The Tripura government has ordered a probe into an alleged misappropriation of funds for purchasing COVID-19 test kits and other materials under the National Health Mission (NHM) and removed two officials for an “impartial enquiry”, a minister said on Saturday. State finance secretary Tanushree Debbarma and urban development department’s secretary Kiran Gitte have been asked to enquire into the misuse of the resources, and submit a report at the earliest, state law minister Ratan Lal Nath said. “Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has ordered an enquiry into the matter after former health minister and BJP MLA Sudip Roy Barman wrote to him, alleging that the government’s fund was misused in procuring COVID-19 kits,” Nath said. State health secretary Dr Debashish Basu and NHM director Aditi Majumder were removed from their present posts for an “unbiased and impartial enquiry”, he said.
Nearly two months after an embarrassing end to his presidential campaign, Mike Bloomberg is again deploying his massive personal fortune – this time to combat the coronavirus. The billionaire former New York City mayor is spending tens of millions of dollars to bolster social services, feed first responders and help local officials trace the spread of the coronavirus in the city that has become the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. The effort is in line with Bloomberg’s long-standing interest in scientific research and public health. But it’s also an opportunity for him to rebuild an image that was badly damaged earlier this year by accusations from some Democrats that he was trying to buy the White House. He spent more than $1 billion on a campaign that ultimately resulted in just one primary victory, in American Samoa. Allies say the coronavirus plays to Bloomberg’s strengths. “He is really good at a lot of things, but he’s really, really good in crisis, in organizing, in bringing people together and making plans and executing,” said former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who served as a national co-chair for Bloomberg’s presidential bid. Bloomberg plans to spend $10.5 million to build a contact tracing program, which would help local officials follow the spread of the virus in an effort to contain it.
China has approved its third coronavirus vaccine for the second phase of clinical trials as it reported 12 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 82,816. China has approved three coronavirus vaccines, including the one developed by Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for clinical trials. An “inactivated” vaccine developed by Wuhan Institute of Biological Products under the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) started its clinical trials, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. An “inactivated” vaccine consists of virus particles, bacteria, or other pathogens that have been grown in culture and then lose disease producing capacity. In contrast, live vaccines use pathogens that are still alive. WIV has been in the eye of the storm in recent weeks as US President Donald Trump and top American officials alleged that the coronavirus may have escaped from there and demanded a probe into it. An official of the WIV denied it, terming the allegation “entirely based on speculation”.
Trying to wriggle out of the backlash he received for his outlandish suggestions, US President Donald Trump has said that he was being “sarcastic” when he told his medical experts that they should consider using UV light, heat, or injecting disinfectants into the COVID-19 patients as a potential treatment. Trump faced intense rebuke on Thursday for his far-fetched suggestion from health experts who urged people not to listen to the President’s “dangerous” advice. Doctors and the company that makes Lysol and Dettol warned that injecting or ingesting disinfectants was dangerous. When Trump was asked about his comments during a bill signing on Friday, he said: “I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen”. “I was asking a sarcastic — and a very sarcastic question — to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside,” he said.
