While the current standard for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in women is a three-dose regimen, even a single dose is highly effective and provides up to 98 per cent protection, according to a study.

In a randomised controlled trial of 2,275 women in Kenya, the researchers found that even after 18 months, the bivalent vaccine was 97.5 per cent effective against two strains of HPV, and the nonavalent vaccine was 97.5 per cent effective against two strains of HPV.

The nonavalent vaccine was also 89 per cent effective against seven strains of HPV. Even if women tested positive for one strain of HPV, the vaccine protected them from other strains of the virus.

Cyclegiri Club organized Cycle Marathon in Chandigarh in which more than 300 women from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana participated. Cycle Giri Club is one of the biggest cycling clubs in India which is active since 2017. It actively participates in the cycling activities in the city and inspires the city residents to do more and more cycling for the sake of fitness and environment. Apart from this, these club cyclists work closely with the administration, traffic police and others for the infrastructure of the city. This year the event was organized in collaboration with Chandigarh Tourism Department at Chandigarh beckons Hotel Sector 42 on Sunday 5th March.

 Cycling tour of City Beautiful Chandigarh was arranged today morning for 100 city officials from 35+ cities across India came to participate in the Healthy Streets Capacity Building Workshop. Participants experienced the bicycle infrastructure, the cycle tracks, the intersections and the junctions. The routes were carefully planned to ensure that the site visit gives the deeper insight about Chandigarh’s cycling friendly infrastructure.Cycling tour was planned in two groups in which participants of one group named Team Corbusier started from Leisure Valley, Sector 10 and other group named Team Nek Chand started from Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, Chandigarh.The entire cycle ride was a treasure hunt in which the two teams were to answer questions about cycling, Chandigarh’s Infrastructure etc. Both teams were given pieces of jigsaw puzzle to reassemble at the final destination. In true spirit of Chandigarh, the Corbusier team won.“Chandigarh is a case study for how cycling can be prioritized and popularized on our streets.” said by Sh. Rahul Kapoor, Director, Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.Traffic Cycle Marshals joined the participants to guided them throughout the route.

A childhood illness left him partially paralysed, but he turned his adversity into an opportunity with motivation and undeterred determination.Vishal Sahani, who suffers from paralysis on his left side from the waist down, is the Lucknow-based Amazon 'I Have Space' (IHS) partner. He is fulfilling his dreams regardless of his physical limitations.Born in Gorakhpur, Vishal moved to Lucknow with his father and family in search of better work opportunities in 1992. As one of six siblings, with limited resources and physical disabilities, Vishal had to rely on his brother for financial assistance for most of his life. However, Vishal wanted a stable job and took multiple attempts at government exams.Initially, Vishal started a kites' store, 'Sonu Kite Centre' along with his brother in 2007. He was able to meet the basic expenses from the store until the onset of Covid-19, which severely impacted his business.

For the first time in India, doctors removed a liver weighing 12 kg and performed liver and kidney transplant on a 50-year-old woman patient at KIMS hospital in Hyderabad.Simultaneous liver and kidney transplantations were performed by a team of reputed surgeons, including three liver transplant surgeons and a kidney transplant surgeon.The hospital announced on Thursday that the surgery was performed in the first week of November.The patient whose life was saved and restored to normalcy is a housewife, Usha Agarwal, from Siliguri in West Bengal.According to doctors, the liver was so gigantic that it occupied her entire abdomen displacing the intestines. In normal healthy circumstances, a liver weighs a maximum of 1.5 kgs and occupies the right upper quadrant of the abdomen.It was difficult for her to walk with such a heavy liver and collection of water (ascites) in the belly and hernia. She started feeling heaviness in 2019, which was when she was advised transplantation.

Delhi on Tuesday reported 5,481 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day rise after May 16, when the city logged 6,456 infections. The new cases have pushed the infection tally to 14,63,701. According to a source in Delhi health department, it is the onset of the third Covid wave in the city where three deaths were reported in last 24 hours, taking death toll at 25,113. Meanwhile, the Covid infections has climbed at 8.37 per cent, highest in last seven months. As per the Health department, the city had recorded 8.41 per cent positivity rate on May 17. The number of active Covid cases have jumped to 14,889, the highest since May 27. Delhi had recorded the highest of 16,378 active Covid cases on May 27. The capital has, so far, detected 382 cases of new Covid variant Omicron. Of these, 57 have been discharged from the hospital.

Two more members of the K-pop supergroup BTS -- RM and Jin -- were confirmed to have fully recovered from the new coronavirus and released from isolation on Tuesday after Suga. "Members RM and Jin were released from isolation at noon as they were confirmed to have been fully recovered from Covid-19."
"The two showed no serious symptoms of the virus during the isolation period," the agency added. "Jin had mild symptoms, such as a mild fever at the early stage of treatment at home, but soon fully recovered."

Amid rise in Covid-19 cases, the vaccination drive for the 15 and 18 years old population began in Odisha on Monday. A total of 939 dedicated vaccination centres have been set up across the state for the teenage population. Children who have not registered themselves online on the CoWIN portal for the vaccination, can receive the vaccine by doing on-spot registration at the centres, said state nodal officer for Covid-19 vaccination, Bijay Panigrahi.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday ruled out government funding free rapid coronavirus tests. Morrison said that the federal government cannot afford to continue spending on preventing the spread of Covid-19 at the same rate it did in 2020 and 2021, reports. "We've invested hundreds of billions of dollars getting Australia through this crisis," he told Seven Network television. "But we're now in a

As many as 84 per cent cases of Covid seen in the last two days of December 2021 are of the Omicron variant, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Monday, but stressed that there was no need to panic. Of total genome sequencing reports from Delhi's three labs - ILBS, LNJP and NCDC, 84 per cent have reported the Omicron variant, he said at a press conference. He said that Delhi had reported 3,194 Covid cases on Sunday and the Covid positivity rate has gone to 4.59 per cent.

Bangladesh will administer 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines every month from January next year, a Minister has said. "We are taking the initiative to give vaccines in every ward of the country starting next month. Hopefully, we will be able to meet our targets by next May-June," Zahid Maleque, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, was quoted as saying in a report of leading local news agency UNB. Maleque said that Bangladesh has been praised by the world for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. On the spread of the new Omicron variant, the Minister warned that vaccines alone will not contain its surge.

The durability of immunity post the Covid infection persists for about 9 months, Indian Council of Medical Research Director General, Dr Balram Bhargava, said on Thursday. The whole SARS CoV2 virus infects an individual in natural settings, and elicits three kinds of responses - antibody mediated, cell mediated immunity, and immunological memory, he said. "Based on several global and Indian scientific researches, if you get an infection, you are generally protected for 9 months," he said at press briefing on the Covid situation. Immunological memory to SARS CoV2 lasted for 8 months in the natural settings as per a study in the US, published in journal Science. Another study from China says that antibody and cellular immune responses persists more than 9 months after infection, while the longitudinal investigation in the US of multiple studies have shown that antibody responses persists for more than 13 months post infection, he added. About three studies from India - two by the ICMR and one from Bombay conducted on 284, 755 and 244 patients, respectively, Bhargava said that immunity persists for up to 8 months, 7 months, and 6 months respectively.

Russia has reported 29,558 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 10,046,454, the official monitoring and response centre said Monday. Meanwhile, the national Covid death toll has increased by 1,121 to 290,604, while the number of recoveries grew by 28,561 to 8,769,916.

Nearly 150,000 students from 9th and 12th grades in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the country's largest Covid-19 hotspot, returned to school on Monday after a long time of learning online due to pandemic restrictions.

Israel-based RedHill Biopharma on Tuesday announced that its Covid pill Opaganib is expected to be unaffected by mutations associated with Omicron and other known Coronavirus' variants of concern. Studies on Opaganib have shown an apparent clinical benefit in reducing mortality, getting patients back onto room air and getting them out of hospital faster. Opaganib, if approved, would target an entirely different and sicker patient population than the Pfizer and Merck oral drug candidates, which showed benefit only in non-hospitalised patients at the earliest stages of symptomatic infection. "Opaganib acts independently of mutations to the viral spike protein. We believe that its unique proposed mechanism of action -- targeting a protein in the human cell required by the

A professor for South Africas National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says the susceptibility of the population is greater because previous Covid infection used to protect against Delta -- but now, with the Omicron variant, it doesn't seem to be the case.

The Israeli Ministry of Health on Thursday reported a third case of the Covid-19 variant Omicron in the country. This is an Israeli vaccinated with three Pfizer shots, who recently returned from England, the ministry noted.

The Gamaleya Institute believes that both Sputnik V and Sputnik Light will neutralise the latest variant of Covid-19, Omicron, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund on Monday. Dmitriev said that the Gamaleya Institute, based on existing protocols of immediately developing vaccine versions for variants of concern, has already begun developing the new version of Sputnik vaccine adapted to Omicron.

Indonesia on Sunday confirmed 314 new Covid-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 4,253,412, according to the country's Health Ministry. The death toll from the virus in the country rose by 11 to 143,739, while 331 more people recovered during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 4,101,547.Indonesia started

The national capital Delhi on Saturday reported 32 fresh cases of Covid-19, pushing the tally to 14,40,637, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. However, no Covid death has been reported in the last five days in Delhi. The city's death toll stands at 25,095. The death rate stands at 1.74 per cent in the city. The Covid infection rate in the national capital stands at 0.06 per cent. The active case in the city stands at 325 as per the latest health bulletin. With 32 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the total number of recoveries rose to 14,15,217 so far, the health bulletin said.

More new cases came to light on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir as the Covid spread continued to surge, especially in the Kashmir Valley. Officials said 187 positive cases, 24 from Jammu division and 163 from Kashmir division came to light on Saturday. Two Covid related deaths occurred on Saturday as the total number of people killed by coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir rose to 4,461.

The number of daily Covid-19 infections in Germany continued to rise strongly, exceeding 65,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases has announced Daily infections increased by around 15,000 within one week as the country's seven-day Covid-19 incidence rate climbed to 336.9

Facing the prospects of a probable Third Covid-19 wave, Maharashtra on Tuesday urged the Centre to prioritise a booster jab of Covid vaccine to all healthcare workers. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope made the suggestion to Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya at their meeting in the capital. Besides the booster jabs to the healthcare workers, Tope urged the Central government to roll out the vaccination programme for children below 18 year of age as early as possible.

Facing the prospects of a probable Third Covid-19 wave, Maharashtra on Tuesday urged the Centre to prioritise a booster jab of Covid vaccine to all healthcare workers. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope made the suggestion to Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya at their meeting in the capital. Besides the booster jabs to the healthcare workers, Tope urged the Central government to roll out the vaccination programme for children below 18 year of age as early as possible.

The national capital reported 36 fresh cases of Covid on Sunday, sending its tally up to 14,40,424, and one new death, taking the toll to 25,094, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department. With the latest cases and fatality, the Covid infection rate in the national capital stands at 0.07 per cent, and the death rate at 1.74 per cent.

The National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) of Bahrain on Friday approved Covaxin, India's first indigenous vaccine against Covid-19, for emergency use. Covaxin, manufactured by the Hyderabad-based pharma major Bharat Biotech, will be available in Bahrain for people aged 18 years and above after the approval. People travelling from India to Bahrain with vaccine certificate issued in India approved by the WHO will be exempted from the 10-day mandatory quarantine and a pre-arrival negative RT-PCR report.

Four Asiatic lions at Singapore's Night Safari have tested positive for Covid-19, the Straits Times reported on Tuesday evening, quoting the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS). The AVS, which is under the National Parks Board, said that the four lions, as well as an African lion at the Singapore Zoo, had exhibited mild signs of sickness including coughing, sneezing and lethargy on Saturday and Monday respectively.

Covid-19 patients who are "unvaccinated by choice" will be responsible for their medical bills as the government will no longer bear their costs, Singapore's Health Ministry said. The government has, so far, been covering the cost of Covid-19 care for all Singaporeans, permanent residents and long-term pass holders, excluding those who tested positive after returning from overseas travel. This was done to "avoid financial considerations adding to public uncertainty and concern when Covid-19 was an emergent and unfamiliar disease", the ministry said in 

A senior World Health Organization official has cast doubt on Turkmenistan's claim that it has zero Covid cases, the BBC reported. "[It] has been spreading worldwide as a pandemic for almost two years now," said Catherine Smallwood, a senior WHO emergencies officer, adding: "From the scientific point of view, it's unlikely that the virus is not circulating in Turkmenistan."

Tanzanian authorities has said that between 80,000 and 100,000 people will be vaccinated daily against Covid-19 during the second phase of the inoculation campaign. A statement by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children on Saturday said the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Abel Makubi, revealed the acceleration of the vaccination in a meeting with Regional Medical officers

The number of young people diagnosed with the eating disorder anorexia in Japan has increased around 60 per cent in fiscal 2020 compared with a year earlier, likely due to growing anxiety and pressure amid the Covid-19 pandemic, local media reported Wednesday. A survey released last month by the National Centre for Child Health and Development found that 28 boys and 230 girls under 20 years old were newly diagnosed with the eating disorder in fiscal 2020 through March this year, both up over 60 per cent from the previous year. Nine boys and 132 girls were newly hospitalized for anorexia, increased from six and 93 respectively compared with the previous year. The survey also found some hospitals lacked available beds for those in severe conditions despite the uptick in patients, as their beds were used to treat Covid-19 patients. The centre conducted the survey in two months