Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh tests positive

Coronavirus live updates: Globally, more than 105.5 million people have been infected by the virus and the death toll stands at 2,292,656

11:21 PM

Covid-19 vaccination for frontline personnel in Telangana to begin from Saturday

Covid-19 vaccination for frontline personnel, including police,municipal, panchayat raj and revenue staff, would begin in Telangana from Saturday. The total number of these beneficiaries is 1,88,402, an official release said on Friday. The state government has conducted inoculation for government and private healthcare personnel since the programme began on January 16.

The cumulative number of personnel vaccinated as of Friday was 1,93,485, it said. Meanwhile, state Health Minister Eatala Rajender told reporters that the spread of COVID-19 is on the wane in the state with only a few hundred cases being reported daily. The number of deaths is also either one or two per day, he said.

11:21 PM

Covid-19 vaccination for frontline personnel in Telangana to begin from Saturday

Covid-19 vaccination for frontline personnel, including police,municipal, panchayat raj and revenue staff, would begin in Telangana from Saturday. The total number of these beneficiaries is 1,88,402, an official release said on Friday. The state government has conducted inoculation for government and private healthcare personnel since the programme began on January 16.

The cumulative number of personnel vaccinated as of Friday was 1,93,485, it said. Meanwhile, state Health Minister Eatala Rajender told reporters that the spread of COVID-19 is on the wane in the state with only a few hundred cases being reported daily. The number of deaths is also either one or two per day, he said.

11:20 PM

Covid-19 vaccination for frontline personnel in Telangana to begin from Saturday

Covid-19 vaccination for frontline personnel, including police,municipal, panchayat raj and revenue staff, would begin in Telangana from Saturday. The total number of these beneficiaries is 1,88,402, an official release said on Friday. The state government has conducted inoculation for government and private healthcare personnel since the programme began on January 16.

The cumulative number of personnel vaccinated as of Friday was 1,93,485, it said. Meanwhile, state Health Minister Eatala Rajender told reporters that the spread of COVID-19 is on the wane in the state with only a few hundred cases being reported daily. The number of deaths is also either one or two per day, he said.

10:36 PM

84 new Covid-19 cases in Haryana, 1 death

Haryana recorded 84 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, while one death due to the infection took place in the state, a health department's bulletin said. The death of a coronavirus patient was reported in Gurgaon. The fatality count in the state has now risen to 3,027, it stated. The 84 fresh cases included 23 from Gurgaon and 18 from Panchkula districts.

The total number of infections reported in the state reached 2,68,293, the bulletin said. The number of active cases in the state is 949, while 2,64,317 patients have recovered. The recovery rate was 98.52 percent, it stated.

10:24 PM

India fastest country to reach 5 million Covid vaccinations mark: Health ministry

India has become thefirstcountry in the world to reach the5 million COVID-19 vaccinationmark in just 21 days, the Union Health Ministry said asnearly 53 lakh beneficiaries have been administered shotsunder the countrywide inoculation exercise till Friday evening. The USA, the UK and Israel have reached 5 million vaccinations in 24, 43 and 45 simultaneous days respectively.

"The countrywide COVID-19 vaccination program was conducted successfully on the twenty-first day as well," the ministry said. The cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 is nearly 53 lakhs. A total of 52,90,474 beneficiaries were vaccinated through 1,04,781 sessions, as per the provisional report comprising data collected till Friday 6 pm. As many as "3,31,029 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 6 pm on the 21st day of the vaccination drive,"the ministry said, adding, thefinal reportwould be completed bylatein the night. The final report would be completed for the day by late Friday night, the ministry said.

8:50 PM

2,628 new coronavirus cases, 40 deaths in Maharashtra

Maharashtra reported 2,628 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the case tally to 20,38,630, an official of the state health department said. As many as 40 COVID-19 fatalities were recorded during the day which pushed the death toll to 51,255, he said.

 

As many as 16 of these deaths were from the past 48 hours, seven had taken place in the last week and remaining 17 had taken place before that but were reported now, the official said.

 

A total of 3,513 patients were discharged from hospitals on Friday, taking the overall number of recoveries in Maharashtra to 19,52,187. There are 33,936 active coronavirus cases in the state. Maharashtra's case recovery rate now stands at 95.76 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.51 per cent.

8:20 PM

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh tests positive for coronavirus

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh says he has tested positive for coronavirus.

8:10 PM

Only 27 got hospitalised after receiving Covid-19 vaccine: Health Ministry

7:51 PM

Third phase of Covid-19 vaccination covering people aged above 50 likely to begin in March: Govt

The third phase of vaccination against the coronavirus is likely to commence in March and will cover 27 crore people aged 50 years and above and those with co-morbidities, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in Lok Sabha on Friday. Replying to questions on vaccines and the vaccination drive against the coronavirus during the Question Hour, Vardhan said nearly five million people have been inoculated in the country so far.

 

He added that the vaccination drive for frontline workers has begun this week.

 

"In coming days, 27 crore people who are of above 50 years of age and those under 50 with co-morbidities will be vaccinated," Vardhan said.

 

The vaccination drive began on January 16, starting with healthcare workers and then the frontline workers, both estimated to be around three crore.

7:19 PM

India completed 5 million vaccinations in 21 days: Union Health Ministry

We completed 50 Lakh (5 million) vaccinations in 21 days. In the US it took 24 days, 43 days in the UK and 45 days in Israel: Manohar Agnani, Additional Secretary, Union Health Ministry

6:38 PM

Nearly 5 million beneficiaries vaccinated against Covid-19: Health Ministry

Nearly 50 lakh beneficiaries have been inoculated under the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination exercise, while India's total active cases have dropped to1.51 lakh, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. India's total active cases continues to follow a consistent downward slideconsisting of just1.40 per centof total infections.

 

Following a downward trajectory,12,408 daily newcases were recorded in a span of 24 hours.

 

"India's cases per million population (7,828) areamongst the lowest in the world.This count is much higher for countries like Russia, Germany, Italy, Brazil, France, UK and USA," the ministry said. READ ON...

 

6:26 PM

Himachal schools to shut for 48 hours if Covid-19 case reported

The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Friday decided that if any teacher or employee or student in government institutes is found Covid-19 positive, the institute would be closed for 48 hours and would be opened after sanitisation as per protocol.

 

It was decided that students of Classes 6 and 7 would also attend their respective schools from February 15, while those of Class 1 and 4 would attend the online classes.

 

The Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, also decided to suspend serving cooked meals in schools under Mid-Day Meal Scheme till March 31. During this period, dry ration would be provided to students and the cooking cost would be transferred in the accounts of the beneficiaries. The academic session would start from April 1.

6:08 PM

India’s 112 deaths per million population amongst the lowest globally

5:38 PM

Delhi reports 154 new coronavirus cases, 140 recoveries and two deaths in last 24 hours

Delhi recorded 154 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, while the death toll rose to 10,873 with two new fatalities. The fatality count on Friday was same as that on February 2, the lowest in the last 10 months. These new cases came out of the 59,964 tests conducted the previous day. The positivity rate stood at 0.26 per cent, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

 

The infection tally in the city stood at over 6.35 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,873 with two new fatalities, authorities said. The active cases tally on Friday slightly rose to 1,206 from 1,194, according to the bulletin. The total number of tests conducted the previous day, included 37,770 RT-PCR tests and 22,194 rapid antigen tests, the bulletin said.

5:02 PM

India received requests for Covid-19 vaccine supply from 22 nations so far: Health Minister