Coronavirus LIVE: West Bengal govt extends Covid restrictions till Aug 31

Covid-19 is continuing to spread around the world, with 206,156,536 confirmed cases. Stay tuned for corona-related news

2:23 AM

Mixing two different vaccines of Covid very risky: Cyrus Poonawalla

Mixing two different vaccines of COVID-19 is a very risky decision and it is must be discouraged, said Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman of Serum Institute of India (SII) on Friday. Briefing mediapersons here, Poonawalla said, "I am against the mixing of vaccines. If mixing is done and results are not good then vaccine manufacturers will blame each other for results. First of all, the vaccine authority will never give full approval because it is a very risky decision and it is a waste of time. When one vaccine is working why should we mix it up and cause complications? We should completely discourage this."

 

He also criticized the central government for extending the time period between the first and second doses of the Covishield vaccine in India.

 

"Normally the second dose must be taken between two to three months period. When the product is not available, the government finds a solution that the second dose must be given after three months. There should be only a two months gap between both doses," stated Poonawalla.

1:23 AM

COVID vaccine booster dose may benefit organ transplant patients: Study

Organ transplant recipients may get benefit from a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as a booster shot that will push the response rate, according to a study conducted by Canadian scientists.

 

During the study, a randomised trial was conducted wherein 120 organ transplant recipients, who were fully vaccinated were divided into two groups. No patient had a previous diagnosis of COVID-19. One group received a third dose of the COVID vaccine while the other received saline.

 

The primary investigation was based upon antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. The researchers found the response rate was 55 per cent among those who had received the third dose compared to 18 per cent who had not received the third dose.

12:36 AM

Morocco reports 10,752 new COVID-19 cases

Morocco reported on Friday 10,752 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 741,836.

 

The death toll rose to 10,823 with 112 new fatalities during the last 24 hours, while 1,967 people are in intensive care units, according to a statement by the Ministry of Health.

 

The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased by 9,895 to 649,429, the statement said. The COVID-19 fatality rate in Morocco stands at 1.5 percent while the recovery rate is 87.5 percent. Meanwhile, 16,192,313 people have received so far the first vaccine shots against COVID-19 in the country, and 11,368,958 people have received two doses.

11:46 PM

Assam reports 763 new COVID-19 cases, 20 more fatalities assam

Assam's COVID-19 tally mounted to 5,78,733 on Friday as 763 more people tested positive for the infection, while 20 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 5,471, the National Health Mission (NHM) said in a bulletin.

 

Three deaths each were reported from Golaghat and Sivasagar while Darrang and Kamrup Metro reported two fatalities each during the day.

 

Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Charaideo, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Karbi Anglong, Lakhimpur, and Nagaon reported one death each. The current death rate is 0.95 per cent and the number of COVID-19 positive patients dying due to other causes is 1,347. At present, the number of active cases in the state is 8,654.

11:25 PM

66 Delta plus patients found in Maharashtra so far; 5 of them dead

As many as 66 people have been found infected with the Delta plus variant of coronavirus in Maharashtra so far, some of them fully vaccinated, and five of them have died, including one in Mumbai, the state health department said on Friday. Seven of these patients were aged under 18. The variant, considered highly infectious, was detected during genome sequencing of swab samples sent from different parts of the state.

A 63-year-old fully vaccinated woman from Mumbai succumbed to the infection in the last week of July, the first death due to the Delta Plus variant in the city, a civic official said. Following the woman's death in Mumbai, at least two of her close contacts were also found infected with the variant, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official. A resident of suburban Ghatkopar, the woman died on July 27 in the ICU of a hospital.

Only on August 11 the state authorities learnt that she had Delta Plus variant infection after the genome sequencing report came, the official said. The woman had taken both the doses of Covishield vaccine, but tested coronavirus positive on July 21, he said. According to a health department statement, a 50-year-old woman from Thane was found coronavirus positive on July 22 and her report received on Friday revealed she was infected with the Delta plus variant.

9:28 PM

Delhi records zero COVID-19 fatality, ninth time since onset of 2nd wave; 50 cases

No death due to COVID-19 was recorded in Delhi on Friday, the third consecutive day when the daily fatality count was nil, while 50 fresh cases were reported with a positivity rate of 0.07 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department. This is the ninth time, since the starting of the second wave of the pandemic in the national capital that zero fatality has been logged in a day.

 

On July 18, July 24, July 29, August 2, August 4, August 8, August 11 and August 12, no death due to COVID-19 was recorded, as per official data.

 

On March 2 this year, the national capital had reported zero death due to the virus. On that day, the number of single-day infections stood at 217 and the positivity rate was 0.33 per cent.

9:02 PM

Maharashtra reports 6,686 COVID-19 cases, 158 deaths

Maharashtra reported 6,686 new coronavirus infections and 158 fatalities on Friday, taking the tally of cases to 63,82,076 and death toll to 1,34,730, a health department official said.

 

On Thursday, the state had reported 6,388 new cases and 208 fatalities. As many as 5,861 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the tally of recovered patients to 61,80,871 on Friday. There are 3,70,890 people in home quarantine and 2,676 in institutional quarantine. The number of active patients stands at 63,004.

 

Maharashtra's case recovery rate is 96.85 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.11 per cent.

 

The tally of coronavirus tests conducted in the state climbed to 5,05,45,552 with 2,18,740 samples tested since Thursday evening. Notably, Dhule, Nandurbar, Bhandara, Gondia and Chandrapur districts along with Malegaon, Chandrapur, Amravati, Parbhani and Bhiwandi-Nizampur municipal corporations did not report any new coronavirus infections during the day. Satara district reported the highest 1,020 new infections, followed by Ahmednagar with 1,019 infections.

8:50 PM

CIDCO to offer 4,488 homes for COVID warriors, uniformed personnel

The process for online application registration for a special CIDCO housing scheme for 'Covid Warriors' and 'Uniformed Personnel' will start on August 15 to coincide with Independence Day, an official said on Friday, PTI reported.

Under the scheme, a total of 4,488 houses will be made available by CIDCO in Taloja, Kalamboli, Kharghar, Ghansoli and Dronagiri nodes of Navi Mumbai, comprising 3,400 units for those in the general category and 1,088 units for the economically weaker section (EWS) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, he said.

8:25 PM

West Bengal govt extends Covid restrictions till August 31

8:15 PM

Rajasthan logs 24 new Covid cases, no fresh deaths

7:39 PM

Telangana logs 427 new Covid-19 cases, 2 deaths

Telangana on Friday reported 427 new COVID-19 cases taking the tally to over 6.51 lakh while the death toll rose to 3,838 with two more deaths, PTI reported.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation accounted for the highest number of cases with 68 followed by Karimnagar-43, a state government bulletin said. Active cases stood at 7,812. The total number of cases stood at 6,51,715 and total recoveries at 6,40,065 with 609 people being cured.

7:37 PM

Tamil Nadu reports 1,933 fresh cases, 34 deaths today

7:08 PM

35% of funds in Covid response package released to states so far: Health ministry

6:45 PM

Health Minister Mandaviya to visit Kerala, Assam

6:44 PM

Delhi reports 50 fresh cases, zero deaths

6:20 PM

Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine candidate gets regulatory nod for phase 2/3 trial

6:10 PM

Kerala reports 20,452 fresh infections, 114 fatalities

6:05 PM

SII chairman Poonawalla against using cocktail of COVID-19 vaccines

Serum Institute of India (SII) chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla on Friday said he was not in favour of administering two different coronavirus vaccines for better efficacy, PTI reported.

Poonawalla, whose firm makes the Covishield vaccine, was speaking to reporters after receiving the Lokmanya Tilak National Award here. "I am against the mixing of two different vaccines. There is no need to mix two different vaccines," he said, when asked about a recent ICMR study that a cocktail of Covishield and Covaxin could generate better immunity.

5:37 PM

Uttar Pradesh reports 33 new Covid cases in last 24 hours, recovery rate at 98.6 per cent

Uttar Pradesh on Friday recorded 33 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours and the current recovery rate is 98.6 per cent, said a release by the state government, ANI reported.

The statement said Aligarh, Amethi, Chitrakoot, Firozabad, Hathras, Pilibhit, Saharanpur, Shamli and Sonbhadra districts became Covid free today.

"54 districts of the state did not report any Covid infections in the last 24 hours, while 21 districts reported cases in single digits," it said.

5:16 PM

MP: Health dept sets up 27x4 Covid-19 vaccination centre in Bhopal

In a bid to speed up vaccination against COVID-19, the Madhya Pradesh health department on Friday set up another 24x7 centre in Bhopal, where citizens can get inoculated any time of the day, an official said, PTI reported.

The state government had earlier set up two such facilities at Katju Hospital and Rashidiya School in the state capital, the official said.

5:13 PM

Covid-19: AP logs 1,746 new cases, 20 deaths

 Active coronavirus increased by 349 in the last two days in Andhra Pradesh as fresh cases of infection have been outnumbering recoveries, PTI reported.

In the 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday, the state reported 1,746 fresh cases, 1,648 recoveries and 20 Covid-19 deaths.

Consequently, the number of active cases increased to 18,766, an increase of 78 over the previous day, according to the latest bulletin.

4:46 PM

Karnataka: Stricter curbs likely after August 15, says state revenue minister

4:29 PM

One in ten Covid patients infected in hospital in first UK wave: Lancet study

Over one in ten COVID-19 patients in 314 UK hospitals were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus during their stay in hospital in the first wave of the pandemic, according to a study published in The Lancet journal, PTI reported.

The researchers from Lancaster University and colleagues from other UK universities examined records of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, who became ill before August 1, 2020.

4:27 PM

Bengaluru: Cases among children so far almost same as last year, says BBMP chief

3:55 PM

Delta variant spreading fast in Sri Lanka

The highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly across Sri Lanka and comprise around 75 per cent of the new cases reported in the Western province, experts said, warning that the island nation was facing its most decisive fortnight in its fight against the pandemic, PTI reported.

There has been a rise in the number of deaths and new COVID-19 infections driven in large part by the highly infectious Delta variant.

3:53 PM

5.9 million vaccine shots in the pipeline: Health ministry

Over 55.01 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been provided to states and union territories so far, and 59,16,920 more are in the pipeline, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday, PTI reported.

Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, stands at 52,59,93,669 doses (as per data available at 8 am on Friday).

3:27 PM

Odisha: 1,193 fresh cases, 60 more people succumb

3:16 PM

Russian Direct Investment Fund, Wockhardt partner to produce and supply Sputnik V, Sputnik Light

2:50 PM

Novavax's FDA issues should be cleared by Oct-end, says SII chairman

2:31 PM

Forthcoming grants, permission among reasons for quick vaccine launch: SII Chairman Cyrus Poonawalla