Yeddyurappa govt should get No. 1 award for corruption: Amit Shah!

The United States of America has bought almost the entire world's supply of remdesivir, one of just two drugs proven to treat COVID-19. 

“President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have access to the first authorised therapeutic for Covid-19,” said the US health and human services secretary, Alex Azar. 

“To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs remdesivir can get it. The Trump administration is doing everything in our power to learn more about life-saving therapeutics for Covid-19 and secure access to these options for the American people.”

The announcement implies that no other country in the world will be able to buy remdesivir for next three months at least.

The anti-viral drug patented by the US-based Gilead biotech firm is the only one approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to treat patients with the novel coronavirus.

The Trump administration has already shown that it is prepared to outbid and outmanoeuvre all other countries to secure the medical supplies it needs for the US.

“They’ve got access to most of the drug supply [of remdesivir], so there’s nothing for Europe,” said Dr Andrew Hill, senior visiting research fellow at Liverpool University.

Remdesivir, the first drug approved by licensing authorities in the US to treat Covid-19, is made by Gilead and has been shown to help people recover faster from the disease. 

The first 140,000 doses, supplied to drug trials around the world, have been used up. The Trump administration has now bought more than 500,000 doses, which is all of Gilead’s production for July and 90% of August and September.

Mysuru, Mar 18: Even though the migration season is coming to end and the winged visitors are set to fly back, the water bodies where most birds nest and breed are under close surveillance with the report about spread of bird flu in Mysuru as unusual death of birds can be a cause for worry and hence the authorities are on high alert.

At Karanji Lake, the birds are watched in detail twice – morning and evening. If any sick bird or dead bird is noticed, the Zoo Vets are alerted. So far, no such birds had been sighted. The surveillance data is maintained every day. Intensive surveillance and passive surveillance is done.

Zoo Authority of Karnataka (ZAK) Member Secretary B P Ravi said the birds are doing well and there is no cause for worry with their health monitored constantly along with tests on the bird droppings done every month at the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal.

Chitradurga, Feb 10: President of the BJP State unit Nalin Kumar Kateel on Sunday hit out at Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge for allegedly likening Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “zero candle bulb”.

Mr. Kateel told reporters here that Mr. Modi was a “1,000 watt bulb that gave light to the world”, and compared Mr. Kharge to a lamp that had burned out politically.

Mr. Kateel charged that Mr. Kharge had become frustrated after losing the elections and after his party did not even consider him for a Rajya Sabha seat. And this had made the Congress leader to make wild charges against the Prime Minister.

Lashing out at the Congress, Mr. Kateel alleged that the Congress was continuing the “divide and rule” policy of the British and accused the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of being the “other face of the Congress”.

Mr. Kateel also came down on the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He ridiculed the Congress for the delay in choosing a new KPCC chief after Dinesh Gundu Rao submitted his resignation.