Coronavirus LIVE: 22k new cases in Kerala in a day; 6,258 in Maharashtra

India recorded 29,689 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, which pushed its tally of Covid-19 cases to 31,440,951

11:47 PM

Manipur Covid curfew extended till Aug 3

The Manipur government has extended the statewide curfew in view of rising COVID-19 cases by seven days till August 3, officials said.

 

The Home Department, however, allowed additional activities during curfew hours including opening of insurance offices for three days from 10 am to 2 pm, he said.

 

Essential services and home delivery of food have also been kept out of the purview of the restrictions. The northeastern state on Tuesday registered 1,165 fresh cases, raising the tally to 94,821, while 11 more fatalities pushed the death toll 14,98.

11:02 PM

Maharashtra reports 6,258 Covid-19 cases, 254 deaths

Maharashtra reported 6,258 new coronavirus cases and 254 fatalities on Tuesday, raising its overall infection tally to 62,76,057 and death toll to 1,31,859, the state health department said.

 

Both the daily figures went up compared to Monday when 4,877 new cases and 53 fatalities had been recorded. With 12,645 patients being discharged from hospitals during the day, the count of recoveries went up to 60,58,751, leaving the state with 82,082 active cases.

 

Currently 4,98,933 people are in home quarantine and 3,456 in institutional quarantine. The case recovery rate of the state stands at 96.54 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.01 per cent. The number of coronavirus tests conducted in the state climbed to 4,71,76,715 with 1,81,593 samples tested since Monday evening. The Mumbai region reported 1,023 new COVID-19 cases and 39 fatalities, including 344 cases and five fatalities in Mumbai city.

10:23 PM

No specific recommendation regarding Covid vaccine booster dose by NTAGI or NEGVAC: Govt

No specific recommendation regarding Covid vaccine booster dose has been made by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization or the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19, Rajya Sabha was told on Tuesday.

 

There are, at present, no recommendation on booster dose from the World Health Organization as well, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply.

 

In response to a question on whether the government has taken note of the fact that many countries are adopting an approach of vaccine booster shots to ensure protection against Covid and its various strains, she said there are some media reports of some countries considering a booster.

9:53 PM

Tamil Nadu logs 1,767 new Covid infections, 29 fatalities

Tamil Nadu reported 1,767 new COVID-19 cases, including a returnee from West Bengal, pushing the overall tally to 25,52,049, the Health department said on Tuesday. The number of fatalities mounted to 33,966 with 29 more people succumbing to the virus in the last 24 hours.

 

Recoveries eclipsed new infections with 2,312 people getting discharged, aggregating to 24,95,895 leaving 22,188 active cases, a medical bulletin said.

 

Chennai added 139 new infections, taking the total count to 5,37,386 while the death toll mounted to 8,312 in the State capital. Coimbatore reported 169 cases, Erode 132, Thanjavur 102 while Perambalur had the least with six.

9:29 PM

Schemes for Covid orphans shouldn't remain only on paper: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed state governments and Union Territories to file status reports providing details on the number of children who have become orphans in wake of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, as it emphasised that schemes meant for orphans should not remain on paper only.

 

A bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose emphasised that "there is a need to ensure the schemes meant for the orphans reach the real beneficiaries and not just remain on paper".

 

It directed all District Magistrates to issue necessary directions to district child protection officers to identify orphans, and they could seek assistance from police, civil society organisations, gram panchayats, and ASHA network. The bench reiterated its direction that state governments should ensure the orphans were permitted to continue in the same schools for the academic year.

8:57 PM

Coronavirus Latest: Mumbai sees 5 Covid-19 deaths, lowest since March 16

Mumbai on Tuesday reported five deaths from Covid-19, the lowest addition in a day to the toll after March 16, the silver lining in the fight against the pandemic coming a day after the country's financial capital witnessed the lowest number of cases after April last year.

 

The Covid-19 tally in Mumbai increased by 343 on Tuesday to touch 7,34,761 and the toll rose by five to touch 15,789, a civic official said.

 

He said 466 people were discharged during the day, taking the recovery count in Mumbai to 7,11,315. (PTI)

8:52 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi reports 77 new cases

Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi reports 77 new cases, 42 recoveries and two deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department

8:41 PM

Coronavirus Latest: One death, 15 new cases in Rajasthan

Rajasthan on Tuesday reported one more Covid-19 death, which pushed the toll to 8,953, while 15 new cases pushed the tally in the state to 9,53,575, according to an official report.

 

Of the fresh cases, five were reported from Udaipur and three from Jaipur besides other cities.

 

The report said that 9,44,344 persons have recovered from the infection and the number of active cases in the state is 278. (PTI)

8:17 PM

UK PM Johnson warns against premature conclusions' as Covid cases fall

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday urged continued caution as the daily Covid-19 infections have registered a drop over the past few days and warned against drawing premature conclusions about the course of the pandemic in the country.

 

The number of new Covid-19 infections in the UK fell for the sixth day in a row on Monday and now stands at 24,950.

 

However, this is more than 10 times higher than the levels seen in early May, with only a week having passed since legal lockdown restrictions were significantly lifted from most parts of the country. Read here

7:47 PM

Andhra Pradesh reports 1,540 Covid cases; East Godavari lowest in 5 months

Andhra Pradesh's Covid-19 hotspot East Godavari reported just three fresh cases on Tuesday, the lowest in a day in any district in close to five months, even as the state logged 1,540, taking the gross to 19,57,932.

 

In 24 hours ending 9 am on Tuesday, only 53 Covid-19 tests were conducted in East Godavari district, resulting in the least number of cases, according to the medical and health officials. Read here

7:25 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Uttar Pradesh reports 36 fresh cases in a day

Uttar Pradesh reports 36 new coronavirus cases, 73 recoveries and 04 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the state health department

7:08 PM

Tokyo reports record coronavirus infections days after Olympics begin

Japan's capital, Tokyo, reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, days after the Olympics began. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people to avoid non-essential outings, but said there was no need to consider a suspension of the Games.

 

Tokyo reported 2,848 new Covid-19 cases, exceeding its earlier record of 2,520 daily cases on January 7. That brings its total to more than 200,000 since the pandemic began last year. Read here

6:59 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Centre seeks data on oxygen-related deaths from states

6:57 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Uttarakhand reports 43 fresh cases in a day

6:17 PM

Made in India Sputnik V to be available during September-October: Dr Reddy's

Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd expects the locally manufactured Russia's Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V to be available from September-October period, a senior official of the city-based drug maker said on Tuesday.

 

M V Ramana, CEO of Branded Markets (India and Emerging Markets), Dr Reddys, said due to the sudden spike of Covid-19 cases in Russia, the arrival of Sputnik V doses are getting delayed and the situation may ease by August end.

 

"The local manufacturers are currently in the process of Technology absorption and scale up.

 

And we expect and from the October-September timeframe we are likely to have locally manufactured sputnik available," Ramana told reporters. Read here

6:08 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Kerala reports 22,129 cases in a day

Kerala reports 22,129 new cases and 156 deaths today; active caseload reaches 1,45,371. Positivity rate rises to 12.35 per cent, according to the state health department

5:27 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Expect to have 150 mn vaccine doses in Aug, says V K Paul

The Indian government expects to have around 150 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in August, Vinod Kumar Paul, who heads a federal government panel on vaccines, told a news conference on Tuesday.

 

India will meet its target of supplying more than half a billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to states by the end of this month, the health ministry had said earlier in the day. (Reuters)

4:51 PM

INSACOG sequenced over 57,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes since Dec: Govt

An Indian genomics consortium has sequenced over 57,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes out of which nearly 45,000 samples have been analysed, assigned pangolin lineage classification and submitted for public health correlation, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

 

Different variants have been detected through the whole genome sequencing activities undertaken by Indian SARS CoV2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG) and the information so obtained has been regularly shared with states and union territories to strengthen their public health response to the pandemic, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a written reply.

 

The government had established INSACOG in December 2020 which is a consortium of 28 laboratories for whole genome sequencing and surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the light of sudden outbreak of the new coronavirus variant in the UK. National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is the coordinating agency for the consortium. (PTI)

4:38 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Decreasing case trend reversed in some districts, a sign of concern, says govt

Coronavirus LIVE: Decreasing case trend reversed in some districts, a sign of concern, says govt

4:29 PM

22 districts reporting increasing trend; high positivity rate in 54 districts, says govt

3:58 PM

Ind vs SL: Krunal Pandya tests positive for Covid, second T20I postponed

The second T20I between Sri Lanka and India, scheduled for Tuesday evening, has been postponed by a day - the reason, as ESPNcricinfo has learnt, is that an Indian cricketer has tested positive for Covid-19. News agency ANI said all-rounder Krunal Pandya has tested positive.

3:39 PM

Vaccination of children likely from next month, says health minister

3:13 PM

Robust system of recording all Covid deaths already exists, says govt

1:52 PM

Schools in Uttarakhand to re-open for classes 6-12

1:24 PM

Australia's Victoria reports 10 locally acquired Covid-19 cases

Australia's Victoria state on Tuesday reported 10 locally acquired cases of Covid-19, down from 11 a day earlier, as the state's nearly 7 million residents wait to see whether a hard lockdown will end on Tuesday night.

 

All new local cases are linked to the latest outbreak and were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period, the state's health department said.

 

1:20 PM

Africa must build vaccine-making capacity: WTO Chief

African nations should build capacity to produce vaccines on the continent and work with pharmaceutical companies to ensure that the raw materials needed to produce the inoculations are available, according to World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

 

While a waiver on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, that is being discussed at the WTO is seen as a way to improve the supply of Covid-19 vaccines to the world’s least inoculated continent, Okonjo-Iweala cautioned that only a handful of African countries have the capacity to produce the life-saving drugs.

1:05 PM

Antibodies from Sinovac's Covid-19 shot fade after about 6 months, booster helps: Study

Antibodies triggered by Sinovac Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine declined below a key threshold from around six months after a second dose for most recipients, although a third shot had a strong booster effect, according to a lab study.

 

Chinese researchers reported the findings from a study of blood samples from healthy adults aged between 18-59 in a paper published on Sunday, which has not been peer reviewed.

 

Among participants who received two doses, two or four weeks apart, only 16.9% and 35.2% respectively still had neutralising antibodies above what researchers regard as a detectable threshold level six months after the second shot, the paper said.

 

12:40 PM

UN: Covid hitting poor and conflict nations worse this year

The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting conflict-ridden and impoverished countries much worse this year than in 2020, with many facing higher caseloads and rising deaths, the U.N.'s deputy humanitarian chief warned Monday.

 

Ramesh Rajasingham said in a closed briefing to the U.N. Security Council that these surges are being fueled by a lack of access to vaccines, an easing of public health measures, increased social mixing, and the spread of the delta variant to at least 124 countries, including 17 fragile and conflict-affected nations.

 

12:27 PM

Pondy clocks 113 new coronavirus cases, one death

Puducherry registered 113 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday raising the tally to 1,20,530 while one more person succumbed to the deadly virus taking the toll to 1,791.

 

The new cases were identified at the end of examination of 5124 samples and the fresh cases were spread over Puducherry 75, Karaikal 13, Yanam 5 and Mahe 20.

 

12:02 PM

Australian city Melbourne ends 5th Covid-19 lockdown

Australia's second-most populous city Melbourne will end its fifth lockdown on Tuesday with the Victoria state government declaring it had beaten an outbreak of the highly contagious Covid-19 delta variant for a second time.

 

The five-day lockdown across Victoria ends at 11:59 p.m., allowing schools, pubs and restaurants to reopen, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. But people will not be allowed to have visitors in their homes for another two weeks.