Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra records 8,623 fresh cases, 51 deaths

Coronavirus live updates: Most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (2,130,000), Kerala (1,052,000), Karnataka (950,207) and Andhra Pradesh (889,585). Stay tuned for corona-related news

11:44 PM

More tests for Covid-19 needed, says WHO Chief Scientist

Chief scientist of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Soumya Swaminathan on Saturday said there should be more COVID-19 tests as there was heterogeneity (on testing methods) among the states, according to PTI.

 

"Testing is really an important issue. At the beginning, WHO found that many countries did not have diagnostics and those which had it was not enough. In fact we found out that diagnostics was lower than it should be," she said while addressing a session at 'Shaastra' organised here at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras.

11:23 PM

Andhra Pradesh reports 118 new Covid-19 cases

Andhra Pradesh reported 118 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, taking the total count of cases to 8,89,799, according to ANI.

According to the state health department, Andhra Pradesh has 667 active COVID-19 cases as of now.

10:23 PM

Chhattisgarh records 240 new Covid-19 cases, five deaths

Chhattisgarh on Saturday reported 240 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths, taking the infection count to 3,12,419 and death toll to 3,833, according to PTI.

The number of recoveries reached 3,05,819 after 13 people were discharged from hospitals and 161 completed home isolation period.

9:58 PM

Kerala logs 3,792 new Covid-19 cases, 4,650 recoveries in last 24 hours

Kerala on Saturday reported 3,792 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the cumulative count of cases in the state to 10,56,149, according to ANI.

With 18 deaths registered in the last 24 hours, the death toll in the state reached 4,182.

9:13 PM

Madhya Pradesh sees 390 new Covid-19 cases, 241 recoveries

Madhya Pradesh on Saturday reported 390 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the tally of the infections to 2,61,403 while one more fatality pushed the toll to 3,863, according to PTI.

 

No fresh COVID-19 case was reported in 12 districts of the total 52 districts in the state.

 

A total of 241 patients were discharged from hospitals in Madhya Pradesh in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries to 2,54,874, the department said.

8:52 PM

Gujarat sees 451 new Covid-19 cases, 328 recoveries

Gujarat on Saturday reported 451 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the count of infections to 2,69,482, the state health department said.

With 328 people being discharged after treatment in the day, the tally of recoveries in Gujarat rose to 2,62,815, it said, adding that the state's recovery rate stood at 97.53 per cent.

Meanwhile, the overall death toll in Gujarat rose to 4,409 with one more person succumbing to COVID-19 disease during the day, the department said in a release.

The state is now left with 2,258 active cases.

8:47 PM

8,623 new coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, 51 deaths

Maharashtra reported more than 8,000 new Covid-19 cases on the fourth straight day on Saturday which took the caseload in the state to 21,46,777, a health official said.

The state reported 8,623 new infections and 51 deaths.

The death toll in the state due to the pandemic reached 52,092, the official added.

Lockdown in eastern Maharashtra's Amravati city was extended by one week. Weekend lockdown is also in place in Nagpur, Buldhana and Yavatmal in the region.

7:33 PM

S Africa ahead of schedule in first phase of Covid-19 vaccination

The first phase of Covid-19 vaccination programme in South Africa is ahead of schedule, health authorities said on Saturday after the second batch of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccines landed in the country.

In the first week of the Sisonke' campaign to vaccinate healthcare workers as a priority, 6,648 patient-facing healthcare workers in the public and private sector were vaccinated, the Department of Health said in a statement.

"In just under one week, the Sisonke Programme has set up 18 vaccination sites, developed and implemented complex logistics, including cold chain management; distribution of vaccines and vial filling; trained additional vaccinators; set up an online electronic registration system and ensured the safe and timely vaccination of tens of thousands of healthcare workers, it said.

7:13 PM

Covid-19 recoveries cross 1-million mark in Kerala; 3,792 new cases

Kerala on Saturday crossed the 1-million mark in terms of total Covid-19 recoveries, while reporting 3,792 new positive cases and 18 deaths.

With the addition of the fresh cases, the infection count surged to 10,56,498 and the death toll to 4,182, state Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a release here.

As many as 4,650 people have recuperated from the disease on Saturday, taking the total cured in the state to 10,01,164, she said.

Currently, there are 50,514 people under treatment.

7:02 PM

Covid-19: 97 new cases recorded in Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday recorded 97 new Covid-19 cases, taking the infection tally to 1,26,383, officials said

No fresh Covid-19-related death was reported in the past 24 hours, they said.

Of the new cases, 24 were from the Jammu division and 73 from the Kashmir division, officials said.

Srinagar district recorded the highest 44 cases followed by 11 each in Jammu and Udhampur districts.

6:50 PM

118 fresh Covid-19 cases in AP, no deaths

Coronavirus cases seem to be taking an upward path again after a long slide in Andhra Pradesh as 118 were added afresh on Saturday, the highest so far this month.

After 1.39 crore sample tests, at the rate of 2.60 lakh per million population and an overall positivity rate of 6.39 per cent, the cumulative Covid-19 cases climbed to 8,89,799, a health department bulletin said

It said 86 patients recovered and none died in the state in 24 hours ending 9 am on Saturday.

The gross recoveries now stood at 8,81,963 and toll at 7,169, it said.

6:42 PM

Malaysia logs 2,364 new Covid cases, 10 deaths

Malaysia has reported 2,364 new Covid-19 infections, pushing the tally to 298,315.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement that one of the new cases is imported and 2,363 are local transmissions, Xibhua reported.

Another 10 deaths have been reported, taking the toll to 1,121.

Some 3,320 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the cumulative recoveries to 270,166.

6:39 PM

US FDA panel gives go-ahead to Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine

A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel on Friday endorsed Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine and recommended the agency grant emergency authorisation.

According to The Hill, this would be the country's third vaccine one step closer to getting into Americans' arms.

The panel voted 22-0 that the benefits outweigh the risks for adults age 18 and older. FDA could give the green light to the single-dose vaccine as early as Saturday.

Vaccinations will begin once a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) panel recommends the vaccine and the CDC accepts that recommendation. The CDC panel is scheduled to meet on Sunday.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is different from the other two already on the market --- Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna --- could be a potential game changer as it is administered in a single dose and does not need to be frozen when shipped and stored.

5:50 PM

Six states records surge in active Covid-19 cases

As six states - Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat have shown a surge in new cases in the last 24 hours, India's total active cases count has reached 1,59,590 on Saturday.

India's present active caseload now stands at 1.44 percent of the country's total positive cases.

As many as 16,488 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours. 85.75 percent of the new cases are from six states and union territories.

Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,333. It is followed by Kerala with 3,671 while Punjab reported 622 new cases.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family and Welfare (MoHFW), in the last two weeks, Kerala has shown the maximum decline in the number of active cases, from 63,847 on February 14 to 51,679 today, while Maharashtra has shown the highest rise in active cases in the same period, from 34,449 on February 14 to 68,810 currently.

5:32 PM

Hong Kong reports 33 new Covid cases, tally over 10,000

Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) on Saturday reported 33 fresh Covid infections, taking the tally to 10,983.

The new cases included 31 local infections, of which 10 had an unknown origin. There were also about 20 cases testing positive for Covid-19 preliminarily, according to a CHP press briefing.

About half of the confirmed cases were related to an outbreak in a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, which has reported 34 infections in total so far, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the CHP Chuang Shuk-kwan said.