India reported 6,915 new Covid-19 cases, less than 10,000 second day in a row, and 180 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. On Monday, the country recorded 8,013 infections. With today’s deaths, India’s death toll rose to 5,14,023.The active cases presently stand at 92,472, comprising 0.22 per cent of the country’s total caseload. The total number of recoveries rose to more than 4.23 crore or 4,23,24,550 after 16,864 Covid-19 patients recovered on Tuesday. Across several private hospitals in Pune, a large stock of Covishield vaccine is lying unused and is likely to go waste with the expiry date – some on February 28 and others by March. “We have data of vaccines across 51 private vaccination centres where at least more than one lakh doses of Covishield vaccine are set to expire,” said Dr Sanjay Patil, chairman of Indian Medical Association’s Hospital Board of India, Pune chapter.Under the national Covid vaccination programme, almost 51 out of 110 hospitals and 192 members of the Indian Medical Association’s Hospital Board of India Pune chapter had started private Covid vaccination centres. They had purchased vaccines and were helping citizens complete the vaccination schedule. “We have urged the district collector to replace these vaccines with fresh stock,” Dr Patil said. The publication of a study protocol that aims to understand the potential of Ashwagandha – a traditional ayurvedic herbal drug for boosting immunity to improve Covid-19 vaccine response – in a top clinical research journal is being viewed as a landmark global recognition for ayurved and modern medicine integrative research.Scientists are enthused over the publication of the protocol in a high-ranking clinical research journal: Frontiers in Medicine. The study is funded by Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) and Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India.
