Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra reports 8,744 new cases in last 24 hours

Coronavirus LIVE: The coronavirus cases in India jumped to 11,229,398 with 18,599 new infections reported across the country, according to Hea;th Ministry. The death toll meanwhile reached 157,853 with 99 fatalities in the last 24 hours. 

The total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 20 million, the Union Health Ministry said. The nationwide vaccination drive against Covid-19 was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers, while frontline workers stated receiving vaccine shots from February 2. The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced from march 1for those senior citizens and for people aged 45 years and above with specified comorbid conditions.

World coronavirus update: Coronavirus cases rise unabated across the globe with 117,431,146 infected by the deadly contagion. While 92,935,685 have recovered, 2,604,787 have died so far. The US remains the worst-hit country with 2,604,787 cases.

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10:25 PM

Over 22 mn vaccine doses given till 9 pm today: Govt

10:12 PM

239 new Covid cases in Delhi, positivity rate 0.50%

Delhi recorded 239 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths on Monday, as the positivity rate rose to 0.50 per cent, the Health Department said, according to PTI. The new cases came from 47,689 tests, including 35,968 RT-PCR tests and 11,721 rapid antigen tests conducted the previous day, the bulletin issued by the department said.

The number of active cases stood at 1,730 on Monday. Three new deaths took the toll to 10,924, according to the data. The positivity rate rose to 0.50 per cent from 0.31 per cent a day before. On Sunday, 286 new cases and two deaths were recorded. The city had registered 321 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily count in nearly one-and-a-half months, and a death on Saturday, and 312 cases and a fatality on Friday.

9:02 PM

Maharashtra reports 8744 new Covid-19 cases, 9068 discharges

8:51 PM

LIVE: Karnataka reports 436 new cases

Karnataka reports 436 new Covid-19 cases, 478 recoveries and five deaths in the last 24 hours

 

8:33 PM

CBI begins vaccinating its officials against COVID-19

The CBI on Monday started anti-Covid-19 vaccination of its officials with its acting director Praveen Sinha taking the first shot, officials said.

 

The agency continued its investigations and prosecution process during the pandemic even though over 680 officials, about nine per cent of the total staff, contracted the virus while working on various cases and four officials succumbed to the deadly disease.

 

After getting nod from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, several senior officers led by Sinha took the jab on the first day of the process.

8:21 PM

555 new coronavirus cases in Gujarat, one death, 482 recoveries

With 555 new Covid-19 cases coming to light on Monday, Gujarat's caseload rose to 2,73,941, the state health department said.

 

The number of recovered cases went up to 2,66,313 with 482 patients getting discharged from hospitals.

 

The death of a Covid-19 patient in Ahmedabad pushed up the toll to 4,416, said the department in a release.

 

The state's recovery rate stands at 97.22 per cent.

8:17 PM

Goa sees 54 Covid-19 cases, 110 recoveries, no death

Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 54 and reached 55,463 on Monday, while the day saw 110 people getting discharged, an official said.

 

The death toll remained unchanged at 799 for the third consecutive day, he added.

 

The state has a recovery count of 54,032, leaving it with 632 active cases, the official said.

7:59 PM

LIVE: Tamil Nadu reports 556 new coronavirus cases

Tamil Nadu reports 556 new coronavirus cases, 532 recoveries and three deaths today, according to the state health department

7:47 PM

No major report of discordant results reported by Covid-19 testing labs: Govt

Till now no "major report of discordant test results" has been reported by Covid-19 testing laboratories, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey told Rajya Sabha on Monday.

 

He was responding to a question on whether capping the price of Covid-19 tests has forced several labs to use relatively inexpensive kits raising the risk of false negative and compromising data.

 

Keeping in view fast tracking of approval of test kits, increasing indigenous manufacturing, inclusion of alternative platforms like CBNAAT and GeneXperts, improved market availability at competitive prices, the Union health ministry has advised state governments and union territory (UT) administrations to negotiate with private labs and fix mutually agreeable prices for Covid-19 testing, Choubey said.

7:46 PM

Serum seeks govt's intervention over import of Covid vaccine raw material from US

Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, has sought the central government's intervention so as to enable the firm import essential raw materials from the US for uninterrupted manufacturing and supply of Covid-19 vaccines.

 

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla,Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Pune-based SII, Prakash Kumar Singh said the US government has invoked the Defence Production Act because of which the firm is facing difficulties in importing necessary products like cell culture medias, raw material, single-use tubing assemblies and some specialty chemicals from the US.

 

He said in the letter that Covishield vaccine manufactured by the SII is being widely used in India and across the globe and millions of people have been vaccinated with it.

7:23 PM

Covid-19 vaccination drive coverage was initially low due to issues in Co-WIN, hesitancy: Govt

At the start of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, fewer beneficiaries than planned attended inoculation sessions due to transient technical issues in the Co-WIN portal, vaccine hesitancy etc, which have progressively been addressed, Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday.

 

The rate of vaccination coverage has subsequently increased, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said in a written reply.

 

"More than 50 lakh healthcare workers and frontline workers have been vaccinated in 21 days in India, which is the fastest rate in the world," Choubey said.

 

A total of 93.6 lakh healthcare workers and 77.9 lakh frontline workers have been registered as on January 31.

7:18 PM

Dharavi reports highest daily cases since October

Mumbai's largest slum cluster Dharavi on Monday reported 18 Covid-19 cases, the highest daily figure since October and a steep rise from the mostly single digit cases it was logging over the past few days.

 

A senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said the area's caseload has gone up to 4,166.

 

Dharavi had reported 16 new cases on February 26 this year.

7:10 PM

Hand gloves for voters, PPEs for Covid-19 infected in TN assembly polls

Covid-19 infected voters would be given personal protective equipment (PPE) kits while others hand gloves for casting their votes in the elections to Tamil Nadu assembly next month as part of preventive measures in view of the pandemic, state Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said here on Monday.

 

On the day of polling, every voter would be given hand gloves before voting to ensure there was no chance of transmission of infection through the Electronic Voting Machine, he said.

 

All other norms to help prevent Covid-19, including screening people with thermal scanners, would be followed during the polling on April 6, the official told a press conference at the Secretariat.

7:06 PM

Schools, colleges reopen in first step of UK's lockdown easing

Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the national effort that has gone into fighting against coronavirus as schools and colleges opened on Monday to mark the step one in the UK's phased roadmap to lift strict lockdown restrictions in place for months to control the spread of Covid-19.

 

Secondary schools and colleges will be inviting students for their first rapid lateral flow test, with schools and colleges having discretion on how to stagger the return of their students over this week to facilitate testing and a safe return to the classroom.

 

After three initial tests onsite, students will be provided with two rapid tests to use each week at home.

6:50 PM

Kerala logs 1,412 new Covid-19 cases

Kerala reported 1,412 fresh Covid-19 cases on Monday, while 3,030 people have recovered from the infection, with the active cases in the state touching 39,236, the government said.

 

While the total virus caseload soared to 10,79,088, as many as 10,34,895 people have been cured of the disease, Health minister K K Shailaja said in a press release.

 

It said a South African returnee was among those who tested positive for the virus.

 

In the 24 hours ending 2 pm, 39,046 samples had been tested and the test positivity rate was 3.62 per cent.