Covid LIVE: Kerala sees below 10,000 new cases after 4 days

Coronavirus live updates: Indians asked to watch their 'October, November, December' and put on facemasks on trains.

7:40 PM

Kerala sees 9,470 new cases

After a four day gap, Kerala logged below 10,000 cases on Saturday -- 9,470--, and 101 deaths, taking the caseload to 47,84,109 and the toll to 26,173. The state had on October 5 logged 9,735 cases, which shot up to 12,616 the following day, touched 12,288 on October 7 and came down to 10,944 on October 8. Kerala has been showing a declining trend in daily fresh cases after crossing the 30,000 mark post Onam festival in August.

 

6:38 PM

Maharashtra: Incentive of Rs 1.21 lakh for resident doctors treating patients

3:58 PM

Delhi sees 30 new cases

3:52 PM

Centre exhorts states to achieve the goal of 1 bn doses

Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, on Saturday interacted with Principal Secretaries and Mission Directors (National Health Mission) of all major states and reviewed the progress of Covid vaccination in these states. He underlined that the immediate milestone in India’s Covid vaccination journey is the completion of administration of 1 billion doses. India has so far administered 940 million vaccine doses.

1:30 PM

Singapore opens quarantine-free entry from US, UK, others

Singapore is pressing ahead with plans to reopen its borders despite battling a record Covid-19 outbreak, saying it will allow vaccinated travelers from nine more countries including the U.S. and U.K. to enter without having to quarantine. 

 

The other places to qualify are Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain with travel to Singapore to start from Oct. 19 and South Korea from Nov. 15, the government said Saturday. The number of Covid tests will be cut from four to two, helping to reduce cost and inconvenience, according to authorities.

1:24 PM

PM Lee says Singapore to take 3-6 months for new normal', rules out lockdown

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday said that Singapore will take from three to six months to get to a new normal once the COVID-19 cases are stabilised and assured that the city-state cannot be closed off indefinitely.

 

While the country has to be prepared to see many coronavirus cases for some time to come, Singapore cannot be locked down and closed off indefinitely, Lee said in his televised address to the nation on the pandemic.

 

1:14 PM

Quantitative restriction on export in place for certain syringe types for 3 months: Health ministry

The Union health ministry on Saturday said the government has put in place a "quantitative restriction" on export of certain categories of syringes for three months to boost their domestic availability and uptake.

The restriction applies to just three categories of syringes, it said and added that syringes are vital to sustain the momentum of the programme to vaccinate all eligible citizens against COVID-19 in the shortest possible time.

The ministry clarified it is not an export ban on any kind/type of syringes, but is only a "quantitative restriction" on the export of certain type of specified syringes, for limited duration of three months.

With a view to ensure adequate availability of syringes, used to administer COVID-19 vaccine, the government of India has enacted this quantitative restriction on the export of three category denominations of syringes only for three months, it said.

1:05 PM

Singapore PM pushes for living with Covid, without the fear

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wants to push on with the strategy of living with Covid-19 without being paralyzed by fear, weighing in on a divisive issue about the pace of opening up a trade-reliant economy with one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. 

 

Lee said in a televised address that Singapore can’t stay “locked down and closed off indefinitely,” but at the same time there will “quite many Covid-19-cases for some time to come.” 

 

12:50 PM

Recoveries top fresh Covid-19 cases in Arunachal Pradesh, tally at 54,865

Single-day recoveries surpassed fresh COVID-19 cases in Arunachal Pradesh, where the coronavirus tally rose to 54,865, a senior health department official said on Saturday.

 

Fifty more patients were discharged since Friday, while 21 new infections were registered during the period, he said.

 

As many as 54,196 people have recovered from the disease so far, State Surveillance Officer Lobsang Jampa said.

 

The death toll in the frontier state increased to 280, after a 75-year-old man succumbed to the virus on Friday.

 

Arunachal Pradesh now has 389 active cases.

12:40 PM

Ladakh reports 5 new Covid cases

Five fresh COVID-19 cases have been reported from Ladakh, taking the virus tally to 20,848 while the active cases in the union territory stands at 60, officials said on Saturday.

 

Ladakh has registered 208 Covid-related deaths -- 150 in Leh and 58 in Kargil -- since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

 

Two patients of coronavirus were cured and discharged from a hospital in Leh, thereby taking the number of recoveries to 20,580, the officials said.

12:30 PM

Russians flock to Serbia for Western-made Covid-19 vaccines

When Russian regulators approved the country's own coronavirus vaccine, it was a moment of national pride, and the Pavlov family was among those who rushed to take the injection. But international health authorities have not yet given their blessing to the Sputnik V shot.

 

So when the family from Rostov-on-Don wanted to visit the West, they looked for a vaccine that would allow them to travel freely a quest that brought them to Serbia, where hundreds of Russian citizens have flocked in recent weeks to receive Western-approved COVID-19 shots.

 

Serbia, which is not a member of the European Union, is a convenient choice for vaccine-seeking Russians because they can enter the allied Balkan nation without visas and because it offers a wide choice of Western-made shots. Organized tours for Russians have soared, and they can be spotted in the capital, Belgrade, at hotels, restaurants, bars and vaccination clinics.

12:21 PM

India to be at forefront to ensure those supporting terror don't hamper collective path to recovery from Covid

India will be at the forefront to ensure that those supporting terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation do not waylay us on our collective path to resilience and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's envoy at the United Nations has said.

 

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti, speaking at the UN General Assembly General Debate of the Second Committee on Crisis, Resilience and Recovery Accelerating Progress towards the 2030 Agenda' on Friday, said that forces inimical to us are posing challenges as the world grapples with the challenges of the pandemic and climate change.

 

We meet at a time when the Covid crisis is nowhere near the end. However, with the introduction of vaccines, there is hope that we will finally be able to turn the corner The message to the world is for the international community to come together to combat the pandemic and build a resilient system that will drive our recovery, he said.

11:33 AM

Brazil's Covid-19 death toll tops 600,000

Brazil, which has the world's second-highest death toll from Covid-19 behind the United States, saw its death toll exceed 600,000 on Friday.

 

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, the South American nation logged 600,425 deaths and 21,550,730 cases, after registering 615 deaths and 18,172 cases in the last 24 hours.

11:27 AM

Covid-19: Thane district's caseload up by 270, fatality count by one

The coronavirus infection tally in Thane district of Maharashtra increased to 5,61,401 with the addition of 270 cases, while the death toll rose by one to 11,428, an official said on Saturday.

 

These cases and fatality were reported on Friday, he said.

 

The district's mortality rate currently stands at 2.03 per cent, the official added.

 

In neighbouring Palghar district, the case count has gone up to 1,37,106, while the death toll is 3,278, another official said.

11:27 AM

South Korea reports 1,953 more Covid-19 cases, 329,925 in total

South Korea reported 1,953 more cases of Covid-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 329,925.

 

The daily caseload was down from 2,175 in the prior day, but it hovered above 1,000 for 95 straight days since July 7. The daily average tally for the past week was 1,987.

 

The recent resurgence was attributable to cluster infections in the Seoul metropolitan area.

 

Of the new cases, 707 were Seoul residents. The number of newly infected people residing in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 629 and 131.

10:54 AM

India administers over 7.912 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in last 24 hours

India administered more than 7.912 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.

 

The ministry further said that the country's Covid-19 vaccination coverage has nearly reached 94 crores.

 

This has been achieved through 91,40,316 sessions.

 

"With the administration of 79,12,202 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage nearly reaches 94 Cr (93,99,15,323) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 9,140,316 sessions," the health ministry said.

 

Meanwhile, India reported 19,740 new cases in the last 24 hours.

10:09 AM

Mumbai reports 532 new Covid cases, 8 deaths

Mumbai reported 532 new Covid-19 cases and 8 deaths on Friday.

 

According to the state health department, 287 people have recovered from the disease. With this, the recovery rate climbed to 97 per cent.

 

At present, there are 5,017 active cases in the city. The death toll reached 16,149.

9:42 AM

Assam mobile theatre groups can now start performing again, following Covid norms

The Assam government on Friday allowed mobile theatres to resume functioning on certain conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said.

 

Mobile theatre groups, which are popular in Assam, travel from place to place with actors and support staff and perform in makeshift halls. Their shows were closed since March last year when the lockdown was imposed.

 

Releasing the Standard Operating Procedure for mobile theatres, Mahanta said the groups would have to inform district authorities that they will follow the SOP.

9:23 AM

Coronavirus in India: Latest update by MoHFW

Summary of MoHFW data (October 9)

Active cases: 236,643 (Net reduction: 3,578)

Deaths: 450,375 (Net increase: 248)

Cured: 33,248,291 (Net increase: 23,070)

Total cases: 33,935,569 (Net increase: 19,740)

Total vaccination: 939,915,323 (Increase over previous day: 7,912,202)

9:14 AM

Delhi CM Kejriwal reviews 'Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Parivar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana'

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday held a high-level review meeting on the 'Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Parivar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana' at the Delhi Secretariat.

 

In this meeting, along with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Cabinet Ministers Kailash Gahlot and Rajendra Pal Gautam were present along with the Chief Secretary and District Magistrates of Delhi.

 

In the meeting, the officials presented the progress report of the scheme for the last week. Officials said that out of the applications received for one-time assistance, 14,605 applications have been verified online and by visiting homes. Out of these verified applications, a one-time assistance amount of Rs 50,000 has been transferred to the bank account of 13,005 people.

9:12 AM

UK records fresh 36,060 Covid cases as travel restrictions further lifted

Another 36,060 people in the UK have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 8,081,300, according to official figures released Friday.

 

The country also recorded another 127 coronavirus-related deaths, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the UK now stands at 137,541. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

 

There are currently 6,763 patients in hospital with Covid-19.

 

The data came as the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is lifting restrictive Covid travel advice for a further 51 countries and territories.

8:49 AM

Two Indian drugmakers to end trials of generic Merck pill for moderate Covid-19

Two Indian drugmakers have requested permission to end late-stage trials of their generic versions of Merck & Co's promising experimental oral antiviral drug molnupiravir to treat moderate Covid-19, a week after Merck said its own trial had succeeded for mild-to-moderate patients.

 

Merck earlier this year suspended its own development of molnupiravir as a treatment for hospitalized Covid-19 patients since many of them have reached a phase of the disease that is too late for an antiviral drug to provide much help.

 

The Indian companies - Aurobindo Pharma Ltd and MSN Laboratories - did not exclude hospitalized patients in designing their moderate Covid-19 trials, according to study documents, although it was not known if the trials ultimately included people in the hospital.

8:31 AM

Canada's weekly Covid-19 cases down

Canada's latest national seven-day average of 3,745 new Covid-19 cases reported daily on October 1-7 is a decrease of 14 per cent over the previous week, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

 

The updated longer-range modeling forecast suggests that at current levels of transmission, the Delta-driven fourth wave of the pandemic could decline in the coming weeks "if we maintain vaccine uptake and existing public health measures," Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, said in a statement on Friday.

 

This is a "significant improvement" over the previous trajectory presented in early September when a large resurgence was forecast, Xinhua news agency quoted Tam as saying.

8:26 AM

Congress-led UDF walks out from Kerala assembly, alleges CM hiding Covid-19 deaths

Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) staged a walkout from the state assembly on Friday alleging that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is hiding the deaths caused to COVID-19.

 

UDF through a notice of adjournment motion moved by Congress MLA PC Vishnunath alleged that the Kerala government is hiding COVID deaths.

 

After the speaker denied permission for discussion, the opposition staged a walkout.

8:21 AM

Brazil's Covid-19 death toll tops 600,000

Brazil, which has the world's second-highest death toll from Covid-19 behind the US, saw its death toll exceed 600,000.

 

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health on Friday, the South American nation logged 600,425 deaths and 21,550,730 cases, after registering 615 deaths and 18,172 cases in the last 24 hours, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Brazil managed to emerge from the healthcare collapse caused by the second wave of Covid-19 infections between March and June, and is currently in a stable situation, with an average of 453 deaths per day, the lowest figure since November 2020.

8:04 AM

Expert panel allows adolescent trials of J&J vaccine with riders

The subject expert committee (SEC) advising the Central Drugs Stan­dard Control Orga­nisation (CDSCO) has allowed US pharma major Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to conduct clinical trials on adolescents for its two-dose Covid-19 vaccine, albeit with some conditions.

 

The firm had on August 17 sought approval from the CDSCO to conduct trials on children aged 12-17 years. Read on...

7:50 AM

More than 30 mn people fully vaccinated in S. Korea

The number of fully vaccinated people in South Korea has surpassed 30 million, data showed Saturday, as the country speeds up inoculations and seeks to gradually roll out the "living with Covid-19" scheme.

 

Around 30.3 million people, or 59.1 per cent of the total population, have been fully inoculated since the country launched its vaccination program in February, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

 

The KDCA said nearly 1.1 million people received their second shot Friday, which was a record high daily figure, Yonhap news agency reported.

12:11 AM

Assam reports 318 new COVID cases, 5 more fatalities

Assam on Friday reported 318 new COVID-19 cases, which was 23 more than that of the previous day, while the recovery rate from the infection was 98.34 per cent, the National Health Mission bulletin said.

 

The 318 new cases pushed the tally to 6,04,536, it said.

 

Kamrup Metropolitan accounted for the highest number of new cases with 137 detected during the day, followed by Jorhat (42), Barpeta (19), and Kamrup Rural (18).

 

Five more fatalities due to the infection raised the toll to 5,916. The fresh COVID-19 deaths were reported from Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karbi Anglong, and Nalbari districts.

 

11:21 PM

14 fresh COVID-19 cases in Haryana

Haryana's COVID-19 caseload increased to 7,70,975 on Friday as 14 more people tested positive for the viral disease, according to a health department bulletin.

 

The death toll remained unchanged at 9,875, the bulletin stated.

 

Of the fresh cases, five were reported from Gurugram district.

 

There are 106 active COVID-19 cases in Haryana, the bulletin said.

 

So far, 7,60,821 people have recovered from the disease and the state's recovery rate stands at 98.68 per cent, it said.

10:44 PM

Delhi records 39 fresh Covid cases; no deaths

The national capital on Friday recorded 39 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the overall caseload to 14,39,136, the Health Department said. However, no fatality has been reported in the last five days.

 

Delhi has recorded only one Covid death in October, so far.

 

The city's death toll continues to be at 25,088, and the fatality rate 1.74 per cent.

 

The Covid infection rate in the national capital has declined to 0.06 per cent. The number of active cases in the city stands at 399.

 

Meanwhile, 23 patients recovered in the last 24 hours to take the total number of recoveries to 14,13,649, according to the Health Department bulletin.