12-Hour Catch Up: UK Travel Ban Amid New Brazil Variant Of COVID, India Starts Vaccine Roll Out

The British government banned travel from South America and Portugal to ensure a new variant of Covid-19 found in Brazil doesn't derail the UK's vaccination program.

Reuters

UK transport secretary Grant Shapps said the entry ban, which took effect on Friday morning, was extended to passengers arriving from Portugal because many people who come to Europe from South America travel through Portugal.

Blow To Global Vaccine Drive As Pfizer Delays Deliveries

Pfizer said it would delay shipments of the jabs in the next three to four weeks due to works at its key plant in Belgium.

Reuters

Pfizer said the modifications at the Puurs factory were necessary in order to ramp up its production capacity from mid-February of the vaccine developed with Germany's BioNTech.

India Starts Vaccine Roll Out, Starting With Healthcare Workers

India will roll out the world¡¯s biggest vaccination programme on Saturday by inoculating over three lakh healthcare workers against Covid-19, which brought the entire country, and the world, to a halt for much of last year.

AFP

A total of 3,006 vaccination centres across all states and union territories will be virtually connected as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the drive at 10.30 am, with 100 beneficiaries getting the shots at each site on the first day.

UN Head Warns Of 'Vaccinationalism' As Global Coronavirus Deaths Top 2 Million

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday deplored the "heart-wrenching milestone" of the global death toll from Covid-19 topping two million, and lamented the fact that "solidarity is failing" in the world's response to the virus.

AFP

"Today we are seeing a vaccine vacuum," the UN head said. "Vaccines are reaching high income countries quickly, while the world's poorest have none at all."

Minor Gang-Raped In Delhi After Forced Sex Change

In a shocking incident, a 13-year-old boy was forced to undergo a sex change operation and then gang-raped for months in Delhi's Geeta Colony area, officials said on Friday. Two persons have since been arrested in the case.

AFP

Police said that the teenager was also forced into begging. The teenager's ordeal began when he met the accused three years ago at a dance event in Laxmi Nagar.

Dr Reddy¡¯s Gets DCGI Nod For Covid-19 Vaccine Sputnik V Phase III Trials

Dr Reddy¡¯s Laboratories has received the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct Phase III trials of Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India, the company informed the bourses on Friday.

Reuters

¡°The Phase III study of Sputnik V will be conducted on 1500 subjects as part of the randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study in India,¡± Dr Reddy¡¯s said is a late night regulatory filing.