Coronavirus LIVE: PM to interact with CMs on Covid situation on Wednesday

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Active cases in India have risen to 226,627. Stay tuned for corona-related news

Coronavirus live updates: India reported 26,291 fresh Covid-19 cases on Monday pushing the overall tally to 11,404,279, according to Worldometer. Active cases in the country have risen to 226,627. The death toll from the deadly infection jumped to 158,836. India ranks 11th among worst-hit nations by active cases. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (2,314,413), Kerala (1,091,270)), Karnataka (960,272), Andhra Pradesh (891,861), and Tamil Nadu (859,726).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers on the Covid-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive on Wednesday as the Centre looks to ramp up the inoculation exercise amid a rise in infection in some states.

World coronavirus update: Coronavirus cases rise unabated across the globe with 120,539,415 infected by the deadly contagion. While 97,069,725 have recovered, 2,667,169 have died so far. The US remains the worst-hit country with 30,083,791, followed by Brazil, India, Russia and the United Kingdom. However, it terms of the total number of active cases, US tops the charts, followed by France, Brazil, Belgium and UK.

9:06 PM

3.5 million Russians vaccinated against coronavirus

A total of 3.5 million Russians have been vaccinated with both doses of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, according to Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the jab.

 

In a statement released on Monday, Dmitriev said that Russia is leading in Europe by the number of full vaccination courses against the coronavirus infection completed.

 

However, 3.5 million people constitutes just 2.4% of Russia's 146-million population, meaning it has fully inoculated a smaller share of the population than some countries in the European Union.

8:41 PM

PM Modi to with chief ministers on Covid-19 situation, vaccination drive on Wednesday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers on the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive on Wednesday as the Centre looks to ramp up the inoculation exercise amid a rise in infection in some states.

 

Official sources said Modi will hold a video conference to discuss the issues with chief ministers, an exercise which he has been holding regularly since the outbreak of the pandemic.

 

Modi's last interaction with chief ministers was in January before the vaccination roll-out. He had announced that the Centre will bear the expenses of vaccinating nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and suggested that public representatives, a reference to politicians, should not be part of this initial exercise.

8:24 PM

15,051 new coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, 48 deaths

Maharashtra reported 15,051 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the state's caseload to 23,29,464, while 48 fatalities took the death toll to 52,909, the health department said. As many as 10,671 coronavirus patients were discharged, taking the rally of recoveries to 21,44,743.

 

With 92,363 coronavirus tests conducted during the day, the total number of samples tested went up to 1,76,09,248. There are 1,30,547active cases in the state.

8:07 PM

Maharashtra reports 15,051 new Covid-19 cases and 48 deaths in last 24 hours

8:05 PM

Kerala logs 1,054 fresh Covid-19 cases, 11 deaths

Kerala reported 1,054 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths on Monday, pushing the infection count to 10,92,673 and the death toll to 4,407. A total of 3,463 people recuperated from the disease today, taking the total cured to 10,60,560, while 27,057 are under treatment.

 

There are 1,43,461 people under observation out of which 4,152 are in isolation wards of various hospitals across the state. State health minister K K Shailaja said the state government had tested 38,410 samples in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 2.74 per cent. Until now, the state has tested 1,23,29,604 samples.

7:54 PM

Delhi reports 368 new coronavirus, 306 recoveries, and three deaths in last 24 hours

7:33 PM

Piramal Enterprises to cover Covid-19 vaccination costs for employees taking jabs in India

Piramal Enterprises on Monday said it will cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccination for all its employees and their immediate family members who receive the jabs in India.

 

The company will absorb the cost of COVID-19 vaccination for all its employees and their immediate family members that are eligible and choose to receive the vaccination in India, Piramal Enterprises said in a statement.

 

The company has also set up virtual vaccine help desks across its offices in India to address employee queries on the vaccination including enabling registrations, information on vaccination centres, etc, it added.

6:49 PM

BMC, cops book actress Gauhar Khan for flouting Covid-19 norms

Sending out a strong message, Mumbai Police have booked Bollywood actress and model Gauhar Khan for allegedly violating Covid-19 protocols after testing positive, officials said here on Monday.

 

The Oshiwara police station lodged an FIR after a complaint lodged by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) against Gauhar.

 

Hailing from Pune, Gauhar (37) recently got married to actor Zaid Darbar, the son of veteran music director Ismail Darbar. She had tested positive for Covid-19 on March 11. READ MORE...

6:43 PM

1,054 fresh Covid-19 cases and 3,463 recoveries reported in Kerala today

1,054 fresh Covid-19 cases and 3,463 recoveries reported in Kerala today

6:27 PM

India crosses the milestone of 31.5 million Covid-19 vaccinations: Ministry of Health

6:09 PM

No lockdown but restrictions to be made stricter: Maharashtra health minister

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Monday said fresh lockdown is no answer to the rising COVID-19 cases in the state, but restrictions will be made stricter. Though the number of cases has seen a rise in the last few days, the mortality rate remains low, he noted.

 

Maharashtra recorded this year's highest one-day spike of 16,620 new cases on Sunday.

 

"Lockdown is not an option but restrictions will be made more strict," Tope told reporters. As much as 85 per cent of new patients are asymptomatic and hence most of them have been advised home quarantine, he added.

5:58 PM

Former Karnataka CM and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah administered first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

5:46 PM

147 new coronavirus positive cases in Andhra Pradesh

The rise of COVID-19 cases continued in Andhra Pradesh as 147 were added afresh in 24 hours ending 9 am on Monday, pushing the gross to 8.92 lakh. A health bulletin said 103 patients had recovered and one succumbed in a day, as the active caseload increased to 1,443.

 

The total recoveries have touched 8,83,380 and deaths 7,185, it said.

 

Chittoor added 35, East Godavari 31, Guntur 21 and Srikakulam 10 new cases in a day. The remaining nine districts reported less than 10 fresh cases each.

5:33 PM

Covid-19 vaccine is safe, say AstraZeneca and UK regulator

The vaccines produced by Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca to protect against COVID-19 are safe and there is no evidence to suggest that the jabs are the cause behind blood clots as reported in some European countries, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical major and the UK's medicines regulator have said.

 

The interventions come as the Netherlands became the latest country to suspend the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which also has a tie-up with the Serum Institute of India, after some reports of blood clotting.

 

It follows the Republic of Ireland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway and Iceland all pausing the administration of the vaccines as a precautionary measure after concerns raised around thrombotic events or clots.

5:25 PM

Over Rs 479 crore spent on Covid patients in Odisha private hospitals

Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das on Monday said that over Rs 479.90 crore expenditure was incurred on the treatment of Covid-19 patients in the dedicated facilities, which are being run in partnership with private players in the state.

 

Replying to a written question, the Minister told the Assembly that so far the state government has allotted Rs 344.55 crore to the private hospitals for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

 

In order to fight the pandemic, the government had opened 30 government Covid hospitals and 33 dedicated Covid facilities in partnership with the private players, Das said. The highest Rs 59.41 crore was spent by the KIMS-dedicated Covid hospital in Bhubaneswar followed by IMS and SUM-dedicated Covid hospital at Rs 58.59 crore.