Coronavirus LIVE: Govt asks states to step up vigil on New Year's eve

Coronavirus live updates: At 1,928,603, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 917,571, Andhra Pradesh 881,599, Tamil Nadu 816,132, and Kerala 743,563

Coronavirus live updates: With 20,529 fresh Covid-19 cases, India's caseload now stands at 10,245,326. The country's death toll has mounted to 148,423. With 1,928,603 cases, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 917,571, Andhra Pradesh  881,599, Tamil Nadu 816,132, and Kerala 743,563. Delhi has recorded 703 fresh Covid-19 cases and 28 new fatalities. Its test positivity rate has improved slightly to 0.83 per cent.

World coronavirus update: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 82,283,576. While 58,309,479 have recovered, 1,795,046 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 19,959,422 cases, and 346,442 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 10,242,306 cases, Brazil (7,564,117), Russia (3,105,037), France (2,574,041).

Stay tuned for the latest coronavirus-related news.

11:15 PM

Chhattisgarh: 1,069 new Covid-19 cases, 14 deaths

With 1,069 new cases, the Covid-19 tally in Chhattisgarh reached 2,78,540 on Wednesday while 14 more deaths took the toll to 3,350, a health official said. The number of recoveries mounted to 2,63,251 after 122 people were discharged from various hospitals while 1,348 patients completed their home isolation stay during the day.

The number of active cases in the state stood at 11,939, he informed. Raipur district accounted for 175 new cases, taking its overall caseload to 52,529, including 717 deaths.

11:15 PM

Tamil Nadu reports 945 new Covid-19 cases

Tamil Nadu's daily Covid-19 case count remained below the 1,000 mark for the second successive day and the tally stood at 8,17,077, while the toll increased to 12,109 with 17 more fatalities. Fourteen of the deceased had co-morbidities and three others no chronic illness, a health department bulletin said.

Barring five of the deceased, the others were aged between 62 and 79, it said. Of the 12,109 deaths, Chennai accounted for 4,004, the highest, while Chengalpattu was in the second slot with 743. Tamil Nadu reported 945 fresh cases today, the second day of less than 1,000 infections. Of the 900 plus infections, Chennai reported 275, nearby Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur 48 and 35 respectively and Coimbatore 91.

11:10 PM

Nagpur records 368 Covid-19 cases; 6 UK returnees in hospital

Nagpur district on Wednesday registered 368 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 1,23,374, while sixpeople who returned from the UK recently are undergoing treatment here after testing positive, said officials. A senior Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) medical officer told PTI thatsixUK returnees are under treatment in the city after testing positive for COVID-19 and swab samples of four of them were sent to Pune-based NIV to ascertain if they are infected by the new strain found in Britain.

They are admitted in a special ward of a government hospital here, he said. Separately, a District Information Office release said 368 more coronavirus cases were recorded in Nagpur, pushing its tally to 1,23,374. Eight COVID-19 patients succumbed to the infection, taking the death toll in the district to 3,922, it said.

10:06 PM

Drug regulator to meet again on Jan 1 to discuss AstraZeneca vaccine

India's drug regulator will meet again on Friday to consider approving AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use after Britain became the first country to do so, the government said following a meeting on Wednesday.

 

India wants to start inoculating its citizens next month. It is also considering emergency-use authorisation applications for vaccines made by Pfizer Inc with Germany's BioNTech, and by India's Bharat Biotech.

 

India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the country's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) was analysing trial and other data presented by the AstraZeneca vaccine's local partner and Bharat Biotech. "The analysis of the additional data and information is going on," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Pfizer had requested more time to present data. Read more

9:35 PM

Himachal Pradesh reports 149 new Covid cases

9:01 PM

Maharashtra sees 3,537 new Covid-19 cases, 4,913 recoveries; 70 fatalities

The COVID-19 tally in Maharashtra rose to 19,28,603 on Wednesday with the addition of 3,537 fresh cases, the state health department said.

 

With 70 more people succumbing to the viral disease, the overall death toll in the state went up to 49,463, it said.

 

A total of 4,913 people were discharged after treatment during the day, taking the cumulative count of recoveries in Maharashtra to 18,24,934, the department said in a release.The state is now left with 53,066 active cases, it said.

8:24 PM

Gujarat reports 799 coronavirus cases, 834 recoveries; seven deaths

Gujarat reported 799 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 2,44,258, the state health department said. With seven more patients succumbing to the infection, the death toll rose to 4,302. As many as 834 patients were discharged from hospitals, pushing the number of recovered cases to 2,29,977, the department said in a release.

 

With this, the COVID-19 recovery rate furtherimproved to 94.15 per cent, it said.

 

A total of 54,708 tests were conducted for detection of the virus on Wednesday, taking the number of samples examined so far in Gujarat to 95,98,108. Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 2,44,258, new cases 799, deaths 4,302, active cases 9,979, people tested so far 95,98,108.

7:56 PM

Punjab govt to lift night Covid-19 curfew and restrictions from January 1

Punjab Govt decides to lift night curfew (10 pm to 5 am) and restrictions on gatherings, and on timings of hotels, restaurants, marriage halls from January 1

7:33 PM

Haryana reports seven Covid-19 deaths, 382 fresh cases

Haryana on Wednesday reported seven more Covid-19 deaths, taking the fatality toll due to the infection to 2,899 even as 382 new cases pushed the state's infection tally to 2,62,054.

 

According to the state Health Department's daily bulletin, the fatalities included one each from Hisar, Rohtak, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Jhajjar, Palwal and Kaithal districts.

 

The districts where new cases were reported included Gurgaon (96) and Faridabad (44). The number of active cases in the state was 3,799, with as many as 2,55,356 having been cured and discharged, clocking a recovery rate of 97.44 per cent.

6:48 PM

US nurse tests Covid-19 positive days after receiving Pfizer vaccine

An ICU nurse in San Diego, who had received Pfizer Inc vaccine's shot against COVID-19 on December 18, has tested positive for the virus.

 

Matthew W, a 45-year-old nurse in San Diego, told ABC News San Diego affiliate KGTV that after receiving the vaccine he had only experienced arm soreness as a side-effect of the vaccine but six days later after working a shift in the COVID-19 unit, he had chills, muscle pain and fatigue. A coronavirus test confirmed him of being positive.

 

Following this incident, Dr Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist with Family Health Centers of San Diego, told KGTV that this was not unexpected as "We know from the vaccine clinical trials that it is going to take about 10 to 14 days for you to start to develop protection from the vaccine".

6:22 PM

Two cases of new coronavirus strain detected in Uttar Pradesh

Traces of a new strain of coronavirus were found in two people who recently returned from the United Kingdom, an Uttar Pradesh official said on Wednesday. The two cases were found in Meerut and Gautam Buddh Nagar and samples of their contacts are also being taken, Additional Chief Secretary Health Amit Mohan Prasad said.

 

Tests of those returning from the United Kingdom after December 9 are continuing and till now around 2,500 samples have been sent to the labs, he said, adding that so far 10 people who returned from the UK have tested positive. Their gene sequencing is being done to ascertain the kind of virus.

5:58 PM

Nepal seeks to procure Covid-19 vaccine from India

The Nepal government has written to the Indian government, requesting for procurement of Covid-19 vaccine to inoculate around 20 per cent of the Nepali population. The Indian government is procuring the jabs manufactured in its own country to vaccinate its people against Covid-19.

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently wrote to the Indian government, requesting for the supply of the vaccines that would suffice the need for the 20 per cent of the population. Last week, Nepali Ambassador to India, Nilamber Acharya also held meeting with senior officials of Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world that is also producing Covid vaccine developed by Oxford University.

 

To get the vaccines at the earliest, the Nepal government has requested India to buy vaccines for 20 per cent Nepalis, according to a news report published in Kathmandu Post on Wednesday.

5:32 PM

New Covid-19 strain: India extends ban on UK flights till Jan 7

A Chinese inactivated vaccine shows 79.34 percent efficacy against COVID-19, according to the interim results of the phase-3 clinical trials unveiled by its developer on Wednesday. The inactivated vaccine has been developed by the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd. under the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), which is affiliated to Sinopharm, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

After a two-dose inoculation procedure, the vaccine receivers all produced high titers of antibodies, and the seroconversion rate of neutralising antibodies reached 99.52 percent.

 

The results meet the requirements of technical standards of the World Health Organization and the standards stipulated by China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). The company has submitted an application to the Chinese regulator for conditional market approval.

5:02 PM

Air India pilots say no to pre-flight Covid tests during offs and rest period

The Air India pilots' associations have asked their members "not to accept any duty during weekly offs and rest period" including undertaking pre-flight Covid tests.

 

Indian Pilots Guild and Indian Commercial Pilots' Association, in a letter to Capt. R. S. Sandhu, Director (Operations), Air India said, "It has been brought to our notice that pilots are frequently being planned for COVID tests during their weekly offs or post-flight rest periods. As you are aware, any task that flight crew members are required by the operator to perform... is clearly defined as Duty in the DGCA FDTL CAR and the current Air India Flight Crew FDTL Scheme. This practice therefore represents a flagrant violation and must be discontinued immediately".

 

"We hereby request you to inform the concerned departments to strictly abide by the Air India FDTL Scheme and not infringe upon 'uninterrupted rest.' We are accordingly directing our members to ensure strict compliance, i.e "Not to accept any duty during weekly offs & rest period". This includes preflight Covid Testing", they said in the letter.

4:46 PM

Fight against Covid-19 kept health ministry on its toes in 2020

The Union health ministry was in the thick of action throughout 2020 in India's fight against coronavirus, ramping up testing facilities as well as health infrastructure while simultaneously issuing COVID-19 treatment and management guidelines from time and time.

 

At the same time, it put on track the development of a vaccine which is likely to be available early next year.

 

The first case of coronavirus infection in the country was recorded on January 30 in Kerala and the first death on March 10 in Karnataka. By September, India became the second worst-hit nation, after the US, in terms of COVID-19 cases. READ MORE...