Category: Life & Style

On Monday, the British government announced that all measures related to coronavirus, including the requirement to test some unvaccinated travelers for COVID-19 before and after their arrival, will cease on Friday in order to make going on holiday easier for the Easter school vacation.

According to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, the changes will mean that the people “can travel just like in the good old days”. The people will be required to fill out the passenger locator forms with the travel details, address in the UK, and their vaccination status.

Some of the UK airlines like Virgin Atlantic and British Airways said they plan to ease mask-wearing requirement on some routes and appreciate the latest change.

The latest announcement comes amidst the rise in coronavirus infection in all four parts of the UK- England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The data shows the increase was seen for the first time since the end of January. More than 444,000 cases have been recorded in the last seven days which is 48% more than the previous week.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said, “We will continue monitoring and tracking potential new variants, and keep a reserve of measures which can be rapidly deployed if needed to keep us safe”.

On Friday, the United States unveiled relaxation of a wide range of financial and commercial transactions in Afghanistan. The “General Licence 20”- new relations allow “financial institutions, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private sector companies to engage in wide-ranging transactions and activities in the country while complying with the US sanctions.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “The United States took the decision today to facilitate a broad range of commercial activities in Afghanistan to benefit the people there”. He specifically clarified that the sanctions on the Taliban regime are still in place. In his official statement, he stated that today’s action will facilitate private businesses and aid organizations to work with Afghanistan’s governing institutions.

According to him, the new measures could have a wide impact on Afghanistan’s economy, affecting areas such as personal and commercial banking, infrastructure development and maintenance, commercial trade, transportation system safety and maintenance, and telecommunications and information transactions.

A scholar of South Asian Affairs at Wilson Centre, Washington said, “This new licence announcement has gotten buried in Ukraine news, but it’s big”. The US said they stand with the people of Afghanistan as they are working towards rebuilding their economy.

In the Weddell Sea, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost vessel, the Endurance, was discovered over the weekend. In 1915, the ship sank due to getting crushed by sea ice which forced Shackleton and his men to escape on foot and in small boats.

For more than a century, the ship is sitting 10,000 feet, it is still much together and looks just like it did while sinking. However, its timber is disrupted, the name- Endurance is clearly visible on the stern.

The marine archaeologist, Mensun Bound said, “Without any exaggeration, this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen- by far”. Mensun is on the discovery expedition who has fulfilled a dream ambition in his nearly 50-year career.

He further added that it is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact and is in a brilliant state of preservation.

The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust (FMHT) mounted the project to find the ship, using a South African icebreaker, Agulhas II, and remotely operated submersibles.

Dr John Shears has described the moment as “jaw-dropping”. He is the mission leader, the veteran polar geographer said that the discovery of the wreck is an incredible achievement.

India is set to resume regular international flights from March 27. After 2 years the flight will resume as pre-pandemic schedules.

Civil Aviation Minister said that international operations will be subjected to strict adherence to Ministry of Health guidelines for international travel. In November last year, the aviation ministry announced it would resume regular international flights starting December 15, 2021. That order was subsequently revoked due to the rise in Omicron cases.

The government official said, “After being recognised the increase of vaccination coverage across the globe and in consultation with the stakeholders, the government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to-from India from March 27, 2022, the start of the summer schedule 2022”.

As part of a nationwide lockdown imposed to combat the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, international flights were suspended in March 2020. Post which India is operating under an air bubble arrangement since 2021.

The nations under air bubble are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria,  Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia, Switzerland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, US and Uzbekistan.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Covovax for 12-17 years after the Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the CDSCO last week recommended granting emergency use authorisation (EUA). It was authorized by DCGI to the Serum Institute subject to certain conditions.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute said confirming the DCGI approval, “@SerumInstIndia’s brand Covovax has completed bridging studies in India and has been granted Emergency Use Authorization by DCGI for adults and for children above the age of 12. Younger age groups will follow shortly”.

To receive the regulator’s nod, this is the fourth vaccine to be used for people below 18years but the government only approved Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is used for the 15-18 years age group in the vaccination drive.

The decision to vaccinate below 15 years is still pending and the health ministry has repeatedly said that the additional need for vaccination and inclusion of population for vaccinations are examined constantly.̧

A statement in the EUA application to DCGI was made by Prakash Kumar Singh, director (government and regulatory affairs) at SII, in which it was stated that Covovax is highly effective, immunogenic, safe, and well-tolerated in about 2707 children aged 12 to 17 years.

Malaysia is ready to re-open its border for tourists after two-year of Covid closure. From April 1, all vaccinated travelers will be permitted to enter the nation in an attempt to live with Covid.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri said, “The government has decided to open its borders on April 1, 2022. We believe this decision will boost our economy and help revive our ailing tourism sector”.

The change comes despite Malaysia is reporting more than 25,000 infections a day. However, the infection is said to have mild symptoms, the decision came mirroring to its neighboring nations Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. Other nations are progressively lifting the restrictions and easing entry rules to lure back tourists into the country.

In 2020, the country’s economy contracted 5.6% but has rebounded slightly by 3.1% in 2021. The airline has announced plans to move around one million passengers in its first week, according to Group Chief Executive Bo Lingam. Travelers who have been vaccinated will not be required to undergo quarantine but will be required to take a PCR test two days before arrival and an antigen test 24 hours after entry.

Professor Deepak Dhar who is a physicist and emeritus faculty at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune will be awarded the prestigious Boltzmann Medal for 2022. Along with him, Professor John Hopfield is also selected from Princeton University.

Boltzmann Medals honor outstanding achievements in statistical physics and are awarded once every three years by C3 Commission on Statistical Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The award will be held in Tokyo, Japan which will be presented during the Stathys28 Conference next year in August.

Prof. Dhar has been awarded for his seminal contribution to several areas of statistical physics that include the exact solution of self-organized criticality models, inter-facial growth, universal long-time relaxation in disordered magnetic systems, cluster counting problems, and definition of the spectral dimension of fractals and exact solution in percolation.

An alumnus of the University of Allahabad and IIT Kanpur, his experience in statistical physics and stochastic processes first began with a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1978.

He had been in IISER Pune since 2016 and currently working on phase transitions and lattice models.

India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging station with a capacity of 121 charging points for four-wheelers is opened in Gurugram’s Sector 86.

With the new EV station, the city now has two of the largest electric vehicle charging stations in the nation. The first EV station was opened in January which would facilitate 100 four-wheelers to charge at the same time and is located at Sector 52 of Gurugram.

The Ease of Doing Business Program has aided Alektrify Private Limited to develop an EV charging station that has 75 AC, 25 DC along with 21 hybrid charging points with a potential of charging about 1,000 cars within a day.

While inaugurating, National Programme Director, Ease of Doing Business program and Project Director of National Highway for Electric Vehicle (NHEV), Abhijeet Sinha said, “This is our second prototype station, 2 more stations of same size and scale will be installed in Noida within 60 days for Delhi-Agra E-Highway which will conclude the prototype modeling E-hubs”.

He further added that 30 more E-Highway charging stations will be constructed within a record time. It will be launched in 90 days from their date of allocations to PSUs/ private entities.

As part of the UAE’s effort to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Dubai plans to cut carbon emissions by 30% by 2030.

The UAE became the first Middle Eastern oil exporter to present its national contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of the century. Ahead of the COP26 in Glasgow, Dubai’s carbon abatement strategy follows the UAE’s pledge to offset all of its emissions by 2050.

Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and head of the emirate’s utility, Saeed Al Tayer said, “The council has started evaluating carbon emission for the next 10 years, in collaboration with the relevant organization in Dubai, to come up with the required measures to reduce emission. A roadmap will then define the way to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050”.

Its roadmap includes diversifying its power mic away from reliance on gas. The country is focusing on large-scale renewable schemes, especially solar to lower its reliance on hydrocarbons.

The world’s largest exporter, Saudi Arabia followed through with the plan to offset its domestic carbon emission by 2060. A similar timeline is targeted by its neighbor and ally Bahrain to reach net-zero.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) backed the use of Merck & Co Inc’s Covid-19 pill for high-risk patients. Post-six clinical trials involving 4,796 patients, the recommendation was made based on new data.

The WHO’s Guideline Development Group (GDG) recommendations are aimed to help the doctors by providing the best care for the patients in fast-moving situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Molnupiravir pill was conditionally recommended by the expert panel for patients with non-severe diseases like immunocompromised, unvaccinated, older people, or with chronic diseases who are at high risk of hospitalization.

In December, Molnupiravir was authorized by the US, since then the demand for the pill has seen a hit in demand due to its comparatively low efficacy and potential safety concerns for particular groups.

The WHO panel is also preparing recommendations for Pfizer’s Paxlovid. It has shown 90% effectiveness in preventing the Covid-19 hospitalization or death as compared with 30% for Molnupiravir.

According to the panel, young and healthy patients including children, pregnant or breastfeeding women should be refrained from giving Molnupiravir as it contains potential risks like defecting the development of the fetus as shown in the animal studies.