Coronavirus LIVE: 6,169 new Covid-19 cases, 22 deaths in Kerala in a day

Coronavirus live updates: At 1,906,371, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 911,382, Andhra Pradesh 879,339, Tamil Nadu 809,014, and Kerala 713,000

Coronavirus live updates: With 19,174 fresh Covid-19 cases, India's caseload now stands at 10,111,256. The country's death toll has mounted to 146,562. With 1,906,371 cases, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 911,382, Andhra Pradesh 879,339, Tamil Nadu 809,014, and Kerala 713,000.
 

At least 20 passengers from the UK tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday as the government issued a stringent set of SOPs mandating RT-PCR tests at airports for each traveller from the country and isolation in a separate unit of an institutional facility for positive cases in view of the new coronavirus strain.
 

World coronavirus update: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 78,534,580. While 55,286,770 have recovered, 1,727,361 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 18,688,529 cases, and 330,317 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 10,099,303 cases, Brazil (7,320,020), Russia (2,906,503), France (2,490,946).
 

Stay tuned for the latest coronavirus-related news.

11:54 PM

People who arrived from UK rigorously traced; Covid situation under control in Delhi: Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said people who have arrived here from the UK are being rigorously traced and those showing even the slightest of Covid-19 symptoms are being tested, even as he asserted that the situation in the city was under control with the positivity rate plummeting to below one per cent.

Interacting with reporters, he also said Delhinow has "the lowest positivity rate in the entire country". The ceasing of flight services to and from the UK was a prompt move by the Centre and will help in containing the spread of the new coronavirus strain detected in that country, he said. "We are alert and watchful at our end. People who have arrived here from the UK in the last several days are being rigorously traced, and tested if anyone is showing slightest of COVID-like symptoms. A team had been made and house-to-house tracing is being done, and they are being advised self-isolation too," the minister said.

Delhi recorded 871 fresh Covid-19 cases and 18 new fatalities on Wednesday, even as thepositivity rate slipped to 0.99 per cent, authorities said.

11:37 PM

Himachal records 437 new Covid cases, tally rises to 53,392

11:30 PM

West Bengal reports 1,628 new Covid-19 cases, 2,153 discharges

11:08 PM

958 new coronavirus cases in Karnataka

958 new coronavirus cases in Karnataka, tally 912,000, active cases 13,736; toll 12,038 with 9 more deaths: Health Dept

10:49 PM

None of UK returnees tested positive for Covid in Telangana so far: Health dept

None of the UK returnees has tested Covid-19 positive so far. 1200 passengers have returned to Telangana from the UK since December 9 till now: Telangana Medical and Health Department

10:29 PM

Bharat Biotech's Covaxin shows encouraging results in clinical trials: Research paper

Covaxin, a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech, showed long-term antibody and T- cell (immune) memory responses three months after the shot in phase 1 volunteers and tolerable safety outcomes in Phase 2 study, the city-based company has said, suggesting the antibodies may persist for six to 12 months.

In phase 2, it also showed enhanced humoral and cell- mediated immune responses and the results were found in the safety and immunogenicity clinical trial of the vaccine candidate. Memory T cells are antigen-specific T cells that remain over a long term after an infection has been eliminated. Covaxin, being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, is now undergoing phase-3 trials.

10:17 PM

Punjab CM asks people to exercise caution amid reports of new strain of Covid-19

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh urged people on Wednesday to exercise extreme caution and strictly follow all COVID-19 safety norms amid reports of a new strain of the virus spreading in some parts of the world. Pointing out that even those who recover from the disease suffer from long-term after-effects, including weakness, the chief minister said the spread of the pandemic in the state may have slowed down, but the crisis is not yet over.

The last flight that landed in Amritsar from the United Kingdom on Tuesday reported eight positive cases of the virus, Singh said, adding he hoped that the new strain of the virus has not entered Punjab. Punjab reported 14 more COVID-19 deaths and 488 new cases on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 5,243 and the infection count to 1,64,145.

Addressing a Facebook Live telecast, the chief minister pointed out that several of his colleagues and officers have tested positive for the disease. He urged everybody to wear masks and maintain social distance in order to save themselves, their families and Punjab. The chief minister informed that the state was testing over 30,000 samples every day.

8:48 PM

Gujarat sees 958 new Covid-19 cases, 1,309 recoveries; six die

Gujarat on Wednesday reported 958 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the count of infections to 2,38,205, the state health department said. With six more persons succumbing to the viral disease, the total fatalities in the state rose to 4,254, it said in a release.

 

A total of 1,309 patients were discharged during the day, taking the number of recoveries in Gujarat to 2,22,911, the department said, adding that the recovery rate in the state now stands at 93.58 per cent.

 

The number of active cases in the state is 11,040, the department said. With 54,843 new tests, the number of tests conducted in Gujarat has gone up to 92,17,823.

8:29 PM

Delhi reports 871 new Covid-19 cases and 18 deaths in the last 24 hours

Delhi recorded 871 fresh COVID-19 cases and 18 more fatalities in a day, even as the case positivity rate slipped 0.99 per cent. This was the third consecutive day when the daily rise in cases remained below the 1,000 mark. On Tuesday, 939 new instances of the viral infection was reported, while the previous day the rise was 803, the lowest since August 17 when 787 cases were recorded.

 

These 871 new cases came out the 87,861 tests, including 45,816 RT-PCR tests and 42,045 rapid antigen tests, conducted the previous day, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

 

The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6,19,618 and the death toll rose to 10,347 on Wednesday. The tally of active cases on Wednesday dropped to 8,003 from 8735 on Tuesday.

8:17 PM

Delhi reports 871 new Covid-19 cases and 18 deaths in the last 24 hours

7:55 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: 6,169 new Covid-19 cases, 22 deaths in Kerala in a day

Kerala's COVID-19 tally touched 7,21,510 on Wednesday with the addition of 6,169 new cases, while the toll rose to 2,892 with 22 deaths. A total of 4,808 people recovered from the disease, taking the total number of those cured from the disease to 6,55,644, state health minister K K Shailaja said. Currently, 62,802 patients are undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in the state.

 

"Out of the total infected, 5,349 were cases of local transmission and the source of infection was unknown for 662. Of those diagnosed,98 arrived from outside the state

 

Sixty health workers were among those infected," she said in a release. The Minister said 61,437 samples were tested and the test positivity rate is 10.04 per cent. A total of 75,08,489 samples have so far been sent for testing.

6:56 PM

22 coronavirus deaths, 1,233 fresh cases in Uttar Pradesh

With 22 fresh COVID-19 fatalities, the death toll in the state rose to 8,245, while the tally climbed to 5,77,642 with 1,233 new COVID-19 cases reported in the state in the past 24 hours. In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the Uttar Pradesh government said that of the 22 fresh COVID-19 deaths, four were reported from state capital Lucknow, three from Kanpur and two deaths were reported from Varanasi.

 

Of the 1,233 fresh COVID-19 cases reported in the state, Lucknow registered 252 new cases.

 

In the past 24 hours, 1,102 COVID-19 patients have been discharged. So far, 5,53,019 patients have recovered from the disease, and have been discharged in the state. The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 16,378, the statement said.

6:26 PM

Six more UK passengers test positive for Covid-19 at Delhi's IGI airport

Six more passengers arriving in two flights from the UK, which landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) late on Tuesday night, have tested positive for Covid-19, officials told IANS on Wednesday. With this, the number of passengers from the UK who have tested positive at the IGIA has soared to 11. On Tuesday, five passengers from the UK had tested positive.

 

Besides, the officials also told IANS that around 50 passengers have been sent to institutional quarantine by the government since they were seated in proximity to the positive passengers. However, these 50 passengers have tested negative at the airport.

 

The officials said that the positive patients will be sent to the Sardar Covid Care Centre in Chattarpur. However, the location for institutional quarantine of the contacts has not been disclosed by the officials yet. Over 470 passengers who arrived at the IGIA in two flights on Tuesday night were tested at the airport.

5:58 PM

745 passengers quarantined after landing in Mumbai from UK in two days

As many as 1,688 passengers arrived at the Mumbai international airport from the UK and other countries since Monday midnight and 745 of them were quarantined in the city, a civic official said on Wednesday. In the wake of detection of a new variant of coronavirus in the UK, a new Standard Operating Procedure has been issued for dealing with passengers arriving from Europe and the Middle-East.

 

It could not be ascertained if any of these 745 passengers were found to have COVID-19 symptoms. Around 2,000 passengers were expected to land at the Mumbai airport in the last two days, but only 1,688 had landed as of Wednesday afternoon, said an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

 

As many as 745 of them were placed in institutional quarantine in Mumbai. BMC teams at the airport are exempting from quarantine some categories of passengers such as pregnant women or those traveling to attend last rites of their kin, the official said. So far two passengers have been exempted.

5:29 PM

Indonesia reports 7,514 new Covid-19 cases, 151 deaths

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 7,514 within one day to 685,639, with the death toll adding by 151 to 20,408, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. According to the ministry, 5,981 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 558,703.

 

The virus has spread to all the country's 34 provinces. Specifically, within the past 24 hours, Jakarta recorded 1,954 new cases, Central Java 912, West Java 903, East Java 834, and South Sulawesi 524.