SAJA advises news firms against using ‘India variant’ term for new Covid-19 strain

People wait to receive a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccine centre set up at City Hall in Hull, northeast England. Pic/AFP

The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) is advising news organisations against using the term ‘India variant' or ‘Indian variant', while describing the new strain of Covid-19, that reportedly originated out of India.

"Over the years, certain disease names have provoked verbal, physical or social backlash against members of specific religious or ethnic groups. The most recent example is Covid-19, which was first detected in Wuhan, China. Health experts and advocates have directly connected terms like the "China virus" or "Wuhan virus" to the recent increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans," the SAJA said. The association encouraged journalists to exercise care in their ongoing coverage of the Coronavirus surge in India and said it was available to foster fair and accurate coverage of the South Asian community.

B.1.617, known as the ‘double mutant' this name comes from two notable mutations found in other variants that appeared together for the first time in this new strain and was first detected in the western parts of India, the letter stated.

Britain free of Covid-19 by August

The Coronavirus will no longer be circulating in Britain by August, the government's departing vaccine taskforce chief Clive Dix said. He added that he believed the vaccine booster programme could be pushed back to early 2022. Dix said that he expects everybody in the UK to have been vaccinated at least once by the end of July.

WHO Approves China's Sinopharm

The WHO on Friday approved the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use - the first Chinese jab to receive the WHO's green light.
The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world. China has approved five of its vaccines for emergency use.

World's largest cargo plane carries oxygen plants to India

The world's largest cargo plane left Belfast in Northern Ireland on Friday, carrying three 18-tonne oxygen generators and 1,000 ventilators as part of the UK's latest response to India's Covid-19 crisis, the British government said. The Foreign, Common-wealth and Development Office, which has funded the supplies, said the airport staff worked through the night to load the life-saving kit aboard the massive Antonov 124 aircraft, which will land in Delhi today after which the Indian Red Cross will help transfer them to hospitals. Each of the three oxygen generation units produces 500 litres of oxygen per minute, enough for 50 people to use at a time.

15,76,36,813
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS

CASES IN THE WORLD

32,86,497
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE

13,51,12,056
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS

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