Covid LIVE: Gujarat allows schools to re-open for classes 9-11 from July 26

Coronavirus news: An 11-year-old boy has died in Delhi from bird flu; Joe Biden expresses frustration over slowing vaccination in US.

Coronavirus live updates: An 11-year-old boy has died in Delhi from a bird flu virus of the H5N1 strain, the first such fatality in the India, highlighting a potential new risk for the country battling the coronavirus pandemic.

India reported its highest death toll in a month on Wednesday--3,998--after Maharashtra reconciled its death count with 3,509 previously unreported fatalities, the health ministry said.

World coronavirus updates: Indonesia imposed restrictions of varying levels across the country following a record daily toll of 1,383 deaths, with Java and Bali now under rules that are equivalent to previous emergency curbs, Bloomberg reported. President Joe Biden has expressed pointed frustration over the slowing Covid-19 vaccination rate in the US and pleaded that it''s "gigantically important" for Americans to step up and get inoculated for the virus as it surges once again.

11:46 PM

Rajasthan reports 25 new Covid cases, one death

Rajasthan on Thursday recorded 25 fresh COVID-19 cases and one death, pushing the tally to 9,53,462 and the death toll to 8,952.

 

Of the fresh cases, five were reported from Jaipur and four from Udaipur, besides other cities.

 

A total of 9,44,150 persons have recovered from the infection and the number of active cases at present is 360.

11:41 PM

69 new coronavirus cases in Punjab

Punjab reported 69 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the infection tally to 5,98,590, while two more fatalities took the death toll to 16,250, according to a medical bulletin issued. The two new deaths were reported from Bathinda and Kapurthala districts, it said.

 

The death toll also includes two fatalities which were not reported earlier, according to the bulletin.

 

The number of active cases stands at 811 in the state, it said. Jalandhar reported 13 new cases, followed by 10 in Bathinda and six in Ferozepur, it said. With 123 recoveries, the number of those cured from the infection stands at 5,81,529, the bulletin said.

11:22 PM

Assam logs 1,796 new coronavirus cases, 22 more fatalities

Assam's COVID-19 tally rose to 5,54,221 on Thursday as 1,796 people tested positive for the infection, while 22 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 5,076, a health bulletin said. Kamrup Metropolitan district registered the highest number of new cases at 226, followed Golaghat (177), Jorhat (108), and Lakhimpur (99).

 

Four fresh COVID-19 fatalities were reported each from Golaghat and Jorhat while Bongaigaon, Darrang, Dibrugarh, and Kamrup Metro reported two deaths each. Barpeta, Dhemaji, Kamrup Rural, Karimganj, Nagaon, and Sonitpur reported one death each. The current death rate is 0.92 percent and the number of COVID-19 positive patients dying due to other causes is 1,347.

11:09 PM

Daily recoveries outnumber new Covid cases in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu registered 1,872 fresh coronavirus cases, pushing the tally to 25.43 lakh, the health department said on Thursday. Recoveries eclipsed new COVID infections with 2,475 patients getting discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 24,81,201.

 

The number of fatalities climbed to 33,838 with 29 more people succumbing to the virus.

 

As many as 32 districts reported new infections in double digits, while there were no fresh deaths in 22 districts. Chennai added 133 new cases, taking the total infection count to 5,36,756 while the toll mounted to 8,305 in the State capital. Among districts, Coimbatore reported the maximum of 180 cases, while Perambalur had the least with nine.

 

10:58 PM

Chhattisgarh logs 217 new Covid cases, one death

Chhattisgarh on Thursday reported 217 new coronavirus positive cases and one fatality, taking the infection count to 10,00,763 and death toll to 13,507, a health official said. The number of recoveries reached to 9,84,015 after a total of 44 people were discharged from various hospitals, while 315 others completed their home isolation during the day.

 

The number of active cases in the state stands at 3,241, the official said.

 

Raipur district recorded 11 new cases, taking its caseload to 1,57,589, including 3,136 deaths. Janjgir-Champa district recorded 38 new cases, Balodabazar 21 and Bilaspur 15, he said. With 39,352 samples tested on Thursday, the overall test count in the state went up to 1,10,58,038.

10:50 PM

Vaccination of pregnant women in MP to start on Friday

Vaccination of pregnant women against COVID-19 will begin in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, a senior state government official said on Thursday.

 

Health Department's additional director and MP's immunisation officer Dr Santosh Shukla shared this information at a seminar organised for mediapersons by the state government and the UNICEF. Dr Shukla said both Covishield and Covaxin were available in MP but the pregnant women will be administered the latter given that the duration between two jabs of the home-grown vaccine was 28 days (as compared to 84 days for Covishield).

10:31 PM

Cumulative Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India cross 42 crore: Govt

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has surpassed 42 crore, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. More than 48.86 lakh (48,86,103) vaccine doses have been administered on Thursday, according to the 7 pm provisional report. The ministry said 23,62,689 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 2,14,281 vaccine doses given as second dose in the age group 18-44 years on Thursday.

 

Cumulatively, 13,29,60,281 people in the age group 18-44 years across all states and union territories have received their first dose and 55,40,162 have received their second dose since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive. READ MORE...

10:23 PM

No ventilator kept in inventory by Central Government: Statement

10:09 PM

West Bengal reports 793 new Covid cases, 13 deaths

West Bengal on Thursday reported 793 new COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths, the Health Department said in a bulletin. The state recorded a positivity rate of 1.81 per cent as the new cases were detected after testing 43,809 samples, it said. There are 12,205 active cases in the state at present.

 

West Bengal has so far reported 18,040 deaths and 15,21,261 COVID-19 cases. Kolkata reported four of the latest deaths, while three persons died in the North 24 Parganas district. In the last 24 hours, 966 people recovered from COVID-19, taking the recovery rate to 98.01 per cent. So far, 14,91,016 people have recovered from the disease in the state.

10:01 PM

AIIMS Delhi to start second dose trial of COVAXIN on 2-6 years old children by next week

9:41 PM

3,570 Indians died of coronavirus abroad: Govt

As many as 3,570 Indian citizens died of COVID-19 abroad with the maximum number of 1,154 deaths reported from Saudi Arabia followed by 894 in the United Arab Emirates, the government told Rajya Sabha Thursday.

 

According to the details provided by the Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, 546 Indians lost their lives due to COVID-19 in Kuwait, 384 died in Oman, 196 in Bahrain and 106 deaths were reported from Qatar.

 

"3570 Indian citizens died abroad, due to COVID-19 as per information provided by our missions/posts abroad," he said. The minister provided a list of 70 countries that reported the deaths of Indians.

9:25 PM

Schools and other educational institutes likely to reopen in Rajasthan soon

Rajasthan Cabinet has given its in-principle approval for reopening of schools and other educational institutes

9:10 PM

Mumbai adds 392 new Covid cases, 10 deaths

Mumbai on Thursday reported 392 new coronavirus positive cases and 10 fatalities, taking its overall infection tally to 7,32,741 and death toll to 15,749, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

 

This is for the seventh day in a row that the country's financial capital has recorded less than 500 cases and it is for the second time in a week it has logged less than 400 cases.

 

On Tuesday, the city had reported 352 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest since February this year, and 10 fatalities, while it has added 435 cases and 13 deaths on Wednesday.

8:46 PM

Maharashtra reports 7,302 Covid-19 cases, 120 deaths

Maharashtra reported 7,302 new COVID-19 cases and 120 fatalities on Thursday, taking the infection tally of the state to 62,45,057 and death toll to 1,31,038, a health department official said.

 

As many as 7,756 patients were discharged from hospitals, pushing the number of recovered cases to 60,16,506.

 

There are 5,51,872 people in home quarantine while 3,743 are in institutional quarantine. The state has 94,168 active COVID-19 patients. Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate is 96.34 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.09 per cent. Nandurbar, Dhule and Wardha districts and Parbhani city did not record any new infections on Thursday.

8:45 PM

392 new Covid cases and 10 deaths reported in Mumbai today