NEWS

As the number of novel coronavirus infections are on the rise once again, it has been noted that the COVID-19 R-value too has risen sharply. The R-value calculated between August 14-17 was 0.89 but between August 24-29 it stood at 1.17, according to the researchers at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. 

"Up to August 30, the situation looked pretty bad. India's R-value had shot up close to 1.2. Not only is it greater than one, it is much higher than the last time there was a scare of a third wave (it was 1.03 at that time)," Sitabhra Sinha, who is leading the team of researchers at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, told a news agency. 

With seven IITs continuing to boycott the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, the latest edition of the global league table released on Thursday did not have a single Indian institution in the top 300.

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is the country’s top performing institute, but is ranked in the 301-350 bracket. It is followed by IIT Ropar and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research. Both are in the 351-400 bracket.

Overall, India is home to 35 of the world’s top 1,000 universities, its second-highest total ever in the rankings. Last year, it was 36. Globally, the University of Oxford tops the ranking for the sixth consecutive year.

The KEM Hospital and Research Centre at Vadu will start enrolling minors and children for the phase II and III clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine Covovax from Monday.

Last year, American vaccine maker Novovax Inc had announced a licence agreement with the Serum Institute of India for the development and commercialisation of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373, or Covovax, in low and middle-income countries, including India.

Among adults, the process of vaccination of Covovax in adults during clinical trials has been completed, but other requirements, such as collection of immunogenicity data, are pending.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday exuded confidence over India becoming a global manufacturing hub for defence, soon, in consonance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a self-reliant India – ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

“India will soon become a global manufacturing hub. We are taking big strides towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ as envisioned by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We will soon achieve self-reliance in defence. Our aim is to reduce dependency on imports and increase defence exports,” Rajnath Singh said.

The Defence Minister’s remarks came during his visit to Kevadia, Gujarat, on Thursday to review the preparations for the ‘DefExpo-2022’ which he claimed would be ‘much greater’ than its previous edition. He reiterated the Modi government’s resolve to make ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for India’ a reality.