A woman receives a dose of the Covid vaccine at an inoculation centre in New Delhi. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)Coronavirus India Highlights: Pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and GSK have received approval for the Phase 3 clinical study in India to assess the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of their adjuvanted recombinant-protein Covid-19 vaccine candidate, news agency PTI reported.
The global, randomised, double-blind Phase 3 trial will include more than 35,000 volunteers aged 18 and older across countries like the US, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Sanofi said in a statement.
As countries around the world rush to vaccinate their populations in the wake of more virulent variants, the global coronavirus death toll crossed the grim four million mark.
India reported 45,892 new coronavirus cases and 817 deaths in the last 24 hours, ending 8 am on Thursday. With this, the country’s overall caseload has risen to 3,07,09,557, while its death toll has climbed to 4,05,028. The number of active cases in the country has dropped to 4,60,704.
In other news, nearly a month after testing positive for Covid for a second time, Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Virbhadra Singh passed away on Thursday, doctors told ANI. He was 87. As a mark of respect to the former chief minister, the state government has decided to observe three days of state mourning, from 8th July to 10th July.
Crowd at Sadar Bazaar in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
For the second consecutive day on Thursday, Gujarat did not report a single Covid-19 fatality. The state added 62 new cases, while the vaccination drive remained suspended.
Fourteen districts did not report a single case or a fatality. Of these, Dang has not reported a single case since June 19, that is in nearly three weeks. Chhota Udepur last reported a case on June 22 and has not seen a Covid-19 case detected since.
As per the state Covid-19 dashboard, over 54,000 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, thus pegging the test positivity rate at less than 0.1 per cent.
Accprding to a report by the Union Health Ministry, India’s cumulative vaccination Coverage reached nearly 37 crores Thursday, 7pm. 36,08,940 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, news agency ANI reported.
After a video of an overcrowded Kempty Falls went viral, Manali has initiated a Covid-19 awareness campaign for tourists thronging the state. A fine of Rs 5,000 or 8 days in jail will be slapped on those found not wearing a mask, news agency ANI reported. "We have recorded over 300 challans in the last 7-8 days and have recovered Rs 3 lakh," Gurudev Sharma, SP Kullu, said.
In a press briefing Thursday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Covid relief fund will be utilised to form pediatric care centers in 736 districts and create 20,000 ICU beds. He added that the Rs 23,123 crore package will be used jointly by the Central and state governments, and set a limitation period of nine months, news agency ANI reported.
According to the state health department, Goa recored 195 new Covid cases Thursday, taking its active cases to 1,965. The death toll climbed to 3,086 with four additional deaths, news agency PTI reported.
Mumbai reported 540 new positive cases and 13 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to ANI. The city also saw 628 recoveries. It currently has 7,714 active cases.
The newly-appointed Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced a Rs 23,123 crore package as emergency Covid response in a press briefing after the first Cabinet meeting.
With a single-day spike of 13,772 new coronavirs cases, Kerala's active cases has crossed 1.10 lakh Thursday, news agency PTI reported. Overall, the state's infection caseload stands at 30.25 lakh.
In the last 24 hours, the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) was at 10.83 per cent. It also recorded 142 more deaths.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Kerala High Court on Thursday rapped the state government over the overcrowding in front of the state-run liquor shops. The court demanded a report by the state excise commissioner on the steps taken to reduce the crowd. It also asked the state government to ensure that sufficient facilities are made available to the customers so that they can make their choice of purchase of liquor in a 'civilised manner'. Read the full report here.
As the threat of a third wave of coronavirus looms large, a video shot at a popular tourist destination in Uttarakhand showing a crowd of people not following Covid-appropriate behaviour is going viral on social media.
In the undated video, people of all age groups are seen having a gala time at Mussoorie’s Kempty Falls. The video, first shared on Instagram by a travel handle 100ThingsInLudhiana on Wednesday, quickly went viral across social media platforms. “Not so empty views from Kempty Falls, Mussoorie this past weekend!!” the admin of the page wrote. Read more here.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the national capital's second genome-sequencing laboratory at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) Thursday to help detect new coronavirus variants.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has adopted several strategies like vaccinating maximum eligible people to limit the spread of Covid-19 in the state, Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar informed the Union home ministry on Wednesday.
Attending a video conference chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the state chief secretary said that the Arunachal Pradesh government has taken up three strategies – extensive tracking and testing, enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour, and vaccination drive for all age groups – to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
The meeting was held to review the COVID-19 situation in all the north-eastern states and union territories. More details here.
As part of its efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Oman on Thursday indefinitely suspended passengers flights from 24 countries, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, news agency PTI reported.
Sanofi and GSK have received approval for their Phase 3 clinical study in India to assess the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of their adjuvanted recombinant-protein Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The global, randomised, double-blind Phase 3 study will include more than 35,000 volunteers aged 18 and older across sites in the US, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Sanofi said in a statement on Thursday.
"India is participating in Sanofi Pasteur's pivotal Phase 3 study, and subject to subsequent approvals, we should soon begin enrollment of study participants in the country," Sanofi Pasteur India, Country Head, Annapurna Das said. (PTI)
Mizoram logged 548 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the highest single-day spike in July so far, raising the coronavirus tally to 22,703, a senior official told news agency PTI. With the two more fatalities, the death toll has climbed to 101, he said. The northeastern state now has 3,959 active cases.
With Olympics opening in just two weeks, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a state of emergency for Tokyo due to surging Covid-19 cases. (AP)
Arunachal Pradesh reported 404 fresh cases of Covid-19, raising the tally to 38,283, a senior health department official said on Thursday. The death toll in the state mounted to 184 with three more persons succumbing to the virus, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Lobsang Jampa said.The state now has 3,363 active cases with a positivity rate of 7.4 per cent, news agency PTI reported.
Scientists have identified a novel target for a drug that can treat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, and also help tackle a future coronavirus pandemic. According to the latest study, published in the journal Science Signaling, Nsp16 is considered one of the key viral proteins that could be inhibited by drugs to stop the virus shortly after a person gets exposed. The goal, researchers said, is to stop the virus early before people get too sick. Read the full report here.
Till date, a total of 50,00,525 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Pune district. In the state, it is behind only Mumbai, which has administered over 60 lakh jabs, as per data released by the Maharashtra Health Department.
In Pune, a total of 19.68 lakh persons in the 45+ age group have been administered the first dose, while about 7.8 lakh have received both jabs. In the 18-44 age group, a total of 15.71 lakh beneficiaries have got the first vaccine dose, while a total of 40,764 have got both doses, state health officials said. Read the full report here.
Odisha's Covid-19 tally soared to 9,32,330 on Thursday as 2,542 more people tested positive for the infection, while 57 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 4,415, a health official said. Though there has been a decline in fresh cases, daily coronavirus fatalities continued to remain above the 50-mark since July 5. Odisha now has 27,580 active cases.
The Health Department, however, clarified that fresh fatality numbers include deaths caused earlier which are now being added to the toll after an audit. (PTI)
As the new Union health minister assumed charge, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said his first task is to ensure adequate and uninterrupted supply of vaccines. He said the vaccination drive has been suspended at several centres in Tamil Nadu as vaccines have run out of supply.
"The first task of the new Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will be to ensure adequate and uninterrupted supply of vaccines to all States," Chidambaram tweeted. "No more games to enter the Guinness Book of Records please. Just focus on the supply of vaccines to all the states," he added. (PTI)
The global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 4 million Wednesday as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant.
The tally of lives lost over the past year and a half, as compiled from official sources by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo. The toll is three times the number of people killed in traffic accidents around the globe every year. It is about equal to the population of Los Angeles or the nation of Georgia. It is equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong or close to 50% of New York City. (AP)
Of the 12 ministers who resigned ahead of the reshuffle, the one that caught the eye was the exit of Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
His departure is one of the strongest signals on the handling of the ferocious second Covid-19 wave — to the government’s detractors, it is an admission of its failure; and to its supporters, a much-needed course correction to reassure the country.
On March 7, Harsh Vardhan announced that it was the “endgame” of the pandemicin India. But cases started to mount in the last week of March and in the run-up to the April crisis over supply of medical oxygen, his role as Health Minister had diminished. Read the full report here.
As the second wave of the Covid-19 abates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday handpicked new and young leaders to nurture and energise the sectors ravaged by the pandemic — from health and education to labour, civil aviation, IT and petroleum.
In the biggest-ever expansion of the Council of Ministers, he has assigned key responsibilities such as IT and Communication to the Wharton-educated Ashwini Vaishnaw, Health to Mansukh Mandaviya, Civil Aviation to Jyotiraditya Scindia, Education and Skill Development to Dharmendra Pradhan, Environment, Labour and Employment to Bhupendra Yadav, Information and Broadcasting to Anurag Thakur and Law to Kiren Rijiju.
All are under 55 years. Read the full report here.
India has a total of 4,60,704 active cases of coronavirus, which accounts for merely 1.5 per cent of the country's total caseload. Meanwhile, the recovery rate has increased to 97.18 per cent, according to latest data released by the Health Ministry. India's daily positivity rate is at 2.42 per cent, and has remained less than 3 per cent for 17 consecutive days.
Jagannath Temple authorities in Puri asked devotees to light lamps at home as no gatherings are permitted during the Rath Yatra for the second consecutive year, in light of the cooronavirus pandemic. "Everyone will be able to watch Rath Yatra on TV," Krushna Chandra Khuntia, President of the Khuntia Niyog, Puri Jagannath Temple, told ANI.
India reported 45,892 new coronavirus cases and 817 deaths in the last 24 hours, ending 8 am on Thursday. With this, the country’s overall caseload has risen to 3,07,09,557, while its death toll has climbed to 4,05,028. The number of active cases in the country has dropped to 4,60,704.
The emergencies chief for the World Health Organization is calling on governments to exercise "extreme caution" in fully lifting restrictions aimed to curtail the spread of COVID-19, warning that transmission will increase as countries open up.
Dr. Michael Ryan, asked during a WHO news conference to respond to Britain's decision this week to ease restrictions despite rising case counts, says "every country right now is lifting restrictions in one way or the other" in hopes of striking a balance between a return toward normality and the need to control the virus as vaccinations increase.
"Transmission will increase when you open up," says Ryan, because not everyone is vaccinated and uncertainty remains about how much vaccination curbs transmission. (AP)
India is yet to receive coronavirus vaccines from the US under its global donation programme as certain regulatory issues are holding up the supplies, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.
Last month, the US pledged to ship 80 million doses of American made COVID-19 vaccines to countries around the world to help them fight the pandemic. A large number of countries, including in India's neighbourhood, have already received the vaccines from the US.
It was estimated then that India could get one to two million doses of the vaccines. (PTI)
The national capital recorded 93 fresh COVID-19 cases and four deaths due to the disease on Wednesday, according to data shared by the health department here. The positivity rate stood at 0.12 per cent, slightly up from 0.11 per cent on Tuesday.
The four new fatalities have pushed the death toll in the city to 25,005, according to the latest bulletin. On Tuesday, Delhi had reported 79 cases and four deaths.
On February 16, 94 people had been diagnosed Covid positive while the daily tally was 96 on January 27, according to official figures. (PTI)
After a gap of nearly four months, no fresh death due to COVID-19 was recorded in Gujarat on Wednesday, while 65 more persons tested positive for the infection, taking the statewide tally to 8,24,029, the health department said.
The death toll remained unchanged at 10,072 as no new COVID-19 fatality was reported in Gujarat in the last 24 hours, it said, an achievement which has come after a gap of nearly four months.
Before this, on March 11, the state had reported zero fatality. With 289 patients getting discharged during the day, the number of recovered cases in Gujarat rose to 8,11,988, the department said. (PTI)
Mumbai recorded 664 new coronavirus cases and nine deaths on Wednesday which took the city's caseload to 7,26,284 and death toll to 15,573, the civic body said.
The city had reported 489 and 453 new infections on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
With 744 patients being discharged from hospitals during the day, the number of recovered patients rose to 7,00,567, while the rate of recovery stood at 96 per cent, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.Presently, Mumbai has 7,816 active COVID-19 patients. (PTI)
Goa on Wednesday reported 192 fresh coronavirus positive cases and three deaths, taking the tally of infections to 1,68,015 and the toll to 3,082, the state health department said.
A total of 196 patients were discharged during the day, taking the count of recoveries in Goa to 1,62,983 so far, leaving the state with 1,950 active cases.
With 5,022 new tests, the number of samples tested so far for coronavirus in Goa rose to 9,52,985, an official said. (PTI)
India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded the 36.45 crore mark, with over 31.04 lakh vaccine doses administered today till 7 pm, the Union Health Ministry said. So far, in the 18-44 age group, more than 10.93 crore vaccine doses have been administered, it said. (ANI)
Karnataka on Wednesday reported 2,743 fresh Covid cases. It also recored 3,081 patient discharges and 75 deaths in the past 24 hours. (ANI)
Uttarakhand Health Secretary Amit Negi stated Wednesday that the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 has been confirmed in one of the samples that were sent for testing to Delhi last month. 'This first case of Delta Plus variant was found in Udham Singh Nagar district,' he said.
Meanwhile, the state has reported 77 new Covid cases, 104 recoveries and no deaths today. (ANI)
According to the state government release, Kerala recorded 15,600 fresh Covid cases on Wednesday taking the infection tally to 30,11,694. It also reported 148 fatalities, pushing the death toll to 14,108. (PTI)
The Manipur Cabinet on Tuesday approved a scheme for Covid-19 affected families, 'Chief Minister’s Covid-19 Affected Livelihood Support Scheme'. The scheme will provide direct transfer of Rs 5,000 in two equal instalments (Rs 2,500 per instalment) to every identified family whose livelihood have been directly affected by Covid-19.
As per an official statement issued by the state, the scheme was introduced considering economic dislocations which have severely affected the livelihood of a large percentage of the population leading to an inability to maintain a basic minimum standard of living. Those eligible for the schemes include street vendors, farmers, daily wage workers, construction site workers, public transport drivers, school van drivers, shop assistants, artisans, weavers, performing artists, home-based business among others.
Only one beneficiary per family can avail the benefits of the scheme, which will be run under the State Social Welfare Department. The Cabinet also approved scheme guidelines for Chief Ministergi Angangi Tengbang (Chief Minister Bal Seva), which had been announced earlier. The scheme will provide welfare measures for children orphaned due to Covid-19.
As per the data provided by state health department, the positivity rate in the second wave (as on July 4) is 9.9 per cent with a recovery rate at 87 per cent.
In a letter to nine states seeing a surge in Covid cases - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and Sikkim - the health ministry has emphasised the need to strengthen efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said ramping up testing and vaccination, healthcare infrastructure planning, following Covid-appropriate behaviour and effective clinical management are among the measures to be taken by these states. (PTI)
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to reopen schools from August 16. Online classes will start from July 12, says Andhra Pradesh Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh. (ANI)
The South 24 Parganas District Administration has initiated a Covid vaccination drive in the Sunderbans in West Bengal. District Magistrate P Ulaganthan and other health officials were present for the drive, where 100 people were vaccinated.
"It will continue on the nine islands in Gosaba," Pratima Mondal, Jaynagar MP said. (ANI)
The Covid-19 vaccination drive was halted in Gujarat on Wednesday in view of Mamata Diwas, which is observed as part of the ongoing universal immunisation programme. To mark the occasion, healthcare workers across the state check on pregnant women and give them iron and vitamin tablets. Health workers also administer vaccines, such as BCG, polio and rubella, to women, children and infants.
"We have suspended vaccination drive against coronavirus for this Wednesday in view of Mamta Diwas and works to be carried out under the universal immunisation programme. We have not decided yet if the inoculation drive against Covid-19 will be suspended on all Wednesdays now onwards," additional chief secretary, Health, Manoj Aggarwal said. (PTI)
Nainital High Court Wednesday ordered the Uttarakhand Government to present its response in court on crowds of tourists in Nanital and Mussoorie as Covid-19 restrictions are eased in the state, news agency ANI reported.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Kerala Chief Secretary suggesting measures to control the spread of Covid-19, news agency ANI reported.
The GAVI vaccine alliance hopes the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume exports of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from this quarter, it told Reuters, which would be earlier than an "end of this year" forecast by the Indian company.
GAVI co-leads the COVAX facility for equitable distribution of Covid-19 shots around the world. COVAX suffered a big jolt in April when big vaccine producer India stopped all overseas shipments to meet local demand as infections rose dramatically.
India's coronavirus crisis has now eased and output of the AstraZeneca drug at SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has also jumped, but so has domestic demand.
"We remain hopeful that SII deliveries will resume in the third quarter, however, this cannot be confirmed at this stage," a GAVI spokesperson said in an e-mail late on Tuesday.
The GAVI vaccine alliance hopes the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume exports of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from this quarter, it told Reuters, which would be earlier than an "end of this year" forecast by the Indian company.
GAVI co-leads the COVAX facility for equitable distribution of Covid-19 shots around the world. COVAX suffered a big jolt in April when big vaccine producer India stopped all overseas shipments to meet local demand as infections rose dramatically.
India's coronavirus crisis has now eased and output of the AstraZeneca drug at SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has also jumped, but so has domestic demand.
"We remain hopeful that SII deliveries will resume in the third quarter, however, this cannot be confirmed at this stage," a GAVI spokesperson said in an e-mail late on Tuesday.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray will chair two separate meetings on Covid-19 management with District Collectors and Divisional Commissioners and Covid-19 Task Force on Wednesday, news agency ANI reported.
Recent data from the Israeli Health Ministry shows the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine has dropped in recent weeks. Two shots were found 64% effective in preventing symptomatic infection, compared to 94% earlier this year. But it remains 93% effective in preventing hospitalisation — down from 97% earlier.
The Delta variant is reportedly responsible for over 90% of recent cases in Israel, which lifted restrictions in June, although around 57% of the population is vaccinated.
The new data comes after research by Hebrew University found the Pfizer vaccine 70% effective against Delta. Last month, a study in The Lancet found that one dose of the vaccine offered only 32% protection against Delta, as against 79% against the original strain. Even after two doses, the level of neutralising antibodies was over five times lower against the Delta variant than the level against the original strain.
But other studies, including an analysis by Public Health England in June, agree that the Pfizer vaccine offers high protection from hospitalisation even against Delta.
Two months after it hosted over 36 lakh people for the Kumbh Mela, just before the second Covid wave, the BJP government in Uttarakhand has cancelled the annual Kanwar Yatra in the state citing the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the state’s police authorities appealed to officers of neighbouring states to ask devotees not to come to Haridwar this month for the annual pilgrimage to collect water from the Ganga. The Yatra was not held last year due to Covid restrictions.
The appeal for this year was issued during an inter-state coordination meeting, which was chaired by DGP Ashok Kumar, with police officers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi, on the yatra.
India reported 43,733 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. Active cases have come down to 4,59,920.
Forty-five of the 73 districts that reported over 10 per cent Covid-19 positivity rate in the last one week are from the Northeast region of the country, the Health Ministry Tuesday said.
According to the health ministry, 73 districts in India reported a positivity rate of over 10 per cent for the June 29-July 5 week. Sixty-one per cent of these high-positivity districts are from the Northeast states of Arunachal (Pradesh (18), Manipur (9), Meghalaya (6), Tripura (4), Sikkim (4), Nagaland (3), and Mizoram (1).
In the region, Manipur (5,974) has the highest active cases followed by Meghalaya (4,354), Tripura (3,962), Mizoram (3,730), Sikkim (1,869) and Nagaland (1192).
Dr Balram Bhragava, a member of the country’s Covid-19 task force and Director General of ICMR, flagged that the Northeast will have to step up testing, keep a “close watch” on the test positivity rate at the district-level and set up micro-containment zones.