8,084 new Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths were reported, according to data released by the Union Health Ministry Monday. As of Monday, active cases of Covid-19 stood at 47,995. The death tally rose to 5,24,771 and the number of people discharged from hospitals stands at 4,26,57,335, the health ministry’s data also showed.
With 1,803 new Covid-19 cases recorded on Sunday, the count of active patients rose to over 16,000 in Mumbai. The state, meanwhile, recorded 2,946 cases and two deaths. With the fresh figures, the state’s Covid-19 tally rose to 79,10,577 and the toll to 1,47,870 on Sunday.
Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, medical experts say most of the patients are showing mild symptoms and fatality is low in the present “mild wave”, and also no new virus variant of concern has been observed.
The patients were being administered paracetamol, and not Remdesivir drug, which was used for patients in the first and second COVID-19 waves, they said.
According to the health department data, Maharashtra recorded 9,354 COVID-19 cases in May, of which 5,980 were reported from Mumbai. The state also recorded 17 fatalities last month.
Mizoram on Monday reported two new COVID-19 cases, the lowest single-day spike this year, taking the tally to 2,28,575, a health official said. The state had reported 28 cases on Sunday.
The coronavirus death toll rose to 701 after a three-month-old infant succumbed to the infection at a COVID-19 health centre in Lunglei town on Sunday, he said. Mizoram now has 168 active cases, while 2,27,706 people have recovered from the infection.
Globally, French drugmaker Sanofi said on Monday an upgraded version of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate it is developing with GSK showed potential in two trials to protect against the virus’s main variants of concern, including the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains, when used as a booster shot.
While the two companies’ first experimental Covid shot is undergoing review by the European Medicines Agency, Sanofi and GSK have continued work on a vaccine that is molded on the now-supplanted Beta variant, hoping still that it will confer broad protection against future viral mutations.
Sanofi said this new vaccine candidate was shown to significantly boost antibody levels against a number of variants of concern, when given to trial participants who had an initial course of mRNA vaccines, a type made by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna.
In a separate trial conducted by a French hospitals network, Sanofi’s Beta-adapted booster shot triggered a higher immune response than Sanofi’s first-generation shot or Pfizer-BioNTech’s established vaccine in previously vaccinated volunteers. “The Beta variant expresses similar mutations across multiple variants of concern, including Omicron, making it a strong vaccine candidate to confer broad protection against multiple strains of Covid-19,” said Thomas Triomphe, the head of Sanofi’s vaccine business.
authorities in China’s capital Beijing on Monday raced to contain a Covid-19 outbreak traced to a raucous 24-hour bar known for cheap liquor and big crowds, with millions facing mandatory testing and thousands under targeted lockdowns.
The outbreak of nearly 200 cases linked to the city centre Heaven Supermarket Bar, which had just reopened as curbs in Beijing eased last week, highlights how hard it will be for China to make a success of its “zero Covid” policy as much of the rest of the world opts to learn how to live with the virus.
The re-emergence of Covid infections is also raising new concerns about the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy. China is only just shaking off a heavy blow from a two-month lockdown of Shanghai, its most populous city and commercial nerve centre, that also roiled global supply chains.
Dine-in service at Beijing restaurants resumed on June 6 after more than a month in which the city of 22 million people enforced various Covid curbs. Many malls, gyms and other venues were closed, parts of the city’s public transport system were suspended, and millions were urged to work from home.
US Food and Drug Administration staff reviewers on Sunday said Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccines were effective and safe for use in children aged 6 months to 4 years.
The FDA reviewers said in briefing documents published on Sunday evening that their evaluation did not reveal any new safety concerns related to the use of the vaccine in young children.
The FDA analysis of data from Pfizer’s trial was published ahead of a June 15 meeting of its outside advisers.
Recommendations from the external advisers will determine the FDA’s decision on the vaccines.
“Available data support the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine 3-dose primary series in preventing Covid-19 in the age group of 6 months through 4 years,” FDA staff said in the review.
An early analysis of data from Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine based on 10 symptomatic Covid-19 cases identified when the Omicron coronavirus variant was dominant suggested a vaccine efficacy of 80.3% in the under-5 age group.
