As convalescent plasma therapy seems to have the desired effect on bringing down COVID-19 mortality rate, the Karnataka government on Wednesday announced an incentive of Rs 5,000 to plasma donors.

People who have recovered from the coronavirus infection can donate plasma to help cure other COVID-19 patients.

Tamil Nadu will launch a trial to study the efficacy of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine in reducing COVID-19 mortality rate in the elderly, state's Health Minister Dr C Vijayabaskar said on Wednesday.

As ordered by Chief Minister E Palaniswami, the BCG vaccine shall be administered on a trial basis, on adults aged 60-95, with the aim of reducing the COVID mortality rate in this age group, Vijayabaskar said.

The COVID-19 testing per million for India is consistently rising and has touched 8994.7, government data showed on Wednesday.

The cumulative number of samples tested, as of now is 1,24,12,664 with 3,20,161 samples being tested in the last 24 hours, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Amid outrage over 18% GST on alcohol-based hand sanitisers, the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday said it is a disinfectant like soaps and other anti-bacterial liquids and will attract similar tax.

The clarification was issued by the ministry after the Goa bench of Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) had recently ruled that alcohol-based hand sanitisers will attract 18% duty under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

The Congress on Tuesday stripped Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and two supporters of their ministerships and sacked Pilot as state Congress chief when he and his supporters disobeyed a party whip asking them to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting — but, not before Pilot inflicted significant damage to the government led by Ashok Gehlot.

The Congress now has just 100 MLAs, the half-way mark in the 200-member Assembly. Gehlot betrayed his anxiety on Monday by sequestering his MLAs at a resort in Jaipur, and while the government is safe for now, there is no telling when defections might take place.

Gold rices on Wednesday dropped to Rs 49,117 fom Rs 49,247 per 10 gram while silver prices fell Rs 438 to settle at Rs 51,355 per kg, according to Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association.

Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

Google is in advanced talks to buy a $4 billion stake in Mukesh Ambani’s technology venture, people familiar with the matter said, seeking to join rival Facebook in the chase for growth in a promising internet market.

The Mountain View, California-based titan has been discussing the investment in Reliance Industries’ digital arm, Jio Platforms, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. An announcement could come as soon as the next few weeks, according to the people.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories, with the market waiting for more direction from a meeting later in the day on the future level of production by OPEC and its allies.

Brent crude futures were up 10 cents, or 0.2%, at $43 a barrel as of 0049 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crudefutures rose 14 cents, or 0.4%, to $40.43 a barrel.

Amid the ongoing debate over goods and services tax (GST) rate on hand sanitizers, the Goa bench of the GST Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) has held that the alcohol-based hygiene product will attract 18 per cent GST. It added that its classification as an essential commodity cannot be a criteria for exemption from GST.

Springfields (India) Distilleries had moved Goa AAR over classification of the hand sanitizer and the applicable rate of GST.

Mukesh Ambani surged past Silicon Valley tech titan Elon Musk as well as Alphabet co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to become the world’s sixth-richest person.

The chairman of Reliance Industries, whose wealth surpassed Warren Buffett’s last week, is now worth $72.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Shares of the conglomerate have more than doubled from a low in March as its digital unit got billions in investments from companies including Facebook, Silver Lake and, most recently, Qualcomm.

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