Top cigarette maker develops novel coronavirus vaccine, claims it is ready for human trials

The word's No. 2 cigarette company claims it has developed an experimental vaccine for the novel coronavirus that has shown promise in laboratory testing and is now ready to be experimented on humans

British American Tobacco says its vaccine for novel coronavirus is ready for human trials

• The experimental vaccine has been developed by a subsidiary of the company
• British American Tobacco is the world's No. 2 manufacturer of cigarettes

One of the world's top tobacco companies claims to have developed a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that, it says, is poised to be experimented on human beings. Yes, you read that right. London-based British American Tobacco said on Friday that its experimental vaccine for the novel coronavirus has shown promise in laboratory testing and is now ready to enter human trials.

British American Tobacco is the world's No. 2 manufacturer of cigarettes, the leading cause of lung cancer across the world. 

On Friday, British American Tobacco said its experimental vaccine "has been shown to produce a positive immune response" in pre-clinical testing. The vaccine is now poised to enter the first stage of human trials in the United States, the company said in a statement.

"We have committed funds to conduct these clinical trials, which could start as early as late June, pending the responses from relevant health bodies,"  adding that it is in touch with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other government agencies across the world.

British American Tobacco's experimental vaccine is based on an artificially built fragment of the novel coronavirus, called an "antigen", which is inserted into tobacco plants for reproduction. 

The idea is that this antigen, which is essentially a component of the novel coronavirus, would generate an immune response from the body when administered to human beings. And, British American Tobacco claims its antigen-vaccine is now ready for to be tried on human's.

In the latest update on its novel coronavirus vaccine efforts, British American Tobacco said on Friday it is "pleased to report the potential vaccine has been shown to produce a positive immune response" in pre-clinical testing and "is now poised to progress to the next stage which will be Phase 1 human clinical trials pending [US] FDA authorisation".

Interestingly, British American Tobacco's experimental shot for the novel coronavirus does not find a mention on the World Health Organisation's Global database of covvaccine   candidates covid-19, the disease caused by the new virus. The database, which was last updated on May 11, however is not meant to be exhaustive and currently lists 110 potential vaccines.

Research into a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is happening at an unprecedented pace with scientists skipping or clubbing several stages of development. The expert view is that a novel coronavirus vaccine is still around two years away.

--Indian Railways cancels all trains till June-end, to only run Shramik, special trains--

• Indian Railways on Wednesday said that all passengers trains will remain suspended, except special trains
• Railways had suspended passenger train services since March 22 to mitigate the virus spread in the country

The INDIAN RAILWAY today suspended all the passengers trains, barring the Shramik Special services and 30 special trains, till further notice. Railways cancelled all tickets booked to travel on or before June 30, the railway ministry said. All tickets booked for these cancelled trains will be fully refunded, the national transporter added.

The railways had suspended passenger train services since March 22 to mitigate the virus spread in the country.

The Indian Railways "gradually" resumed passenger train services this week by introducing 30 special trains connecting Delhi and other major cities in India. These trains will run from New Delhi station to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

These trains have only air-conditioned coaches. The fares will be similar to Rajdhani Express fares, a railway ministry official said.

Passengers bought over 45,000 tickets on Monday when the Indian Railways started taking bookings for the special trains. All tickets for Mumbai Central-New Delhi special train till May 18 were sold out within few minutes.

The railways issued a timetable for trains to be run between May 12 and May 20. Passengers have to book tickets for special trains via Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation or irctc website or mobile app. The ticket booking counters at railway stations shall remain closed in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic. No provision of tatkal or premium tatkal accommodation will be available.

Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. No platforms tickets will be issued. All the travellers must wear a face mask and undergo thorough screenings at the stations. Passengers need to install Aarogya Setu app to board the trains.

The passengers will go through a screening before boarding the train. You have to reach station at least 90 minutes prior to the scheduled journey to follow all these new norms. Only asymptomatic people or those who do not show any symptoms of coroanvirus will be allowed to travel.

Starting this month, Indian Railways arranged special trains for migrant labourers stranded in various states due to coronavirus lockdown. The transporter has run over 600 Shramik Special trains till now to ferry migrant workers.

UP Assistant Teacher Result Declared 2020 LIVE updates: 1.4 lakh qualify for 69000 posts, check details

UP 69,000 Assistant Teacher result 2019-2020 LIVE updates: The result will be available at the official websites - atrexam.upsdc.gov.in and upbasiceduboard.gov.in.

UP Assistant Teacher Result 2019-20 LIVE updates: The Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board has announced the result for the recruitment exam held to fill Teacher Assistant posts today. While the result is out, candidates will be able to check their mark sheet by tomorrow – May 13. Reportedly, over 4 lakh candidates had registered for the exam for 69,000 posts. Of these candidates, 1.4 lakh have been qualified for the next round.

The result will be available at the official websites – To view the score, the aspirant needs to keep their roll card handy. Once the result is out, they can visit the website and enter their registration or roll number along with the security code. The UP teacher result will be displayed.

The cut-off for the exams has been increased too. Now, candidates would need to score 65 per cent instead of 45 per cent to clear the exam. For reserved category candidates, the cut-off is 60 per cent, up from 40 per cent. It is being touted as one of the biggest recruitment drives by the UP government.

Dream holiday to J&K turns into nightmare for West Bengal family

14-member group stuck at a hotel in Jammu for over a month due to lockdown

Security personnel stop commuters during a nationwide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Jammu on Saturday. 

Jammu, May 2

A 14-member group from West Bengal, on a trip to Jammu and Kashmir, has been stuck at a hotel here for over a month now due to the lockdown and are surviving on contributions from locals, police and NGOs after running out of money.

The group, comprising members of an extended family, including six women and four children, reached Jammu on its maiden trip to the union territory on March 15 and were scheduled to return by train on March 30.

But hopes of a memorable holiday quickly turned into a nightmare when the Central government put the country under lockdown on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Resources exhausted, the group now desperately wants to be evacuated at the earliest.

"The announcement by the Centre to allow movement of stranded persons came as a big relief for us. We have been stranded here for a long time now and need to be evacuated to our homes without any further delay," said Arijit Das (48), a resident of Nabapally Barasat in North 24 Parganas.

Das, a private tutor, said two days have passed since the government made the announcement but "we do not know how to get shifted from here to our home state".

He appreciated the residents of Jammu for their hospitality and philanthropic approach towards them. "They ensured that we stay alive!"        

"We have exhausted all our money and are living on the contributions from various persons over the past one month," said Das.

The family appealed to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to come to its rescue.

"The Jammu and Kashmir government has come out with detailed information about the evacuation of its citizens stranded in other parts of the country. We are also looking towards Didi (West Bengal Chief Minister) so that we can reach our homes," said Tapan Das, another member of the group.

Tapan said they had planned the trip to cover various areas of Jammu and Kashmir with hopes of a memorable experience.

"The trip kicked off on a positive note with a visit to the Vaishno Devi Shrine, where we offered our prayers soon after our arrival in Jammu on March 15. After visiting various temples and other places of interest here, we started for Srinagar on March 17 and had a bad experience when we were left stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for two days due to a landslide," Tapan recalled.

He said they reached Srinagar to experience curfew-like restrictions imposed by the local administration to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

"The pandemic not only marred our trip but also left us high and dry with no immediate end to our miseries in sight. We had planned to visit the famous tourist resorts of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg in the Valley but were not allowed by police," said Arijit Das.

Arijit, who is accompanied by his parents, sisters and brothers-in-law, said they enjoyed sightseeing at the Dal Lake and visited the Mughal Gardens in Srinagar before returning to Jammu on the night of March 22.

"We booked a hotel next to the historic Raghunath Mandir in Hari Market and all our money got exhausted by April 1 after getting caught in the lockdown. The hotel owner is a very nice person who handed over his kitchen to us to prepare our meals.

"After coming to know about us, the local residents came forward with rice, biscuits and tea and the NGOs, social groups, police and others helped fulfil our daily needs. We are thankful to the people for their gesture," he said.