As of Friday, Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of both active cases and fatalities. (File)Coronavirus India Highlights: Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure priority allocation of COVID-19 vaccine to Punjab on account of its higher mortality rate and high levels of co-morbidities in the state.
Meanwhile, India detected 36,011 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday, taking the country’s overall tally to over 96.44 lakh. Out of the total cases, active cases have further dropped to 4.03 lakh and 91,00,792 people have recovered so far with over 41,000 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours. With 482 new fatalities, the country’s death toll mounted to 1,40,182.
Pfizer India Saturday requested an emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine in India, becoming the first pharmaceutical company to do so. The move comes after Pfizer’s parent company received such a clearance in the UK and Bahrain. In its application submitted to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), it has asked permission to import the Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for sale and distribution in the country.
Currently, India has five vaccines in advance phases of clinical trials with the Serum Institute of India conducting phase-3 trials of the Oxford-Astrazeneca and Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR conducting trials for its indigenously developed vaccine candidate Covaxin.
Meanwhile, a plea was filed on Saturday in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to ensure refund of “exorbitant” amounts charged by private labs and hospitals for conducting RT-PCR tests to detect COVID-19.
Active cases have further dropped to 4.16 lakh and 90,16,289 people have recovered so far with almost 43,000 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours.
Haryana recorded ew cases of coronavirus and 24 deaths on Sunday, while 1,887 patients recovered in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients in the state reached 93.65 per cent as the number of active cases reduced to 12,897 Sunday evening.
Among 24 patients who died include five each in Faridabad and Hisar, three each in Gurgaon and Karnal, two in Panchkula, and one each in Ambala, Rohtak, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Sirsa and Jhajjar. While Gurgaon added another 310 new cases, Faridabad added 265 new cases, Sonipat (104), Hisar (47), Ambala (73), Karnal (63), Panipat (105), Rohtak (57), Rewari (144), Panchkula (66), Kurukshetra (39), Yamunanagar (16), Sirsa (25), Mahendragarh (9), Bhiwani (31), Jhajjar (43), Palwal (30), Fatehabad (19), Kaithal (3), Jind (46), Nuh (1) and Charkhi Dadri (2).
According to State's Sunday evening bulletin, 371 patients were in critical condition (326 on oxygen support, 45 on ventilator support). As on Sunday evening, the Covid positivity rate in Haryana was 6.54 per cent, fatality rate 1.06 per cent and the testing per million population in the state was 1,49,216.
Karnataka on Sunday reported 1,321 fresh COVID-19 infections and 10 mortalities taking the total cases and fatalities to 8,93,006 and 11,856 respectively, the health department said. The total number discharged were 8,55,750, including 889 today. As many as 25,381 were active cases including 280 in the ICU, the department said in its bulletin.
Almost all the districts in Karnataka saw a steep decline in the cases and fatalities, including Bengaluru though it alone was on the higher side with the figures of infection in three digits. The city today reported 733 infections and seven fatalities more than half of the total infections and deaths in the state. Cumulatively, the city reported 3,74,024 infections, 4,183 deaths, 3,50,204 who got discharged, including 275 today, and 19,636 active cases.
The reduction in cases and infections since the past two months finally culminated in zero infections in Bidar whereas only four districts reported deaths, including Bengaluru. Districts which reported infections in single digit were Ramanagar (2), Koppal (3), Bagalkote (5), Chikkaballapura (7) and Gadag (8).
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure priority allocation of COVID-19 vaccine to Punjab on account of its higher mortality rate and high levels of co-morbidities in the state.
In a letter to Modi, the CM said despite its relatively low caseload, Punjab has higher fatality rate due to coronavirus, and, therefore, it needs special attention in the allocation of the vaccine once available. Punjab has so far witnessed 1.55 lakh coronavirus cases and 4,905 deaths.
Pointing out that the vaccines currently under consideration would not perhaps reduce transmission much but prevent the disease from escalating to serious levels, Amarinder said their best use would therefore be among the most susceptible groups, including the elderly and persons having co-morbidities. According to a state government release, Amarinder also wanted to know if the COVID-19 vaccination exercise would be entirely funded by the Centre, including the cost of vaccines and supplies.
Gujarat on Sunday reported 1,455 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the count of infections to 2,18,788, the state health department said. With 17 more patients succumbing to the viral disease, the cumulative death toll mounted to 4,081, it said.
At 1,485, the number of recoveries exceeded the new cases. The tally of recoveries in the state now stands at 2,00,012, taking the case recovery rate to 91.42 per cent, the department said a release.
The state now has 14,695 active cases. With 69,310 samples being tested during the day, the overall tally of tests rose to 82,41,960, the release said.
Twenty more fatalities related to the coronavirus infection took the death toll in Rajasthan to 2,429 on Sunday, while 2,089 new cases pushed the infection tally to 2.80 lakh, according to a health department bulletin.
Of the total caseload, 22,427 are under treatment while 2,55,729 people have been discharged after treatment till now, it stated.
In Jaipur, the death toll stood at 455, followed by 253 in Jodhpur, 198 in Ajmer, 163 in Bikaner, 147 in Kota, 113 in Bharatpur, 104 in Udaipur and 95 in Pali.?
'Of the new cases recorded on Sunday, Jaipur accounted for 481, Jodhpur 221, Ajmer 105, Kota 101, Alwar 95, Udaipur 91 and Bhilwara 81.
A total of 17 volunteers have been administered Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine at a Pune hospital as part of the human clinical trials, doctors said on Sunday. Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). As per reports, India has purchased 100 million doses of the candidate from Russia.
"Seventeen healthy volunteers were administered Sputnik V vaccine in the last three days as part of human trials," Dr S K Raut, Head of Clinical Research Department of Noble Hospital here, said.
The inoculation process began on Thursday, he added. "All the volunteers, who were administered the vaccine, will be under observation for the next few days," Dr Raut added.
Nagaland's COVID-19 tally mounted to 11,379 on Sunday as 39 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the northeastern state's coronavirus death toll to 69, health officials said. Kohima district reported the highest number of new cases at 28, followed by Dimapur (five) and Wokha and Tuensang (two each), Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom said.
Out of the 69 coronavirus fatalities reported so far, 59 were due to the contagion, seven due to comorbidities, and an investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of three other deaths, Health Department Director Dr Denis Hangsing said. The state now has 544 active coronavirus cases, while 10,653 people have been cured of the disease and 113 patients have migrated to other states, he said.
The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 93.61 per cent, the official said. Kohima has the highest number of active cases at 311, followed by Dimapur (148) and Tuensang (32), he said. The state has so far conducted 1.14 lakh COVID-19 tests, including 69,940 RT-PCR, 36,154 TrueNat and 8,461 rapid antigen tests, Hangsing added.
Thane has added 611 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally in the Maharashtra district to 2,32,401, an official said on Sunday. Seven more people have also succumbed to coronavirus infection, taking the toll in the district to 5,733, he said. As of now, there are 7,278 active COVID-19 cases in the district, while 2,19,390 patients have recovered, he said.
The COVID-19 recovery rate in the district is 94.40 per cent, the mortality rate is 2.47 per cent, while the active cases constitute 3.13 per cent of the total cases reported so far, the official said. Among cities in the district, Kalyan has reported the maximum number of COVID-19 cases at 54,753, followed by Thane city-52,521, Navi Mumbai-48,899 and Mira Bhayander-24,452.
Out of the total COVID-19 deaths, Thane city accounts for 1,249, Kalyan-1,067, Navi Mumbai-995 and Mira Bhayander-761, the official said.
Nearly 11 per cent of those in the national capital who tested negative for COVID-19 in rapid antigen tests (RAT) but had symptoms for the disease were found to have been afflicted by the viral infection in RT-PCR test between September 1 and November 7, according to official data. Out of the 56,862 symptomatic patients who tested negative in rapid antigen tests, 32,903 were retested through RT-PCR and of them 3,524 were found COVID-19 positive, according to the data shared by health authorities in response to an RTI query filed by a PTI reporter.
In order to effectively curb the spread of coronavirus infection, the Union Health Ministry had in September asked all states and Union Territories to mandatorily retest all symptomatic cases found COVID-19 negative in rapid antigen tests through RT-PCR so that no positive case is missed.
For Delhi, the case positivity rate in RT-PCR, which is considered the gold standard for COVID-19 screening, was 20.97 per cent in September, while it was only 4.77 per cent when it comes to rapid antigen test, the RTI reply stated.
Thane has added 611 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally in the Maharashtra district to 2,32,401, an official said on Sunday. Seven more people have also succumbed to coronavirus infection, taking the toll in the district to 5,733, he said. As of now, there are 7,278 active COVID-19 cases in the district, while 2,19,390 patients have recovered, he said.
The COVID-19 recovery rate in the district is 94.40 per cent, the mortality rate is 2.47 per cent, while the active cases constitute 3.13 per cent of the total cases reported so far, the official said. Among cities in the district, Kalyan has reported the maximum number of COVID-19 cases at 54,753, followed by Thane city-52,521, Navi Mumbai-48,899 and Mira Bhayander-24,452.
Out of the total COVID-19 deaths, Thane city accounts for 1,249, Kalyan-1,067, Navi Mumbai-995 and Mira Bhayander-761, the official said.
ndia’s economic growth is likely to reach pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal as the GDP contraction in this financial year is expected to be less than 8 per cent, Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Sunday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also revised its forecast of economic growth for the current fiscal year (2020-21) to (-)7.5 per cent as against its earlier forecast of (-)9.5 per cent.
“We should reach pre-COVID-19 levels at the end of fiscal year 2021-22 for sure,” Kumar told PTI when asked about growth projection for the next financial year. He added that the GDP contraction this fiscal is expected at less than 8 per cent. (Read more here)
Puducherry reported 35 fresh COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the tally to 37,244, while the toll remained at 614 as there were no fatalities. The day also saw 62 patients getting discharged from various hospitals after recovery. Mahe region topped the list of fresh infections (18), followed by Puducherry 13, Karaikal 3 and Yanam 1, the Director of the Health Department S Mohan Kumar said in a release. Cumulatively 37,244 cases have been confirmed, out of which 36,238 were treated and discharged. Active cases remained at 392. (PTI)
A month shy of 100, Bhabatarini Samanta had to battle the deadliest of foes in the path of her becoming a centenarian - the coronavirus. And, she mananged to get the better of it, stunning doctors and family members alike.
Samanta, at 99 years and 11 months, was admitted to a designated COVID-19 hospital in Fuleswar area on November 24 with fever and breathing trouble. Subhasis Mitra, director of the hospital, said she had numerous complications, and a medical team had to be set up to assess her health condition. "With time and care, she started recovering. We are delighted that we could make her free from COVID-19 and send her home in time for the 100th birthday, which is just a few days away," he said. (PTI)
On the heels of last month’s news of stunning results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s experimental COVID-19 vaccines, Sen. Rand Paul tweeted a provocative comparison.
The new vaccines were 90% and 94.5% effective, Paul said. But “naturally acquired” COVID-19 was even better, at 99.9982%, he claimed.The primary advantage of a vaccine is that it's predictable and safe, she said. "It's been optimally tailored to generate an effective immune response."
But what do we know about how the immunity from a prior infection compares with the protection given by the new vaccines? And what if you have already had COVID - is it safe to be vaccinated? We asked experts to weigh in on the latest evidence
(Read NYT's explainer here)
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K S Alagiri has tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday and is admitted to a private hospital. "TNCC President K S Alagiri has tested positive for coronavirus following a test today morning and has been admitted to a private hospital for treatment," A Gopanna, TNCC media department chairman said in a statement.
Gopanna asked those who had come in contact with Alagiri to get tested. Alagiri attended a meeting with Congress and DMK members on Thursday.
elangana reported 622 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 2.73 lakh while two fatalities pushed the toll to 1,472. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 104, followed by Rangareddy 55 and Medchal Malkajgiri 51, a government bulletin said on Sunday providing details as of 8 pm on December 5. As many as8,125 patients are under treatment and57,308 samples were tested on Saturday. (PTI)
On January 11, China shared the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV2, the coronavirus shutting down borders and economies across the world. On March 16, US-based biotech firm Moderna and a week later, researchers at Oxford University announced the start of human trials on vaccines against it.
In India, the government resorted to an unprecedented lockdown to contain the virus. Up until April 19, by which time the country had reported 15,712 cases and 507 deaths, a vaccine was nowhere on the horizon. That day, at the daily briefing by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Joint Secretary Luv Aggarwal said a high-level task force would “identify a pathway for vaccine development” — the first time the government mentioned the V-word.
With that, the ball was set rolling. By July, the Indian regulator had cleared Phase 1 human trials of the first indigenous vaccine candidate, developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech. (Read Kaunain Sheriff M's report here)
India detected 36,011 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday taking the country’s overall tally to over 96.44 lakh. Out of the total cases, active cases have further dropped to 4.03 lakh and 91,00,792 people have recovered so far with over 41,000 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours. With 482 new fatalities, the country's death toll mounted to 1,40,182.
PFIZER India has become the first pharmaceutical firm to seek from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine in the country, after its parent company secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain.
In its application to the drug regulator, Pfizer has sought permission to import the vaccine for sale and distribution in the country, besides waiver of clinical trials on Indian population in accordance with the special provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, official sources said.
"Pfizer India has submitted an application on December 4 to the DCGI seeking emergency use authorisation (EUA) for its Covid-19 vaccine," a source said. "The firm has submitted the EUA application in Form CT-18 for grant of permission to import and market Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in the country," the source said, citing the application.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday directed officials to increase storage capacity for anti-coronavirus vaccines, when they become available, as he virtually equated the security for the vaccines with that of electronic voting machines.
At a meeting at his official residence, he directed officials to increase the cold storage capacity to 2.30 lakh litres by December 15, according to an official statement. Adityanath also said that cold chain facilities would be arranged at each districts and divisions.
"All security arrangements should be made to ensure its availability. The safety of the vaccine storage spots should be ensured in the same manner as that of the electronic voting machines," the chief minister said.
A plea was filed on Saturday in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to ensure refund of "exorbitant" amounts charged by private labs and hospitals for conducting RT-PCR tests to detect COVID-19. The interim application has been filed by lawyer and BJP leader Ajay Agrawal in his pending PIL in which he had sought fixing of uniform rate of Rs 400 across India, as done by Odisha, for the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, on November 24, had issued notice to the Union Health Ministry on Agrawal's PIL and had sought its response within two weeks.
The fresh plea said that when hospitals and laboratories were charging Rs 4,500 for the test, the actual cost, including that of the testing kit, was between Rs 800 to Rs 1,200, and even now, "exorbitant rates" are being charged in various states when the total cost incurred is about Rs 200 only.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday wished a speedy recovery to his Haryana counterpart Anil Vij, who tested positive for COVID-19 weeks after being administered a trial dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine Covaxin.
Jain hoped the government will take cognisance of "doubts raised about the efficacy of the vaccine and that it will be completely safe and effective". "I wish that Anil Vij ji recovers from coronavirus soon. A few days ago, he had volunteered to take a dose of a vaccine during its phase-three trial," Jain tweeted.
Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 caseload rose to 16,367 as 18 more people tested positive for the virus, a health department official said here on Saturday. One more person succumbed to the infection on Thursday, pushing the number of fatalities in the northeastern state to 55.
Of the 18 fresh cases, six were reported from the Capital Complex region, three each from Papumpare and West Kameng and one each from West Siang, Lohit, East Siang, Upper Siang, Changlang and Lower Dibang Valley district respectively. (PTI)
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has tested positive for Covid-19, he announced on Saturday. In a tweet, Vij said, "I have been tested positive for Corona positive. I am admitted in Civil Hospital Ambala Cantt. All those who have come in close contact to me are advised to get themselves tested for corona." This comes days after Vij volunteered to take a shot of Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate Covaxin, as part of its third phase trial.
India detected 36,652 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday taking the country’s overall tally to over 96 lakh. Out of the total cases, active cases have further dropped to 4.09 lakh and 90,58,822 people have recovered so far with almost 42,500 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours. With 512 new deaths, the toll mounted to 1,39,700.
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Friday suggested that the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine be kept affordable and that the government even consider offering it free of cost for the economically vulnerable sections.
The JD(S) supremo made this suggestion at an all-party meeting with leaders of various political outfits and top union ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country, his office said in a statement. (PTI)
If the COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital stays below 4 per cent for five consecutive days, it would mean Delhi has been successful in combating the pandemic, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday.
Interacting with reporters, he also said there is "enough resources for the application as well as storage of vaccine" and mohalla clinics, polyclinics, dispensaries and hospitals will facilitate the application.
"The positivity rate has become less than 5 per cent as compared to the surge since November 7 which is a sign of relief as it points to perpetual declining of the effect of the pandemic in Delhi," Jain said.
"If this continues for five consecutive days, Delhi will successfully combat the outbreak," he said. The positivity rate in Delhi decreased to 4.96 per cent on Thursday. (PTI)
At the all-party meet, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that COVID-like pandemics can pose threat to country's internal security; policy makers must address challenge. He also called for safety mechanism to monitor long-term adverse effects of any COVID vaccine.
His remarks came at a virtual all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Read More
It is important to have a large basket of COVID-19 vaccines as it is really difficult to know which one is going to be the best among the lot, Department of Biotechnology secretary Renu Swarup said on Friday.
She said the vaccines that are being developed indigenously are on different platforms and each has its own benefits and challenges. "It is important to have a large basket of vaccines as we move forward because we really don't know which one is going to be the best.
"It is not necessary that the first one is the best, you may have one coming later which is going to be better but it is difficult to say right now," she said at a webinar. (PTI)
Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,20,394 on Friday as 377 more people tested positive for the infection, while five fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,760, a health department official said. Of the new cases, 215 were reported from different quarantine centres and 162 detected during contact tracing. Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, recorded the maximum number of fresh cases at 56, followed by Sundargarh at 47 and Angul at 28. Three districts - Boudh, Gajapati and Nawrangpur -have not registered any fresh case, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India's vaccination programme against COVID-19 would begin as soon as a go-ahead from scientists is given, and asserted that healthcare workers involved in treating coronavirus patients, frontline workers and old people suffering from serious conditions would be inoculated on priority. In his closing remarks at an all-party meeting with leaders of various political parties to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country, Modi said experts believe the wait for the COVID-19 vaccine will not be long and it may be ready in a few weeks. Nearly eight vaccines are at different stages of trial with their manufacturing assured in India, Modi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said three vaccines are in trial stage in India and when ready, healthcare and frontline workers, and elderly persons with serious ailments will be given priority in vaccination. Holding a virtual meeting with leaders of all political parties on the Covid-19 situation, the vaccine challenges and the way forward, he said that deliberations are on with the states about the dissemination and pricing of the vaccine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses all-party meeting called by him to discuss the COVID-19 situation, through video conferencing.
Through the Covid-19 pandemic, cases have been reported of myocardial injury — the death of myocardial cells in the heart. While most of these patients with myocardial injury had pre-existing cardiovascular disease, a case has now been reported of a two-month-old infant who had reversible myocardial injury and heart failure, similar to Covid-19-related heart issues seen in adults.
The child, a Covid-19 patient, recovered with normal heart functions, scientists have reported in the journal JACC: Case Reports. In the infant, an ECG showed myocardial injury due to Covid-19 infection, and heart failure symptoms exacerbated by the infection.
Arunachal Pradesh reported 28 more cases of COVID-19 on Friday, taking the tally to 16,348, a senior health official told PTI. Single-day recoveries continued to exceed fresh cases as 37 more people were cured of the disease, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Lobsang Jampa said. Of the fresh cases, eight were reported from Lower Subansiri, five from Changlang, four from West Kameng and three from the Capital Complex region, PTI reported.
India detected 36,595 new cases of coronavirus infection on Thursday, taking its overall tally to over 95.71 lakh. Active cases have further dropped to 4.16 lakh and 90,16,289 people have recovered so far with almost 43,000 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours. With 540 new deaths, the toll mounted to 1,39,188. Kerala continues to be the topmost contributor of cases, with 5,377 new infections on Thursday. Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and Rajasthan round up the top five.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will clarify at the all-party meeting by when will every Indian get free COVID-19 vaccine. His remark came ahead of the all-party meeting convened by the government to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the country, the vaccine challenges and the way forward.
"In today's all-party meeting, we hope the PM clarifies by when will every Indian get free Covid vaccine," he said on Twitter. Floor leaders of various parties in Parliament have been invited by the government at the virtual all-party meeting on Friday.
The centre is presently conducting an extensive backend preparation for the Covid-19 immunisation drive. The government expects to receive and utilise 400-500 million doses and cover approximately 20-25 crore people by July 21.
This comes a few days after PM Modi chaired a high level meeting with Chief Ministers of the states in which he emphasised on the crucial role of the states on vaccine administration and distribution. In November 24 meeting, he had directed the states to provide their plans to build a final blue print on the immunisation drive. He had also asked them to build decentralised mechanisms till block level in the form of task force to ensure the vaccine roll out smoothly.
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