A health worker collects a swab sample of a man for Covid-19 test, at state transport bus stand, in Ahmedabad. (PTI/File)Coronavirus News highlights: Maharashtra reported 3640 fresh Covid-19 cases today, of which 1265 infections are from Mumbai. The state also reported three deaths. Meanwhile, new coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu breached the 2,000-mark on Thursday with 2,069 people testing positive for the infection. The tally is 34,75,185 till date.
The Covid-19 pandemic is changing but it is not over, head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, cautioning that the cases are on the rise in 110 countries and are being driven mainly by two fast-spreading Omicron sub-variants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that the fast-spreading Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 together are estimated to make up half of the coronavirus cases in the United States. As of June 25, BA.5 made up 36.6 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the US while BA.4 accounted for 15.7 per cent, together accounting for about 52 per cent of new cases in the US.
With the rise in Covid-19 cases in India, union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to all states asking them to integrate Covid-19 surveillance into their routine surveillance activities and follow the revised guidelines for surveillance in three areas — incoming international travellers, sentinel sites such as hospital and laboratories, and within the community, along with wastewater sample collection. The states have been asked to screen 2% of the international passengers coming to India at random and send all positive samples for genome sequencing.
New coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu breached the 2,000-mark on Thursday with 2,069 people testing positive for the infection. The tally is 34,75,185 till date.
The active cases increased to 11,094 from 10,033 recorded on Wednesday. Four people - 2 from Singapore and 1 each from Bangladesh and USA - are among the 2,069 who tested positive today.
The death toll remained at 38,026 as no fatalities occurred today, according to a bulletin from the State Health Department here. (PTI)
Karnataka logged 1,046 fresh Covid-19 cases today. The state's active cases stood at 5896 and positivity rate 4.03%. Bengaluru Urban reported highest number of fresh cases among districts with 984 infections.
Delhi reported 865 fresh Covid-19 cases and zero deaths today taking the caseload to 1934874. The national capital has 3,914 active cases now.
Puducherry logged 77 fresh cases of coronavirus on Thursday, taking the total positives to 1,66,515.
Director of Health G Sriramulu said the new cases surfaced during the examination of 1,824 samples. Puducherry region alone accounted for 59 fresh cases out of the 77 while Karaikal registered 13 infections followed by Yanam five. Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala did not register any fresh case.
The Director said that 39 patients recovered during last twenty four hours and the overall recoveries were 1,64,211. No fatality occurred in any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. The toll remained 1,962. (PTI)
Maharashtra reported 3640 fresh Covid-19 cases today, of which 1265 infections are from Mumbai. The state also reported three deaths.
Covid-19 cases have been on the rise again in India, with the country recording over 18,000 cases after a gap of 130 days, taking the cumulative tally to 4,34,52,164, according to data put out by the Union Health Ministry on Thursday. Cases have increased by 78 per cent from the average two weeks ago and deaths, too, have gone up by 119 per cent.
Active cases in the country also crossed the one-lakh mark on Thursday after a gap of 122 days. A total of 18,819 new Covid cases were reported in a span of 24 hours while the death toll climbed to 5,25,116 with 39 new fatalities. The active cases, as such, went up to 1,04,555 comprising 0.24 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate stood at 98.55 per cent. Read More
Genome sequencing of Covid positive samples has revealed that Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have started replacing the BA.2 alternative that caused the surge in cases of the infection in West Bengal earlier this year, a senior official of the state health department said on Thursday.
According to experts, it is mostly subvariant BA.5, which has features identical to BA.2, that is responsible for the recent spike in coronavirus cases in the state.
"We have been conducting genome sequencing on positive samples in West Bengal. A few subvariants of Omicron, mostly the BA.4 and BA.5 was found. But there is nothing to worry about. The BA.5 subvariant though highly infectious is not that threatening, at least for those who have no comorbidities," Siddhartha Niyogi, director of health services said on Thursday. (PTI)
The number of new coronavirus cases rose by 18 per cent in the last week, with more than 4.1 million cases reported globally, according to the World Health Organisation.
The UN health agency said in its latest weekly report on the pandemic that the worldwide number of deaths remained relatively similar to the week before, at about 8,500.
COVID-related deaths increased in three regions: the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas.
The biggest weekly rise in new COVID-19 cases was seen in the Middle East, where they increased by 47 per cent, according to the report released late Wednesday.
Infections rose by about 32 per cent in Europe and Southeast Asia, and by about 14 per cent in the Americas, WHO said. (AP)
The Covid-19 pandemic is changing but it is not over, head of the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, cautioning that the cases are on the rise in 110 countries and are being driven mainly by two fast-spreading Omicron sub-variants.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that the fast-spreading Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 together are estimated to make up half of the coronavirus cases in the United States.
As of June 25, BA.5 made up 36.6 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the US while BA.4 accounted for 15.7 per cent, together accounting for about 52 per cent of new cases in the US. Read More
A new wave in France of Covid-19 infections fuelled by emerging variants of the disease should peak towards end-July, the French government's top scientific adviser Jean-Francois Delfraissy said on Thursday. 'The peak is not yet here, this peak of infections will probably be for end-July,' Delfraissy told RTL radio.
"Then the BA.5 variant will reappear, if it is not overtaken by another variant ...in autumn," he added. France reported new 124,724 coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, against 77,967 a week ago. The French government also recommended this week that people should start wearing face masks again in crowded areas, especially in public transport, to counter the latest surge in Covid cases. (Reuters)
With as many as 1,410 new cases and 13 deaths in 11 days (from June 18-June 28), Covid numbers are once again rising in the state. While hospital admissions are still on the lower side, positivity rate which was 0.82% on June 18 has increased to 1.81% as on June 28. Of the 13 deaths, seven are from Ludhiana alone. Though the health authorities have stated that they are well prepared for the influx of patients, mortality rate has become a cause of concern if we look at the figures.
In April, four Covid deaths had taken place while 505 people tested positive and in May, the number of deaths were only two but 774 new Covid cases were reported. However, from June 1- June 28, 18 deaths have taken place out of which 13 alone were in the past 11 days. Read more
Even though over 1,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Delhi on Wednesday, the surge might still be on the decline, suggests the test positivity rate of 5.8 per cent. The positivity rate – proportion of samples tested that returns positive – stood at an average 7.3 per cent during the second half of June, with it reaching 10.09 per cent on one occasion.
To compare, the daily positivity rate stood at 30.6 per cent at the peak of the third wave and at 36.2 per cent during the devastating second wave. At these peaks around 70,000 tests were being conducted each day and around 18,000 tests on average were being conducted in Delhi each day in the second half of June. Read more
The country’s first home-grown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine — GEMCOVAC-19 — developed at Pune’s Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has got a ‘restricted emergency use’ nod for the 18-and-above age group. As mRNA vaccines are required to be kept at sub-zero temperatures, it was a mammoth task for Gennova scientists to develop a thermostable mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. Scientists had to innovate to suit local needs to make it affordable and deployable. The new vaccine can now be stored at the temperature of a standard medical refrigerator.
The mRNA platform
As the Covid-19 pandemic spread, an mRNA vaccine candidate was the first to enter human trials globally. The first two vaccines that were made available for use in the US were based on mRNA technology. Unlike vaccines that put a weakened or inactivated virus in your body to activate an immune response, these two Covid-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) used messenger RNA or mRNA to deliver a message to your immune system. Read the full explainer here
Daily coronavirus cases in India were recorded over 18,000 after a gap of 130 days, taking the Covid-19 tally to 4,34,52,164, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The active cases crossed the one-lakh mark again after 122 days. A total 18,819 new Covid cases were reported in a span of 24 hours while the death toll climbed to 5,25,116 with 39 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases increased to 1,04,555 comprising 0.24 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.55 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 4,953 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. (PTI)
The Covid-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh reached 10,44,243 on Wednesday after the detection of 93 cases, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,741, an official said. The positivity rate is 1.2 per cent, he added. The recovery count increased by 57 to touch 10,33,012, leaving the state with 490 active cases, the official informed.
With 7,208 samples examined during the day, the total number of tests in MP went up to 2,94,95,839, he said. A government release said 12,03,83,762 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, including 65,465 on Wednesday. (PTI)
US health officials said Wednesday they have agreed to purchase another 105 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in anticipation of a fall booster campaign. The USD 3.2 billion deal announced by the Biden administration comes as federal scientists consider how to update the vaccines to better protect Americans from the rapidly evolving virus. Federal officials said the purchase agreement includes the option to purchase a total of 300 million doses, including a mix of doses for both adults and children.
The first shots would be delivered by early fall, pending a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to authorize new versions of the shots. A decision is expected from the FDA in the coming days following a Tuesday meeting in which outside advisers recommended modifying the vaccines to better target the omicron variant. (AP)
In the wake of the gradual rise in Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, state Health Minister Ma Subramanian Wednesday urged the public not to let their guard down and continue following safety measures, including mandatory wearing of masks in public places.
A drive to distribute over 50,000 masks free of cost to the public was held on the day on behalf of the state health department in Chennai. Close to 150 volunteers, including nurses from the health department, were deployed to distribute the masks. Health Minister Subramanian, Chennai Mayor R Priya, Mylapore MLA T Velu and other officers participated in the event. Read more
India reported 18,819 new Covid-19 cases and 39 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Thursday, data from the Union health ministry showed. As many as 13,827 patients recovered from the infection, with total active cases standing at 1,04,555. The total number of deaths in the country is now at 5,25,116.
The union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday wrote to all states asking them to integrate Covid-19 surveillance into their routine surveillance activities and follow the revised guidelines for surveillance in three areas — incoming international travellers, sentinel sites such as hospital and laboratories, and within the community, along with wastewater sample collection.
In a letter to all state principal and health secretaries, the states have been asked to screen 2% of the international passengers coming to India at random and send all positive samples for genome sequencing. The letter also asked states and UTs to monitor sentinel sites, including reporting of all influenza-like illnesses to the integrated disease surveillance teams, with the district surveillance officer testing 5% of these cases through RT-PCR. Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic is changing but it is not over, head of the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, cautioning that the cases are on the rise in 110 countries and are being driven mainly by two fast-spreading Omicron sub-variants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that the fast-spreading Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 together are estimated to make up half of the coronavirus cases in the United States. As of June 25, BA.5 made up 36.6 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the US while BA.4 accounted for 15.7 per cent, together accounting for about 52 per cent of new cases in the US.
Good morning! Welcome to our Covid-19 live blog. We bring to you the latest updates on Covid-19 news across India and the world. Stay tuned!
West Bengal reported over a thousand new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday for the first time in more than four months as 1,424 people tested positive, the Health Department said The positivity rate jumped to 12.74 per cent from Tuesday's 9.92 per cent, it said.
The new cases were detected after testing 11,176 samples. There are 5,885 active Covid-19 cases in the state at present. (PTI)
Covid numbers in Karnataka:
New cases in State: 1,249
New cases in Bengaluru: 1,109
Positivity rate: 4.84%
Discharges: 1,154(Bengaluru-1,093)
Deaths: 2
Active cases in State: 5,707
Active cases in Bengaluru: 5,393
Tests: 25,753
Mumbai on Wednesday reported 1,504 fresh COVID-19 cases and three fatalities, which raised the tally to 11,11,227 and the death toll to 19,609, the city civic body said.
A day before, Mumbai had reported 1,290 cases and two fatalities. The city is now left with 11,844 active cases. (PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir reported 73 new Covid cases on Wednesday that took the infection tally to 4,55,006, officials said.
No Covid-related fatality was reported and the death toll stands at 4,756, they said. Of the new cases, 52 were reported from Jammu division and 21 from the Kashmir valley, officials said. (PTI)
With India consistently reporting more than 10,000 Covid cases over the past few days, the Centre Wednesday asked states and Union Territories to ensure a random RT-PCR screening of about two per cent passengers in each incoming flight, and send all positive specimens for genomic sequencing.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan issued the advisory through a letter to states and UTs, referring to the 'Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in context of COVID-19' issued by the Centre on June 9.
Bhushan asked them to implement the revised strategy which focuses on early detection and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases, and the containment of outbreaks of new coronavirus variants. (PTI)
Delhi records 1,109 Covid-19 cases, one fatality; positivity rate at 5.87 per cent. There are 4,325 active cases in the city.
Sikkim's Covid-19 tally rose to 39,224 on Wednesday as six more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the Himalayan state's coronavirus death toll to 454, a health bulletin said.
All the new cases were reported in East Sikkim. The Himalayan state now has 26 active cases. (PTI)
Gujarat's daily Covid-19 tally crossed the 500-mark, after 529 people tested positive for the infection on Wednesday, an official from the state health department said.
With the addition of the latest cases, the tally of infections in the state has risen to 12,31,483, he said. (PTI)
A day after India's drug regulator approved Covovax for restricted emergency use in children aged 7 to 11 years, the vaccine maker Serum Institute has written to the Centre seeking its inclusion in the national Covid-19 vaccination programme in the interest of public health, official sources said on Wednesday.
In a letter to the Union health ministry, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII) stated that Covovax is highly immunogenic with more than 98 per cent seroconversion in 7 to less than 12 years age group. Also, the vaccine is safe, effective and well tolerated in this age group, an official source said.
According to the letter, the firm is also receiving requests from various sections of the society pan India to make vaccine available in government and private hospitals in view of increasing Covid-19 infection. (PTI)
Goa on Wednesday reported 201 new cases of coronavirus that raised the tally of infections to 2,48,540, an official from the state health department said.
As many as 151 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the count of recoveries to 2,43,720, while the death toll remained unchanged at 3,838, as no new casualties were reported during the day, he said.
The coastal state is now left with 982 active cases, the official said. (PTI)
Online searches for Chinese airline tickets on domestic and international routes surged on Wednesday, after Beijing said it would slash Covid-19 quarantine requirements and made changes to a state-mandated mobile app used for local travel.
The unexpected moves mark a significant easing of rigid curbs that have severely curtailed travel and battered China's economy, although tough measures remain in place including a scarcity of international flights, and many social media users voiced caution.
The industry ministry said on Wednesday that a Chinese mobile app that shows whether a person has travelled in a Chinese city with Covid-affected areas will no longer mark that history with an asterisk, one of the many means China has of tracking and curbing the virus's possible spread. (Reuters)
Assam has reported 68 new Covid-19 cases during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 7,24,715, a National Health Mission (NHM) bulletin said on Wednesday.
The daily positivity rate has increased to 7.54 per cent as against the previous day's 6.71 per cent. The number of active cases have increased to 362 from the previous day's 306 while 12 patients were discharged during the day.
Kamrup (Metro) district reported the highest of 57 cases followed by six in Kamrup (Rural) district and one each in Hojai and Goalpara. (PTI)
The effects of Covid-19 infection on the thyroid gland can remain even after one year, according to a recent study. Researchers at the University of Milan in Italy found that severe Covid-19 disease impacts thyroid function through a variety of mechanisms.
They tracked individuals with thyroid dysfunction associated with Covid-19 illness for a year in order to better characterise such thyroid involvement and track its progression over time.
During moderate-to-severe Covid-19 disease the occurrence of thyroiditis -- inflammation of the thyroid gland -- plays an important role in thyroid dysfunction, the researchers said. This is in addition to other well-known mechanisms mainly acting on the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis, they said.
The study, presented during the 24th European Congress of Endocrinology in Milan, found that hormone imbalance is usually mild but increases in severe cases of Covid-19. (PTI)
Odisha recorded the highest single-day coronavirus cases in four months as 161 more people tested positive for the pathogen, the health department said.
The positivity rate stood at 1.21 per cent. Khurda reported the highest number of new cases at 60, followed by 32 in Cuttack. Twenty-four children were among the new infections, taking the tally to 12,89,602. (PTI)
Health officials in South Korea on Wednesday approved the country's first domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 years or older, adding another public health tool in the fight against a prolonged pandemic.
In clinical trials involving some 4,000 participants in South Korea and five other countries, SK Bioscience's two-dose SKYCovione vaccine appeared to be more effective than the broadly used AstraZeneca shots in building immunity against infections, officials at South Korea's Food and Drug Safety Ministry said.
It isn't immediately clear how officials will administer the newly developed vaccine or how big of a role the shots will have in the next phase of the pandemic. The shots were designed for the original version of the coronavirus, not the more transmissible omicron variant that wreaked havoc in the country earlier this year. (AP)
Ladakh recorded 13 new Covid cases that pushed the infection tally to 28,389 on Wednesday, officials said. All the fresh cases were detected in Leh district.
So far, 228 people have succumbed to Covid-19 in Ladakh. Of these, 168 deaths were reported from Leh and 60 from Kargil, according to officials. The number of active cases stands at 67 -- 66 in Leh and one in Kargil.
With the addition of 629 new cases of coronavirus, the tally of infections in Maharashtra's Thane district has reached 7,26,682, a health official said on Wednesday.
The latest infections reported on Tuesday have pushed the number of active cases to 5,966, he said. The toll stood at 11,904 after one patient died of the infection. (PTI)
With 14,506 new Covid infections in the last 24 hours, India's total tally of such cases rose to 4,34,33, 345, and that of the active cases to 99,602, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. India recorded 30 deaths due to the coronavirus, and with it the death toll has climbed to 5,25,077, the data updated at 8 am stated.
Active cases comprise 0.23 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.56 per cent, the health ministry said. An increase of 2,902 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 3.35 per cent, almost equal to the weekly positivity rate, which was recorded at 3.36 per cent, according to the health ministry The number of people who have recuperated from the disease rose to 4,28,08,666, while the overall fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent. (PTI)
The active Covid-19 cases in the country have increased from 96,700 to 99,602 in the last 24 hours, data released by the Union health ministry said.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, six more than the previous day, pushing the tally to 10,149, a health department official said. Six patients have travel history while six infections were detected during contact tracing, the official said.
The union territory now has 38 active Covid-19 cases, while 9,982 people have recovered from the disease, including nine in the last 24 hours, he said. A total of 129 patients have succumbed to the disease till date. (PTI)
Covid-19 cases in Delhi might be on the decline, with fewer infections being recorded along with a lower positivity rate, shows data. There were 874 fresh Covid-19 cases recorded on Tuesday, with the positivity rate—the proportion of samples tests that return positive—being 5.18 per cent.
Delhi’s positivity rate, along with that of the country’s, started rising from the second week of June. The average positivity rate since mid-June has been 7.4 per cent, reaching a high of 10.09 per cent. Read more
In the wake of the gradual rise of Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru since June 10, the Karnataka health department on the recommendation of the state-appointed Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Tuesday issued guidelines for testing, isolation, treatment, and quarantine for clusters in apartment buildings, offices, and educational institutions other than schools up to Class 12.
Apartments: In case of small clusters (three to five cases), all symptomatic patients in the apartment block on the floor have to be tested by Rapid Antigen Test (RAT). In cases of large clusters or more than or equal to five Covid-19 cases, all symptomatic people in the apartment of the block or tower will have to get tested for Covid-19. And in the case of an outbreak where more than or equal to 15 cases are reported, all symptomatic residents in the apartment complex will have to take a test for Covid-19. Read more
At 23 per cent, the Covid positivity rate in Pune in the week ending June 27 was twice that of Maharashtra, according to a state health department report. The Covid weekly positivity rate for Mumbai and Thane in the period was recorded at 16 per cent each. At present, Maharashtra’s weekly Covid positivity rate stands at 12 per cent.
According to data, Mumbai has shown an 11 per cent decline in new Covid infections in the week June 21-27 with 12,479 cases being detected vis a vis 14,089 in the preceding week. In contrast, Pune has shown a 66 per cent rise in new Covid infections in the week June 21-27 with 3,583 cases being detected as compared to 2,157 in the preceding week. Read more
For the past two years since the pandemic emerged, scientists have been continuously researching COVID-19. While the virus itself has proven to be highly problematic, there have been several cases worldwide where recovered patients faced multiple health issues which they developed over time. It is now proven that this notorious virus not only affects our respiratory organs but in many cases our digestive and cardiovascular functioning as well. Women, in particular, reported some gynaecological issues after recovering from COVID-19.
Many took to social media and shared the issues they faced due to their prolonged illness and the effects of the virus on their menstrual cycle. The most common conditions faced by these people were irregular periods, clotting of the blood, a worsened state of mental health and pre-menstrual syndrome. Read more
A notice, attributed to a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official, created a flutter among Beijing’s residents as it claimed that China’s straining and unpopular zero-Covid curbs — mass testing, targeted lockdowns, and travel restrictions — might extend for another five years. According to The Guardian, the original text of the notice, attributed to Communist Party’s Beijing secretary, said: “In the next five years, Beijing will unremittingly grasp the normalisation of epidemic prevention and control.”
The notice was first put out by Beijing Daily and later by several state media outlets. After some time, the “five year” reference was taken off by most publications. But by then, it had triggered a wave of anger and confusion online among residents of Beijing, with a hashtag linked to the five-year notice getting 1 million hits before being removed. Read the full explainer here
Delhi, on the other hand, reported 874 fresh Covid-19 cases and four more deaths due to the infection, while the positivity rate has declined to 5.18 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department on Tuesday. The national capital reported 628 new Covid cases and three deaths due to the viral disease on Monday, while the positivity rate was recorded at 8.06 per cent.
India recorded 14,506 fresh Covid-19 cases and 30 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Wednesday, data released by the Union Health Ministry said. As many as 11,574 patients recovered from the infection, leaving a total of 99,602 active cases in the county.
Singapore on Tuesday reported 11,504 new Covid-19 cases, the highest in over three months, with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung warning people that the latest wave of infections has arrived sooner than expected. Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said that Covid cases are expected to continue rising in the coming weeks.
Wong, who is also the co-chair of the Covid-19 multi-ministry task force, had on Monday said there was no need to tighten COVID-19 safety measures at this stage but adjustments will be made "if need be". The uptick in the number of infections is caused by the newer BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron, he had said.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday told Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, "I had earlier said that the next wave might take place around July or August, but it's now here a little earlier, at the end of June -- possibly due to the June (school) holidays." Of the 11,504 new COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday till noon, 10,732 were local infections and 772 imported cases. Also, one person succumbed to the viral infections, taking the total number of deaths linked to coronavirus complications to 1,410 since the pandemic hit the city-state. (PTI)
A day after reporting 2,369 new Covid-19 cases, Maharashtra recorded 3,482 cases on Tuesday with a surge of 47 per cent in the last 24 hours. Also, for the third consecutive day, five Covid fatalities were also recorded in Maharashtra. Out of the total numbers, Mumbai reported 1,290 cases. The test positivity rate (TPR) — the number of positive cases out of the total tests conducted — stood at 11.70 per cent in the city with 11,012 tests conducted on Tuesday.
The country’s first homegrown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine developed at Pune’s Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has received emergency use for the age group 18 and above. In a late-night development, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the two-dose mRNA vaccine on Tuesday. The vaccine is stable for storage at 2-8 degree C. The drug regulator has also approved Serum Institute’s COVID-19 vaccine Covovax for restricted emergency use in children aged 7 to 11 years subject to certain conditions.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has asked states to step up vigil and prepare for mass gatherings or yatras in the coming months in order to ensure that participants travelling within the states and across do not carry Covid-19 infection. Bhushan also held a video-conferencing meeting with 14 states that are still reporting an upswing in cases and asked them to strengthen surveillance and report any out-of-the-ordinary or different clinical profile of patients.
Good morning! Welcome to the Indian Express live blog. We bring to you the latest stories on Coronavirus numbers and news updates from across India and the globe. Stay tuned!