# “Virus is not tired”: In the last one month, global deaths reported from Covid-19 have increased 35 per cent, with the last week alone seeing 15,000 deaths, said the World Health Organization chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, cautioning that “the virus is not tired of us.”
# CoWin revamped: The platform that earned its spurs during the pandemic is set for a recast. A revamped CoWIN platform incorporating India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is likely to be launched in pilot mode mid-September, with blood and organ donation features to be integrated in it in later phases.
# Dolo’s woes: The Supreme Court was told by an NGO that the Central Board of Direct Taxes has accused the pharma company manufacturing the popular Dolo tablets, an anti-inflammatory, fever reducer drug, of distributing Rs 1,000 crore freebies to doctors for prescribing its 650 mg tablets.
Dolo’s popularity with doctors and patients shot up, as Covid-19 cases increased.
# Disruption, now business as usual: Addressing shareholders at UltraTech Cement’s 22nd annual general meeting, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, said the Covid pandemic made 2020 an unprecedented year, the supply chain whiplash last year made it unprecedented. And now, the Russia-Ukraine war and global stagflation are making this year unprecedented. Disruption now feels like business as usual, he said.
# Med students in panic: Six months after they had to abandon their courses and return home when Russian forces attacked Ukraine, Indian students enrolled in the medical colleges there have a new challenge - resumption of offline classes and exams. Some universities in Kiev, capital of war-hit Ukraine, have informed students about the resumption of offline classes from September.
The Supreme Court had on April 29 directed the regulatory body to frame a scheme in two months to enable MBBS students affected by the war and the pandemic to complete their clinical training in medical colleges India.