Omicron especially dangerous for unvaccinated, says WHO

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on Monday he was unsure about the need for a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccine and that a shot targeting the Omicron variant would be ready in March.

European governments are relaxing Covid rules to keep hospitals, schools and emergency services going as the much more contagious but less lethal Omicron variant changes their approach to the pandemic. Even though a rapid surge in infections has yet to peak in Europe, Spain PM Pedro Sanchez said the time was right to start evaluating the disease’s evolution “with different parameters”.

Leading Covid-19 task force members and health experts treating coronavirus patients across the country said on Monday that the Covid antiviral drug molnupiravir is reducing hospitalisation by 30-50 %, as well as the severity of the disease.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea of a lawyer seeking it’s intervention to direct the Centre to take action against China for allegedly using Covid-19 as a biological weapon and intentionally spreading it across the world.

For the first time in 14 days, daily cases of Covid-19 in India decreased on Monday due to lower testing and detections over the weekend, but deaths from the virus continued to creep up.

In an advisory issued on Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) waived testing requirement for some categories of people: Contacts of Covid patients, unless they are symptomatic or high-risk (based on age or comorbidities).

Amid surging Covid cases, the Tamil Nadu government has approved conducting jallikattu, one of the most crowded events held during the Pongal festival.