Coronavirus LIVE updates: India's Covid-19 recovery rate crosses 96%

Coronavirus live updates: At 1,932,112, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 918,544, Andhra Pradesh 881,948, Tamil Nadu 817,077, and Kerala 755,718

Coronavirus live updates: With 21,957 fresh Covid-19 cases, India's caseload now stands at 10,281,229. The country's death toll has mounted to 148,932. With 1,932,112 cases, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 918,544, Andhra Pradesh  881,948, Tamil Nadu 817,077, and Kerala 7,60,932. The daily recoveries have outnumbered the daily new cases since the last 33 days successively. The recovery rate has reached nearly 96 per cent.

With India confirming at least 20 cases of the new UK strain of Covid-19, All India Institute of Medical Sciences director Randeep Guleria on Wednesday said that it is a possibility that the new mutation could have been present in the country even in November as the mutant strain was reported in the United Kingdom in September and there might be people who would have been infected.

World coronavirus update: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 83,260,611. While 59,049,598 have recovered, 1,816,120 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 20,229,137 cases, and 350,429 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 10,267,283 cases, Brazil (7,619,970), Russia (3,131,550), France (2,600,498).

Stay tuned for the latest coronavirus-related news.

10:48 PM

574 fresh cases, 13 deaths reported in Delhi

Delhi recorded 574 fresh Covid-19 cases and 13 new fatalities on Thursday, even as the positivity rate slipped to 0.7 per cent, authorities said.

 

The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6.25 lakh and the death toll rose to 10,536, they said, adding over 81,000 tests were conducted on the previous day.

 

From December 21-23, the daily case count had been below the 1000-mark. On December 21, 803 cases were reported; 939 on December 22 and 871 on December 23.

10:09 PM

Sikkim reports 12 new cases, tally rises to 5,889

Sikkim reported 12 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally in the Himalayan state to 5,889, an official said on Thursday.

 

The state Information Education and Communication (IEC) member Sonam Bhutia said that East Sikkim district registered seven positive cases followed by three in South Sikkim and two in West Sikkim district.

9:32 PM

6 deaths, 271 fresh coronavirus cases in Haryana

Haryana on Thursday reported six more coronavirus deaths as 271 fresh cases pushed the state's infection tally to 2,62,325, according to a bulletin.

 

So far, 2,905 people have died from the infection in the state.

 

According to the bulletin, two deaths each were reported from Hisar and Panipat and one each from Jhajjar and Kaithal districts. Gurgaon reported the maximum 61 cases, followed by 30 in Faridabad.

9:19 PM

Nagpur records 393 new Covid-19 cases; 8 more casualties

As many as 393 persons tested positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra's Nagpur district on Thursday, raising the count of infections to 1,23,767, a district official said.

 

Apart from this, the district also recorded eight casualties that took the toll to 3,930, the official said.

9:16 PM

Wall Street set to end pandemic year on strong note

US stocks were flat in thin trading on Thursday, but the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were set to end 2020 with solid gains on hopes of more stimulus and coronavirus vaccines to support the domestic economy.

 

The three main indexes surged to record highs this week in a stunning recovery since March when the Covid-19 pandemic triggered the steepest global recession in generations and left millions of Americans unemployed.

 

While the virus continues to take its toll on the economy, unprecedented stimulus from the central bank and the government have helped the benchmark S&P 500 index climb almost 70% from its March low, putting it on course for a more than 15 per cent gain this year.

8:47 PM

Kerala sees over 5,000 new virus cases; 32 UK returnees test positive

As many as 32 people, who recently returned from the UK, have tested positivefor COVID-19 in Kerala, while the state recorded 5,215 fresh infections and 30 more fatalities on Thursday.

 

The samples of the infected people have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for further testing to ascertain if it is the new variant, Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a press release.

 

While the total caseload climbed to 7,60,932, recoveries touched 6,92,480 and 65,202 people are undergoing treatment for the virus. The toll has gone up to 3,072 with 30 more deaths being added to the tally after they were confirmed due to the infection. READ MORE...

8:37 PM

Tamil Nadu hospital treats Covid-19 patients with over 70% lung involvement

Three COVID-19 patients, two of them with lung involvement between 75 and 95 per cent, were discharged after succesful treatment in a Tamil Nadu government facility, a top Health department official said on Thursday.

 

The treatment of the two men and a 68-year old woman at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) and their recovery and discharge was significant and a success story, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.

 

The men, aged 37 and 45, had 75 and 95 per cent lung involvement (infection of the lungs) respectively. The younger of the men was in the Intensive Care Unit for 45 days and later shifted to a ward and put on oxygen support for more 45 days, following which he has recovered.

8:18 PM

United States sees record 3,744 daily deaths from Covid-19

The United States saw a new daily high of 3,744 deaths from coronavirus in the past 24-hour period, according to data published Thursday by Johns Hopkins University. This is the second straight day of record virus-linked deaths. A day before, the country saw 3,725 fatalities.

 

An additional 229,042 cases of infection were recorded on Wednesday, taking the US nationwide tally to 19,745,136. The overall death toll stands at 342,414.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues the vaccine rollout. It says 12,409,050 doses have been distributed and 2,794,588 people have received the first shot of the two-component vaccine as of early Wednesday.

8:06 PM

Delhi govt reduces number of dedicated beds for Covid-19 patients in govt hospitals from 4,696 to 2,140

7:53 PM

227 new Covid-19 cases, 3 deaths reported in Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 227 new COVID-19 cases, while three virus-related deaths took place in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload to 1,20,971 and the total fatalities to 1,883. Of the fresh cases, 132 were from Kashmir and 95 from Jammu division of the Union territory, they said.

 

The officials said Jammu recorded the highest with 70 cases followed by 51 in Srinagar district. The number of active cases dropped to 3,009 in the UT, while 1,16,079 patients have recovered so far, the officials said. Meanwhile, the UT reported three COVID-19 deaths with two from Jammu division and one from the valley in the last 24 hours.

7:14 PM

3,509 new coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, 58 deaths

Maharashtra's COVID-19 caseload rose to 19,32,112 on Thursday with 3,509 fresh cases being reported. As many as 58 coronavirus patients died during the day, taking the death toll to 49,521, thestate health department said.

 

On the other hand, 3,612 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered persons to 18,28,546. There are 52,902 active cases in the state.

6:55 PM

Algeria to use Sputnik V during mass vaccination against Covid-19

Algeria will use the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine when its scheduled mass vaccination against Covid-19 starts in January, the media reported.

 

According to a report in TSA news portal, the Algerian government took the decision following a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad.

 

On December 20, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune instructed Djerad to pick a vaccine to launch mass vaccination in January.

5:40 PM

Health Ministry releases communication strategy to support Covid-19 vaccine rollout

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday released a communication strategy to support the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in India that seeks to disseminate accurate and transparent information by alleviating apprehensions and ensuring its acceptance. The 88-page document details information to guide national, state and district level communication activities to enable information about COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination process reaches all people, across all states in the country.

 

"The communication strategy that supports the COVID-19 vaccines rollout in India seeks to disseminate timely, accurate and transparent information about the vaccine(s) to alleviate apprehensions about the vaccine, ensure its acceptance and encourage uptake," it said.

 

According to the document, the strategy aims at managing and mitigating any potential disappointment expressed by unmet demand for the vaccine or 'eagerness' amongst people and addressing vaccine 'hesitancy' that could arise because of apprehensions around vaccine safety, efficacy apart from any other myths and misconceptions.

5:03 PM

Pakistan to procure 1.1 million Covid-19 vaccines from Chinese company Sinopharm

Pakistan has decided to pre-book 1.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm, the health ministry said here on Thursday, as the number of coronavirus cases reached 479,715 after 2,475 new infections were detected in the country.

 

China on Thursday granted conditional approval to the country's first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm. The approval came a day after Sinopharm said its vaccine showed 79.34 per cent efficacy and a 99.52 per cent antibody-positive conversion rate in the interim results of Phase III clinical trials.

 

The decision to procure the vaccine was made in the meeting of a special cabinet committee on Wednesday after Sinopharm said that its vaccine was 79.34 per cent effective, the Ministry of National Health Services said.

4:25 PM

Over 36,000 ventilators delivered to govt hospitals amid Covid-19 pandemic: Govt

The Health Ministry said on Thursday that it had ensured delivery of 36,433 ventilators to government hospitals in the country and the average cost now ranges between Rs 2-10 lakh as the domestic industry took up manufacturing of the equipment.

 

The ministry underlined that all public health facilities in the country had only around 16,000 ventilators from the Independence till pre-COVID times. But in less than 12 months, 36,433 'Make in India' ventilators have been supplied to all the public health facilities, it said in a statement.

 

All export restrictions on ventilators have now been removed and 'Make in India' ventilators are being exported. The year witnessed tremendous achievements in the medical supplies sector in the country, the ministry said. READ ON...