Punjab reported 23 fresh Covid cases on Sunday that took the infection tally to 7,59,905, according to a medical bulletin.

No covid-related death was reported in the past 24-hours and the death toll stands at 17,751, it said.

Of the new cases, Mohali registered 10 followed by seven in Ludhiana and two each in Fazilka and Patiala, it said.

There were 284 active cases in the state, it said.

Twenty-three patients recovered from the infection, taking the overall recoveries to 7,41,870, the bulletin said.

Chandigarh reported 11 new Covid cases, taking the total count to 92,147, the bulletin said, adding that the number of active cases was 78.

No covid-related death was reported in the city. The death toll stands at 1,165. --PTI

Delhi reported 1,422 fresh COVID-19 cases and zero fatality due to the viral disease on Sunday, while the positivity rate was recorded ta 5.34 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

A total of 26,647 Covid tests were conducted in the national capital on Saturday, it showed.

With the new cases, Delhi's COVID-19 infection tally rises to 18,94,254, while the death toll stands at 26,179, according to the bulletin.

The city reported 1,407 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 4.72 per cent and two deaths on Saturday.

It had on Friday logged 1,656 COVID-19 cases, the highest since February 4, while the positivity rate stood at 5.39 per cent. --PTI

The count of COVID-19 cases in Nashik district of Maharashtra rose by one to reach 4,76,061 on Sunday, health officials said.

The virus did not claim any life during the day, which kept the fatality count in the district unchanged at 8,899.

A total of 4,67,156 patients have recovered so far across Nashik.

At present six patients are undergoing treatment in the district, they said. --PTI

The Pakistani government has rejected the World Health Organization's (WHO) report on number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, questioning the United Nations body's methodology to collect data and supposing an error in the software used to collate the numbers.

In a recent report, the WHO estimated there were 260,000 COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan -- eight times the official figure. Official records state Pakistan had 30,369 COVID-19 deaths with over 1.5 million infections.

The WHO’s estimate of 47.4 lakh Covid-related deaths in India in 2020 and 2021 flies in the face of overall death data, historical trends in death reporting, and Covid death compensation claims from states.If, indeed, the WHO numbers are taken at face value, that would imply India missed 90 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths in the first two years of the pandemic – and possibly millions of deaths were not even recorded.

Significantly past data shows that India records over 90 per cent of all its deaths. Several population scientists The Indian Express has spoken to in the last few weeks said missing such a large number of deaths was “extremely unlikely”.

According to WHO, 8.3 lakh Covid-19 deaths happened in 2020 – the official Covid-19 toll for India for that year is 1.49 lakh. The government Thursday said that an estimated 81.2 lakh people died in the country that year due to all causes. This is consistent with past data that shows that, on an average, about 83.5 lakh people die in the country every year in the last decade and a half. (Read the full story here)

India recorded 3,451 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday, taking the country’s total to over 4.30 crore, according Union Health Ministry. The active cases stood at 20,635 and constituted 0.05 per cent of total infections. With 3,079 recoveries reported, the recovery rate stood at 98.74 per cent.

Chhattisgarh on Saturday reported one COVID-19 case, taking the state's tally to 11,52,306, while the death toll remained unchanged at 14,034, an official said.

The positivity rate, or cases detected per 100 tests, stood at 0.03 per cent, while the recovery count increased by five to touch 11,38,234, leaving the state with 38 active cases, he said.

The lone case was recorded in Dhamtari, while 15 districts have no active case as on Saturday, he said. (PTI)

The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh reached 10,41,661 on Saturday after the detection of 27 cases at a positivity rate of 0.3 per cent, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,735, an official said.

So far, 10,30,729 persons have been discharged post recovery, including 40 during the day, leaving the state with 197 active cases, he said. With 7,727 samples examined on Saturday, the number of tests in MP went up to 2,91,33,393, he added.

A government release said 11,77,86,415 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, including 54,714 during the day. (PTI)

Gujarat reported 27 COVID-19 cases and one death on Saturday, increasing its tally to 12,24,470 and toll to 10,944, said a state health department official.

The recovery count increased by 19 to touch 12,13,401, leaving the state with an active caseload of 125, he said.

The lone death took place in Kheda district, while the cases comprised 19 in Ahmedabad, three in Vadodara and one each in Banaskantha, Gandhinagar, Kheda, Mehsana and Rajkot, the official said. (PTI)

Mumbai on Saturday added 172 COVID-19 cases to its tally, which reached 10,60,606. while the death toll remained unchanged at 19,563, a civic official said.

So far, 10,40,259 persons have been discharged post recovery, including 94 during the day, leaving the metropolis with an active caseload of 784, he said.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation data showed the recovery rate was 98 per cent, the caseload doubling time was 7,316 days and the overall growth rate of cases between April 30 and May 6 stood at 0.009 per cent. (PTI)

Chennai and neighbouring Chengalpet accounted for the majority of new COVID-19 infections in Tamil Nadu on Saturday as new cases rose to 89, including two returnees from Malaysia and Singapore, respectively, aggregating to 34,54,306, the health department said.

The death toll in the state stood at 38,025 as no fatality was recorded in the last 24 hours, a medical bulletin said. Among those tested positive include 44 men and 45 women, it said.

As many as nine districts added the new cases with neighbouring Chengalpet leading with 42, Chennai 30, Kancheepuram five; Coimbatore, Tiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli, and Vellore adding two each while Cuddalore and Virudhunagar registered one case each. (PTI)

Delhi recorded 1,407 new Covid cases and two more fatalities, while the positivity rate dropped to 4.72 percent, according to data shared by the health department here on Saturday.

A total of 29,821 tests to detect coronavirus were conducted in Delhi a day before, it stated.

Delhi recorded 1,656 COVID-19 cases and zero fatality due to the infection on Friday, highest since February 4, while the positivity rate stood at 5.39 per cent. (PTI)

Karnataka on Saturday reported 171 fresh COVID-19 cases taking the total infections to 39,48,635 while there were zero fatalities, the health department said. In its daily COVID bulletin, the department said there were 1,945 active cases in the state while 121 people were discharged.

The state on Saturday conducted 15,647 tests including 11,520 RT-PCR tests. The majority of cases came from Bengaluru Urban district which reported 155 infections on Saturday. The city has 1,841 active cases.

There were 10 coronavirus infections in Mysuru, two in Dakshina Kannada district and one each in Dharwad, Udupi, Bengaluru Rural and Bidar. The department said 24 districts reported zero infections and zero fatalities. The positivity rate for the day was 1.09 per cent. (PTI)

Maharashtra on Saturday reported 253 COVID-19 cases and one death, taking the tally to 78,79,054 and the toll to 1,47,846, an official said.

So far, 77,29,931 persons have been discharged post recovery, including 136 in the past 24 hours, leaving the state with an active caseload of 1,277, he said.

Mumbai led with 172 cases, while the lone death was in Satara in Pune division, the official informed. State health department data showed the recovery rate was 98.11 per cent and the fatality rate stood at 1.86 per cent. (PTI)

While there is little doubt that India’s official Covid-19 death toll is an undercount, as is the case with probably most other countries, the “excess mortality” figures released by the World Health Organisation on Thursday raise several questions.

Odisha on Saturday recorded 14 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 12,88,131, the health department said. The toll remained unchanged at 9,126, as no fresh fatalities due to coronavirus were reported.

The state had registered 14 new infections and zero death on Friday. Odisha now has 103 active coronavirus cases.

Altogether 12,78,849 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 10 on Friday. The department said 53 other coronavirus patients have also died due to comorbidities till date. (PTI)

Puducherry recorded three fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday raising the overall caseload in the Union Territory to 1,65,797, a senior government official said.

In a release, Director of Health G Sriramulu said the health department tested 278 samples in the last 24 hours and three fresh cases surfaced during examination.

He said no patient recovered from the viral infection in the last 24 hours and there were eight active cases remaining in the UT. The overall recoveries were 1,63,827. (PTI)

The Pakistani government has rejected the World Health Organization's (WHO) report on number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, questioning the United Nations body's methodology to collect data and supposing an error in the software used to collate the numbers.

In a recent report, the WHO estimated there were 260,000 COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan -- eight times the official figure. Official records state Pakistan had 30,369 COVID-19 deaths with over 1.5 million infections.

"We [authorities] have been gathering data manually on Covid deaths, it could have a difference of a few hundred but it can't be in hundreds of thousands. This is completely baseless," Samaa News quoted Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel as saying. (PTI)

A Singapore court has ordered the father of two Indian girls aged seven and 13 not to influence their views on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, the media reported on Saturday. The order came with the court's dismissal of the father's application to bar his wife from getting their daughters vaccinated without his consent.

The couple is in the midst of divorce proceedings, according to the grounds of the decision dated February 14 that Channel News Asia cited as obtaining on Wednesday.

The two daughters are Indian citizens who were in Singapore on student passes. The father had unilaterally cancelled the girls' passes to remain in Singapore after his wife served divorce papers on him. (PTI)

Health ministers of different states who attended the 14th conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) have slammed WHO for its estimate of 4.7 million Covid-related deaths in India, saying it is "baseless" and "intended to show the country in a poor light".

They said India has a robust, efficient and comprehensive system for registering deaths and all Covid fatalities are systematically recorded transparently following a legal process.

On Friday, a resolution was passed at the conference strongly objecting to WHO's estimates of Covid deaths in India. It stated the WHO estimate is "unacceptable" to India and the modelling methodology used by the global health body to reach the figure was "flawed". (PTI)

For a respiratory disease, Covid-19 causes some peculiar symptoms. It can diminish the senses of smell and taste, leave patients with discolored “Covid toes” or even cause a swollen, bumpy “Covid tongue.” Now scientists are examining a possible link to an altogether unexpected consequence of Covid-19: erectile dysfunction. A connection has been reported in hundreds of papers by scientists in Europe and North America, as well as in Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Thailand. Read More

The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 190 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday. So far, more than 3.01 crore (3,01,97,120) children in the age group of 12-14 years have been administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

Till now, 9,95,265 precaution doses have been administered to those aged 18-59 years, according to Health Ministry data. On April 10, India began administering precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccines to people aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres. All those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose. The countrywide Covid vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2, 2021. (PTI)

Delhi recorded a slight increase in Covid-19 cases on Friday with 1,656 new infections being reported. This is the third time in the April-May period that the number has gone beyond the 1,500-mark.

Delhi started seeing a surge in daily cases during the second week of April, soon after all Covid-related mandates were done away with. However, the increase in cases or positivity rate — proportion of samples tested found to be positive for the infection, indicative of the spread of the infection — hasn’t been sharp like the two previous surges. The number of cases increased from just over 100 to 500 in 13 days during the current surge and to 1,000 in another four days. It remained close to 1,000 for a period of six days before increasing slightly to between 1,200 and 1,600 for the next eleven days.

India on Friday recorded 3,805 new Covid-19 cases, taking the overall count of 4,30,98,743. The country also recorded 22 covid-related fatalities, bringing the total number of deaths to 5,24,024. According to the Health Ministry, the daily positivity rate stood at 1.07 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 0.70 per cent. More than 3,000 people also recovered from the coronavirus, taking the total number of Covid recoveries in the country to 4,25,54,416.

Telangana on Friday saw a rise in new COVID-19 cases with 62 new infections being reported, taking the tally to 7,92,253. Hyderabad reported the highest number of cases with 45.

A health department bulletin said 30 people recuperated from the infection and the cumulative number of recoveries till date was 7,87,746.

The recovery rate stood at 99.43 per cent. No fresh fatality occurred due to the infectious disease and the death toll continued to be 4,111. The bulletin said 14,022 samples were tested on Friday. The number of active cases was 396, it said. (PTI)

Maharashtra on Friday recorded 205 new coronavirus infections but zero pandemic-related deaths, the health department said.

The state's COVID-19 case tally rose to 78,78,801, while death toll remained unchanged at 1,47,845. The state now has 1,109 active cases.

Maharashtra had recorded 233 new cases and zero fatality on Thursday. State capital Mumbai recorded 117 new cases on Friday. This is the third consecutive day that the state recorded zero fatality. Maharashtra's COVID-19 fatality rate stood at 1.87 per cent. (PTI)

Active COVID-19 infections rose to 474 in Tamil Nadu as 64 more people tested positive, including two returnees from Karnataka and Telangana, respectively, pushing the total caseload to 34,54,217, the health department said on Friday.

As many as 11 districts recorded new infections with Chennai leading at 34, Chengalpet 16, Kancheepuram three, Tiruvallur two, while Coimbatore, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Tiruchirappalli recorded one each.

The death toll in the state stood at 38,025 as no fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, a medical bulletin said. (PTI)

The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh reached 10,41,634 on Friday after the detection of 34 cases, while the death toll stood unchanged at 10,735, an official said.

The positivity rate, or cases detected per 100 tests, was 0.4 per cent, while the recovery count increased by 37 to reach 10,30,689, leaving the state with 210 active cases, the official informed.

With 8,148 samples examined during the day, the number of tests in MP went up to 2,91,25,666, he added. (PTI)

Gujarat reported 14 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the state's tally to 12,24,443, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,943, a health department official said on Friday.

The recovery count increased by 17 to touch 12,13,382, leaving the state with an active caseload of 118.

Gujarat's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 12,24,443 new cases 14, deaths 10,943, discharged 12,13,382 active cases 118 and people tested so far - figures not released. (PTI)

A resolution was passed at the conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) on Friday strongly objecting to the WHO's estimates of 4.7 million COVID-19-linked deaths in India.

The resolution stated that the modelling methodology used to reach the figure is "flawed" and that the WHO estimate is "unacceptable" to India as the country records Covid deaths systematically following a transparent and legal process, official sources said.

On the second day of the CCHFW conference in Kevadia in Gujarat, around 20 state health ministers unanimously rejected the WHO report and urged Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to convey the country's disappointment to the WHO and raise it at higher international forums. (PTI)

Jammu and Kashmir recorded nine fresh coronavirus cases on Friday that raised the infection count to 4,54,088 in the Union Territory, officials said. The death toll from the pandemic remained unchanged at 4,751 as no new fatality linked to the disease was reported in the past 24 hours, they said.

Three of the fresh COVID-19 cases were from Jammu division and six from Kashmir division of the Union Territory, the officials said. Among districts, Srinagar recorded a maximum of six new coronavirus cases.

Seventeen of the total 20 districts in the Union Territory did not report any fresh case. There are 61 active cases in the Union Territory, while the number of recoveries stands at 4,49,276, the officials said. (PTI)

Mizoram on Friday reported 31 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest single-day spike in this year, taking the state's tally to 2,27,676, a health official said.

The COVID-19 death toll remained at 697 as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, he said. The single-day postivity rate was 8.49 per cent as the fresh cases were detected from 365 samples tested on Thursday, he said.

Mizoram currently has 266 active COVID-19 cases, while 2,26,713 people have recovered from the infection so far, including 69 on Friday, he said. The COVID-19 recovery rate now is 99.58 per cent and the death rate is 0.30 per cent. (PTI)

Mumbai on Friday reported 117 COVID-19 cases, the fourth day in a row when the addition to the tally was above 100, taking the infection count here to 10,60,434, a civic official said.

The addition to the tally on Thursday was 130, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official pointed out. The death toll remained unchanged at 19,563, while the recovery count increased by 93 to touch 10,40,165, leaving the metropolis with an active caseload of 706, he said.

Of the 117 new cases, only four had to be hospitalized, though none of them need oxygen support, the official said, adding that just 18 of the 25,959 hospital beds earmarked for COVID-19 treatment are currently occupied. (PTI)

Delhi recorded 1,656 COVID-19 cases and zero fatality due to the infection on Friday, while the positivity rate stood at 5.39 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

A total of 30,709 tests for the detection of coronavirus were conducted in the city a day before, it stated. With the new cases, the national capital's overall COVID-19 infection tally rose to 18,91,425, while the death toll stood at 26,177, the data showed.

The national capital had recorded 1,365 COVID-19 cases and zero fatality due to the infection on Thursday, while the positivity rate had stood at 6.35 per cent. Delhi had reported 1,354 cases with a positivity rate of 7.64 per cent and one fatality due to the disease on Wednesday. On Tuesday, it had reported 1,414 cases with a positivity rate of 5.97 per cent and one death due to the disease. (PTI)

Beijing residents fretted on Friday over tightening COVID curbs in its biggest district and dozens of new cases reported daily as China's leaders reiterated their resolve to battle the virus and threatened action against critics of their strict measures.

Incurring a heavy economic cost and facing rare public criticism on its tightly-policed internet, China is increasingly out of step with the rest of the world where COVID restrictions are being abandoned and vaccines relied on to protect people. Internationally, industry organisations have complained that China's 'zero-COVID' policies have global economic reverberations. At home, the population worries about painful, long-term restrictions.

In the latest ratcheting up of restrictions, Beijing authorities on Friday said all non-essential services in its biggest district Chaoyang, home to embassies and large offices, would shut. Mass testing will also resume in at least four districts over the weekend. (Reuters)

In order to expedite Covid-19 vaccination especially in the below-18 age group, Maharashtra’s health department is planning innovative methods that include locality and near-to-home based sessions. At least 55 per cent of the beneficiaries in the 12-14 age group have got the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine while 18 per cent are fully vaccinated. The total beneficiaries in this age group is around 39 lakh.

The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to file an affidavit explaining in detail the steps that have been taken for ensuring continued education of children who lost their parents due to Covid-19.

The Asian Games, which were to be held from September 10-25 in Hangzhou, have been postponed due to the pandemic, China’s state media reported on Friday. No alternative date has been announced so far.

The decision comes at a time when China, where the virus emerged in late 2019, is experiencing its biggest Covid-19 outbreak. The country is battling a record number of daily cases in Shanghai, which has been under lockdown for more than a month. Shanghai is just a short train ride away from Hangzhou, where mass Covid-19 testing began last week to keep a check on rising omicron cases. In the last few days, China’s capital Beijing, too, began tightening its Covid curbs. Read more

Over 92 per cent of COVID-19 patients who attended yoga classes while in home-isolation witnessed immediate improvement in overall symptoms, according to an impact study conducted by the Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University (DPSRU).

The Delhi government has been offering free online yoga classes to Covid patients recuperating in home-isolation. At least 88.9 per cent of them said they found improvement in breathing issues after they started attending the sessions, the study claimed.

"The findings of the impact study on COVID-19 patients show that people have accepted our initiative to make yoga a part of everyday life wholeheartedly. During Covid, patients needed a healing touch to recover fast physically as well as psychologically. Most of the patients were suffering from a feeling of loneliness during the isolation, and our yoga instructors became their companions during that time," Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said. (PTI)

As many as 11 students of Kasturba Gandhi Girls Residential School in Jharkhand's Chatra district were tested positive for Covid-19 in the past two days, officials said on Friday. Eight girls of class 12 and two of class 11 were found to be afflicted with the disease on May 4, while another one tested positive for the virus on Thursday.

A random test for Covid-19 was conducted by the administration of the institution on April 27. A total of 195 students, as well as staff, underwent RT-PCR tests that day. “We were provided with the test report on May 4 in which 10 students were reported to be positive with Covid-19,” Arundhati Dutta, in charge of Kasturba Gandhi Residential schools in Chatra, told PTI.

She said that there were no visible symptoms among the students of the central government-run institute. “Of the 10, eight students went home after their examinations. In view of the test report, a rapid antigen test (RAT) was carried out in the school on Thursday," Dutta said. (PTI)

The ongoing 14th conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) strongly objected to a WHO report estimating 4.7 million (47 lakh) Covid-related fatalities in India as baseless and devoid of facts, sources said.

In its report released on Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of six million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.

According to the report, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India -- 10 times the official figures and almost a third of Covid deaths globally. (PTI)

The BJP on Friday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of doing politics over COVID-19 deaths, alleging that the WHO's data and Congress' "beta" (son) are wrong.

At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the World Health Organisation's (WHO) methodology to calculate estimated deaths in India due to the virus is "flawed" and "imaginary" and the Indian government had conveyed its objections to the organisation.

Gandhi has tried repeatedly to lower Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image since 2014 and has in the process lowered India's image, Patra said. India has a robust mechanism for birth and death registration under the Registrar General of India, he added. (PTI)

China is setting up thousands of permanent PCR testing stations, with 9,000 already completed in Shanghai alone, as authorities seek to "normalise" tough pandemic controls even after the current round of lockdowns end.

At present, nearly 25 million residents in the eastern financial hub of Shanghai remain under some form of lockdown as the city battles China's biggest ever coronavirus outbreak.

But in a bid to head off future flare-ups, municipal authorities have been setting up a system that will make regular COVID-19 testing a permanent feature of everyday life, with other cities taking similar steps. Of Shanghai's 9,000 testing sites, 5,000 were already operating, vice-mayor Wu Qing said on Friday. (Reuters)

The Asian Games, which were to be held from September 10-25 in Hangzhou, have been postponed due to the pandemic, China’s state media reported on Friday. No alternative date has been announced so far.

The decision comes at a time when China, where the virus emerged in late 2019, is experiencing its biggest Covid-19 outbreak. The country is battling a record number of daily cases in Shanghai, which has been under lockdown for more than a month. Shanghai is just a short train ride away from Hangzhou, where mass Covid-19 testing began last week to keep a check on rising omicron cases. In the last few days, China’s capital Beijing, too, began tightening its Covid curbs.

Till as recently as last week, the organisers and the Olympic Council of Asia had insisted that the Asian Games, second only to the Olympics in terms of size, will go ahead as scheduled in September. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra had earlier this week said they received an intimation continental body, confirming the same. Read more. 

US regulators have strictly limited who can receive Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine due to the ongoing risk of rare but serious blood clots.

The Food and Drug Administration said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J's vaccine. US authorities for months have recommended that Americans get Pfizer or Moderna shots instead of J&J's vaccine. FDA's vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said the agency decided to restrict the vaccine after taking another look at the data on the risks of life-threatening blood clots and concluding that they are limited to J&J's vaccine.

"If there's an alternative that appears to be equally effective in preventing severe outcomes from Covid-19, we'd rather see people opting for that," Marks said. "But we've been careful to say that -- compared to no vaccine -- this is still a better option." The problem occurs in the first two weeks after vaccination, he added: "So if you had the vaccine six months ago, you can sleep soundly tonight knowing this isn't an issue." The FDA authorised J&J's shot in February last year for adults 18 and up. (AP)

Reacting to the World Health Organisation's latest report on excess deaths due to Covid, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi repeated the WHO's claims about the number of deaths being underreported in the country. 

"47 lakh Indians died due to the Covid pandemic. NOT 4.8 lakh as claimed by the Govt," he tweeted. "Science doesn't LIE. Modi does." 

India's Covid case tally increased by 3,545 to reach 4,30,94,938 on Friday. The death toll rises to 5,24,002 with 27 more fatalities. The active caseload presently stands at 19,688. 

The number of Covid-19 infections in China's financial hub of Shanghai has been on a "continuous downward trend" since April 22, the city's vice major Wu Qing said on Friday.

"Currently, our city's epidemic prevention and control situation is steadily improving, and the epidemic has come under effective control," he told a news conference. Shanghai reported 4,024 new local asymptomatic coronavirus cases on May 5, down from 4,390 a day earlier.

Confirmed symptomatic cases stood at 245, also down from 261 a day earlier. Deaths fell to 12, from 13 a day earlier. (Reuters)

COVID COULD have killed as many as 47.4 lakh people in India in 2020 and 2021, either directly due to infection or through its indirect impact, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.

The figure, disputed by India, is nearly ten times the country’s official Covid death toll of 4.81 lakh at the end of 2021. In its report on excess deaths due to Covid, WHO said that an estimated 1.5 crore people are likely to have succumbed to the direct or indirect impact of the disease globally during the first two years of the pandemic — instead of the 54 lakh that have been recorded officially by countries separately.

For India, the WHO said about 8.3 lakh deaths are estimated to have happened in 2020 itself. Read more. 

While there is little doubt that India’s official Covid-19 death toll is an undercount, as is the case with probably most other countries, the “excess mortality” figures released by the World Health Organisation Thursday raise several questions.

Good morning and welcome to our Covid live blog! Follow this space for the latest on the pandemic.