Coronavirus LIVE: Over 1.6 million vaccinated across the country so far

Coronavirus live updates: India had till Friday vaccinated almost 14 lakh people after starting its inoculation campaign on January 16.

India reported 14,849 news coronavirus cases and 155 deaths in 24 hours, according to data published Sunday. The country’s recovery rate improved to 96.83 per cent, accounted by 15,948 new daily recoveries. As many as 1,53,339 people have died in total from the disease, according to the health ministry.

India has vaccinated almost 14 lakh people after starting its inoculation campaign on January 16. The campaign to administer a two-dose jab accelerated to over three lakh people per day on Friday, according to the health ministry's data. The average number of vaccinations per day during the past week has been 1,98,656, data collated till Friday showed. The total has touched 13,90,592. Yesterday alone, the number touched 3,47,058. 

World coronavirus news: The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 98.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.11 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Pakistan is close to granting approval to Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, as the world’s fifth most-populous nation looks to start inoculations against the coronavirus.

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Stay tuned for the latest coronavirus-related news.

2:32 AM

Italy to take legal action on Covid vaccine delays to get doses

Italy will take legal action and step up pressure in Brussels against Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca over delays in deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines with a view to securing agreed supplies, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Sunday.
 

The aim was to get the companies to meet the vaccine volumes they had promised and not to seek compensation, Di Maio said on RAI state television.
 

"This is a European contract that Pfizer and AstraZeneca are not respecting and so for this reason we will take legal action... We are working so our vaccine plan programme does not change," he said.
 

Pfizer said last week it was temporarily slowing supplies to Europe to make manufacturing changes that would boost output. On Friday, AstraZeneca said initial deliveries to the region will fall short because of a production problem.
 

Asked why he thought the pharmaceutical companies had been forced to announce reductions, Di Maio said he believed they had simply bitten off more than they could chew.
 

"We are activating all channels so the EU Commission does all it can to make these gentlemen respect their contracts," he said.
 

No one was immediately available to comment at Pfizer in Italy. AstraZeneca did not immediately reply to an email and voice message.
 

Also on Sunday European Council President Charles Michel said the EU would use legal means to ensure pharmaceutical companies respect supply contracts for Covid-19 vaccines.
 

2:31 AM

Israel targets flights, religious scofflaws, as virus rages

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will be closing its international airport to nearly all flights, while Israeli police clashed with ultra-Orthodox protesters in several major cities and the government raced to bring a raging coronavirus outbreak under control.
 

The entry of highly contagious variants of the virus, coupled with poor enforcement of safety rules in ultra-Orthodox communities, has contributed to one of the world's highest rates of infections. It also has threatened to undercut Israel's highly successful campaign to vaccinate its population against the virus.
 

In just a month, Israel has vaccinated over a quarter of its 9.2 million people. At the same time, the virus continues to race through the country, with authorities confirming an average of over 8,000 new cases a day.
 

Late Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet approved a tight closure on nearly all incoming and outgoing air traffic. The government said it would make exceptions for a small number of humanitarian cases - such as funerals and medical patients - and cargo flights.
 

“We are closing the skies hermetically, except for really rare exceptions, to prevent the entry of virus mutations, and also to ensure that we progress quickly with our vaccination campaign," Netanyahu said.
 

The order is to begin early Tuesday and remain in effect until Jan. 31. Netanyahu's office said the order still required parliamentary legislation to be finalized.
 

Throughout the pandemic, Israel has restricted entry for most foreigners at its main international airport. But it has made exceptions for certain categories of people, including religious students and Israelis returning from abroad, while allowing Israeli tourists to fly to a handful of “green countries" believed to have low rates of the coronavirus.
 

12:21 AM

Assam reports 16 new Covid-19 cases, 1 fresh fatality

Assam's Covid-19 tally rose to 2,16,992 on Sunday as 16 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 1,078, a health bulletin said.
 

Kamrup Metropolitan and Sonitpur districts reported the highest number of new cases at four each, followed by three in Nagaon, it said.
 

Ninety-nine more people were cured of the disease, pushing the recovery rate among the coronavirus patients to 98.43 per cent.
 

Assam now has 976 active cases, while 2,13,591 people have recovered from the disease, 1,347 coronavirus patients have died due to other reasons and three patients have migrated to other states.
 

The state has so far tested over 63.69 lakh samples for Covid-19, including 6,314 in the last 24 hours, it said.
 

Meanwhile, 13,881 people have been vaccinated in the state so far.
 

12:15 AM

Nine new Covid-19 cases in UP's Gautam Buddh Nagar

Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded nine fresh cases of Covid-19 on Sunday that pushed the district's infection tally to 25,315, official data showed.
 

The number of active cases in the district rose to 56 from 55 the previous day, while its recovery rate reached 99.41 per cent, according to the data released by the UP Health Department for a 24-hour period.
 

Eight more patients got discharged during the period with the overall recoveries reaching 25,168, the fifth highest in the state.
 

Gautam Buddh Nagar has a Covid-19 death toll of 91 with a mortality rate of 0.35 per cent.
 

Gautam Buddh Nagar stands 32nd among districts in the state in terms of active caseload and 28th in mortality due to the pandemic, the statistics showed.
 

The number of active Covid-19 cases in UP came down to 7,082 from 7,330 on Saturday while the overall recoveries reached 5,83,114 and the death toll climbed to 8,617 on Sunday, according to the data.
 

9:41 PM

France faces 3rd lockdown if curfew not enough

France's government may impose a third lockdown in the coming days if an existing 12-hour-a-day curfew doesn't significantly slow virus infections.
 

Exactly a year after France announced Europe's first confirmed case of the coronavirus, Health Minister Olivier Veran said in an interview published Sunday in the Le Parisien newspaper that if infections don't drop, and “if the variants start to spread everywhere, we will take extra measures. And that's called confinement. ... We will close down.” An official in French President Emmanuel Macron's office said Sunday that “everything is on the table” but no firm decisions will be made until the effect of the nationwide 6 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew is clear in the coming week.
 

In addition to the curfew, French restaurants, tourist sites and many other public places have been closed since October.
 

But virus infections, hospitalizations and deaths have started rising again this month. France, which has lost at least 72,877 lives to the pandemic, has vaccinated more than 1 million people amid bureaucratic and logistical delays.
 

France on Sunday started requiring a negative Covid-19 test from travelers arriving by air or boat from other European Union countries. Such tests are already required for non-EU visitors, who also must go into 7-day quarantine upon arrival.
 

9:39 PM

Nashik sees 157 Covid-19 cases, 1 death; 1,240 tests conducted

The number of COVID-19 cases in Nashik reached 1,14,781 after 157 people were detected with the infection on Sunday, while the toll rose by one to touch 2,040, an official said.
 

The number of people who have been discharged stands at 1,11,480, he added.
 

With 1,240 samples being tested on Sunday, the overall number of tests in Nashik went up to 4,85,816, he said.
 

9:36 PM

Covid-19: 573 new cases, four fatalities in Karnataka

As many as 573 fresh coronavirus cases and four more deaths in Karnataka on Sunday took the total infections and fatalities to 9.36 lakh and 12,197 respectively, the health department said.
 

The cases include 9,16,325 discharges including 401 on Sunday and 7,510 active cases including 155 patients in the ICU.
 

Most of the cases and deaths occurred in Bengaluru urban district alone with 306 fresh infections and two fatalities.
 

Cumulatively, the city has reported 3,97,133 infections, 4,378 deaths 3,87,763 discharges, including 163 on Sunday, and 4991 active cases.
 

According to the health bulletin, 42 infections were reported in Dakshina Kannada, 31 in Tumakuru, 27 in Mysuru, 19 in Chikkaballapura, 18 in Belagavi, 17 in Udupi, 16 in Kalaburagi, 15 in Hassan and 10 in Davangere.
 

Cases were also reported in Ballari, Bengaluru Rural, Chitradurga, Dharwad, Gadag, Kodagu, Mandya, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada.

9:32 PM

32 new coronavirus cases, another death in Chandigarh

Chandigarh on Sunday reported 32 new cases of the novel coronavirus, raising the infection tally to 20,718, according to a medical bulletin.
 

The death of a 65-year-old coronavirus positive woman took the toll to 334 in the Union Territory, the bulletin said.
 

There are 136 active Covid-19 cases in Chandigarh, it said.
 

Twenty-two more patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the number of recoveries to 20,248 in the UT, according to the bulletin.
 

A total of 2,08,107 samples have been taken for Covid-19 testing in Chandigarh and 1,86,447 of them tested negative while reports of 92 are awaited, it said.
 

8:53 PM

Two new Covid-19 cases in Ladakh

Ladakh recorded two fresh cases of the coronavirus, taking the tally to 9,675, even as eight more patients recovered from the infection in the Union Territory, officials said.

 

The new recoveries pushed the Covid-19 recovery count to 9,484 in Ladakh, the officials said.

 

The fresh cases were detected in Leh on Saturday, they said.

8:43 PM

128 new Covid cases in Haryana

Haryana on Sunday reported one fatality linked to Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 3,010, while 128 fresh cases pushed the state's infection tally to 2,67,203, according to a government bulletin.

 

According to the state health department's daily bulletin, the new fatality was reported from Karnal district.

 

8:17 PM

Fourth Zimbabwean Cabinet member dies in Covid surge

Four Zimbabwean Cabinet ministers have died of Covid-19, three within the past two weeks, highlighting a resurgence of the disease that is sweeping through this southern African country.

 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the coronavirus is reaping a grim harvest in the country.

 

The pandemic has been indiscriminate. There are no spectators, adjudicators, no holier than thou. No supermen or superwomen. We are all exposed, Mnangagwa said on a nationally televised address.

 

Mnangagwa presided at the burial of one Cabinet minister last week, shortly after the death of the foreign minister was announced. Then came the death of the transport minister. Several other high-profile politicians and prominent Zimbabweans have also died recently.

8:09 PM

Gujarat sees 410 new Covid-19 cases

Gujarat has recorded 410 fresh coronavirus positive cases in the last 24 hours, taking the count of infections to 259,097, the state Health department said.

 

With one more person succumbing to the viral disease, the overall toll in the state mounted to 4,376, the department said in a release.

8:04 PM

US NSA talks to Israeli counterpart

Reaffirming Biden Administration's unwavering commitment to Israel's security, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a call with his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben Shabbat extended an invitation to begin a strategic dialogue in the near term, the White House said on Sunday.

 

During the call on Saturday, Sullivan reaffirmed President Joe Biden's unwavering commitment to Israel's security and expressed appreciation for Shabbat's contributions to the bilateral partnership, said National Security Council Spokesperson Emily Horne.

 

Mr. Sullivan confirmed the United States will closely consult with Israel on all matters of regional security. He also extended an invitation to begin a strategic dialogue in the near term to continue substantive discussions, Horne said.

8:01 PM

With 410 new Covid-19 cases, Gujarat's tally rises to 259,097

8:00 PM

Oman extends land border closure for 1 more week over Covid

The authorities of Oman have extended the closure of land borders for one more week, until February 1, as part of efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19, state-run Oman News Agency reported on Sunday.

 

In December, the Arab nation closed land, sea, and air borders for one week as a new Covid-19 mutation was discovered in some countries. On January 17, the authorities closed the land border for one week.