Covid LIVE: PM Modi thanks French President for aid, invites him to India

Coronavirus live updates: India reported 208,921 fresh Covid-19 infections today, taking the caseload tally to 27,157,795. Death toll stands at 311,388. Stay tuned for corona-related news

Coronavirus live updates: A day after recording less than 200,000 fresh Covid cases for the first time in 41 days, India's new infections on Wednesday again soared to 208,921. Deaths from the disease rose by 4,157. The country's total cases now stand at 27,157,795, while total fatalities are at 311,388, according to MoHFW. Recovery rate increases to 89.66%.

With 34,285 cases reported in the past 24 hours, Tamil Nadu is leading the state list. It is followed by Kerala with 29,803 new infections. Maharashtra reported 24,136 cases. Karnataka 22,758 cases, and Andhra Pradesh 15,284 cases. The case count was 17,005 for West Bengal.

The six most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (5,626,155), Karnataka (2,472,973), Kerala (2,395,590), Tamil Nadu (1,911,496), Uttar Pradesh (1,677,508), and Andhra Pradesh (1,609,105).
 

World coronavirus update: Coronavirus cases rise unabated across the globe with 167,506,335 infected by the deadly contagion. While 148,581,009 have recovered, 3,477,774 have died so far. The US remains the worst-hit country with 33,896,035, followed by India, Brazil, France and Turkey. However, in the past seven days, India has added the highest number of fresh cases at 1,845,781, followed by the Brazil (456,826) and Argentina (223,748).

2:51 AM

Jammu admin launches special drives at 32 locations to speed up vaccination

The Jammu administration has launched special drives at 32 locations in the district to scale-up vaccination against Covid, an official said on Wednesday.
 

Deputy Commissioner Anshul Garg also said that the district administration is making constant efforts in providing all kinds of services and facilities to people affected by the coronavirus.
 

"The district administration has scaled up vaccination and launched special drives at 32 locations in Jammu district with key emphasis on speedy vaccination of the entire population," he said.
 

During a visit to inspect the vaccination drives at the Women's College Gandhi Nagar, Super Speciality Hospital and Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex, the deputy commissioner told reporters about the measures being taken by the administration to curb Covid-19 cases.
 

Garg said that in order to tackle the challenges mounted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the administration has laid key emphasis on vaccination of people.
 

He informed that a special vaccination drive has been started at 32 different locations to vaccinate priority groups including shopkeepers, journalists, lawyers, widows, orphans, and people associated with the tourism sector.
 

11:40 PM

Assam Covid-19 update

11:37 PM

Chhattisgarh reports 2,829 new Covid-19 cases, 56 deaths

Chhattisgarh's coronavirus infection count rose to 9,59,544 on Wednesday with the addition of 2,829 cases, while the death toll mounted by 56 to 12,779, an official said.
 

The number of recoveries reached 8,93,258 after a total of 997 people were discharged from various hospitals, while 4,100 others completed their home isolation during the day.
 

The number of active cases in the state stands at 53,480, he said.
 

Raipur district reported 101 new cases, taking the caseload to 1,55,405, including 3,082 deaths. Surguja recorded 240 new cases, Raigarh 216 and Korea 210, among other districts, the official said.
 

As 60,171 samples were tested on Wednesday, the number of tests conducted in the state went up to 88,32,486.
 

The Covid-19 positivity rate in the state has now declined to 4.7 per cent, which was 26.1 percent on May 1.
 

11:36 PM

Tamil Nadu govt hikes Covid-19 time incentive for journos

Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday announced a Covid time incentive of Rs 5,000 for journalists and an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the family of scribes succumbing to coronavirus.
 

Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced hiking the incentive from Rs 3,000 given during the previous AIADMK government to Rs 5,000, an official release here said.
 

The journalists were striving hard to disseminate useful information and creating awareness on the pandemic among the people amid various difficulties, it added.
 

To encourage journalists, who are a 'bridge' between the people and the government, the incentive was being announced and would cover accredited journalists and photographers in registered newspapers and video journalists, among others, it said.
 

Further, the kin of accredited journalists who succumb to the virus would now get Rs 10 lakh against the Rs five lakh announced by the previousgovernment, it added.
 

9:31 PM

Maharashtra reports 24,752 Covid-19 cases, 453 deaths

Maharashtra recorded 24,752 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the state's infection tally to 56,50,907, while 453 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 91,341, the health department said.
 

Out of the 453 deaths, 323 occurred in the last 48 hours and 130 during the the last week, it said.
 

The state also added another 539 deaths to the cumulative figure due to updating of fatality counts by various civic bodies and districts. Hence, the overall death toll went up by 992 compared to Tuesday, the department said.
 

After a gap of a couple of weeks, the state witnessed more new coronavirus cases than daily recoveries.
 

As many as 23,065 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the tally of recoveries to 52,41,833, the department said.

Maharashtra's active cases stood at 3,15,042, it said.
 

The state's Covid-19 recovery rate stood at 92.76 per cent, while the case fatality rate was 1.62 per cent, the department said.
 

As many as 2,83,394 people were tested for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the number of samples examined so far in the state to 3,38,24,959, it said.

Mumbai saw 1,352 new Covid-19 cases and 34 deaths, taking its infection tally to 7,00,340 and the death toll to 14,684, the department said.
 

In the wider Mumbai division, which includes the city and its satellite towns, 3,871 more people tested positive for the infection, while 50 patients died. After this, the caseload in the Mumbai division rose to 15,18,079 and the death toll to 27,238, it said.
 

9:30 PM

Nepal President appeals to Indian, Chinese counterparts to provide Covid-19 vaccines to her country

Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Wednesday appealed to her Indian and Chinese counterparts to help her country in getting uninterrupted supply of Covid-19 vaccines as it faces a huge shortage of the coronavirus shots, according to media reports.
 

President Bhandari wrote to her Indian counterpart President Ram Nath Kovind to help Nepal on the matter, The Himalayan Times reported.
 

She communicated to President Kovind via a diplomatic channel, requesting him to take initiative to provide the vaccines, it said.
 

President Bhandari also thanked India for providing vaccines under India's 'Vaccine Maitri' initiative and the COVAX facility.
 

On January 2, Nepal received one million doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII). It has also received a total of 348,000 doses of Covishield vaccine under the COVAX facility on March 7.
 

Bhandari also held an hour-long telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
 

During their conversation, Bhandari informed President Xi that Nepal is looking forward to purchasing China manufactured vaccines for its people.
 

She appealed to the Chinese government to make the vaccines available for procurement at the earliest possible.
 

9:28 PM

Karnataka Covid-19 update

9:01 PM

Covid LIVE: PM Modi thanks French President for aid, invites him to India

8:56 PM

Tamil Nadu reports 33,764 fresh Covid cases and 475 deaths in past 24 hours

8:48 PM

West Bengal reports 16,225 new coronavirus cases and 153 deaths in the last 24 hours

West Bengal reports 16,225 new coronavirus cases, 19,071 discharges, and 153 deaths in the last 24 hours 

8:45 PM

China silent on independent probe on charges of Covid leak from Wuhan lab

China on Wednesday parried a question on whether it would allow an independent probe into allegations that the COVID-19 virus may have been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, while its researchers claimed that the coronavirus may have been transmitted to humans from pangolins.

 

Calls for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which devastated the world after emerging from Wuhan have become louder especially in the US following new reports that some of the researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) fell sick well before China officially announced the COVID-19 outbreak on December 30, 2019. READ MORE...

8:38 PM

Telangana's Covid positivity rate drops to 4.1%

Telangana's Covid-19 positivity rate dropped to 4.1 per cent on Wednesday, health officials said. The state reported 3,762 new cases in 24 hour period ending 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday. The number of cases has come down from 3,821 the previous day and despite an increase in number of tests.

 

A total of 91,048 samples were tested against 81,203 the previous day. The positivity rate has come down from 4.7 per cent to 4.1 per cent. The fresh cases pushed the state's cumulative tally of cases to 5,63,903. With 20 more people succumbing to the virus, the death toll has mounted to 3,189.

 

The state continues to see more recoveries than new cases. A total of 3,816 people recovered during the 24hour period. According to the daily bulletin issued by the Health Department, the state's cumulative number of recoveries rose to 5,22,082.

8:36 PM

The Government of Assam classifies Mucormycosis as a notified disease

The Government of Assam classifies Mucormycosis as a notified disease.

8:32 PM

Jammu becomes first district in J-K to register over 1,000 Covid-related deaths

Worst hit by the second wave of COVID-19, the winter capital Jammu on Wednesday became the first district in Jammu and Kashmir to register over 1,000 deaths linked to the pandemic since its outbreak last year.

 

Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday recorded 3,037 fresh COVID-19 cases that took its tally to 2,78,859 while 40 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 3,702, according to an official bulletin.

 

Jammu replaced Srinagar at the top of the Covid fatality chart among the 20 districts early this month, prompting the central government to rush a team of doctors to look into the alarming trend of high mortality among the positive patients in the province.

8:16 PM

Mumbai logs lowest death count since April 13 at 34; Covid-19 caseload tops 7 lakh

Mumbai reported 34 fresh fatalities due to COVID-19 on Wednesday, the lowest single-day death count after April 13, while the caseload crossed the 7-lakh mark with the addition of 1,362 new infections, the city civic body said.

 

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s updated data, the tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 7,01,266 with the addition of 1,362 cases in the last 24 hours, while the death toll jumped to 14,742 after 34 more patients succumbed to the infection.

 

On April 13, Mumbai had reported 26 fatalities. In the last 36 days, the city has added 1 lakh coronavirus cases to its tally. The financial capital had crossed the 6-lakh case mark on April 21, 2021. Mumbai's daily COVID-19 cases increased by 305, while the death toll dipped by 14 as compared to Tuesday, when the city had witnessed 1057 new cases and 48 deaths. The financial capital had reported the highest-ever 11,163 COVID-19 cases on April 4, while it had recorded the highest single-day death in the second wave - at 90- on May 1.