Mixed results from clinical trials of several promising treatments and vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) brought good and bad news this week to a world desperate for a remedy. Meanwhile, at least three states — Karnataka, Punjab and Kerala — have decided on quarantining domestic flyers reaching there even though civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri has repeatedly said such a move is not needed.
Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala order 14-day quarantine after flight
A Delhi business executive who has an all-important business meeting in Bengaluru can now fly to the southern city — domestic airline services are being restored from Monday — but faces the prospect of a seven-day quarantine at a state-run institution and another seven days out of it. Read more
Covid-19: What you need to know today
It isn’t a competition, yet most states have started treating their response to the coronavirus disease as one. Competitions have metrics, and this one has two — the number of cases, and the number of deaths. Metrics, though, have the ability of provoking undesirable behaviour. Read more
Aim to restart international flights before August: Puri
India will try to restart a good percentage of international passenger flights before August, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said, three days after announcing resumption of domestic flights from May 25. Read more
Cong releases video of Rahul’s interaction with migrants
The Congress on Saturday released a video of an interaction between former party chief Rahul Gandhi and a group of migrant workers who were walking back to their village in Uttar Pradesh from Haryana during the lockdown. Read more
Covid-19: Clinical trials bring hope, concerns
Mixed results from clinical trials of several promising treatments and vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) released this week brought both cheer and gloom to a world desperate for a safe and effective treatment or vaccine against a disease that has infected at least 5.3 million people and killed 340,000. Read more
Human trial in Chinese vaccine shows promise
A vaccine for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), developed by researchers at China’s CanSino Biologics was found to be safe and effective in its first test on humans, becoming the latest trial that raises hope for an early candidate that could help make people immune to the viral pandemic. Read more
Covid-19 economic proposal stokes controversy, redrafted
A group of economists, intellectuals and activists on Saturday redrafted their seven-point ‘Mission Jai Hind’ proposal to deal with the Covid-19 crisis after one of their suggestions of treating all resources of the nation and its citizens — cash, real estate, property and bonds — as national resources triggered a controversy. Some of the plan’s signatories also opposed the idea. Read more
Farm sector, poised to grow by 3%, remains beacon of hope amid pandemic
Fresh indicators show the country’s farm sector, which employs nearly half the population, has coped well with the Covid-19 crisis, with a larger summer crop area than last year, higher sales of fertilisers and seeds, and better prices, leading Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das to call it a “beacon of hope”. Read more
Migrants protest lack of food, water
Migrant workers travelling on Shramik special trains allegedly damaged railway property at separate places in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday while protesting against scarcity of food, water and unscheduled stoppage during their travel, officials said. Read more
141 flights to W Asia to be part of Vande Bharat phase 2
The Indian government on Saturday added 141 more flights to West Asian countries for the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission, its massive repatriation programme for citizens stranded overseas because of Covid-19-related travel restrictions. Read more
Ivanka Trump under fire for tweet on migrants
US presidential adviser Ivanka Trump’s praise of an Indian teenager’s bicycle ride home is drawing criticism in India for being insensitive to the plight of migrant workers struggling in a lockdown. Read more
F1 teams come together to fight virus
The exit of Sebastian Vettel from Scuderia Ferrari has been the biggest Formula One news story during the pandemic. What slipped through almost unnoticed was that at the same time as Vettel’s exit, Ferrari unveiled a new pulmonary ventilator for Covid-19 patients—conceived, designed and built in five weeks. Read more
Source: HindustanTimes