Left, Right & Centre

Cipla and Roche India have launched an antibody drug cocktail in India for treating mild to moderate COVID-19 cases. The antibody drug cocktail will be available at leading hospitals and Covid treatment centers across the country. The price of each patient dose will be Rs 59,750. V Simpson Emmanuel, Managing Director & CEO, Roche Pharma India tells NDTV "the antibody cocktail is a combination of two antibodies, it is effective against various variants. Clinical trials have showed it reduced the risk of hospitalisation & deaths by almost 70%."

Days after the centre asked states to directly import vaccines from manufactures, states have hit a wall - the companies have turned down their requests. On Left, Right and Centre, we discuss India's vaccine imports and answer the big question - will local vaccines be enough?

Amazon head Amit Agarwal speaks to NDTV about the online retail giant's role in India's fight against the coronavirus.

As a new UK study says that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines work against the B.1.617.2 COVID virus variant, Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of India's leading virologists, speaks to NDTV about the future of India's vaccination strategy. Dr Kang says that India must try to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible with at least one dose. "We could be looking at mixing vaccination doses as well", says Dr Kang.

After Remdesivir and medical oxygen, SOS are now being heard for Amphotericin B, the drug that treats Mucormycosis or Black Fungus, a rare fungal disease affecting patients recovering from Covid. Over 8,800 cases of the deadly infection have been detected in India. States have begun treating this as a notifiable disease. Black Fungus cases have been brought on primarily by use of steroids to treat Covid patients, say doctors.

Data collated by Max Healthcare shows that double vaccination doses do indeed work. This at a time when the Indian Medical Association has said that 329 doctors have died due to COVID-19 in India in the second wave and the main reason they say, is not being fully vaccinated. The evidence is absolutely clear - with two vaccines even doctors working on Covid patients are well protected. On the show, we bring you the latest data from two giant healthcare chains - Max and Apollo and what the data says.

The Black Fungus - how prohibitively expensive treatment may be the only way for many to treat this frightening post-Covid health-scare which is now being treated as an epidemic. The government has asked all states to declare Mucormycosis or 'Black Fungus' an epidemic. On the show tonight, we talk to India's leading experts on what we know so far about Mucormycosis.

Singapore shuts schools amidst concerns that the B.1.617 variant, first discovered in India, may be affecting more children. In India, there are concerns that children may be hardest hit in a third wave. Children aren't small size adults; they need special care, but how equipped are we?

India has lost 269 doctors during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the number may be a fraction of total lives lost, the fact remains - only around 3% of these doctors had been fully vaccinated, and only 66% of our doctors have been fully vaccinated despite being frontline workers. Why? On the show tonight, we look not just at the extraordinary courage of our doctors and medical workers but also at how the lack of complete vaccination has been disastrous for our already overstretched healthcare setup.

Up to 97 of the over 500 personnel manning oil rigs and barges in the high seas off the Mumbai coast are missing a day after Cyclone Tauktae swept past the Maharashtra coast. The Indian Navy and Coast Guard have been involved in rescue operations. On the show we are joined by a senior Navy officer Commodore MK Jha who is overseeing the operations, tells NDTV "conditions at sea continue to be challenging, people are doing their job in absolute tough conditions. We are trying to locate every survivor at sea".

On Left, Right and Centre, we are joined by some of the world's leading experts for some data-driven analysis on why our declining Covid caseload may be an artificial creation. Lower testing equals slower numbers and with vaccination rates simultaneously plummeting, India better be ready for a third wave. We ask: Is India ready for a third wave?

Prof Christina Pagel, Director of the Clinical Operational Research Unit at University College London joins us to look at the implications of the surge of B.1.617 variant (first discovered in India) in the UK. There have been huge concerns as the country opens up after lengthy restrictions. What does the evidence so far say about how effective are the vaccines?

A string of arrests in the national capital over the appearance of posters critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of the Covid crisis infuriate the opposition. Congress leaders have dared the centre to arrest them as well.

18 top scientists from around the world say the theory of accidental release of coronavirus from a lab cannot be ruled out. They say the matter should be taken seriously until a rigorous data-led investigation rules out a lab leak. The experts who penned this letter speak to NDTV.

For the first time in the history of the league, IPL has been suspended midway due to Covid cases inside the bio-bubble. By Tuesday, 4 of the 8 teams had gone in isolation with as many as 6 cases reported from them. BCCI was forced to suspend the ongoing edition. With no window available in the near future and the coronavirus restrictions across the world, it is unlikely that IPL-14 will resume any time soon or this year. Ness Wadia, co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Punjab Kings, speaks to Vishnu Som.