Coronavirus LIVE: More than 5.8 mn beneficiaries vaccinated in India so far

Coronavirus LIVE updates: India's Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.20%

4:19 AM

Dutch will extend coronavirus curfew until March 3

The Dutch government announced Monday it is extending the country's curfew until March 3, declaring that was necessary to slow the spread of the more infectious coronavirus variant first detected in Britain.
 

The curfew was to have expired Wednesday.
 

Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus said the decision was made after a team of experts that advises the government “urgently warned” ministers at a meeting Monday about the more infections variant.
 

The country's 9 p.m.-to-4:30 a.m. curfew was introduced Jan. 23 and triggered days of riots in towns and cities across the Netherlands. However, the unrest has since subsided and the vast majority of residents adhere to the curfew.
 

The 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in Netherlands declined over the past two weeks, from 30.68 new cases per 100,000 people on Jan. 24 to 23.05 new cases per 100,000 on Feb. 7. AP
 

11:04 PM

MP sees 193 new Covid-19 cases, 190 recoveries, three deaths

Madhya Pradesh's Covid-19 tally on Monday rose to 2,56,591 with the addition of 193 fresh cases, the state Health department said.

With three deaths, the Covid-19 related toll increased to 3,823, it said.
 

In a good news, 22 districts in the state didn't report fresh Covid-19 case during the day.
 

A total of 190 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries in Madhya Pradesh to 2,50,727, the department said.

Bhopal recorded 74 new cases and Indore 19 on Monday, it said.
 

Bhopal's case tally now stands at 43,014 with 615 fatalities, while the overall number of the cases in Indore reached 57,737, including 924 deaths, the department said.
 

Bhopal now has 637 active cases, while this figure for Indore is 315.
 

With 13,489 new tests, the number of samples tested for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh so far crossed 54.83 lakh.
 

With 37,235 inoculations during the day, the number of the beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccines reached 3,77,006 in the state.
 

Coronavirus figures of MP are as follows: Total cases 2,56,591, new cases 193, death toll 3,823, recovered 2,50,727, active cases 2041, number of tests so far 54,83,588. PTI
 

9:52 PM

Delhi reports 125 new Covid-19 cases

9:32 PM

232 new Covid cases in Gujarat

Gujarat reported232 new coronavirus cases on Monday, pushing the tally to 2,63,676, while 450 more patients were discharged from hospitals following recovery, the state health department said.
 

With one death, the state's Covid-19 fatalities rose to 4,396, it said.
 

At the same time, recovery far exceeded new cases with a total of 450 patients getting discharged from hospitals during the day, the department said in a release.

This took the total number of recovered cases in Gujarat to 2,57,120.
 

With this, the state's recovery rate rose to 97.51 per cent, the release said.
 

There are now 2,160 active cases in the state, of which 23 patients are in critical condition, said the department.
 

Meanwhile, with 49,005 more people getting vaccinated against coronavirus on Monday, the number of beneficiaries in the state rose to 6,04,184, it said.
 

Vadodara continued to report the highest number of new cases at 57 followed by Ahmedabad at 49, Rajkot 42, and Surat 25. PTI

 

9:31 PM

CanSinoBIO's COVID-19 vaccine 65.7% effective in global trials, Pakistan official says

CanSino Biologics Inc's (CanSinoBIO) Covid-19 vaccine showed 65.7% efficacy in preventing symptomatic cases and a 90.98% success rate in stopping severe disease in an interim analysis of global trials, Pakistan's health minister said on Monday.
 

The positive data moves the vaccine, jointly developed by a research institute affiliated with the Chinese military, a step closer to becoming China's third successful shot for the disease.
 

Although Covid-19 vaccines from Chinese developers have shown lower protection rates than some Western ones, and no detailed study results are publicly available yet, they have already been approved in several developing countries battling a surge in coronavirus infections.
 

The CanSinoBIO vaccine is being tested in Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Argentina and Chile, according to clinical trial registration data, and the company has supply deals with some of those countries, including Mexico. Reuters
 

9:30 PM

3 new Covid cases in Noida, recovery rate 99.48%

Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded three new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the district's infection tally to 25,402, according to official data.

The active cases came down to 41 from 42 the previous day, while the recovery rate reached 99.48 per cent, the Health Department said.
 

Four more patients got discharged, taking the overall recoveries to 25,270, the fifth highest in the state. The death toll stands at 91 with a mortality rate of 0.35 per cent.
 

Meanwhile, the number of active cases in the state came down to 3,442, while the overall recoveries reached 5.89 lakh and the death toll climbed to 8,691 on Monday, the data showed. PTI
 

9:00 PM

Over 9,700 people get Covid-19 vaccine shots on Monday in Delhi

More than 9,700 healthcare workers received COVID-19 vaccine shots in Delhi on Monday in the fourth week of the inoculation drive, with a turnout of over 54 per cent. Besides healthcare workers, frontline workers, who include, police, civil defence staff, DJB and electricity department employees, among others, are also getting jabs since the last couple of days.

 

Also, the number of scheduled days, from initially being four days -- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday -- have now been extended to six days a week, Monday-Saturday.

 

After a sluggish start, since the exercise was kicked off January 16, the inoculation drive had picked up pace in the last several days.

8:37 PM

Tamil Nadu records 464 new coronavirus cases, four deaths

The downward curve of COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu continued on Monday, with the state reporting 464 fresh infections while the active cases stood at 4,354. The new patients, as well as the active cases,were lesser than those on Sunday, according to a government bulletin.

 

Among the new cases was a UK returnee. The total number of people who tested positive till date was 8,42,261. Four people, including a 74 year-old man from Tirunelveli succumbed to the virus, with all the victims suffering from comorbid conditions, including chronic liver disease and hypertension, the bulletin said.

8:26 PM

76 new coronavirus cases in Haryana

Haryana recorded 76 more coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the tally to 2.69 lakh on Monday, while there was no new fatality due to the pathogen, the Health Department said.

 

There are 870 active cases, while 2.65 lakh people have recuperated, taking the recovery rate to 98.55 per cent, according to a medical bulletin.

 

The 76 new infections include 22 from Gurgaon and eight from Faridabad districts, taking the tally 2,68,507. With no death the previous day, the total number of fatalities stands at 3,029, the bulletin stated.

8:13 PM

EPFO settles 60.88 lakh Covid-19 advance claims, releases Rs 15,255 crore till Jan 31

Retirement fund body EPFO has settled 60.88 lakh COVID-19 non-refundable advance claims, and has disbursed Rs 15,255.95 crore till January 31, 2021, reflecting the pandemic's impact on the financial situation of the formal sector workforce.

 

When the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in March, the central government had allowed over 6 crore subscribers of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to withdraw an amount not exceeding their three months' basic pay and dearness allowance from their EPF accounts to support them during the nationwide lockdown.

 

The EPFO has settled 60.88 lakh COVID-19 withdrawal claims and disbursed Rs 15,255.95 crore to subscribers during the pandemic till January 31, 2021, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

 

7:52 PM

11-month low of 62 coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh

In a 11 month low, Andhra Pradesh reported 62 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 8.88 lakh, the government said on Monday. The state also reported 102 more recoveries in 24 hours ending 9 am on Monday and one death, a health department bulletin said. With 22,094 tests, the total number conducted so far in the state stood at over 1.33 crore.

 

The total confirmed positive COVID-19 cases were 8,88,485 while the recoveries stood at 8,80,363, it said. The active cases fell below to 962 while the total toll was at 7,160. Krishna district accounted for the most number of cases with 10, followed by YSR Kadapa with nine and Chittoor and East Godavari with eight each.

7:45 PM

Night curfew to continue in Meghalaya, Mizoram capitals

In a bid to contain spread of coronavirus, officials in Meghalaya said that the night curfew would remain in force in Shillong and other adjoining areas under the East Khasi Hills district for the next seven days from Monday. Besides Shillong, the night curfew is being extended in Mizoram capital Aizawl.

 

East Khasi Hills' District Magistrate Isawanda Laloo issued a notification extending the curfew in Shillong, which is also the district headquarters, until February 14. Health officials, security personnel, officials and personnel of essential services including media and the vehicles carrying essential goods are excluded from the purview of the night curfew which would remain in force for five hours from 11 p.m.

7:25 PM

Covid-19 vaccination sessions organised in 35 States/UTs: Health Ministry

7:11 PM

LIVE: Health Ministry briefing on Covid-19 vaccination

7:09 PM

More than 5.8 million beneficiaries vaccinated against Covid-19: Govt

6:51 PM

Delhi Zoo remains closed amid Bird flu scare, Covid-19

Delhi Zoo has remained closed for nearly a year now, earlier due to the Covid-19 pandemic and now the recent scare of Bird flu cases.

 

Asked about the arrival of new species of birds and animals in Delhi Zoo, Director of the National Zoological Park, Delhi, Ramesh Kumar Pandey, told IANS, "Delhi Zoo has got a tigress from Kanpur and five species, including wild pigs, from Chandigarh Zoo."

 

When IANS asked Pandey when the zoo would open for the public, he was evasive.

6:12 PM

Voters with temperature, Covid-19 symptoms will be separated in Andhra Pradesh

In the light of first phase Panchayt polls on Tuesday, Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj commissioner Girija Shankar on Monday said election officials will conduct thermal scanning of all the voters to filter out people with temperature or Coronavirus symptoms to facilitate them to exercise their franchise separately.

 

"All the Coronavirus precautionary measures have been taken. Temperatures will be checked when the voters will in the queue. Anyone with high temperature will be separated," said Shankar.

 

He said such voters will be allowed to vote between 2.30 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. using a PPE kit. Similarly, anyone who is Covid positive will be allowed to in a similar way, he added.

5:53 PM

Sri Lanka to start coronavirus vaccination for general public from March

Sri Lankan State Minister of Primary Health Care Sudarshini Fernandopulle on Monday said the coronavirus vaccination drive for the general public will begin in the first week of March, starting with people above the age of 60 years.

 

Sri Lanka began vaccinating its frontline workers late last month after receiving 50,000 free Oxford-AstraZeneca-Covishield vaccines from India.

 

Fernandopulle said the general public will be inoculated against the disease from next month. She said the drive will start with people over the age of 60 years and people in the workforce aged between 30 and 60 years.

5:40 PM

Once scorned, Russia's vaccine is now sought after shot against Covid-19

Russina President Vladimir Putin’s announcement in August that Russia had cleared the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine for use before it even completed safety trials sparked skepticism worldwide. Now he may reap diplomatic dividends as Russia basks in arguably its biggest scientific breakthrough since the Soviet era.

 

Countries are lining up for supplies of Sputnik V after peer-reviewed results published in The Lancet medical journal this week showed the Russian vaccine protects against the deadly virus about as well as U.S. and European shots, and far more effectively than Chinese rivals.

 

At least 20 countries have approved the inoculation for use, including European Union member-state Hungary, while key markets such as Brazil and India are close to authorising it. Now Russia is setting its sights on the prized EU market as the bloc struggles with its vaccination program amid supply shortages. READ ON...

5:20 PM

UK plans annual vaccinations against new Covid variants

The UK is planning a mass campaign of booster vaccines against new variants of Covid-19 as early as the autumn, in what Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi suggested would become an annual effort to prevent Covid-19 as the virus keeps mutating. The government aims to copy the flu prevention programme as a model for control of new Covid-19 variants.

 

The government was expecting annual inoculations to take place every autumn in much the same way as flu's prevention, Zahawi told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show. In a statement the NHS said it had "mobilised efficiently and speedily to ensure that new vaccines and treatments are rolled out as they become available."

4:30 PM

Daily coronavirus deaths below 150 for last 10 days; no fatality in 17 states, UTs in a day

India on Monday reported 84 fatalities as it continued to register less than 150 daily COVID-19 deaths for the last 10 days, while the tally of active cases shrunk to 1,48,609 which is 1.37 per cent of the total infections.

 

Seventeen states and Union Territories did not report any COVID-19 deaths in the 24 hour period till Monday 8 am, the Health Ministry said.

 

These are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Sikkim, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam.

4:09 PM

Rich nations must do 'whatever it takes' to vaccinate entire planet against Covid-19: Ex-UNGA prez

The world's rich countries must commit to doing whatever it takes to vaccinate the entire planet against COVID-19, including easing intellectual property rules to allow the manufacture of vaccines in developing countries, according to the former president of the UN General Assembly.

 

In an op-ed titled We need bold global leadership to build back better', president of the 73rd Session of the General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa underscored that serious reforms are needed to fix the multilateral system to help build back better from the pandemic and address bigger challenges ahead.

 

She said that international cooperation is a constant struggle against short-term interests and narrow distributional claims. Serious reforms are needed to fix the multilateral system that president Franklin Roosevelt helped to build 75 years ago.

3:38 PM

15 US Forces Korea-affiliated individuals test Covid-19 positive

Fifteen individuals affiliated to the US Forces Korea (USFK) have tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon their arrival in South Korea, it was announced on Monday. In a statement, the USFK said the 15 individuals comprised 13 American soldiers and two others were their dependants, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

They arrived in South Korea between January 21 and February 6.

 

The infected patients have been transferred to designated isolation facilities at the U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys and the Osan Air Base, both of which are located in Pyeongtaek, and the Kunsan Air Base in the southwestern city of Kunsan.

2:55 PM

Odisha reports 72 new coronavirus cases, one more fatality

Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,35,692 on Monday as 72 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the death toll to 1,910, a health department official said. Of the new cases, 44 were reported from quarantine centres and 28 detected during contact tracing.

 

Sundargarh recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 11, followed by Puri (8) and Mayurbhanj (7). Eleven other districts - Boudh, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nayagarh and Nabarangpur - did not register any new case in the last 24 hours.

2:36 PM

Andhra village volunteer dies after taking Covid-19 vaccine

A village volunteer from Palasa mandalam in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district died after taking the coronavirus vaccine. Pilla Lalitha, 28, took the vaccine along with eight other volunteers on Sunday. All others suffered headache and fever-like symptoms while Lalitha's condition aggravated, leading to her death.

 

As her condition turned serious before her death, she took tablets and stayed home to recover but later died.

 

She was married with an 8-year-old son. Meanwhile, officials said that the exact reason for Lalitha's death can be ascertained only after the post mortem. Her body was shifted to the community hospital for autopsy. Following this adverse event, other volunteers who took the jab along with Lalitha are worried.

2:13 PM

India coronavirus update: 11,831 new Covid-19 cases, 84 more die reported

India's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 1,08,38,194, with 11,831 new infections being reported in a day, while the daily death count fell below 100 for the fourth time this month, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

 

The death toll increased to 1,55,080 with 84 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

 

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,05,34,505, pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.20 per cent, while the COVID-19casefatality rate stands at 1.43per cent. The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 2 lakh. READ ON...

1:47 PM

Pakistan's Covid-19 death toll crosses 12,000-mark

In a grim milestone, Pakistan's overall coronavirus death toll crossed the 12,000 mark on Monday, after the country registered 59 additional fatalities in the last 24 hours. The new deaths increased the total toll to 12,026, Geo News reported.

 

According to the National Command and Operation Centre, majority of the fatalities were registered in Sindh province, followed by Punjab.

 

It added that out of the 59 new fatalities, 42 people were on ventilators. Meanwhile, the country's caseload has spiked to 555,511 after 1,037 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours. Pakistan's positivity ratio currently stands at 3.2 per cent.

1:30 PM

Schools reopen for students of std 6 to 8 in Bihar

Schools reopen for students of std 6 to 8 in Bihar. "It's always better to teach and study physically than online classes which get delayed due to internet issues. Parents have been assured of strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols,", says a teacher from a school in Muzzafarpur. (ANI)

 

1:20 PM

Recovery rate improves to 97.20% in India: Health Ministry

12:56 PM

AstraZeneca vaccine roll-out in S.Africa to be postponed

South African authorities have confirmed that the roll-out of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in the country will be temporarily put on hold until more "clinically efficacy information" of the vaccine against new variants of the virus is available. "It's a temporary issue that we have to hold onto AstraZeneca until we figure out these issues, what are the next steps supposed to be," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told a media briefing on Sunday. Mkhize's remarks came after a study showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective against the 501Y.V2 variant found in South Africa which was behind the second wave of the pandemic in the country, reports Xinhua news agency. "The results suggest that the variant has significantly reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine on mild to moderate infection, and we are uncertain about the impact the vaccine will have on hospitalization, severe diseases and deaths," said Mkhize.