Coronavirus LIVE: Kerala reports 1,792 fresh cases, 15 deaths in 24 hrs

Coronavirus live updates: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 120,040,943. While 96,578,602 have recovered, 12,659,064 have lost their lives

2:41 AM

UK records another 4,618 coronavirus cases, 52 deaths

Another 4,618 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,258,438, according to official figures released on Sunday.

 

The country also reported another 52 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 125,516. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

More than 24.1 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

 

The data were revealed as experts raised concerns over the difference between vaccination rates in richer and poorer areas in England, where black, Asian and other minority ethnic populations are often the majority.

 

A research by The Guardian newspaper has found the vaccine gap was most pronounced in the borough of Southwark, south London.

 

In the richest areas in the borough, 95 percent of those aged 60 or older had been vaccinated by March 7, but the number fell to only 70 per cent of people in the poorest areas of Southwark, according to the London-based newspaper.

2:40 AM

Africa's confirmed Covid-19 cases pass 4.02 mn

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa has reached 4,025,390 as of Sunday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

 

The Africa CDC, the specialised healthcare agency of the African Union (AU), said that the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 107,523, while 3,610,997 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease.

 

The most affected countries in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases are South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

South Africa has lost 51,261 lives to the disease, the most among African countries, followed by Egypt at 11,256, and Morocco at 8,718, according to the Africa CDC.

2:38 AM

Anthony Fauci: Donald Trump should urge his followers to get vaccinated

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday he wishes former President Donald Trump would use his popularity among Republicans to persuade more of his followers to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
 

In a round of interviews on the morning news shows, the government's top infectious disease expert lamented polling showing that Trump supporters are more likely to refuse to get vaccinated, saying politics needs to be separated from commonsense, no-brainer public health measures.

 

Fauci said it would be a game changer for the country's vaccine efforts if the former president used his incredible influence among Republicans.

 

If he came out and said, Go and get vaccinated. It's really important for your health, the health of your family and the health of the country,' it seems absolutely inevitable that the vast majority of people who are his close followers would listen to him, Fauci told Fox News Sunday.

 

There was no immediate comment from the former president's office Sunday.

 

Trump has urged people to get vaccinated, doing so again two weeks ago at a conservative political gathering in Florida.

 

But he hasn't been among former presidents and other public officials who have been vaccinated on camera to encourage others to get the shot. It was revealed only recently that he was vaccinated in private at the White House before leaving office in January.
 

8:57 PM

Covid-19: No time to declare victory as there's always risk of surge back up: US' Dr Fauci

There is time to declare a victory in America's fight against the coronavirus as there is always the risk of a surge back up, White House chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday.

The US is going in the right direction, Fauci told Fox News in an interview.

When you see a plateauing at a level of anywhere between 50,000 and 65,000 cases a day, that is absolutely no time to declare victory because we know from previous urges that we've had over the year that when you see that leveling off at a high level, there's always the risk of a surge back up, he said.

8:33 PM

Covid-19: 250 new cases, one more death recorded in Rajasthan

The Covid-19 death toll in Rajasthan rose to 2,790 on Sunday with one more fatality, while 250 new cases pushed the infection count to 3,22,969, a health department bulletin issued here said.

A total of 3,17,726 people have been discharged after treatment so far, it said.

A total of 2,453 people are currently undergoing treatment, the bulletin said.

8:16 PM

J-K records 105 new Covid-19 cases, no fresh deaths

Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday recorded 105 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 1,27,640, while no fresh death was reported in the past 24 hours, officials said.

Out of the fresh cases, 25 were from the Jammu Division and 80 from the Kashmir Division of the union territory, they said.

The officials said Srinagar district recorded the highest of 51 cases, followed by 16 in Jammu district.

While five districts did not report any fresh cases, 12 other districts had cases in single digits.

8:00 PM

1,792 Covid-19 cases, 15 deaths in Kerala

Kerala logged 1,792 fresh Covid-19 cases, including nine health workers and 15 related deaths on Sunday, taking the caseload state to 10.91 lakh and the toll to 4,396.

As many as 3,238 people were cured of the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 10,57,097, health minister K K Shailaja said.

A total of 50,565 samples were examined on Sunday, taking the overall number to 1,22,91,194.

The test positivity rate stood at 3.54 per cent.

7:12 PM

Chile becomes Latin America''s Covid-19 vaccination champion

After being among the world's hardest-hit nations with Covid-19, Chile is now near the top among countries at vaccinating its population against the virus.

With more than 25 per cent of its people having received at least one shot, the country of 19 million on South America's Pacific coast is the champion of Latin America, and globally it is just behind Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

That's a far cry from the beginning of the pandemic, when Chile was criticised over its inability to trace and isolate infected people. So what is the secret to its success?

Government officials and health experts say it was the country's early negotiations with vaccine producers, as well as its past experience with robust vaccination programs, a record praised by the World Health Organization.

6:40 PM

Malaysia reports 1,354 new Covid-19 cases, four more deaths

Malaysia reported 1,354 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the national total to 323,763, the country's health ministry informed on Sunday.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 14 of the new cases are imported and 1,340 are local transmissions.

Another four deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 1,210.

6:04 PM

Delhi reports 407 fresh COVID-19 cases