An Indian former hospital worker with no medical education is running a small unlicensed clinic, tending to patients with breathing difficulties and checking their oxygen levels as they lie on cots on the mud floor.

A 32-year-old woman died of mucormycosis, commonly associated with Covid-19 infection, while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kolkata in the first instance of death due to “black fungus” in West Bengal, a state Health Department official said today.

Twenty-six people have died from Covid-19 in 24 hours (till 8am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The price of India’s first home-based rapid antigen testing (RAT) kit for Covid-19 has been fixed at Rs 250 and will be available in chemist shops and online without prescription, the manufacturer has said.

Thirty-six people have died from Covid-19 during 24 hours (till 8am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that Covid-19 vaccines are proving effective against a variant that has spread like wildfire in India and denied the government was being lax on travel from hotspots.

Last month the World Health Organization urged African nations not to destroy expired doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine after several countries received doses from India with a very short shelf life. But this week, WHO reversed its position and said that the vaccines should be destroyed.

Thirty-seven people have died from Covid-19 in 24 hours (till 8am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Bangladesh will purchase Covid-19 vaccines from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

President Joe Biden has announced that the US will give away 80 million Covid-19 vaccines. Previously, the US announced the donation of 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses.

India's total coronavirus cases surged past the 25 million mark on today, boosted by 263,533 new infections over the last 24 hours, while deaths from Covid-19 rose by a record 4,329.

The European Union's drug agency on Monday approved the storage of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in fridges for up to a month, in a move that should boost its rollout across the bloc.

32 dead, 698 infected in 24 hours

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline’s potential COVID-19 vaccine triggered strong immune responses in all adult age groups in preliminary trials, boosting optimism the shot may join the fight against the pandemic this year.

Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate further due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

The head of UNICEF on Monday asked G7 countries to donate supplies to the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme as an emergency measure to address a severe shortfall caused by disruption to Indian vaccine exports.

Despite giving special focus on the health sector, the government could implement only 26 per cent of the sector’s Annual Development Programme in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

Twenty-five people have died from Covid-19 during 24 hours (till 8:00am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

As Covid-19 cases keep rising, over 162 million people have so far been infected with the deadly virus around the world.

Twenty-two people have died from Covid-19 during 24 hours (till 8:00am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).