India: Modi releases 8th instalment of PM-KISAN benefits
IANS/New Delhi
The fund is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday released the eighth instalment of financial benefits worth Rs 19,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme to benefit more than 9.5 crore farmers that includes first-time beneficiaries in West Bengal.
The Prime Minister released the instalment through video conferencing, saying farmers in West Bengal for the first time benefitted with the Central scheme and that more farmers will get the support as soon as the Centre receives it .
Covid: Biden calls lifting of indoor mask rule great day
AFP/Washington
Photo: AFP
Biden implored those yet to be completely vaccinated to keep wearing masks for now.
US President Joe Biden told Americans on Thursday that the lifting of the rule on indoor mask wearing was a great day in the fight against Covid-19 and that they could now smile again. I think it s a great milestone, a great day, he said in a nationally televised address at the White House.
In often emotional remarks, Biden declared a major victory in the more than year-long battle which has seen more than half a million Americans die.
Covid: Indian, South African coronavirus variants found in Americas, WHO expert says
Reuters/New York Filed on May 14, 2021
Brazil s so-called Manaus variant P.1 has so far been detected in 21 countries, the WHO expert said.
The four most worrying coronavirus variants have been detected in virtually all countries and territories of the Americas, but although they are more transmissible there is no evidence they are more lethal, a World Health Organization expert said on Thursday.
The vaccines that are being administered in the region do provide more protection against the variants, Jairo Mendez, a WHO infectious diseases expert said in a webinar by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Covid-19: Indian states turn to anti-parasitic drug to fight virus
Mumbai/Web Report
Reuters
Officials claim that an expert panel in Europe had found the drug reduced the recovery time and risk of death.
While the WHO and the US Food and Drug Administration have warned against the use of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug for Covid-19 infections, two Indian states, Goa and Uttarakhand, continue to do so.
Officials in both the states claim that an expert panel in Europe had found the drug reduced the recovery time and risk of death.
Vishwajit Rane, Goa’s health minister, had earlier announced that the government would administer the oral drug for five days to all adults above 18 as a deterrent against Covid-19. Besides WHO, Merck, the company that also manufactures the drug, has also denied that the drug is used for Covid-19.