Category: Life & Style

On Monday (Sept 27), Singapore and the United States renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Third Country Training Programme (TCTP), including a new focus on climate change and environmental sustainability in the partnership. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs Vivian Balakrishnan signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington.

During his brief remarks at the ceremony, Mr. Blinken expressed his satisfaction with both the meeting’s content and its outcome. At the State Department, the ceremony took place in a pastel-colored room with chandeliers. He added, the meeting discussed “all aspects of our bilateral relationship, following on Vice-President Harris’s visit to Singapore, as well as work in the region both directly and through ASEAN”.

A number of other important initiatives were mentioned by Mr. Blinken, particularly their work to build supply chain resilience. To make the chain more potentially corporate when it comes to space, the vital work that they are doing is to bring COVID-19 to an end and address the challenges posed by climate change.

According to Mr. Blinken, it really affirmed the strong partnership between the two nations and they shared commitment to peace, to prosperity, to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission that will provide digital health ID to people that will have their health records. The announcement regarding the mission came from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2020.

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is in its trial phase in six union territories of the country. Its celebration coincides with the third anniversary of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Ayushnan Bharat Digital’s goals are based on the JAM trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and Mobile (JDAM) and government initiatives.

This newly launched mission will create a seamless online platform that will have the provision of a broad range of data, information, and infrastructure services. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the mission will have duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems and will ensure the security, confidentiality, and privacy of health-related personal information.

The Prime Minister also added that it will enable the access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent. The citizens of the country will be just a click away from accessing the health care facilities.

President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that the US is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine shots to deliver 1 billion doses to the world. The president is embracing the goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year.

At the U.N. General Assembly, Biden convened virtually and encouraged well-off nations to do their bit to bring down the coronavirus infection. The World Health Organisation is being vocal about the slow pace of vaccination distribution and inequality between the wealthier and poorer nations.

The total US vaccination commitment plans to reach 1.1 billion by 2022 with nations another purchase of 500 million shots. Nearly 160 million shots have been supplied by the US till now. The country has distributed in more than 100 countries which represent more donations than the rest of the world combined.

According to Biden, the nation will increase its funding to global aid groups that are administering shots. According to the statistics, 43% of the global population has received the vaccine that is 5.9 billion COVID-19 doses have been administered.

The Biden administration has fully vaccinated nearly 55% of its adult population and nearly 64% has received at least one dose.

Taliban confirmed the news to have begun tracking and locating the 2000-year-old Bactrian treasure which is commonly known as “Bactrian gold”. The first finding of the Bactrian treasure was excavated nearly four decades ago from the graves of six wealthy nomads in the Tela Tapa area. It falls under the Sheberghan district in northern Afghanistan.

The Deputy head of the cultural commission of the Taliban’s interim cabinet, Ahmadulah Wasiq said that the matter is under investigation and they will collect all the information regarding the treasure. He further added that if the gold is transferred out of Afghanistan then that will be considered treason against Afghanistan. The new government in Afghanistan will take serious actions if the ancient items or gold are moved out of the country.

There are nearly 20,000 artifacts that are present in the grave of the Saka tribesmen from central Asia or the Yuezhi from northwest China. It includes gold cupids, dolphins, gods, and dragons encrusted with semiprecious stones like turquoise, carnelian, and lapis lazuli. The artifacts also contained golden rings, coins, weapons, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and crowns.

The treasure is believed to be assembled by Yuezhi nobles from China, who arrived in the Bactria region in the second century BC which later established the Kushan Empire in India.

Malaysia will administer COVID-19 Booster shots to the vulnerable and high-risk groups in the country. They will receive the shots once the population crosses the mark of 80% of the adult population that is fully vaccinated. At present 78.2% of the adult population have been fully vaccinated.

On Sunday, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Ismail Yaakob said that the booster shots will be prioritized for front-liners, immunocompromised and elder people with comorbidities. He added that it will start as soon as the vaccination coverage for adults reaches 80%. The third dose can increase the immunity level in the individual who is at high risk for the infection as the level of immunity dips after a certain period.

An added announcement came from Datuk Seri Ismail that the government will provide a COVID-19 care package for the so-called B40 group or to those who are at the lowest income bracket in the country.

The nation aims to completely reopen its economy and transit it to an endemic phase. The government targets to do so by the end of next month after all the adults are fully vaccinated. According to Mr. Ismail, the Health Ministry will be providing further details on the booster shots in the due course.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) aims to create a record of maximum inoculations against COVID to mark the 71st birthday of India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Damodardas Modi. Born on 17 September 1950, he is the first prime minister born after India’s independence in 1947.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted in Hindi that called for a major push for the vaccination drive. He said that it would be the “ideal birthday gift to PM Modi.” He asked people to come together for #VaccineSeva and help all the unvaccinated people along with their loved ones and all sections of the society to get vaccinated. As the part of “Seva and Samarpan” campaign, BJP has asked its workers throughout the country to facilitate the vaccination drive against the coronavirus infection.

The drive will be a mega 20-day public outreach program which will begin from Friday and will end on October 7. Nearly 50 million booth workers will send Modi postcards highlighting their commitment to public service. 140 million ration bags among the needy will also be distributed by the BJP party with Mr. Modi’s picture on it.

President of BJP, JP Nadda has also scheduled a photo exhibition to mark the completion of 20 years of Mr. Modi’s political journey.

Experts suggest the Delta variant wave of the coronavirus in the United States could soon peak. They warn against complacency and expect the virus will be part of everyday life for years to come.

Dr. Scott expects the coronavirus to become an endemic virus after the recent surge in Delta variant calms down. According to him, the Delta variant is going to become more of an endemic illness where people will just see sort of a persistent infection through the winter. He further added that it will not be at the same level as they are now experiencing. It is not necessarily dependent upon the booster shots.

As of Monday, the daily cases reached an average of 172,000, its highest level since the growth rate slowed. The cases are declining in most of the states throughout the nation as per the data. Daily death rates are more than 1,800 and over 100,000 remain hospitalized with severe infection.

According to an associate professor in emergency medicine at John Hopkins University and expert in Covid critical care Bhakti Hansoti, the US is following an identical trajectory to India. She said that countries in western Europe also have a similar downturn in their Delta surges. Hansoti feels “a little hesitant this time around” as the spring wave ended.

India has achieved a new milestone in its COVID-19 vaccine drive by administrating more than 75 crore doses. World Health Organization’s (WHO) South-East Asia’s regional director Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh congratulated India for its achievement. She tweeted that India has scaled the drive at an ‘unprecedented pace’.

On Monday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted that in its 75th year of independence, the nation has crossed the figure of 75 crore vaccination. Six states and union territories- Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli, Ladak, and Lakshadweep have administered at least one dose of vaccine to all adults.

In the last 24 hours, India has administered 53,38,945 vaccine doses which were made possible with its 75,64,949 sessions. To accelerate the pace and expand the scope for vaccine drive, the center was fully committed to achieving its target. The nation administered vaccines in 85 days to touch the 10-crore vaccination mark, 45 days more to cross the 20 crore mark. They swiftly speed up the drive to reach the 30 crore mark in just 29 days and only 13 days to climb from the 60 crores to 70 crore mark.

On Tuesday, the new COVID-19 infections doubled to 139, after which the schools in China were shut down by the government, the nation put travel restrictions and ordered nucleic acid tests for millions in the eastern province of Fujian. Kindergartens will suspend operations while colleges, primary and high school, and vocational schools will have online courses.

In China, nearly three dozen children were tested positive in the sudden surge of infection. The first “school-centered” outbreak was detected in a school during random nucleic acid testing last week. Putian, Quanzhou, and Xiamen are mainly concentrated with fresh cases. 20 cases below 12 years old were reported by the state-run tabloid. Health authorities announced that the port city Xiamen is testing its 5 million citizens in a citywide nucleic acid testing.

The residents of Xiamen are advised not to leave the city unless extremely necessary. Those who want to leave must provide a green health code along with a negative nucleic acid test result before departure.

In Putian, 85 people had tested positive of which 64 are confirmed and asymptomatic carriers. The experts suggest the cases will flare-up in the coming weeks. It is likely to spread in more regions across China but suggests that can be controlled with strong control measures.

Nations across South-East Asia choose to reopen slowly amid the COVID-19 outbreak. As South-East Asian countries struggle with the worst outbreak, they realise they can not afford the economy’s crippling restrictions.

On August 29, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his speech that it is not possible to reduce COVID-19 cases to zero even if the country locks down for a long time. He said that the country will reopen “cautiously and progressively”. With very low vaccination rates in Southeast Asia, it leaves the countries vulnerable to the Delta variant. The factory’s shutdown has ripped across the world to create supply chain hiccups as big companies say the situation is “out of control”. In many countries, the death rate has surpassed the global average that has pushed them to the bottom spot of Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking.

The surge in cases worries the officials regarding the shutdown. 2021 growth forecast of Malaysia cuts in half to 3%-4% after daily cases hit records. Thailand is aiming to rebound on a critical tourism revival that is vanishing swiftly.

Indonesian ministers are planning to cement rules like a year-long mask mandate rather than implementing on-and-off mobility curbs. Various other measures are being followed to open up the Southeast Asian nations.