Coronavirus LIVE updates: Maharashtra's Covid-19 tally hits 2-million mark

Coronavirus live updates: India has given the first dose of covid antidote to almost 800,000 beneficiaries five days into the nation-wide vaccination drive

11:11 PM

Covid-19 vaccination: 27,682 inoculated on Thursday

Nearly 28,000 healthcare workers were administered COVID-19 vaccines in Telangana on Thursday as against the targeted 48,447. The total number of those inoculated on the sixth day of the vaccination drive was 27,682, covering 57 percent of the beneficiaries, a health department release said. The cumulative number of those vaccinated as on Thursday was 97,307.

The cumulative percentage of beneficiaries who received the vaccine till Thursday was 68 per cent. No serious or severe case of AEFI (adverse events following immunization) was reported on Thursday, the release said. However, six cases of minor AEFI were reported on and all are stable. All 33 districts in the state have conducted COVID-19 vaccination on Thursday for healthcare workers in the government sector (both Central and state), it said.

10:44 PM

VK Sasikala tests Covid positive, admitted to hospital

Sasikala, an aide of former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa, has tested positive for COVID-19: Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru.

9:41 PM

Vaccination for BSF jawans begins in Agartala

9:34 PM

Serum Institute to offer Rs 25 lakh compensation to families of dead

Cyrus S Poonawalla, chairman and MD of Serum Institute of India, on Thursday said the vaccine major will offer a compensation of Rs 25 lakh in addition to the mandated amount to families of persons who died in a fire at the company's premises in Pune. Five men died after a fire broke out in a five-storeyed under-construction building at the firm's Manjari premises in Pune on Thursday.

All were construction workers whose bodies were recovered by fire brigade personnel from the fifth floor, police said, adding nine others were evacuated from the spot. "Today is an extremely sorrowful day for all of us at Serum Institute of India. Regrettably, there were losses of lives in the fire that broke out in our under installation facility situated at the Special Economic Zone at Manjari," Poonawalla said in a statement. "We are deeply saddened and offer our condolences to the families of the departed. In this regard, we will be offering a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each of the families, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms," he added.

9:02 PM

6,229 coronavirus cases, 21 more deaths in Kerala

Kerala recorded 6,229 new cases of coronavirus and 21 related deaths on Thursday taking the total number of those affected by the virus in the state to 8.69 lakh, while the toll surged to 3,545. One more person who returned from the UK tested positive for COVID-19, taking the number of those coming from Britain and being infected to 66, state health minister K K Shailaja said.

 

"41 out of those have been cured so far," the minister added.

 

Among the districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of patients on Thursday with 771, followed by Malappuram 657 cases and Kottayam 647 cases. Kasaragod reported the lowest with 87 cases.

8:48 PM

Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy 39 per cent in Delhi-NCR: Survey

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is as high as 39 per cent in the Delhi-NCR with about one-fifth of the respondents saying that they will not take the jab, according to a telephonic survey conducted by the NCAER. The government launched the world's biggest vaccination drive on January 16 to protect people from COVID-19.

 

The findings of the fourth round of the Delhi-NCR Coronavirus Telephone Survey (DCVTS-4) conducted by the economic think-tank NCAER showed that about 20 per cent respondents were certain about not taking the vaccine. Of this, 22.4 per cent were from rural areas and 17.5 per cent from urban locations.

 

The survey further showed that an additional 4 per cent of respondents said they would not take the jab as they are already infected, while about 15 per cent said they were unsure about taking the vaccine.

8:11 PM

145 people infected with UK variant of Covid-19 in India: Govt

The number of people who have tested positive for the UK variant of COVID-19 in India has climbed to 145, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated health care facilities by respective state governments, the ministry had said earlier.

 

Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine. Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others.

 

Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on, the ministry said. The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) labs.

8:02 PM

SII building caught fire due to some ongoing welding work: Maharashtra Health Minister

7:52 PM

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Maharashtra's Covid-19 tally hits 2-million mark

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally crossed the 20-lakh mark on Thursday with the addition of 2,886 fresh cases. With the new cases, Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rose to 20,00,878. The grim milestone was reached more than 10 months after the first coronavirus case was reported in the state in second week of March 2020. Maharashtra has also become the first state in the country to reach the 20-lakh COVID-19 caseload mark.

 

The state reported 52 more deaths due to the infection, taking the fatality count to 50,634. Also, 3,980 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, pushing the tally of recovered people to 19,03,408. The state now has 45,622 active cases of COVID-19.

7:24 PM

Elected representatives above 50 yrs likely to be vaccinated in next round

Elected representatives above 50 years of age are likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the second round of the ongoing inoculation drive after over three crore healthcare and frontline workers are vaccinated in the first round.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, most of his Cabinet ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, a majority of chief ministers and top-rung leaders of all political parties besides MPs and MLAs fall in this category.

 

A government source, however, insisted that there is no specific timeline for the vaccination of top politicians. READ ON...