LIVE: Both doses of Sputnik V should be taken from same hospital, says DRL

Chief Minister warns Maharashtra 'situation can go out of hand' during festivals; Kerala High Court rules on Covishield vaccine's second dose.

1:22 AM

Myanmar to receive 10 mn doses of Covid-19 vaccines in Sep

Myanmar will receive 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines this month, Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said at a meeting on Tuesday.

 

Speaking at the meeting, Min Aung Hlaing said that "10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive this month, another 10 million doses in October as well as 4 million doses in November."

 

He also stressed that efforts are being made to purchase more Covid-19 vaccines, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

According to a release from the Ministry of Health, the number of Covid-19 cases in Myanmar has increased to 420,402 on Tuesday after 2,431 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours.

 

A total of 97 new deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 16,082 as of Tuesday, the release said. A total of 368,066 patients have been discharged from hospitals, and over 3.83 million samples have been tested so far.

12:38 AM

Punjab reports 27 new Covid cases

With 27 fresh cases of coronavirus reported Tuesday, the infection tally rose to 6,00,877 in Punjab, according to a medical bulletin. With one Covid-related death reported from Patiala, the toll reached 16,447. The toll figure includes two fatalities, which were not reported earlier.

 

The number of active cases in the state was 320.

 

Mohali reported 10 cases, followed by three each in Gurdaspur and Ludhiana, among the new cases. Thirty-one people recovered from the infection, taking the number of those who have been cured to 5,84,110, the bulletin said. Chandigarh reported two new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total count to 65,124. With the death of an 81-year-old man, the toll figure reached 815. The number of active cases in the city was 34 while the number of cured persons was 64,275.

11:50 PM

Covid night curfew in Noida from 11 pm now

Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissioner Alok Singh has asked his force personnel to ensure strict compliance of the Covid-induced night curfew, whose timing has been revised from Tuesday, officials said. Restrictions under CrPC section 144, which bars unauthorised assembly of more than four people, are already imposed across Noida and Greater Noida in this Uttar Pradesh district adjoining Delhi, they said.

 

All essential services, including health emergencies, will be exempted during the night curfew, which restricts unnecessary outdoor movement of people.

 

"With effect from September 7, the timing of night curfew has been revised across Uttar Pradesh, including Gautam Buddh Nagar, as per instructions of the state government. The night curfew will now be in place from 11 pm to 6 am," the police said in a statement.

 

Earlier, the night curfew started at 10 pm and continued till 6 am.

11:02 PM

Lockdown may return if COVID norms violated: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday cautioned people that the government may be forced to reimpose lockdown if COVID-19 guidelines are not followed. Patnaik said this while reviewing the coronavirus situation of the state and its preparedness for tackling the possible third wave of the pandemic.

 

Keeping in view the public interest, the state has relaxed the lockdown norms. But, that does not mean that we will become carefree. If required in the interest of public health, the government may go for lockdown again, Patnaik said

 

Highlighting that the rise in coronavirus infections from the USA to Kerala is a matter of concern, Patnaik said, keeping this in mind, people have to be extra careful. As the children have not been vaccinated yet, so we have to be careful for them, the chief minister said. Educational institutions would be held accountable if any negligence is observed on their part, Patnaik said.

10:40 PM

Mumbai crosses 1 crore COVID-19 vaccination mark: BMC data

Mumbai hit the milestone of administering more than 1 crore vaccine doses against coronavirus on Tuesday, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data, nearly eight months after the nationwide inoculation drive began on January 16.

 

A total of 1,00,41,579 vaccine doses have been administered so far to beneficiaries across all eligible age groups, the data showed. According to the BMC, 71,61,427 beneficiaries have been given the first dose of the vaccine, while 28,80,152 have received both shots. So far, 91,49,489 beneficiaries have been given Covishield, while the indigenous vaccine Covaxin has been administered to 8,59,343 and Russia-made Sputnik V to 32,747 people, the figures showed. 

10:16 PM

Delhi approves 3700 applications for aid to families which lost member to Covid, 6300 pending

The Delhi government received around 10,000 financial aid applications by the families which lost their loved ones to coronavirus, and has so far approved 3,700 of them, while nearly 6,300 are pending, according to an official statement.

 

Of the 3,708 applications approved under the Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Parivaar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana, 1,257 families will receive the aid under the Monthly Financial Assistance Scheme and 2,451 under the one-time ex gratia payment scheme.

 

"About 6,291 applications are pending under both the schemes which are under examination at various levels," the statement added.

 

Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said the authorities concerned have been directed to provide immediate financial assistance to the beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Parivaar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana.

9:21 PM

Delhi records 50 fresh Covid cases, one death

The national capital on Tuesday recorded a death from COVID-19, the first this month, and 50 fresh cases of the infection, with the positivity rate being 0.07 per cent, according to a health department bulletin. Thirty patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, and 69,932 tests were conducted on Monday, it said.

 

Out the total tests, 46,099 were RTPCR, CBNAAT and TrueNat tests while the rest were rapid antigen tests, the department's latest bulletin said.

 

With the new cases, the overall infection tally of the city has climbed to 14,38,041. Of this, over 14.12 lakh patients have recovered from the disease, it said. The death toll due to the disease mounted to 25,083 while the case fatality rate stands at 1.74 per cent, the bulletin stated. No death due to COVID-19 was recorded in Delhi on Monday, while 32 fresh cases of the infection were reported with a positivity rate of 0.06 per cent.

9:05 PM

Telangana logs 298 COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths

Telangana on Tuesday reported 298 COVID-19 cases taking the tally to over 6.60 lakh while the death toll stood at 3,888 with two casualties.

 

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation accounted for the highest number of cases with 89 followed by Karimnagar district (24), a state government bulletin said.

 

The number of active cases stood at 5,476. The total number of cases in the state stood at 6,60,142, while with 325 people being cured, the total recoveries are at 6,50,778.

8:56 PM

Both doses of Sputnik V should be taken from same hospital, says DRL

8:55 PM

Biden to outline plan to curb coronavirus Delta variant as cases grow

President Joe Biden on Thursday will present a six-pronged strategy aimed at fighting the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant and increasing U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations, a White House official said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

8:43 PM

J-K records 126 new Covid cases

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 126 fresh cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, raising its tally to 3,26,159, officials said, according to PTI.

The union territory has not registered any fresh death due to the virus in the past 72 hours, they added.

Of the fresh cases, 34 were reported from the Jammu division and 92 from the Kashmir division, the officials said.

8:43 PM

Nashik sees 95 Covid-19 cases, 3 deaths, 106 recoveries

The COVID-19 tally in Nashik in Maharashtra on Tuesday reached 4,06185 with the addition of 95 cases, while the day also saw three deaths and 106 people getting discharged, an official said, according to PTI.

The toll in the district is 8,598 and the recovery count stands at 3,96,661, he said.

With 4,093 samples being examined on Tuesday, the number of tests in Nashik went up to 24,85,062, he added.

8:20 PM

Madhya Pradesh logs 11 new COVID-19 cases; active infections at 127

With the addition of 11 new cases of coronavirus, the tally of infections in Madhya Pradesh rose to 7,92,281 on Tuesday, an official from the state health department said, according to PTI.

The count of recoveries rose to 7,81,638, while the toll stood at 10,516, as no fresh casualties were reported during the day, the official said, adding that the state is now left with 127 active cases.

At least 63,644 swab samples were examined during the day, taking the total number of tests conducted in the state to 1,70,57,934, the official said.

7:49 PM

Karnataka reports 851 fresh cases

7:23 PM

Mumbai reports 353 new cases

7:22 PM

Covid-19 vaccination campaign should become a people's movement: VP

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said the COVID-19 vaccination campaign should become a people's movement and appealed to every eligible person to take the required doses without any fear or hesitation, PTI reported.

Launching a free vaccination programme, organised by Swarna Bharat Trust here in collaboration with Bharat Biotech International Ltd and MediCiti Hospitals, Naidu said there was no alternative to taking the vaccine, according to an official release.

6:58 PM

Goa records 74 fresh cases

Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 74 and reached 1,74,560 on Tuesday, while no fresh death due to the infection was reported in the state, a health department official said.

The death toll remained unchanged at 3,210, he said. 

6:57 PM

Sikkim logs 74 new Covid-19 cases, 1 fresh fatality

Sikkim's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,330 on Tuesday as 74 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the Himalayan state's coronavirus death toll to 376, a health bulletin said, according to PTI.

East Sikkim reported the highest number of new cases at 39, followed by West Sikkim (20), South Sikkim (11) and North Sikkim (four).

The state now has 859 active cases, while 28,806 people have recovered from the disease and 289 patients have migrated to other states so far, it said.

6:56 PM

Maharashtra reports 3,898 fresh cases

6:35 PM

Kerala reports 25,772 fresh cases

6:35 PM

Kerala to lift night curfew, withdraw Sunday lockdown, says CM

6:20 PM

AIIMS to conduct study to ascertain presence of Covid in various parts of eye

The R P Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS is conducting a study to ascertain the presence of the coronavirus in various parts of the eye of those who have died due to the infection, the centre's chief Dr J S Titiyal said on Tuesday, PTI reported.

Addressing a press conference on the 36th Eye Donation Fortnight celebration by the National Eye Bank (NEB), he said that five eye balls have been collected for carrying out the study.

"The research study will help ascertain the presence of the coronavirus in the cornea, optic nerve and retina of COVID-19 infected deceased," Titiyal said.

6:19 PM

Calls for postponing UN climate talks, UK says will ensure Covid-secure summit

The Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of more than 1,500 civil society organisations in over 130 countries working together to fight the climate emergency, on Tuesday called for the UN climate talks -- COP26 -- to be postponed in view of the Covid challenges, IANS reported.

The UK government, which is hosting the summit, rejected calls for postponement, saying it is funding quarantine hotels for accredited delegates from "red list" countries.

The conference is set to take place in early November in Glasgow after a year of postponement owing to the pandemic.

6:15 PM

Bengal govt to provide Rs 50,000 grant to each Durga Puja committee

5:32 PM

Amid Covid, Railways plans to run 261 Ganapati Special trains

5:29 PM

Delhi sees 50 new cases, 1 death in last 24 hrs

5:26 PM

Covid-19 may not impair lung function in young adults, research shows

COVID-19 infection does not appear to impair the lung function of children and adolescents, according to a study presented at the virtual European Respiratory Society International Congress on Tuesday, PTI reported.

A team led by researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, found that even patients with asthma did not show a statistically significant deterioration in lung function.

However, such patients showed slightly lower measurements for the amount of air they could exhale forcibly in one second known as forced expiratory air volume in one second (FEV1), which is one of the measures of lung function.

5:26 PM

AP sees 10 fresh Covid-19 deaths

Andhra Pradesh reported 1,178 fresh cases of coronavirus, 1,266 recoveries and 10 deaths in 24 hours ending 9 am on Tuesday, PTI reported.

The total Covid-19 positives in the state now increased to 20,32,242, the latest bulletin said. 

5:26 PM

India continues to 'lag way behind' in Covid vaccination: Fitch

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday said India continues to "lag way behind" in COVID vaccination, and the negative outlook on sovereign rating signifies the rising debt-to-GDP ratio, PTI reported.

 

In April 2021, Fitch affirmed India's sovereign rating at 'BBB-' with a negative outlook. The outlook was changed to 'negative' from 'stable' in June last year on grounds that the pandemic had significantly weakened the country's growth outlook and exposed the challenges associated with a high public-debt burden.

 

Addressing the Global Sovereign Conference 2021, Asia-Pacific, Fitch Ratings Senior Director, Head of Asia-Pacific Sovereign Ratings, Stephen Schwartz said vaccination is the key to economic recovery across the world.

4:51 PM

11 MBBS students of Nagpur college test Covid-19 positive

At least 11 first-year students of MBBS at a private medical college here in Maharashtra have tested positive for COVID-19, the college dean said on Tuesday, according to PTI.

These students were found infected during tests in the last two days, he said.

"We have dengue patients getting treatment at a hospital attached to the medical college. When two of our students suffered from fever, we suspected it could be dengue. However, before admitting them to the hospital, we carried out rapid antigen tests which confirmed on Sunday that they were coronavirus positive," Datta Meghe Medical College dean Dr Dilip Gode told PTI.