Category : Coronavirus

ToplineIndia’s federal government has not yet placed fresh orders for Covid-19 vaccines, with the country’s two vaccine manufacturers despite several vaccination centers across the country reporting shortages, the Business Standard reported, a development that comes after one of the manufacturers warned the country will continue to face a vaccine shortage till July. Key Facts According to the Business Standard, the government last placed an order for 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and 20 million doses of the locally-developed Covaxin shot back in March. The two manufacturers of those shots—Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech—are readmore

ToplineIsrael clocked just 13 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday—the lowest number of daily cases in 14 months—as the country continues to reap the benefits of its world-leading vaccine rollout.  Key Facts The Israeli Health Ministry reported Sunday morning that a record low of the over 9,236 tests carried out Saturday came back positive.  This brings the country’s overall test positivity rate to just over 0.1%, the lowest since the start of the pandemic last March.  The U.S., by contrast, saw nearly 4% of its over 1.1 million tests given on Saturday come back positive, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, readmore

ToplineWashington and Oregon are grappling with upticks in coronavirus infections, bucking a national trend of declining case counts, a surge some experts and local officials are interpreting as a signal that the risk of Covid-19 is still lingering even as vaccinations soar. Key Facts Case counts in Oregon have more than doubled over the last month, from a weekly average of 419 cases per day in early April to 873 as of Friday, though the state still is far off its peak of over 1,500 cases per day in late November, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile in Washington, average readmore

ToplineA Houston-area nurse is the latest health-care worker to claim she lost her job over refusing to get a Covid vaccine—an issue that could grow more common across industries as offices reopen and employers start mandating vaccinations. Key Facts Former Houston Methodist nurse Michelle Fuentes told KRIV-TV she was fired and escorted out of the hospital after refusing to meet the hospital's deadline to get vaccinated. Fuentes said she was waiting for a "little bit more research to be done" on the vaccines and had turned in her two-week’s notice after refusing to get one, readmore