Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com
Vol XXXI No. 29
DIMAPUR, TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021 Pages 12 ` 5.00
Rijiju inaugurates 1st sports school in NE sports, Page 12
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international, Page 9
Govt’s claims of Covaxin efficacy questioned
NEW DELHI, JAN 4 (AGENCIES): In a move that is seen to promote ‘Made in India’ products, Bharat Biotech a Hyderabad firm has been given the nod to sell its Covaxin. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on Sunday accorded approval for restricted emergency use of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and the indigenously developed vaccine Covaxin of Bharat Biotech. Several experts have raised concern over the “hasty approval” granted to the COVID-19 vaccines despite the lack of adequate efficacy data. A doctor-cum-research head of a lab affiliated to a government research lab also expressed reservations. “At this point, I wouldn’t advise Covaxin. All we seem to know is that it’s safe and so may not be harmful but efficacy is a different matter and needs to be proved,” the expert said requesting anonymity. “In the interest of transparency, we ask that the regulator share detailed rationale or the decision along with disclosure of data... We are baffled to understand
what scientific logic has motivated top experts in the SEC (Subject Expert Committee) to approve this vaccine (Covaxin) post haste,” Malini Aisola, of the All India Drug Action Network, said in a statement. However, Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, referred to Covaxin as a “backup vaccine” and added that it is to be used if it was not clear how efficacious the SII vaccine would be. However, noted virologist Shahid Jameel said he does believe that eventually Covaxin would turn out to be safe and show more than 70 per cent efficacy. “I say this based on the platform, which is widely used and Bharat Biotech’s own track record of successfully making inactivated viral vaccines,” he said. He also said his concerns are based on the processes adopted for approving the vaccine and also on the utterances of people in responsible positions. “If approval requires both safety and efficacy data for a representative population, phase 2 safety and immunogenicity do not fulfil that criteria,” he said.
Nagaland bat study: Swamy to file CBI complaint
Dzükou fire: NPF slams PDA China denies coronavirus Nagaland COVID-19 tally 11935 govt’s lackadaisical attitude leaked from Wuhan lab COVID-19 STATUS AS ON january 4, 2021
DIMAPUR, JAN 4 (NPN): BJP Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Subramanian Swamy has said that he would file a complaint with the CBI on the “Nagaland Bat Virus illegal study”. In a tweet, Swamy said “I will file with CBI a complaint on the Nagaland Bat Virus illegal study conducted by Tata’s NCBS in collaboration with Wuhan University and PLA. The US Army may also been involved with NCBS. It is completely antinational & illegal since mandatory clearance from ICMR was not taken.” Swamy claimed that Bat Virus Study was not submitted to ICMR of Health Ministry, which he said was mandatory. “The Report of the illegal study was signed by Bat woman She Zhengli of Wuhan U and Uma Ramakrishnan of Tata’s NCBS. This was admitted when questioned by me during a Standing Committee hearing,” he claimed. It may be mentioned that following media reports regarding study of bats in Nagaland, National Centre for Biological Sciences on February 4, 2020 clarified that no biological samples or infectious agents were transferred into or out of India and stressed that the study had no connection with corona viruses.
This is it!
“He loves online classes because he can go on meditation.” K Y M C
Urges Centre for CBI, NIA probe DIMAPUR, JAN 4 (NPN): Expressing pain and anguish over the ravaging wild fire at Dziikou valley, NPF slammed the PDA government for its “lackadaisical attitude” and urged the chief minister or his ministerial cabinet to personally survey area and do the needful steps to contain the fire as well as to protect the valley. NPF stated that since the Dzükou valley can be termed as a National asset, it urged the Centre to immediately look into the matter with great seriousness and may even involve the CBI or NIA to probe the cause of the inferno. Alleging that the inferno cannot be considered as a natural disaster, but a man made fire causing great
“That is why we conduct a phase 3. It is the closest you get to a population. Where is that data? Vaccines are not drugs. They are given to healthy people. They are prevention not a treatment. Both safety and efficacy is required,” he said. He also questioned what is an approval for a ‘backup’? ‘Does this mean that if needed, a vaccine of unproven efficacy would be used?’ He said the biggest concern is that ‘sidestepping’ processes and poor/ complex communication will fuel vaccine hesitancy
in India. “There is already evidence of that on account of fast tracked development timescales. Our country has one of the finest immunisation programmes. It will also undermine the global value of India’s vaccine industry, which is first rate by any measure,” he said. Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Dr Balram Bhargava had Sunday said Covaxin is based on an inactivated whole virus, having potential to target mutated coronavirus strains including the UK-variant, and it was a major reason
for giving it a conditional nod. He, however, had also said no clear data regarding the efficacy of the vaccine is available so far. “The data generated so far demonstrates a strong immune response (both antibody as well as T cell) and in-vitro viral neutralisation. The ongoing clinical trial is the largest trial on 25,800 subjects, in which 23,000 volunteers have already been enrolled including subjects with comorbid conditions, and the vaccine has demonstrated safety till date,” he (Cont’d on p-8) said.
Dzükou valley fire ‘under control’
Vax to cost Rs. 219-292 to govt, higher price for pvt mkt
PTI adds: COVID vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford will cost USD 3-4 per shot (Rs 219-292) to the government and will be priced at double that rate in private market ones such sales open up, said the CEO of its Indian manufacturer on Monday. Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has a licence to produce the shot and has already manufactured close to 50 million doses. Its CEO Adar Poonawalla told PTI that the company will start selling the Covishield to the government and GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) nations in the first stage, followed by the private market. Indian drug regulator on Sunday approved Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for restricted emergency use in the country. “We want the vaccine to be affordable and accessible to all. The government of India will receive it at a far more affordable price of USD 3-4, since they will be buying in a larger volume,” he said. Only after meeting their requirements, “the private market will open up where the pricing would be USD 6-8 per dose, he said. Serum will have 100 million doses in a month, and will possibly double it by April.
harm not only to the beauty of the valley but also to the environment, NPF said that stringent action should be initiated against any miscreants found responsible for the fire. Besides being a tourist hotspot, NPF said that the valley was also home to various species of flora and fauna and burning of such forest will deeply dampen the ecological balance. Meanwhile, NPF lauded Governor, RN Ravi for showing his personal concern as the latter visited the blazing valley to take first hand information. It also appreciated the Air Force, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, DC and SP Kohima, Forest department, Southern Angami Youth Organization volunteers and all those involved for giving their best effort to douse the blazing fire.
Says global outbreaks caused pandemic
BEIJING, JAN 4 (PTI): China on Monday vehemently refuted the US charge that the novel coronavirus was leaked from a bio lab in the country and asserted that the pandemic was likely to have been caused by separate outbreaks in multiple places in the world. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying’s remarks came amidst reports that a ten-member team of the World Health Organisation (WHO) scientists would visit China this month to probe the origin of the coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan in December 2019. Beijing is yet to confirm the visit by the WHO team and remained silent about granting permission for it to visit Wuhan city in central China. “I have no detailed information for you,” Hua told a media briefing here when asked about the visit of the WHO team and whether its schedule included a visit to Wuhan. China has been proactively questioning the widely-held view that the deadly outbreak broke out in a wet market in Wuhan where the live animals are sold. The market remained closed and sealed since early last year. In May 2020, the World Health Assembly (WHA)- the governing body of the 194-member states of WHO- approved a resolution to set up an independent inquiry to conduct an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the international re(Cont’d on p-8) sponse as well as that of WHO.
Fire line cutting underway at Dzükou valley on January 4. (DIPR)
District
Asymptomatic
Mild
Moderate
ACTIVE CASES Symptomatic Death Recovunder Mi- Total Critical-ICU Death ered Investiga- grated Cases Se- With- With On tion vere out Oxy- VentiOxygen gen lator 0 0 0 4 6208 51 0 72 6404 0 0 0 0 39 1 0 0 41 0 0 0 0 3610 21 0 31 3715 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 9 18 1 0 0 0 131 2 0 6 179 0 0 0 0 592 2 0 9 604 0 0 0 0 498 0 0 0 502 0 0 0 0 47 0 0 0 47 0 0 0 0 243 1 0 0 244
Dimapur Kiphire Kohima Longleng Mokokchung Mon Peren Phek Tuensang
58 1 52 0 32 1 4 0 0
10 0 1 0 6 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Wokha
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
35
1
0
2
39
Zunheboto Total
0 148
0 17
0 3
0 1
0 0
0 0
0 4
139 11551
0 79
0 0
3 132
142 11935
*10 deaths not due to Covid-19 *0 deaths under investigation
DIMAPUR,JAN 4 (NPN): Nagaland’s COVID-19 tally rose to 11935 after 5 cases were reported on Monday-- 2 each in Dimapur and Kohima and 1 in Mon. Further, the distribution across various categories include 4657 cases from the armed forces/police, 1836 returnees, 4876 traced contacts and 566 frontline workers.
As on January 4, there were 173 active cases while 11551 had recovered from the infection and 132 migrated. Meanwhile, India’s virus caseload rose to 1,03,40,469, while the death toll increased to 1,49,649 with 214 new fatalities, Health ministry stated. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,46,867.
Govt-farmers talks end in deadlock, next meet on Jan 8 New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI): The seventh round of talks between protesting unions and three central ministers ended inconclusively on Monday as farmer groups stuck to their demand for the repeal of three farm laws, while the government listed out various benefits of the new Acts for the growth of the country’s agriculture sector. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said he remains hopeful of a solution in the next meeting on January 8, but asserted that efforts need to be made from both sides for a solution to be reached (taali dono haathon se bajti hai). He also said no outcome could be reached in today’s meeting as farmer leaders remained adamant on one issue of repeal of the laws, but the government wanted a clause-wise discussion on the legislations to take forward the talks.
Farmers from Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan head towards Delhi, to join the main agitation, Monday. (PTI)
Farmer leaders, however, alleged that it was the government’s “ego problem” that was coming in the way of resolving the issues and they insisted they would not relent on their key demands for the repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee for the MSP (minimum support price) system for procurement of their crops. From the very beginning of the meeting,
union leaders kept on insisting on the repeal of the three contentious farm laws and the two sides took a long break after just about one hour of discussions. During the break, representatives of protesting farmers had their own food, arranged from langar (community kitchen), as they have been doing for the last few times. However, unlike the last round of talks on
He said 14 sorties were carried out during the day and 28,000 litres of water was dropped by these choppers, taking the total number of sorties till date to 56 and 75,000 litres of water dropped. He informed the meeting that IAF would be operating its choppers from sunrise to sunset on Tuesday to contain the spread of fire. Shihab claimed that, as per IAF assessment, the fire was well within control and expressed his optimism that the situation would be totally brought under control in a day or two. He said IAF was carrying out the entire operation in coordination with the State government, Indian Army, Assam Rifles, Dimapur civil airfield, Kohima
DIMAPUR, JAN 4 (NPN): The overall situation in Dzükou Valley, where a fire has been raging since December 29 and has turned vast areas into cinders, was now more or less under control. Informing this, deputy commissioner (DC) Kohima and District Disaster Management Authority chairman Mohammed Ali Shihab A told a review meeting here on Monday that fire line cutting was carried out in full swing, while four India Air Force (IAF) helicopters, two helicopters from Rangapahar Military Station and two from Dimapur civil airfield were carrying out operations to contain the inferno by dropping water from Bambi buckets.
December 30, the ministers did not join the union leaders for the langar food and were seen having their own discussion separately during the break, which lasted for almost two hours. The two sides got together again to resume their discussions at around 5.15 p.m., but no headway could be made as the talks remained focussed on the farmers’ demand for the repeal of the Acts. Farmer leaders said the government said it needs to consult internally and thereafter it would come back to the unions. The union leaders will also have their own meeting on Tuesday to decide their next course of action. In Monday’s talks, another key demand of farmers for a legal guarantee to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) procurement system barely came up for
discussion. Kavitha Kur ungati of Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch, said, “The standoff continued as the government is talking about benefits of the laws and we are asking for the repeal of those laws.” Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) President Balbir Singh Rajewal said farmers will not agree to anything less than the repeal of three farms laws. “We will discuss only the MSP issue and the repeal of laws. It is the ego problem of the government that is coming in way of resolving issues,” he said. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Tomar said the farmer leaders should flag specific issues in the three laws on which they have problems. He maintained that the talks took place in a cordial atmosphere.
9 more detected with UK Covid strain; total 38 NEW DELHI, JAN 4 (IANS): Nine more Covid patients have been detected carrying the new and highly infectious strain of novel coronavirus from the UK, taking the total number of such cases to 38 in the country, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. All the nine latest additions have been reported from a single laboratory in the national capital, which accounts for nearly half of the total cases of new mutant coronavirus strain. The Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology have reported all the new nine cases detected on Monday. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have also reported 8 cases till date. Together, NCDC and IGIB have detected 18 of the total 38 cases.
district administration and Indian Oil Corporation. The DC said Addl SP Kohima and SDO (C) Jakhama went to Khuzama to assess the spread of fire from Dzükou valley, adding that National Disaster Response Force and Manipur police team were seen at the site of the incident coordinating the situation. In Monday’s operation to contain the fire, he said 78 personnel were involved, which included 17 Kohima police personnel, 10 personnel from 4th NAP, five from forest department and 46 from NDRF (including those stationed at base camp). Mentioning that the operation team, except NDRF personnel who are staying back at the base camp, returned to Kohima, Shihab said the operation would resume on Tuesday with the teams departing Viswema Dzükou entry point at 5 a.m. SP Kohima, Manoj Kumar, ADC Lithrongla Tongpi Rutsa, DFO Raj Kumar and others also attended the meeting. After the meeting, the DC also briefed about the entire situation in Dzükou to commissioner of Nagaland Rovilatuo Mor. (Cont’d on p-8)
Gov, Dy.CM extend Thüni greetings DIMAPUR, JAN 4 (NPN): Nagaland governor RN Ravi has extended warm Thüni greetings to the people of Nagaland specially to the members of the Chakhesang community. In his message, Ravi said that Thüni—a thanksgiving festival for a bountiful harvest and good health—promotes significant virtues such as equity, friendship, peace, purity and originality. Governor also called upon all responsible to continue to be steadfast in following Covid-19 protocols stated as they celebrate Thüni festival. “On this auspicious occasion, I wish everybody good health, peace and prosperity. God bless you all!” Ravi stated. Dy. CM: State deputy chief minister Y Patton has also greeted the Chakhesang community on the occasion of Thuni festival. In a message, Patton said that the post harvest Thanksgiving festival is also a well-timed celebration to welcome the New Year. “It is a time to renew friendship and dispel enmity of the past,” he added. Patton, who is also the state BJP legislature party leader, conveyed warmest Thuni greetings and wishes the Chakhesang community on behalf of the state BJP legislatures.
Speed limit in Dmu fixed at 40 kms/hr
DIMAPUR, JAN 4 (NPN): Dimapur police has fixed the vehicular speed limit at 40 kms per hour within Dimapur Town area upto Chumoukedima for a period of one month with effect from January 5, 2021 to February 3, 2021. In a notification, Commissioner of Police, Dimapur stated that this was done so in the interest of public safety and convenience and as per rules laid down under Section 112 of MV Act. K Y M C