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.