UNICEF to get 1.1 bn vaccine doses through agreement with SII

Medical workers prepare to administer COVID-19 vaccine doses to Jammu and Kashmir police personnel, at the Police Control Room, in Srinagar, on Thursday. Pic/PTI

The Serum Institute of India (SII) and UNICEF have entered into a long-term supply agreement for the AstraZeneca/Oxford and the Novavax vaccines, with the UN children's agency saying it will have access to up to 1.1 billion doses of vaccines for around 100 countries.

India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the Coronavirus vaccines. "Today we are pleased to announce the conclusion of a long-term supply agreement with the Serum Institute of India for COVID-19 vaccines, to access two vaccine products through technology transfer from AstraZeneca and Novavax," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.

IIT-Mandi's app can track Corona patients
A team led by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Mandi has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based biometric application to monitor and detect the identity of a home quarantined COVID-19 patient. The mobile app, dubbed LakshmanRekha, uses a combination of biometric verification, geofencing and AI so that no patient can breach the assigned quarantine space.

‘No new cases in 47 dists in three weeks'
As many as 47 districts have not reported new COVID-19 cases and 251 districts have not reported any COVID-19-related deaths in the last three weeks, said Union Health Ministry on Thursday adding that India's COVID-19 cumulative positivity rate is 5.42 per cent and positivity rate last week was at 1.82 per cent. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the active cases in the country is less than 1.60 lakh and declining.

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