Why most Indians may be protected from Omicron

News Network
November 30, 2021

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A “very large” number of Indians are likely to remain protected from Omicron or any other variant of Covid-19 and there is no need to panic, eminent virologist Dr Shahid Jameel has said.

Jameel, who is the former head of the advisory group to the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (INASACOG), said people must be cautious and keep wearing masks.

"While we should be cautious, there is no need to panic. India's second wave due to the Delta variant was huge, infecting more people than we imagined. This is reflected in the fourth National Sero-survey that showed 67 per cent of Indians to have Covid antibodies. That is about 930-940 million people at a time when the vaccination levels were very low, and so it came mainly from infection," he said in an interview.

"More recently, Delhi showed 97 per cent with antibodies, Mumbai around 85-90 per cent and so on. All this means that a very large fraction of Indians will be protected from severe disease caused by Omicron or any other variant," Jameel said.

A new variant of Covid-19, feared to have a high amount of spike mutations, has been detected in South Africa. On November 26, the WHO had designated B.1.1.529 as a variant of concern and named it Omicron.

Speaking on the effectiveness of vaccines against the new variant, Jameel said more data is awaited but vaccine effectiveness against the variant may dip by a few points. However, vaccines will not become useless, he said.

"We don't have this data available yet. It may take another one to two weeks for the first laboratory results to become available. My hunch is that vaccine effectiveness against this variant may dip a few points, but vaccines will not become useless. They will continue to protect from severe disease," he said.

On how India can prepare to tackle the new variant, he said people should not panic, and continue to wear mask while the government should increase the rate of vaccination.

"We are fortunate to have sufficient vaccines and the ability to vaccinate. Along this line, it may help to reduce the duration between two doses of Covishield from 16 weeks to 12 weeks. This will get more people vaccinated quickly, especially those in vulnerable age groups (elderly), those with comorbidities and those in high risk occupations (health care)," he said.

On what role a booster dose of vaccine can play against the new variant to tackle waning immunity against Covid-19, he said booster shots help, but it is more important to first get more people vaccinated with two doses.

"Further, about 90 per cent of doses in India are Covishield, and this has limited use as a booster. For that we will need either RNA, DNA or protein vaccines. For the moment, just make sure more and more people get the two doses," he said.

Responding to reports claiming that the variant mainly affects people below 25 years of age, he said there is no data available on the subject.

"So far, the few known patients are in this age group. I doubt it will pose a bigger threat to children who naturally have no or mild disease to this virus," Jameel said.

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News Network
June 13,2025

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Ahmedabad, June 13: Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the 40-year-old British-Indian who miraculously survived the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad yesterday, shared his ordeal with the media today.

Prime Minster Narendra Modi, who arrived in Ahmedabad on Friday and visited the site of the air crash, also met Vishwash. 

He was the only survivor of the Air India crash that claimed the lives of the other 241 people on board.  The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, flying from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed into a medical college hostel just 33 seconds after takeoff on Thursday afternoon. 

Amid numerous videos from the scene, one showed a man walking away in a bloodstained shirt. He was later identified as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor and passenger of the ill-fated flight.

Who is Vishwash Kumar Ramesh?

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh is a 40-year-old British national who was visiting family in India. He was returning to the UK with his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh, 45. Vishwash was seated in 11A, while his brother occupied a different row on the plane.

“I do not know how I got saved. 30 seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly,” Vishwash said.

Still holding his Air India boarding pass, Vishwash recounted, "When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital."

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Agencies
June 15,2025

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Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, June 15, stoking fears of a wider conflict after Israel expanded its bestial aggression against its main rival with a strike on the world’s biggest gas field.

Tehran called off nuclear talks that Washington had said were the only way to halt Israel’s bombing, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks were nothing compared with what Iran would see in the coming days.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the discussions in Oman could not take place while Iran was being subjected to Israel’s “barbarous” attacks.

The latest wave of Iranian attacks began shortly after 11:00 p.m. on Saturday (2000 GMT), when air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Haifa, sending around a million people into bomb shelters.

Around 2:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT Saturday), the Israeli military warned of another incoming missile barrage and urged residents to seek shelter.

Explosions echoed through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as missiles streaked across the skies as interceptor rockets were launched in response. The military lifted its shelter-in-place advisory nearly an hour after issuing the warning.

The ambulance service said at least seven people were killed overnight, including a 10-year-old boy and a woman in her 20s, and more than 140 injured in multiple attacks.

Search and rescue worked combed through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed in multiple strikes, using flashlights and dogs to look for survivors.

Israeli media said at least 35 people were missing after a strike hit Bat Yam, a city south of Tel Aviv. A spokesperson for the emergency services said a missile hit an 8-story building there and while many people were rescued, there were fatalities.

It was unclear how many buildings were hit overnight.

So far, at least nine people in Israel have been killed and over 300 others injured since Iran launched its retaliatory attacks on Friday.

Iran has said 78 people were killed there on the first day of Israel’s campaign, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-story apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children.

The Shahran oil depot in Tehran was targeted in an Israeli attack, Iran said, but added the situation was under control. A fire had erupted after an Israeli attack on an oil refinery near the capital while Israeli strikes also targeted Iran’s defense ministry building, causing minor damage, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump had warned Iran of worse to come, but said it was not too late to halt the Israeli campaign if Tehran accepted a sharp downgrading of its nuclear program.

Israeli military issues evacuation warning to Iranians

Israel on Sunday issued an evacuation warning to Iranians residing near weapons facilities in Iran, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a post on X in Arabic and Farsi.

The spokesperson said the evacuation warning includes all weapons factories and supporting facilities.

US forces supported Israel in attacks

Araghchi said Sunday Tehran had evidence to show US forces supported the intense bombardment campaign Israel launched against the Islamic republic this week.

“We have solid proof of the support of the American forces and American bases in the region for the attacks of the Zionist regime military forces,” Araghchi told foreign diplomats in a meeting broadcast on state TV.

Araghchi also slammed the United Nations Security Council, accusing it of “indifference” over Israel’s deadly attacks on the Islamic republic.

Gas field attack

In the first apparent attack to hit Iran’s energy infrastructure, Tasnim news agency said Iran partially suspended production at South Pars, the world’s biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday.

The South Pars field, offshore in Iran’s southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran.

Fears about potential disruption to the region’s oil exports had already driven up oil prices 9 percent on Friday even though Israel spared Iran’s oil and gas on the first day of its attacks.

An Iranian general, Esmail Kosari, said on Saturday that Tehran was reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz controlling access to the Gulf for tankers.

With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.

B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization, said on Saturday that instead of exhausting all possibilities for a diplomatic resolution, Israel’s government had chosen to start a war that puts the entire region in danger.

Tehran has warned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles.

However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.

Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.

Tehran insists the program is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. The UN nuclear watchdog, however, reported Iran this week as violating obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.

Iran says scores killed

Iran said 78 people were killed on the first day of Israel’s campaign, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-story apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children.

Iran had launched its own retaliatory missile volley on Friday night, killing at least three people in Israel.

With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.

B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organization, said on Saturday that instead of exhausting all possibilities for a diplomatic resolution, Israel’s government had chosen to start a war that puts the entire region in danger.

Tehran has warned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles.

However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.

Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.

Tehran insists the program is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. However the UN nuclear watchdog reported it this week as violating obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.

‘We will hit every site’

Israel said three people were killed and 76 wounded by Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile barrage overnight, which lit up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu vowed to keep up Israel’s campaign.

“We will hit every site, every target of the ayatollah regime,” he said in a video statement, threatening greater action “in the coming days.”

He added that the Israeli campaign had dealt a “real blow” to Iran’s nuclear program and maintained it had the “clear support” of US President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu’s defense minister, Israel Katz, warned “Tehran will burn” if it kept targeting Israeli civilians.

Israel’s fire service reported residential buildings were hit following the latest launches.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian fired back that “the continuation of the Zionist aggression will be met with a more severe and powerful response from the Iranian armed forces.”

According to a statement from his office, Pezeshkian also condemned Washington’s “dishonesty” for supporting Israel while engaged in nuclear talks with Iran — which mediator Oman said would no longer take place on Sunday.

Western governments have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, which it denies.

Amid the continued conflict, planned negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program were canceled, throwing into question when and how an end to the fighting could come.

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News Network
June 20,2025

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Tehran, June 20: In a fresh wave of Operation True Promise III, Iranian armed forces on Friday launched a barrage of missiles and drones at military targets in the south and north of occupied territories.

The spokesperson for the operation, in a statement, said the 17th phase saw the Iranian armed forces fire missiles and drones at Israeli military sites and industries command and control centers as well as the spying hubs.

The statement further noted that long-range and super-heavy missiles as well as combat and suicide drones were used in this phase of the retaliatory operation.

The spokesperson said the world must "await for our surprises," adding that the sacred defense with the support of the Iranian people will end with victory.

Despite the sweeping censorship on publication of images related to Iran's retaliatory operations, some videos were shared online showing plumes of smoke billowing up in the air at the Haifa port after one of the missiles made a direct impact there.

The port city is wearing a deserted look amid the downpour of Iranian missiles, which have been evading multiple layers of Israeli defense systems to hit the intended targets.
The barrage of Iranian long-range missiles, some of them being used for the first time, also hit military targets in other parts of the occupied territories on Friday.

On Friday, in the skies of the northern occupied Palestine, a Shahid-136 drone was also spotted making a flight quietly without being intercepted.

The headquarters of the Zionist propaganda outlet, Channel 14, was also successfully targeted on Friday after the prior evacuation warning issued by the IRGC.

In the fifteen phases of the operation so far, Iranian armed forces – led by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) – have successfully targeted and decimated sensitive and strategic Israeli military and intelligence facilities in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Military experts say the missile and drone strikes have further exposed the ineffectiveness of the Israeli regime’s air defense systems, forcing illegal settlers and regime officials to flee their homes and seek shelter underground.

On Friday, Iran's foreign minister will be holding talks with his European counterparts in Geneva to discuss the Israeli regime's aggression against the Islamic Republic.

He has ruled out diplomatic talks as long as the US-backed aggression continues.

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