Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi sees over 8,000 daily cases for the first time

Coronavirus update: Maharashtra has 1,726,926 coronavirus cases, Karnataka 851,212, Andhra Pradesh 846,000, Tamil Nadu 748,225 and UP 501,311. Stay tuned for coronavirus India LIVE updates

Coronavirus update: India has reported nearly 44,679 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The total caseload now stands at 8,636,011. The country's death toll has mounted to 127,615.

India has conducted the second-highest number of tests for detection of Covid-19 cases in the world at 119.6 million, with rapid antigen tests comprising 49 per cent and RT-PCR 46 per cent of the total tests done till Tuesday, according to the Union health ministry. Delhi recorded 7,830 fresh Covid-19 cases, its highest single-day spike to date, taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 450,000 even as 83 new fatalities pushed the toll to 7,143. Kerala reported 6,010 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the tally to 495,712, while 28 more fatalities pushed the toll to 1,742.

World coronavirus update: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 51,789,605. While 36,362,572 have recovered, 1,278,442 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 10,557,047 cases, and 245,776 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 8,636,011 cases, Brazil (5,679,212), Russia (1,817,109) and France (1,807,479).

Stay tuned for the latest news of the day.

2:03 AM

Covid-19: South African president extends state of emergency, but eases lockdown restrictions

1:37 AM

Court slams Delhi govt for relaxing Covid norms amid pollution scare

Delhi High Court on Wednesday expressed its concern on rising COVID-19 infection and the air pollution in the city and said that "it is a known fact that the COVID-19 virus can survive for a longer duration in pollution and thereby increase the severity of the disease".A division bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said that strict compliance and deterrent action is the need of the hour as Delhi has been reporting far more cases than states like Maharashtra and Kerala.

 

The court said that it is an "alarming situation" where all caution has been thrown to the winds during this festive season and the public is out in uncontrolled numbers, which itself would become a cause for further spread of the infection.

 

"On the one hand, citizens of Delhi have been struggling with the COVID-19 infection and on the other hand, the air pollution in the city is adding to their woes. It is a known fact that the Covid-19 virus can survive for a longer duration in pollution and thereby increase the severity of the disease," the court said.

1:17 AM

Assam reports 245 new Covid-19 cases, two more deaths

At least 245 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Assam on Wednesday, taking the state's tally to 2,09,633, while two fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 954, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

 

The two deaths were reported from Kamrup Metropolitan and Dibrugarh, he said.

 

"Sad to share the demise of two #COVID patients in Assam today... My deepest condolences and prayers to bereaved families and friends," Sarma said on Twitter.

1:03 AM

UK becomes fifth country to exceed 50,000 coronavirus deaths

The United Kingdom on Wednesday became the fifth country in the world to record more than 50,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

 

Figures from the British government showed that 595 more people in the country died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus, the highest daily number since May. The figure took the UK's total death toll in the pandemic to 50,365.

 

The UK, which has persisted in having the most virus-related deaths of any European country, joins the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico in reporting more than 50,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

12:40 AM

Moderna could begin analysing coronavirus vaccine data within days, says Fauci

12:09 AM

Andhra registers 1,732 new Covid cases, tally 840,000

Andhra Pradesh registered 1,732 new Covid-19 cases, increasing the state's tally to 8.4 lakh, even as 1,761 more patients recovered from the virus to outnumber fresh infections on Wednesday.

 

East Godavari accounted for the highest number of infections at 344, followed by Krishna (246), West Godavari (227), Chittoor (198), Guntur (195), Anantapur (97), Nellore (89), Kadapa (88), Visakhapatnam (75), Vizianagaram (66), Srikakulam (59), and Kurnool and Prakasam (24 each).

 

With the new additions, Guntur's tally crossed the 70,000-mark to reach 70,182 while Kurnool's is close to the 60,000-mark.

11:26 PM

Pakistan's Lahore sees peak pollution as coronavirus surges

A thick blanket of smog enveloped Pakistan's cultural capital of Lahore on Wednesday, prompting officials to warn that tens of thousands of the city's residents risk respiratory disease and eye-related problems while doctors urged people to stay at home.

 

The air quality in Lahore deteriorated to hazardous levels, putting an additional burden on the fragile healthcare system amid a surge in coronavirus deaths and new infections.

 

The Air Quality Index at one point rose to 750 in the city's poorer areas about 12 times the recommended level.

11:09 PM

WHO's Tedros hails Modi's commitment to make vaccine a global public good

11:05 PM

Delhi reports 8,593 new Covid-19 cases, 7,264 recoveries and 85 deaths in the last 24 hours.

11:03 PM

UP's Gautam Buddh Nagar records one more fatality linked to Covid-19, pushing death toll to 71

10:55 PM

Covid-19 claims one more life in Noida, death toll now 71

Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded one more fatality linked to Covid-19 on Wednesday which pushed its death toll to 71, while the district's infection tally surged to 19,614 with 80 new cases, official data showed.

 

Active cases came down to 1,115, the fourth highest in the state, from 1,228 the previous day, according to the data released by the state health department.

 

As many as 195 more patients were also discharged, taking the total number of recoveries to 18,428, the sixth highest in the state, the data showed.

10:44 PM

Storing Pfizer's vaccine a challenge for India

The extreme low temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius required for storing a potential Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer poses a big challenge for its delivery in a developing nation like India, especially in its smaller towns and rural areas where maintaining such cold chain facilities would be very difficult, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Wednesday.

 

Most vaccines in India need to be stored at a temperature of two to eight degrees Celsius. The lowest minimum temperature at which vaccines can be kept to maintain the cold chain in most areas in the country is minus 25 degrees Celsius, Guleria said.

 

He, however, said the first set of results announced by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SEfrom the Phase 3 vaccine trial, showing a 90-per cent efficacy in preventing the coronavirus infection, is quite encouraging.

 

"The extreme low temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius required for the potential anti-coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer poses a big challenge for its delivery in a developing nation like India.

10:35 PM

2,546 new Covid-19 cases, 25 deaths and 1,829 discharges reported in Haryana today.

10:19 PM

Brazil says Chinese vaccine trial can resume

Brazill health regulator Anvisa on Wednesday allowed resumption of late-stage clinical trials for China's Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, which had been suspended due to the death of a study subject that was registered in Sao Paulo as a suicide.

 

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, a longtime China skeptic who has baselessly dismissed the Sinovac vaccine as lacking in credibility, had hailed Monday's suspension as a personal victory.

 

The decision was severely criticized by the trial organizers, who said the move had taken them by surprise and that there had been no need to stop the study as the death had no relation to the vaccine.

10:15 PM

PM Narendra Modi, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus discuss ongoing global collaboration for combating Covid-19 pandemic, also agree on need for integrating traditional medicine solutions into modern medical practice through holistic protocols: PMO