Coronavirus LIVE: Covid-19 situation in Delhi stabilising, says NITI Aayog

Coronavirus live updates: At 18,55,341, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 894,004, Andhra Pradesh 872,288, Tamil Nadu 791,552, and Kerala 639,664

Coronavirus updates: On Monday, India reported 27,107 fresh Covid-19 cases. Its case tally now stands at 9,705,005. The country's death toll has mounted to 140,994. With 18,55,341 cases, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 894,004, Andhra Pradesh 872,288, Tamil Nadu 791,552, and Kerala 639,664. Delhi recorded 1,674 fresh Covid-19 cases on Monday, the lowest in over three months, even as the positivity rate slipped to 3.15 per cent.

After Pfizer and Serum Institute of India, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has applied for an emergency use authorisation for its investigational vaccine candidate, Covaxin, to the Indian regulator. The firm is conducting its Phase 3 trial, involving 26,000 participants.

World coronavirus update: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 68,037,548. While 47,128,470 have recovered, 1,552,802 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 15,351,230 cases, and 290,373 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 9,703,908 cases, Brazil (6,628,065), Russia (2,488,912), France (2,295,908).

Stay tuned for the latest coronavirus-related news.

2:02 AM

Covid-19: Israel considers alternatives to night curfew

The night curfew in Israel, which was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, is likely to be cancelled, country's state-owned Kan News has reported.

On Monday, Israel's coronavirus cabinet decided to impose the curfew due to the recent rise in Covid-19 cases, Xinhua reported.

However, legal difficulties, pointed out by Israel's Deputy Attorney General Raz Nizri, will prompt the Israeli government to consider other restrictions at its meeting on Wednesday.

The difficulties came from the position of the Israeli health ministry, according to which the curfew is ineffective, and this can lead to petitions to the High Court against the legality of the curfew, said the report.

Another cabinet decision, which is not expected to be canceled, regulated that passengers returning from abroad would be required to undergo a coronavirus test at the airport as a condition for entering quarantine at home. Those who refuse to take the test would be required to enter quarantine at hotels.

2:01 AM

Vaccine boost helps send Wall Street to record

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as each of the major averages touched record levels in part due to a boost from the healthcare sector on positive COVID-19 vaccine news, while uncertainty over fresh fiscal stimulus held gains in check.

Johnson & Johnson gained 1.67% to help lift both the Dow and S&P 500 after the company said it could obtain late-stage trial results of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine it is developing in January, earlier than expected.

Pfizer Inc also advanced 1.67% as it cleared the next hurdle in the race to get its COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use, after the U.S. health regulator released documents raising no new safety or efficacy issues.

Wall Street's main indexes have traded in a tight range to start the trading week, as investors look for more stimulus in the face of surging COVID-19 cases and fresh restrictions in California.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she supported including another round of $1,200 direct payments for Americans in a fresh package, which is currently not included in the $908 billion proposal put forth by a bipartisan group of lawmakers last week.

2:00 AM

COVID-19 vaccine: Biden vows 100 million shots in first 100 days

US President-elect Joe Biden has promised to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to 100 million people during the first three months of his incoming administration, pledging 100 million shots in the first 100 days.

At an event from Delaware to introduce his pandemic response team on Tuesday, Biden laid out his top three priorities for the start of his new government.

He repeated his previous calls for all Americans to wear masks for 100 days to prevent the spread of the virus and said he'd mandate doing so in federal buildings and on public transportation, while also making the new promise to distribute 100 million vaccines shots over the same period.

Biden also said he believed that the virus can be brought under enough control to reopen the majority of schools within his first 100 days.

Those pledges came even as Biden struck a sombre tone about the toll the coronavirus has already taken. He said that, after about nine months of living with the pandemic, the US is at risk of becoming numb to its toll on all of us".

The president-elect specifically noted the virus's disproportionate effects on Americans of colour, calling it a mass casualty for many minority groups.

11:29 PM

Jharkhand update

Jharkhand reported 182 new Covid-19 cases and 188 recoveries today

 

Total cases 1,10,639

Total recoveries 1,07,898

Death toll 988

11:26 PM

COVID: Delhi records 3,188 fresh cases, 57 fatalities; lowest death since Nov 5

Delhi recorded 3,188 fresh COVID-19 cases and 57 fatalities on Tuesday, even as Health Minister Satyendar Jain asserted that it was lowest number of deaths in a single-day, since November 5.

The positivity rate stood at 4.23 per cent, while over 75,000 tests were conducted the previous day, authorities said.

The positivity rate on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday had successively dipped to 4.96 per cent, 4.78 per cent, 4.2 per cent, 3.68 per cent and 3.15 per cent, respectively.

These fresh cases came out of 75,409 tests conducted the previous day, including 31,098 RT-PCR tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

Fifty-seven fatalities were recorded, pushing the toll in the national capital to 9,763, the bulletin said.

"Number of deaths in Delhi are on a decline. Lowest deaths since Nov 5th. Our frontline warriors like doctors and nurses are working round the clock to save each and every life. I Request you all to observe all precautions for this trend to decline further," Jain tweeted.

On November 5, the city had recorded 66 fatalities from COVID-19, according to official data.

The active cases tally on Tuesday dropped to 22,310 from 22,486, the previous day.

The bulletin said that the total number of cases has climbed to 5,97,112, while the recovery rate stood at over 94 per cent.

The number of containment zones in Delhi jumped to 6,357 on Tuesday from 6,292 on Monday.

9:35 PM

TN records 1,236 new Covid-19 cases, 13 fatalities

Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reported 1,236 new Covid-19 cases, taking the overall infection count to 7,92,788, while 13 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 11,822.

Recoveries continued to outnumber the new infections with 1,330 people being discharged from health care facilities after getting cured, taking the aggregate to 7,70,378, a health department bulletin said.

The number of active cases stood at 10,588.

The State capital and Coimbatore logged cases in triple digits with Chennai adding 333 and Coimbatore 122, while the rest were scattered across other districts.

Chennai continued to top the list of cases with 2,18,198 infections out of more than 7.92 lakh in the state.

The state capital also topped in the number of deaths, accounting for 3,885 of the total 11,822.

Seven districts added new cases in single digits, while 27 districts reported zero fatalities.

A total of 65,186 samples were tested on Tuesday, taking the cumulative total to 1,26,05,289 specimens examined so far.

Tamil Nadu does not use Rapid Antigen Diagnostic Tests (RADT) and all tests are RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction based).

All the deceased had co-morbidities, the bulletin said.

9:34 PM

1,345 new cases in MP, 11 deaths, 1,497 discharged

Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday reported 1,345 new COVID-19 cases, taking the count of infections in the state to 2,17,302, health officials said.

With 11 more people succumbing, the pandemic's death toll rose to 3,358, they said.

A total of 1,497 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the state's overall recovery count to 2,00,664.

Of new fatalities, five died in Indore, two in Bhopal and one each in Khargone, Ratlam, Raisen and Panna districts, the official said.

Of 1,345 new cases, Indore accounted for 516 and Bhopal 315.

The number of cases in Indore rose to 46,476, including 792 deaths, while Bhopal's case tally stood at 34,525 with 533 fatalities.

Indore now has 5,145 active cases, while this figure for Bhopal is 3,121.

With 29,985 samples being tested in the state since Monday evening, the overall number of tests rose to 39.91 lakh.

Coronavirus figures of MP are as follows: Total cases 2,17,302, new cases 1,345, death toll 3,358, recovered 2,00,664, active cases 13,280, number of people tested so far 39,91,537.

9:30 PM

Maha: Nagpur's Covid-19 tally goes up by 394; six more die

As many as 394 new cases of coronavirus and six more casualties were reported in Maharashtra's Nagpur district on Tuesday, an official said.

With this, the count of infections in the district rose to 1,15,325, while the toll reached 3,754, the official said.

Of the fatalities reported so far, 2,574 were from Nagpur city limits and 1,180 were from rural areas and outside the district, he said.

The number of recoveries in the district reached 1,05,862, after 345 patients were discharged from various treatment facilities during the day, the official said.

The district is now left with 5,709 active cases, he added.

9:28 PM

2,444 cold-chain vaccination centres set up across Rajasthan

Anticipating the launch of one or the other anti-Covid vaccine before soon in the country, the Rajasthan government has begun developing infrastructure for storage of the serum and its administration and has set up a total of 2,444 cold-chain inoculation points in the state.

 

Besides establishing the cold-chain vaccination points at selected district hospitals and community health centres, the government has also set up seven division-level and three state-level storage and distribution centres, the state government said in a statement on Tuesday.

 

The three state-level vaccine centres have been set up in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur, said the statement after a countrywide video conference of states' health ministers, organised by the Union health ministry.

 

After participating in the conference, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said medical service personnel from both government and private sectors besides the officials of the women and child development departments would be vaccinated in the first phase of the anti-Covid immunisation programme.

 

According to the Union Health Ministry guidelines, a list of beneficiaries of corona vaccination will be prepared and their database will be uploaded in the ''Covin'' software, the statement quoted the minister as saying.

 

The minister added that UNICEF, UNDP and World Health Organisation will support in the vaccination campaign.

8:42 PM

Continuous decline in new Covid-19 cases since mid-September: Health Ministry

8:31 PM

Covid-19 LIVE: UP CM Adityanath directs seven district hospitals to increase beds

Amid the surge in coronavirus infections in the state, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday instructed district hospitals of Lucknow, Meerut, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar, Jhansi, Ghaziabad, and Gorakhpur, to increase the number of COVID-19 dedicated beds. At present, Uttar Pradesh has 2,1732 active cases of COVID-19.

 

According to an official statement by the state's Public Relation and Information department, "Adityanath has directed to increase the number of beds of COVID-19 in these districts while instructing to take complete vigilance to prevent corona infection."

 

During a high-level meeting at his residence today, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister reviewed the unlock system and said: "The system of prevention and treatment should be strengthened with COVID-19 prevention infrastructure. Also, the system of contact tracing and surveillance should be kept fully active. Officials should pay special attention to contact tracing of the asymptomatic carriers."

8:19 PM

Coronavirus latest update; 1,391 new cases in Haryana, 13 more die

Thirteen more people succumbed to the coronavirus in Haryana, bringing the death toll to 2,624, while 1,391 fresh cases raised the state's infection tally to 2,46,679 on Tuesday, according to a bulletin. The new fatalities included four from Hisar and two each from Bhiwani, Kaithal and Fatehabad districts, the state health department's daily bulletin said.

 

Among the districts which reported a big spike in fresh COVID-19 cases included Gurugram (418) and Faridabad (277). Haryana has 11,947 active cases of the novel coronavirus and a recovery rate of 94.09 per cent, according to the bulletin.

7:59 PM

Some vaccines may get licensed in the next few weeks: Health secretary

One or more vaccines currently undergoing review for emergency use authorisation may get licenced in the next few weeks and depending upon the availability all three priority groups selected for vaccination could get vaccinated simultaneously, Rajesh Bhushan, health secretary told reporters on Tuesday. He also said that states will start receiving additional supply of cold chain equipment including walk-in coolers, deep freezers, reefer trucks from December 10 onwards.

 

The vaccination drive, the largest of its kind, could go on for a year or more, Bhushan said. The three priority groups making up almost 300 million people, recommended by the national expert group on vaccine administration include healthcare workers, frontline workers and those above either 50 years of age or with comorbidities. “These groups are not sequential...every single Indian who needs to be vaccinated will be vaccinated,” Bhushan added. READ ON...

7:46 PM

Maximum active Covid-19 cases in India are from Maharashtra: Health Ministry

7:31 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: 1,280 new cases in Karnataka, 13 deaths

Karnataka on Tuesday logged 1,280 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 8,95,284 and the death toll to 11,880. The day also saw 1,060 patients getting discharged after recovery. A total of over 1,18,78,413 samples have been tested so far, out of which 88,698 were tested on Tuesday alone, and 18,103 among them were rapid antigen tests.

 

Out of 1,280 fresh cases reported today, 638 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone. As of December 8 evening, cumulatively 8,95,284 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 11,880 deaths and 8,58,370 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin. It said, out of 25,015 active cases, 24,740 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and stable, while 275 are in ICU.

 

According to the bulletin, 7 out of the total 13 deaths reported on Tuesday are from Bengaluru urban, followed by Dakshina Kannada (2), and Ballari, Bidar, Chikkaballapura and Mysuru (1).