Covid LIVE: Discussed virus challenge with UN Secy General, says Jaishankar

Coronavirus live updates: India reported 195,815 fresh Covid-19 infections today, taking the caseload tally to 26,947,496. Death toll surged to 307,249. Stay tuned for corona-related news

Coronavirus live updates: India on Tuesday reported 196,427 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, its lowest daily rise in infections since April 14, while deaths from the disease rose by 3,511. The country's total cases now stand at 26,948,874, while total fatalities are at 307,231, according to health ministry data published this morning.
 

With 34,867 cases reported in the past 24 hours, Tamil Nadu is leading the state list. It is followed by Maharashtra with 22,122 new infections. Karnataka reported 25,311 cases, Kerala 17,821 and Andhra Pradesh 12,994 cases. The case count was 17,883 for West Bengal.

The six most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (5,602,019), Karnataka (2,450,215), Kerala (2,365,787), Tamil Nadu (1,877,211), Uttar Pradesh (1,673,785), and Andhra Pradesh (1,593,821).

World coronavirus update: Coronavirus cases rise unabated across the globe with 167,974,466 infected by the deadly contagion. While 149,382,138 have recovered, 3,486,863 have died so far. The US remains the worst-hit country with 33,920,442, followed by India, Brazil, France and Turkey. However, in the past seven days, India has added the highest number of fresh cases at 1,786,756, followed by the Brazil (456,098) and Argentina (232,199).

2:20 AM

White House adviser: 'Get to bottom' of virus origins

White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt says “we need to get to the bottom” of the origins of the pandemic pathogen and the World Health Organization and China need to do more to provide definitive answers for the global community.
 

The precise origin of the virus remains undetermined and speculation has reigned about whether it jumped from animals to humans or whether it could have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, the city that saw the first outbreak.
 

“We need a completely transparent process from China,” Slavitt said at Tuesday's coronavirus task force briefing. Full assistance from the WHO is needed, and “we don't have that now.” Dr. Anthony Fauci said “many of us” feel like it was a natural occurrence, but “we don't know 100%” and it is imperative to investigate.
 

2:19 AM

Bengal reports 157 more Covid-19 deaths, 17,005 fresh cases

The Covid-19 toll in West Bengal rose to 14,674 after 157 more people succumbed to the disease on Tuesday while there has been a slight dip in the number of daily cases, the health department bulletin said.
 

The daily case count of the state dropped marginally to 17,005 from 17,883 on Monday.
 

The coronavirus caseload in the state is now 13,01,978.
 

North 24 Parganas accounted for 46 deaths while the city reported 33 fatalities, the bulletin said.
 

The rest of the deaths were registered from the other districts.
 

Out of the 157 fatalities, 60 were due to comorbidities where Covid-19 was incidental.
 

North 24 Parganas accounted for 3,452 fresh cases, while 2,979 new cases of contagion were reported from the city.
 

In the last 24 hours, 19,057 recoveries have been recorded in the state which improved the discharge rate to 89.17 per cent. So far, 11,60,928 people have been cured of the disease.
 

Currently, there are 1,26, 376 active Covid-19 cases in the state.

2:13 AM

Telangana Covid-19 update

10:43 PM

Govt carrying out aggressive vaccination drive: Nagaland CM

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Tuesday said that the government is carrying out an aggressive vaccination drive to stop the spread of Covid-19 cases in the rural areas of the state.
 

He also said that the state government is strengthening the primary health centres.
 

"The state government's priority is not to allow the spread of coronavirus in the rural areas of the state and for which the government is undertaking aggressive vaccination drive and also strengthening the primary health centres (PHCs)," Rio told media persons on the sidelines of his visit to Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) in Dimapur.
 

IHM Dimapur is being converted into a 100-bed makeshift hospital for Covid-19 patients.
 

Rio also said that the government was trying its best for strengthening the health care facilities in the state particularly Dimapur as the district accounts for more than 60 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases in the state.
 

The state government was trying its best to take care of Covid-19 positive people living below the poverty line, he said.
 

10:42 PM

Pune mayor seeks permission to buy vaccine doses directly from SII

Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol has written a letter to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan asking for permission for the local civic body to buy vaccine doses directly from the city-based Serum Institute of India (SII).
 

The SII which produces Covishield vaccine against coronavirus has its plant on the outskirts of the city.
 

He and officials of the Pune Municipal Corporation met SII officials and also wrote to them seeking at least 25 lakh doses for the Pune city, Mohol told reporters.
 

'We are also planning to float a global tender for vaccines. Since the SII is located in Pune, I wrote to the SII and had a couple of meetings with PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar and their officials. The SII is ready to cooperate but they asked us to get permission from the Union health ministry," he said.
 

Hence he wrote to Harsh Vardhan and requested him to grant the PMC permission to buy vaccine doses directly from the SII by treating "Pune city as a special case", he said. 
 

10:20 PM

Jaishankar meets UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres; discusses vaccine solutions to combat Covid

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday held a comprehensive in-person meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and discussed the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and underlined the need the importance of finding urgent and effective global vaccine solutions.

 

In his first face-to-face interaction with the UN chief since India entered the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in January this year, Jaishankar also deliberated on regional challenges in India's neighbourhood and said that the countering terrorism and radicalisation remain priorities for the entire region.

 

"A warm & comprehensive meeting with UN Secretary General @antonioguterres. Discussed the Covid challenge, underlining the importance of finding urgent & effective global vaccine solutions. Critical to ramp up the vaccine supply chain to ensure greater production & fairer distribution,” Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting that lasted almost an hour.

9:46 PM

Pfizer ready to offer 50 mn vaccine shots to India this year: Report

Moderna is expecting to launch a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in India next year and is in talks with Cipla among other Indian firms, while another US giant Pfizer is ready to offer 50 million shots in 2021 itself but it wants significant regulatory relaxations including indemnification, sources said on Tuesday.

 

While Moderna has conveyed to Indian authorities that it does not have surplus vaccines to share in 2021, there are limited prospects of Johnson & Johnson exporting its jabs from the US to other countries in the near future, the sources privy to discussions added. Read more

9:19 PM

A total of 513 doctors have died across the country in second wave of Covid-19: IMA

9:03 PM

Covid LIVE: 'Moderna may launch single dose vaccine in India in 2022'

8:46 PM

Gujarat sees 3,255 new cases; 44 casualties; 9,676 recoveries

Gujarat on Tuesday reported 3,255 new COVID-19 cases and 44 casualties that raised the tally to 7,94,912 and toll to 9,665, an official from the state health department said.

 

At 9,676, the day's count of recoveries was nearly three times more than the new cases, taking the total number of patients who have recovered so far to 7,22,741, the official said.

 

With this, the state's recovery rate stands at 90.92 per cent, he said. With 512 new infections, Ahmedabad reported the highest number new cases in the state, followed by Vadodara with 462 cases, Surat with 423, Rajkot with 213, Junagadh with 202 and Jamnagar 103 cases, the data released by the health department stated.

8:37 PM

Rajasthan reports 3,404 fresh coronavirus cases, 15,635 recoveries, and 105 deaths in the last 24 hours

Rajasthan reports 3,404 fresh coronavirus cases, 15,635 recoveries, and 105 deaths in the last 24 hours 

8:31 PM

Maharashtra reports 24,136 new Covid cases, 36,176 patient discharges, and 601 deaths in the past 24 hours

8:25 PM

Govt assessing economic impact of second Covid wave for possible stimulus

With the world's worst outbreak of COVID pandemic stalling a nascent economic recovery, the government has begun assessing the impact of the second wave of infections on different sectors and may look at providing support at an appropriate time to segments requiring fiscal help.

 

Some of the economic indicators, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections, still provide confidence and incoming data will throw some more light on the state of the economy, sources said.

 

Services sectors like hospitality, tourism and aviation which had just started recovering were hit hard by the second wave of COVID, the sources said, adding these segments might need some support on an urgent basis from the government. READ MORE...

8:20 PM

Madhya Pradesh reports 2,422 new Covid cases, 7,373 recoveries and 68 deaths in the last 24 hours

Madhya Pradesh reports 2,422 new Covid cases, 7,373 recoveries and 68 deaths in the last 24 hours.

8:11 PM

Mumbai reports 1,037 Covid-19 cases, 37 casualties

Mumbai recorded 1,037 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday that took its tally to 6,99,904, while 37 patients died of the infection and 1,427 recovered from it, an official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said. With the latest casualties, the city's toll has risen to 14,708 and the count of recoveries has reached 6,55,425, the official said.

 

The recovery rate in the city stands at 94 per cent, while the doubling rate has improved to 345 days, he said, adding that the city is now left with 27,649 active cases.

 

As per the BMC's report, at least 20,990 swab samples were tested during the day, taking the cumulative figure of testing to 61,14,937. The city's largest slum area Dharavi reported only seven fresh cases, the report stated. There are 44 active containment zones in the city at present and while 206 buildings are sealed, it was stated.