Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi sees cases below 100 for first time since April 30

Coronavirus live updates: Over 2 million healthcare workers across India have received Covid-19 vaccine jabs

6:45 PM

Iran reports 6,608 fresh Covid-19 cases

Iran on Wednesday reported 6,608 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally to 1,392,314. The pandemic has so far claimed 57,651 lives in Iran, up by 91 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Xinhua reported. Of the newly infected, 695 were hospitalized, said Lari.

 

A total of 1,183,463 people have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals, while 4,024 remain in intensive care units, she added. According to the spokeswoman, 9,070,167 tests for the virus have been carried out in Iran as of Wednesday. Iran announced its first cases of Covid-19 on February 19, 2020.

6:11 PM

Delhi sees 96 new Covid cases in last 24 hours; cases below 100 for first time since April 30

5:39 PM

Andhra Pradesh reports 111 coronavirus cases, two deaths

Andhra Pradesh reported 111 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 8.87 lakh while two fatalities pushed the toll to 7,152 in 24 hours ending 9 am on Wednesday. The state also reported 97 more recoveries, a PTI report said. Anantapur and West Godavari witnessed one death each.

 

With 33,808 tests, the total number of tests conducted in the state so far stood at over 1.29 crore. The total confirmed positive COVID-19 cases were 8,87,349 while the recoveries stood at 8,78,828, it said. The state has 1,369 active cases. In 24 hours, Krishna district accounted for the most number of cases with 19, followed by Chittoor and West Godavari with 16 and 14 each respectively.

5:29 PM

Dr Reddy's Labs terminates Kuwait-based Covid-19 treatment study

Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Wednesday announced termination of Avigan trial study being conducted in Kuwait that was focused on moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in a hospital setting.

 

It was one of the studies in the overall clinical programme for Fujifilm's Avigan, an antiviral medication, spanning the spectrum of asymptomatic to severe cases of COVID-19 in both outpatient and inpatient setting, the drug major said in a statement.

 

The Phase-III study, being conducted in an outpatient setting on patients with mild to moderate symptoms in North America by the company in partnership with Appili Therapuetics and Global Response Aid, shall continue. READ MORE...

 

4:58 PM

Sasikala released from prison, but to be in hospital due to Covid-19

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J. Jayalalithaa's close aide, V. K. Sasikala was released from Bengaluru's central prison -- Parappana Agrahara Central Jail -- on Wednesday after prison authorities completed the release formalities.

 

The central jail authorities wore Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and completed the formalities at the hospital where she is presently undergoing treatment for Covid infection. Her sister-in-law, J. Ilavaris too was admitted in the same hospital on January 22.

 

She will, however, remain in the hospital as she is being treated for Covid.

4:19 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Covaxin effective against UK Covid-19 strain, says ICMR

3:43 PM

India's active cases only 1.65% of total infections: Health Ministry

The daily COVID-19 recovered cases in India havebeen surpassing daily new cases from the last 20 days, while thetotal active cases stand at 1,76,498 comprisingjust1.65 per cent of the total infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The cumulative recoveries have surged to 1,03,59,305 with13,320 patients being discharged in a span of 24 hours.A totalof 12,689daily new cases were added to the national tally during the same period.

 

"India has one of thelowest daily COVID-19 new cases per Million population (69) in the last 7 days," the ministry highlighted.

 

These sustained encouraging results have been made possible with the Centre-led proactive and calibrated strategy of test, track, treat technology, the ministry underlined.

3:15 PM

Reliance signs $15 mn deal with Israeli firm to distribute Covid-19 breath test kit

Reliance Group has signed a USD 15 million deal with Israeli company Breath of Health (BOH) to distribute the company's swift COVID-19 breath testing system throughout India, a PTI report said. According to the agreement, the Indian corporate giant will purchase hundreds of systems from the Israeli company in a deal valued at USD 15 million and will use them to conduct millions of tests a month at a cost of USD 10 million per month, business portal Calcalist reported.

 

Reliance will also lead research of the system in India and will distribute the platform throughout the country and in the Far East, it added.

 

BOH is said to have developed a breath test system that identifies COVID-19 at a success rate of over 95 per cent.

2:44 PM

Lowest new cases and new deaths per million population in the last 7 days: Health Ministry

2:32 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Covaxin effective against UK Covid-19 strain, says ICMR

An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study on Covaxin shows a comparable neutralization activity of the vaccinated individuals against UK-variant strain. The ICMR's National Institute of Virology scientist performed the plaque reduction neutralization test using sera collected from the 26 recipients of Bharat Biotech's coronavirus vaccine (COVAXIN) against UK-variant strain.

 

"A comparable neutralization activity of the vaccinated individuals sera showed against UK-variant and the heterologous strain with similar efficiency dispel the uncertainty of possible neutralization escape," stated document appeared in bioRxiv in a pre-print version.

 

"We successfully isolated and characterized the SARS-CoV-2 from UK returnees in India with all signature mutations of the UK-variant," noted the NIV- Pune scientist.

 

1:50 PM

Tokyo's new daily Covid-19 cases dip back below 1,000-mark

The Tokyo metropolitan government reported 973 new daily COVID-19 cases in the capital on Wednesday, bringing the city's total tally of people testing positive for the virus to 96,507, according to ANI.

 

The latest figure, as was the case on Sunday and Monday, dipped below the 1,000-mark, before rising above the threshold on Tuesday where new daily infections in the city of 14 million rose to 1,026.

 

Health officials said the number of patients designated as being in a "serious condition" stood at 159, rising by 11 compared to a day earlier.

1:28 PM

DATA STORY: India conducts 550,426 Covid tests; daily positivity rate rises to 2.3%

India on Tuesday conducted 550,426 coronavirus tests to take the total count of tests conducted so far in the country to 193,613,120. The test positivity rate recorded was 2.3%. Read on...

12:00 PM

Serum Institute looking at bilateral deals to supply Covishield vaccine

As India outshines China with its friendly neighbourhood vaccine diplomacy, the world's largest vaccine maker — Serum Institute of India (SII) — is girding itself for bilateral deals to supply to low- and medium-income countries.

 

The Pune-based biotechnology company will increase capacity to manufacture the Oxford-AstraZeneca-developed Covishield vaccine by 30 per cent by March, from the current daily levels of 2.4 million doses. Read on...

11:57 AM

Oil rises as US oil stockpiles drop as Covid-19 cases decline in China

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday after industry data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week and China, the world's second-biggest oil user, reported its lowest daily rise in COVID-19 cases, bolstering hopes of a pick-up in demand.

 

Brent crude futures climbed 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $56.10 a barrel at 0452 GMT, adding to a small gain on Tuesday.

 

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 20 cents, or 0.4%, to $52.81 a barrel, reversing Tuesday's loss. Read on...

11:53 AM

Kamala Harris gets second Covid vaccine dose, urges everyone to do likewise

"I want to urge everyone to take the vaccine when it is your turn," Harris told CSPAN viewers on Tuesday. "It will save your life." Harris received her first vaccine dose on December 29.

 

Following a slow roll-out, after two coronavirus vaccines received emergency approval in December, the United States administered more than 1 million shots daily for the past week

 

President Joe Biden has said the goal of his administration is to vaccinate 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his presidency.