New Delhi: The world’s first DNA platform based Covid-19 vaccine by Zydus Cadila has received approval for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the drug regulatory authority on Friday, the union government informed.

The vaccine, ZyCoV-D, received approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Friday after the Subject Expert Committee recommended its emergency authorisation in a meeting convened on Thursday, government sources said.

ZyCoV-D has become the sixth vaccine added to a large portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines cleared in the country after locally produced Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Russia’s Sputnik V, the US-made Moderna, and Johnsons and Johnson’s Janssen.

Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology which partnered with the Zydus to develop the vaccine said that “It is a matter of great pride that India produced the world’s first DNA Covid-19 vaccine.

“We are confident that this will be an important vaccine for both India and the world. This is an important milestone in our Indigenous Vaccine Development Mission and positions India on the Global Map for Novel Vaccine Development,” she added.

The 3-dose regimen vaccine can be administered to adults. It is also the first vaccine that can be administered to children aged 12 and above.

Zydus conducted clinical trials for ZyCoV-D at more than 50 centres in India, making it the largest such trial in the country. The volunteers included around 1,000 children aged 12-18, the first vaccine trial for adolescents in India.

The vaccine is delivered through a needle-free applicator called the PharmaJet to ensure painless intradermal vaccine delivery.

The trials, in over 28,000 volunteers, showed primary efficacy of 66.6 per cent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases. This vaccine had already exhibited robust immunogenicity and tolerability and safety profile in the adaptive Phase I/II clinical trials carried out earlier. Both the Phase I/II and Phase III clinical trials have been monitored by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).

The ministry of science and technology said that the vaccine can easily adapt itself to deal with the mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“The plug-and-play technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring,” it added.

Ahmedabad based pharmaceutical firm stated that it plans to manufacture 10-12 crore doses annually. (UNI)

Srinagar: Two militants of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, one of them part of them “part of outfit’s hit squad’, was killed in a gunfight with joint team of Police, army and CRPF in Khrew area of Pampore in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday, officials said.

They said acting on a specific information about presence of militants, a joint cordon-and-search-operation was launched by Police, army’s 50RR and 185 battalion CRPF in the area.

During the search operation, a police spokesman said, as the presence of militants got ascertained, they were given repeated opportunities to surrender. However, he said, they fired “indiscriminately” upon the joint search party which was retaliated, leading to an encounter.

In the ensuing gunfight, he said, two militants of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. They have been identified as Musaib Ahmad Bhat of Khrew Pampore and Muzamil Ahmad Rather of Chakoora Pulwama.

As per police records, the spokesman said, Musaib Mushtaq was involved in executing several attacks including killing of a civilian Javid Ahmad Malik (Peon) at Lurgam area of Tral.

“He was part of a hit squad of Hizbul Mujahideen responsible for civilian killing in South Kashmir.”  Muzamil Ahmad, he said, had joined militant ranks recently.

“Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 01 AK-rifle and 01 pistol were also recovered from the site of encounter,” the spokesman said. He said all the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other militant incidents. (GNS)

By: M S Nazki

Poonch: A soldier was killed after he fell down into 40-ft gorge during an anti-militancy operation along the higher reaches of Pir Panjal Range in Poonch district, army said.

Defence ministry spokesman based in Jammu said that at around 1315 hours, the soldier, Sepoy Lovepreet Singh, while operating along the higher reaches of Pir Panjal Range in a “deliberately planned” counter militancy operation, suffered the 40 feet fall into a gorge while negotiating the difficult heights. “The valiant soldier was acting as guide to the party which was moving along a treacherous route from Jabbiwal to Bagsar(Poonch),” he said.

The 23-year-old soldier belonged to Gurdaspur, Punjab. He is survived by his parents.

“Sepoy Lovepreet Singh was a brave, highly motivated and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for the supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty.” (GNS)

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police chief, Dilbag Singh on Friday said that the militant outfits are trying to foment trouble and disturb the peace in the Union Territory.

Director General of Police (DGP) visited Kulgam of South Kashmir Range where he chaired a security review meeting with the Army, CRPF and jurisdictional officers. During the meeting, he took stock of the security situation of the district, a statement issued here reads.

Accompanied by IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, the DGP was received by DIG SKR Abdul Jabbar, SSP Kulgam Gurinderpal Singh and other jurisdictional officers.

Besides the IGP Kashmir the meeting was attended by Brig Sector 01 RR Vijay Mahadavan, Brig Sector 02 RR A. S. Pundher, DIG SKR, Abdul Jabbar, DIG CRPF Anantnag, D.P Uphaday, SSP Kulgam, COs of Army, CRPF and gazetted jurisdictional officers.

Addressing the officers in the meeting the DGP stressed for intensified cordon and search operations to eliminate remaining militants. He directed the officers to further strengthen and augment the intelligence as well as security grids in their respective areas for the safety and security of the people.

DGP said all the suspicious elements that are providing any kind of support to militant activities should be kept under radar to foil their attempts. Stringent action should be taken against the elements found involved in anti peace activities, he directed.

During the meeting, the DGP reiterated the importance of maintaining close synergy between the J&K Police and other agencies to meet the security challenges. The DGP directed the officers to revisit the security plans of their respective jurisdictions.

He directed officers to remain extra alert as militant outfits are continuously trying to foment trouble and disturb the peace. The DGP ordered a series of measures to further tighten the noose of anti-nation elements.

The DGP directed the officers to brief their respective officers and personnel on a regular basis, especially the forces guarding the vital installations and important persons.

The officers representing different forces briefed the DGP about the measures taken on different fronts with regard to safety and security of people in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu: In a premier e-Governance related event organized at the National level by ETGovernment.com, Chief Executive Officer, Jammu & Kashmir e-Governance Agency (JaKeGA), Amit Sharma, made a special presentation on leading role played by ace e-Governance Agency of the UT towards transforming the way government has been working here during the last few months in an all-important session relating to “Future Ready Digital Ecosystem for Central Government, State Governments and Local Governments”.

This exclusive virtual conference at the national level was organized at national level in which Secretaries, Directors and CEOs of almost all the States, Union Territories and Central Government participated.

CEO JaKeGA was very particular in talking about the lead role played by the agency in successfully implementing eOffice Project in all departments of Civil Secretariat J&K which has resulted into paperless office functioning besides ensuring that both the secretariats in Jammu and Srinagar keep functioning simultaneously throughout the year.

He added that a corollary to it is the recent successful establishment of Central Repository Units (CRUs) in both Secretariat complexes which has facilitated movement of DAK to all respective quarters electronically thereby completing the whole circle of bringing Secretariat functioning on e-Mode.

Amit Sharma during his presentation also mentioned about several key e-governance projects which are being successfully implemented in J&K like upgradation of centralised Data Centre in Jammu, establishment of Data Recovery Centre outside J&K and Near DR Centre in Srinagar, implementation of State Services Delivery Gateway for offering services of various departments through online mode, establishing Digital Village Centres for direct connectivity between top offices and Gram Sabhas, State Wide Area Network to connect all Block level offices using MPLS Technology, creation of an exclusive COVID Dashboard, Online LG Grievance Redressal Mechanism and many such similar initiatives which were widely appreciated by the participants during the Conclave.

While replying to specific queries of ET Government Conclave moderator Arpit Gupta, Amit Sharma shared his vision about upcoming e-governance initiatives in J&K which included LG Dashboard for live display and updating of ongoing development schemes relating to different departments in UT, implementing eOffice in all field offices of J&K, overhauling of existing CSC model to facilitate it for helping the last mile user and even organising national level summits in near future to spread awareness about J&K leading role in information technology sector.

Amit also invited all leading technology players across the board for making J&K as their favourite investment destination since lot of IT-enabled Projects are coming up here in coming days.

Other senior dignitaries who participated in the inaugural panel discussion of this National DigiTech Conclave ‘21 along with CEO included Dr Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, MD CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd, Chanchal Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Government of Bihar, Nand Kumarum, MD, MPSEDC and CEO, MAPST, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Manoj Kumar Mishra, Secretary, Department of Electronics & IT, Government of Odisha, B.Sundar, Special Secretary, Department of IT, E & C, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Kumar Vineet, Special Secretary, IT & Electronics Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh & MD, UPDESCO, D.K Das, Executive VP & Head – Government Business, Axis Bank and Mukesh Mehta, Head – Government Vertical, Red Hat.