Covid LIVE: WHO chief urges halt to booster shots for rest of the year

Covid live updates: India says it had given 700 million vaccine doses by Tuesday, with 76% of its population getting first of two shots.

1:12 AM

Iran reports 26,854 new Covid-19 cases, 5,210,978 in total

Iran's health ministry on Wednesday reported 26,854 new Covid-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 5,210,978.

 

The pandemic has so far claimed 112,430 lives in the country, after 538 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, said the update by Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

 

A total of 4,453,651 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 7,534 remain in intensive care units, according to the ministry.

 

By Wednesday, 20,558,038 people have received at least a dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the country, while 10,892,656 have taken two doses, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Iran has been recently facing a resurgence of Delta variant of the coronavirus.

12:31 AM

Delhi: Over 8 lakh people booked, Rs 135 cr fine imposed in 4 months for Covid norm violations

Delhiites coughed up more than Rs 135 crore in fines with over eight lakh violations of Covid-appropriate behaviour norms in the last four months, officials said on Wednesday.

 

The fines were imposed by Delhi government teams and police personnel, they said.

 

Official data showed that enforcement teams of the city government's revenue department and the Delhi Police booked over six lakh and two lakh people, respectively, in May-August for violating various Covid-related guidelines like not wearing masks, crowding and spitting in public places.

 

While government teams imposed fines of more than Rs 103 crore, the Delhi Police imposed over Rs 32 crore of penalties. The police also arrested over 15,600 people in the past four months for violating guidelines, it showed.

11:28 PM

West Bengal reports 751 new COVID-19 cases, 9 fresh fatalities

With 128 fresh cases of the contagion from the city, West Bengal on Wednesday registered 751 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 15,53,928, a bulletin released by the health department said.

 

The COVID-19 death toll rose to 18,531 with nine new fatalities, it said.

 

At least 841 more people recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, pushing the COVID-19 recovery rate to 98.27 per cent. So far, 15,27,109 people have recovered from the disease.

 

West Bengal currently has 8,288 active COVID-19 cases.

 

A total of 1,73,13,885 samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far, it added.

10:37 PM

Covid precautions: Rajasthan retains ban on public gatherings

The Rajasthan Home Department on Wednesday issued fresh orders continuing the ban on any kind of gatherings - social, political, sports, cultural, or religious - as well as fairs and 'haats' to check the spread of coronavirus infection in the state.

 

Principal Secretary, Home, Abhay Kumar, in a letter to all District Collectors, Police Commissioners/Superintendents of Police, cited the order issued on July 10, which said that "corona infection is not completely over yet. Negligence in following the Corona guidelines can become the reason for the third wave".

 

Keeping this in mind, the ban on crowds/programme continues. Dharnas, processions, rallies etc should not be organised, he said.

 

Instructions have been given to all the Collectors and the Police Commissioners to strictly follow the "no mask, no movement" guidelines. If the norms of Covid appropriate behaviour are not followed by any establishment, market, or general public, then action should be taken against them by the administration, the letter said.

9:29 PM

Gujarat reports 17 COVID-19 cases, no deaths

Gujarat on Wednesday recorded 17 new coronavirus infections which took its caseload to 8,25,544, the state health department said.

 

No new death on account of the viral infection was reported for the fifth day in a row. The death toll thus remained unchanged at 10,082. With 15 patients discharged from hospitals, the tally of recovered cases increased to 8,15,311. Since August 19, Gujarat has reported less than 20 COVID-19 cases every day.

9:11 PM

Nashik logs 102 new COVID-19 cases; two casualties

At least 102 new cases of coronavirus were detected in Maharashtra's Nashik district, raising the tally of infections in the region to 4,06,287 on Wednesday, a health official said.

 

As many as 98 patients were discharged from hospitals, while two died of the infection during the day, he said.

 

With this, the count of recoveries reached 3,96,759 and toll stood at 8,600, the official said.

 

Of the total number of cases reported so far, 2,29,767 were from Nashik city, 1,54,220 from other parts of the district, 12,629 from Malegaon and 5,755 were patients from outside the district taking treating here, the administration said.

 

A total of 24,89,652 swabs have been tested till date, of which 4,590 were examined during the day, the official added.

9:03 PM

Maharashtra reports 4,174 new Covid cases, 65 deaths, 4,155 recoveries

Maharashtra reported 4,174 new coronavirus cases and 65 fresh fatalities on Wednesday, taking the tally of infections to 64,97,872 and the toll to 1,37,962, a health department official said.

 

With 4,155 patients getting discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, the number of recoveries climbed to 63,08,491, leaving the state with 47,880 active cases, he said. On Tuesday, Maharashtra had reported 3,898 new coronavirus infections and 86 fatalities. There are currently 3,07,913 people in home isolation in the state and another 1,937 in institutional quarantine, the official said.

8:43 PM

WHO chief urges halt to booster shots for rest of the year

The head of the World Health Organization is calling on rich countries with large supplies of coronavirus vaccines to refrain from offering booster shots through the end of the year, expanding a call that has largely fallen on deaf ears, AP reported.

 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said Wednesday he was appalled at comments by a leading association of pharmaceutical manufacturers who said vaccine supplies are high enough to allow for both booster shots and vaccinations in countries in dire need of jabs but facing shortages.

 

I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers, he told a news conference.

8:19 PM

Mumbai reports over 500 daily Covid-19 cases for first time since July 15

Mumbai on Wednesday recorded 530 new coronavirus positive cases, the highest since mid-July this year, and four fatalities, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said, PTI reported.

 

With this, the city's infection count rose to 7,47,608 and death toll to 16,004.

 

On July 15, the financial capital of the country had logged 545 COVID-19 cases. But after that its daily case count remained below 500 and even went under 190 by mid-August.

 

8:10 PM

Sikkim reports 54 new Covid-19 cases

Sikkim recorded a slight dip in new COVID-19 cases as 54 new infections were detected in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 30,384, a health department bulletin said on Wednesday, PTI reported.

 

The Himalayan state had reported 74 new cases on Tuesday.

 

Of the 54 new cases, East Sikkim district registered 22 cases followed by 20 in West Sikkim, 9 in South Sikkim and 3 in North Sikkim district.