Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra reports more than 9,000 new cases in a day

Coronavirus live updates: Over 5 million people have registered themselves on the Co-WIN portal since Monday. Stay tuned for corona-related news

12:04 AM

Covid-19: Over 25K beneficiaries get vaccine shots on Wednesday in Delhi

Over 25,000 beneficiaries, including 13,794 senior citizens, received shots of the Covid-19 vaccine in the national capital on Wednesday, according to data shared by officials, according to PTI. In the 45-59 years age group, 1,625 beneficiaries received the jabs, a senior official said. Over 5,100 senior citizens in Delhi had received their first shots of the vaccine on Monday when the second phase of the vaccination drive had begun in the national capital.

"Today, 25,054 people were vaccinated, out of which 13,794 were citizens in the age group of 60 and above," the official said. On Tuesday, a total of 21,227 beneficiaries, including 10,213 senior citizens and 1,442 people in the age group of 45-59, received the shots. In the first phase, starting January 16, over 3.6 lakh beneficiaries comprising healthcare workers and frontline workers, have been vaccinated in Delhi, as per PTI.

11:33 PM

Delhi HC takes cognisance of Bar Council's claim to declare all judicial officials as frontline workers

There's weight in claim made by Bar Council of Delhi for declaring all associated with judicial functioning including Judges, Court Staff & lawyers as frontline workers so they could receive Covid-19 vaccination on priority, without limitations of age/physical condition, said Delhi HC. Delhi High Court said that it has taken suo-motu cognisance regarding the matter. It has issued notice to Secretary, MoHFW, Principal Secretary, MoHFW, GNCT of Delhi, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech returnable on March 4, according to ANI

 

11:29 PM

Tamil Nadu records 489 new Covid-19 cases; 2 fatalities; Dy CM gets the jab

Tamil Nadu reported 489 new Covid-19 cases and two fatalities, taking the caseload to 8.52 lakh and the toll to 12,504, the health department said on Wednesday, according to PTI. Recoveries eclipsed new cases with 494 people being discharged, taking the cumulative number to 8,36,473, leaving 3,990 active cases in the State. Chennai accounted for the maximum number of infections with 184, taking the total to 2,36,072 till date.

The metropolis also accounted for a little over one-third of the COVID-19 fatalities at 4,157 deaths. The two deceased were ailing with pre-existing comorbidity or chronic illness. A total of 50,783 samples were tested on Wednesday, taking the total specimens examined so far to 1,76,30,655.

9:34 PM

10 girl students test positive for Covid-19 at Kanya Gurukul in Kurukshetra

9:01 PM

16.3 mn Covid vaccines administered across India so far: Union Health Ministry

The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 16.3 million today, says Union Health Ministry.

9:00 PM

Mumbai: institutional quarantine must for travelers from Brazil

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday announced that a seven-day institutional quarantine will be mandatory for those arriving from Brazil even if they have obtained a COVID-19 negative report prior to the journey.

 

In a fresh circular, the civic body included Brazil in the list of countries under quarantine rules, citing the latest guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health about international arrivals.

8:46 PM

UK to receive 10 million AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses from India's Serum Institute

The UK will receive 10 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the UK government said on Tuesday. SII, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, is mass producing the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, for dozens of poor and middle-income countries.

 

"The UK has ordered 100 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, of which 10 million doses will come from the Serum Institute of India," a UK government spokesperson told Reuters.

8:11 PM

Passengers arriving from Brazil must undergo 7-day institutional quarantine: BMC

8:01 PM

215 new coronavirus cases in Rajasthan, no death

Rajasthan recorded 215 more coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the infection tally to 3.21 lakh, the Health Department said.

 

No fresh death from the pathogen was recorded and the death toll stands at 2,787. The total number of cases rose to 3,20,772, including 1,470 who are under treatment and 3.17 lakh who have been discharged, according to a bulletin. On Tuesday, the state reported 102 new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

 

As many as 519 people have died in Jaipur, 306 in Jodhpur, 222 in Ajmer, 169 in Kota, 167 in Bikaner, 120 in Bharatpur, 123 in Udaipur, 109 in Pali and 101 in Sikar districts. Out of the 215 new cases, 50 were in Dungarpur, 40 in Jaipur, 19 in Jodhpur, 18 in Udaipur, 16 in Rajsamand, 14 in Ajmer and 11 in Kota.

7:40 PM

Covid effect: Schools closure impacted 247 mn Indian children, says UNICEF

Closure of 1.5 million schools due to coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdowns in 2020 impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in India, a UNICEF report has found.

 

Globally, schools for more than 168 million children have been completely closed for almost a full year, it said.

 

The report stated that online education is not an option for all as only one in four children has access to digital devices and internet connectivity. Pre-COVID, only a quarter of households (24 per cent) in India had access to the internet and there is a large rural-urban and gender divide. READ MORE...

7:14 PM

Kerala records 2,765 new coronavirus cases, 15 deaths in past 24 hours

Kerala reported 2,765 new COVID-19 cases and 15 more deaths on Wednesday, pushing the caseload to 10,67,393 and toll to 4,241, while 4,031 people recuperated from the disease, taking the tally to 10,16,515.

 

Health minister K K Shailaja said the state tested 59,646samples in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 4.64 per cent. The state has tested 116,50,019 samples so far. According to the release, there are 45,955 people under treatment and 1,98,672under observation out of which 6,933 are in isolation wards of various hospitals.

7:05 PM

Jammu and Kashmir records 104 fresh Covid-19 cases

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 104 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the infection tally to 1,26,693, even as no new death due to the virus was reported in the past 24 hours, officials said.

 

Out of the fresh cases, 17 were from the Jammu division and 87 from the Kashmir division of the Union Territory, they said.

 

Srinagar district recorded the highest of 53 cases followed by 12 in Baramulla district and 11 in Jammu district. While five districts did not report any fresh case, 12 other districts had cases in single digits.

6:40 PM

Covid LIVE: Covaxin can neutralise UK variant, says Bharat Biotech

"Covaxin demonstrates high clinical efficacy trend against COVID-19 but also significant immunogenicity against the rapidly emerging variants,” said Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Biotech.

Analysis from the National Institute of Virology indicates that vaccine-induced antibodies can neutralize the UK variant strains and other heterologous strains, said the company.

6:15 PM

Covid-19 recovered people showing faster antibody response to Covishield vaccine: Study

Those who have recovered from COVID-19 respond faster to the Covishield vaccine and reach high antibody levels, says a study, leading to hopes that they may not need a second dose and therefore help widen India's corona immunisation cover.

 

The study on the immune response to Covishield was carried out by researchers from New Delhi's CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Max Super Speciality Hospital and Institute of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism as well as the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) in Ghaziabad.

 

Covishield is inducing a robust immune response. Those who are seropositive at baseline respond faster and reach higher antibody levels, CSIR-IGIB Director Anurag Agrawal, one of the authors of the study, told PTI.

5:56 PM

Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev receives first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev on Wednesday received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a renowned city hospital.

 

The 62-year-old World Cup-winning captain got vaccinated at the capital's Fortis hospital.

 

Kapil Dev, thus, became the second former India cricketer to receive the vaccine after India head coach Ravi Shastri, who got vaccinated on Tuesday at Ahmedabad. READ MORE...

5:45 PM

Bharat Biotech's Covaxin 81 pc efficient in Phase 3 trials

Vaccine major Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, has demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81 per cent in the Phase 3 clinical trials.

 

The trials involved 25,800 subjects, the largest ever conducted in India, in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Hyderabad-based company said in a statement.

 

"Today is an important milestone in vaccine discovery, for science and our fight against coronavirus. With today's results from our Phase 3 clinical trials, we have now reported data on our COVID-19 vaccine from Phase 1, 2, and 3 trials involving around 27,000 participants," Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said.

5:07 PM

Covid LIVE: Covaxin demonstrated 81% interim efficacy, says Bharat Biotech

Bharat Biotech Announces Phase 3 Results of COVAXIN: India’s First Covid-19 Vaccine Demonstrates Interim Clinical Efficacy of 81%

4:15 PM

People can get vaccinated against Covid-19 24x7, says Harsh Vardhan

The government has lifted the time restriction on receiving Covid-19 vaccine jabs so as to increase the pace of immunisation, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.

 

People can now get vaccinated round-the-clock according to their convenience, he said in a tweet, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi values the health as well as the time of the citizens of the country. READ ON...

4:00 PM

Eight States seeing an upward trajectory in daily new Covid cases

3:48 PM

Coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil more contagious

The coronavirus variant detected in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas is twice as contagious and capable of re-infecting those who already had Covid-19, according to a study

 

The Sao Paulo Research Foundation said on Tuesday that the scientific research group was coordinated by Ester Sabino, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of Sao Paulo, and Nuno Faria, a researcher at Oxford University, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

The virus variant was initially detected in November 2020 in Manaus, capital of Amazonas state.

3:17 PM

Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, TN, Gujarat, Karnataka continue to see upsurge in new Covid-19 cases

Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka continue to report a surge in fresh COVID-19 cases and they account for85.95 per cent of the cases reported in a span of 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

 

The ministry said that 14,989 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours.

 

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 7,863. It is followed by Kerala with 2,938, while Punjab reported 729 new cases.

2:59 PM

People can get vaccinated against coronavirus 24x7: Harsh Vardhan

The government has lifted the time restriction on receiving COVID-19 vaccine jabs so as to increase the pace of immunisation, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.

 

People can now get vaccinated round-the-clock according to their convenience, he said in a tweet, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi values the health as well as the time of the citizens of the country.

 

"The government has lifted the time restriction to increase the speed of vaccination. People can now get vaccinated 24x7 according to their convenience. Prime Minister Narendra Modi understands the value of health as well as the time of citizens," Vardhan tweeted in Hindi.

2:54 PM

24x7 vaccination facility at all hospitals across India: Union Health Minister

2:44 PM

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan took his first dose of Covid-19 in Thiruvananthapuram today

2:41 PM

Gurugram Health Department to begin random Covid-19 testing

As the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing daily in Gurugram, the Health Department will soon begin random testing across the district, officials said on Wednesday.

 

Recently, an upscale condominium in Sector-67 at Gurugram was declared a containment zone after 22 cases of Covid-19 infections were detected there.

 

Gurugram has reported more than 35 cases a day during the last 10 days with more than 3,000 tests conducted in a day, the officials added. As per health officials, random sampling would be conducted in societies, containment zones and several other locations in Gurugram.

2:00 PM

President Ram Nath Kovind gets first dose of Covid vaccine at Army hospital in Delhi

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday administered the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the Army hospital (Research and Referral) in New Delhi.

 

The President received his first shot as the country's vaccination campaign has been widened to include people above 60, and those who are 45 or more and suffering from certain medical conditions.

 

He had earlier said it was a matter of immense pride that India is conducting the world's largest vaccination programme. "Both the vaccines rolled out under this programme are produced indigenously," he had said. READ MORE...

1:41 PM

US halts trial of Covid-19 convalescent plasma

The US' National Institutes of Health (NIH) has halted a clinical trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 convalescent plasma in treating emergency department patients who develop mild to moderate symptoms.

 

An independent data and safety monitoring board met for the second planned interim analysis of the trial data, and determined that while the convalescent plasma intervention caused no harm, it was unlikely to benefit this group of patients, the NIH said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

 

Launched in August 2020, the trial was being conducted at 47 hospital emergency departments across the US and had enrolled over 500 participants, Xinhua news agency reported.

1:12 PM

US National Institute of Health to research on Covid-19 impact on children

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a new research effort to understand how Covid-19 affects children, who have accounted for roughly 13 percent of total confirmed cases in the country.

 

The research will investigate why some children are at greater risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection than others, why symptoms vary among children who are infected, and how to identify children at risk for severe illness from SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to a release of the NIH on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. Read on...

1:07 PM

First batch of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine arrives in Taiwan

The first batch of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in Taiwan.

 

Taiwan has signed contracts securing 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 5.05 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 4.76 million doses of vaccines through COVAX. Wednesday's delivery had 117,000 doses, which was transported from the airport with a police escort.

 

Health care workers, especially those who have direct contact with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases, will be the first to get the shots, Taiwan's Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a news briefing. The island has yet to announce a mass vaccination campaign for the general public. Read on...

11:24 AM

Coronavirus in India: Latest update by MoHFW

Active cases: 170,126 (Net increase: 1,768)

Deaths: 157,346 (Net increase: 98)

Cured: 10,812,044 (Net increase: 13,123)

Total cases: 11,139,516 (Net increase: 14,989)

Total vaccination: 15,620,749 (Increase over previous day: 768,730)