Covid-19 Updates

With 1,778 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, active cases in India declined further to 23,087 said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday. With 1,778 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, active cases in India declined further to 23,087 said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday. For the fourth consecutive day, the daily cases were below the 2000-mark. The country's active cases now comprise 0.06 per cent of the total infections. The cumulative COVID-19 tally in the country is now at 4,30,12,749. The death toll has climbed to 5,16,543, with 33 daily fatalities, while the recoveries have surged to 4,24,70,515 with 2,542 recoveries in the last 24 hours.   The national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.74 per cent and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.28 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was at 0.39 per cent, the health ministry said. A total of 5,68,471 COVID-19

 India will start vaccinating children against Covid-19 in the age group of 12-14 years from Wednesday. India will start vaccinating children against COVID-19 in the age group of 12-14 years from Wednesday. The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had earlier stated that only the Corbevax vaccine would be used for the beneficiaries in the age group of 12 to 14 years. Corbevax has been included as the third vaccine against COVID-19 and will be available at all centres where free vaccination is available.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus may contribute to the damage of small blood vessels in the heart as seen in severely-ill Covid-19 patients, without infecting them, a study shows. The research, published in the journal Clinical Science, indicates blocking antibodies could represent a new treatment to alleviate cardiovascular complications. A multidisciplinary research team led by the University of Bristol, UK, analysed how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with heart cells causing the myocardial damage seen in COVID-19 patients. Until now, it remained unclear whether heart cells are infected by the virus or damaged because of an excess cytotoxic defence response.   This response, also known as the cytokine storm', comes from our immune cells, whereby cytotoxic cells attack and kill the infected cells by releasing proteins, called cytokines. The study also investigated whether heart cells contribute to producing excess cytokines. The team led by Professor Paolo Madeddu exposed human heart pericytes, which a