Covid-19 LIVE: Serum seeks emergency use authorisation for Covidshield

Coronavirus live updates: At 1,847,509, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 890,360, Andhra Pradesh 870,675, Tamil Nadu 787,554, and Kerala 625,767

Coronavirus LIVE updates: India on Sunday reported 36,011 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the total caseload to 9,644,529. As many as 140,216 people have died of the disease till now. With 1,847,509 cases, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 890,360, Andhra Pradesh 870,675, Tamil Nadu 787,554, and Kerala 625,767. Delhi reported 4,067 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total count of cases in the national capital to 589,544.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India's vaccination programme against Covid-19 would begin as soon as scientists have their go-ahead, and asserted that healthcare workers involved in treating coronavirus patients, frontline workers and old people suffering from serious conditions would be inoculated on priority.

World coronavirus update: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 66,832,931. While 46,227,853 have recovered, 1,533,741 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 14,759,965 cases, and 285,473 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 9,608,211 cases, Brazil (6,577,177), Russia (2,431,731), France (2,281,475).

Stay tuned for the latest coronavirus-related news.

1:53 AM

Bihar reports 585 new COVID-19 cases, three more deaths

Bihar's COVID-19 tally rose to 2,39,125 as 585 more people tested positive for the infection, while three fresh fatalities pushed the toll to 1,295, a health department bulletin said on Sunday. At least 572 people were cured of the disease in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 2,32,438, it said. The recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state stands at 97.20 per cent.

Three new fatalities were recorded in Patna, Purnea and Saran. Patna reported the highest number of fresh cases at 261, followed by Muzaffarpur (27), Katihar (26), Sitamarhi and Saharsa (16 each), Purnea and Rohtas (13 each), East Champaran and Gaya (11 each). Bihar now has 5,392 active cases, the bulletin said. The state has so far tested 1.54 crore samples including 1,25,904 in the past 24 hours, it added.

1:19 AM

1.2 mn doses of China-made Covid vaccine arrive in Indonesia

Indonesia's government said 1.2 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in the country late Sunday. President Joko Widodo said in a televised address that another 1.8 million doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in early January. We are very grateful, thank God, the vaccine is now available so that we can immediately curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease, Widodo said.

The government is still waiting for millions of other doses of the Sinovac vaccine to arrive in the form of raw materials that will be further processed by state-owned pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma. However, Widodo said that emergency use authorization from the country's Food and Drug Control Agency is still needed for mass vaccinations to start.

Indonesia is already cooperating with Sinovac in phase 3 clinical trials of its vaccine candidate, with tests being carried out on 1,620 volunteers in West Java's Bandung city since August. The government also looked into partnerships with two other Chinese drug manufacturers, Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics. Penny Lukito, head of the Food and Drug Control Agency, estimated that the Sinovac vaccine would obtain emergency use authorization from the agency by the third or fourth week of January, after the agency evaluates interim results from the third-stage clinical trial.

1:18 AM

Assam reports 97 new Covid-19 cases, four more fatalities

Assam's COVID-19 caseload rose to 2,13,759 on Sunday as 97 more people tested positive for the disease, while four fresh fatalities pushed the toll to 993, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. "Sad to share the demise of four #COVID patients today... Condolences & Prayers!," he said on Twitter. The new fatalities were reported from Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Sonitpur and Kamrup Metropolitan districts, he added.

The minister said, "97 cases detected out of 11,514 tests conducted with a positivity rate of 0.84 per cent." The overall positivity rate stood at 3.91 per cent against the total testing of 54,62,004 samples so far. Eighty-four people were cured of the disease and discharged from various hospitals during the day. The state currently has 3,552 active cases, while 2,09,211 people have so far recovered from the disease.

12:20 AM

Karnataka logs 1,321 new Covid cases; 889 recover

Karnataka logged 1,321 new cases on a day, taking its Covid tally to 8,93,006, including 25,381 active cases till Saturday, said the state health bulletin on Sunday. "With 889 discharged in the last 24 hours, recoveries across the southern state rose to 8,55,750 so far, while 10 patients succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the state's death toll to 11,856 since the pandemic broke out on March 8.

Accounting for about 50 per cent of the state's caseload, Bengaluru reported 733 fresh cases, taking its tally to 3,74,024, including 19,636 positive cases, while 3,50,204 recovered, with 275 discharged during the day. Of the 280 patients in the intensive care units (ICUs) across the state, 143 are in Bengaluru hospitals, 23 in Tumakuru, 14 in Chamarajanagara, 13 in Hassan and 12 in Kalaburagi district in the northern region.

Out of 99,320 tests conducted during the day, 15,622 were through the rapid-antigen detection and 83,698 through RT-PCR method."Positivity rate for the day is 1.33 per cent and the case fatality rate 0.75 per cent across the state," added the bulletin.

11:51 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Serum Institute first to seek emergency use authorisation of Oxford vaccine in India, report

Serum Institute 1st Indian company to seek emergency use authorisation for Oxford Covid-19 vaccine Covishield in India, say sources

Staffers cleaning the marquee board of Serum Institute on Friday, a day before PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the vaccine plant | Photo: Abhishek Waghmare

11:29 PM

Bengal reports 3,143 new Covid-19 cases, 46 fresh fatalities

West Bengal's Covid-19 tally rose to 4,99,697 on Sunday as 3,143 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. Forty-six fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 8,723, it said. As many as 3,167 more people were cured of the disease, taking the recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state to 93.51 per cent, it said.

Kolkata registered the highest number of new cases at 765, followed by North 24 Parganas (746) and South 24 Parganas (209), it said. North 24 Parganas reported the highest number of coronavirus fatalities at 15, followed by Kolkata (10) and Hooghly (four), the bulletin said. The state now has 23,894 active coronavirus cases, it said. West Bengal has so far tested 61.35 lakh samples for COVID-19, including 44,186 in the last 24 hours, it said.

11:05 PM

Chhattisgarh sees 1,229 new Covid-19 cases, 12 deaths

Chhattisgarh on Sunday recorded 1,229 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the count of infections to 2,46,809, a health official said. With 12 more patients succumbing to the infection, the cumulative toll in the state rose to 2,989, he said. The number of recoveries mounted to 2,23,772 after 93 people were discharged from various hospitals while 623 patients completed their home isolation during the day.

The state now has 20,048 active cases, the official informed. Raipur district reported 143 new cases, taking its total count to 47,745, including 671 deaths. Bilaspur recorded 117 new cases, Korba 86, Rajnandgaon 83, Durg 82 and Balodabazar 81 among other districts, he said. "Of the latest fatalities, five each took place on Sunday and Saturday while two had taken place earlier," the official added. Chhattisgarh's coronavirus figures are as follows: positive cases 2,46,809, new cases 1,229, deaths 2,989, recovered 2,23,772, active cases 20,048, people tested so far 27,60,291.

10:50 PM

1,950 new Covid-19 cases take UP's tally to 5,54,944; death toll 7,924

The COVID-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 7,924 on Sunday with 24 new fatalities, while 1,950 fresh cases took the infection tally to 5,54,944, an official statement issued here said. The statement said among the 24 new deaths, five were reported from Lucknow, three from Varanasi and two each from Kanpur and Ayodhya. Of the fresh COVID-19 cases, 283 were reported from Lucknow followed by 223 from Ghaziabad, 171 from Meerut, 138 from Gautam Buddh Nagar and 108 from Varanasi.

In the past 24 hours, 1,993 patients have recovered from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 5,24, 860, it said. The recovery rate in the state is 94.58 per cent, it said, adding that the count of active cases is currently 22,160. Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters that the positivity rate in December was 1.20 per cent. In the last 24 hours, over 1.79 lakh samples were tested for COVID-19, and so far more than 2.03 crore tests have been conducted in the state.

10:24 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: 306 new Covid cases in Ahmedabad district; 310 recover

With 306 fresh COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the highest in Gujarat, Ahmedabad district's tally rose to 52,030, the state health department said. The count of fatalities in the district went up by 10 to 2,119, it said. With 310 patients getting discharged in the day, the number of recoveries outnumbered the newcases. The tally of recoveries now stands at 46,800 in the district, the release said.

Ahmedabad city reported 291 recoveries and the equal number of new infections, while rural areas added more recoveries than fresh cases. At 459, Ahmedabad's north-west zone overtook the west zone with the highest number of active cases, the civic body said in a release. The count of active cases in Ahmedabad now stands at 2,587, it said. The city municipal corporation has designated 106 private hospitals as COVID-19 hospitals.

10:23 PM

Haryana reports 24 Covid-19 deaths, 1,498 fresh cases in a day

Twenty-four more fatalities related to the coronavirus infection took the death toll in Haryana to 2,588 on Sunday, while 1,498 fresh cases pushed the state's infection tally to 2,43,896. According to the state health department's bulletin, the new deaths included five each from Faridabad and Hisar and three each from Gurgaon and Karnal districts.

Among the districts which reported a big spike in cases included Gurgaon (310), Faridabad (265), Rewari (144), Panipat (105) and Sonipat (104). The number of active cases in the state stood at 12,897 while the recovery rate was 93.65 per cent, the bulletin stated.

9:32 PM

Himachal records 553 new cases, tally near 45,000

9:24 PM

Delhi reports 2,706 new Covid-19 cases, 69 fatalities

8:56 PM

In 3 mths of resumption, Delhi Metro clocks 22% of 6-mn avg daily footfall

Nearly three months after it was opened to public after a five-month hiatus, Delhi Metro has managed to reach nearly a quarter of its pre-Covid daily footfall of 6 million.

On November 30, as many as 1.3-million riders travelled via the mass rapid transit network.

This may be a sign of significant improvement from the date of resumption of services, but it is just 22 per cent of the 6-million average daily ridership of Delhi Metro before the lockdown restrictions were imposed in March this year. Read more...

8:32 PM

Tamil Nadu clocks 1,320 new Covid-19 cases, 16 deaths

Tamil Nadu on Sunday saw 1,320 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the overall infection count to 7.90 lakh, while 16 more fatalities pushed the toll to 11,793, the health department said.

As many as 1,398 people were discharged from health care facilities across the state after getting cured, taking the aggregate to 7,67,659, a bulletin said.

The number of active cases stood at 10,788.

The state capital and Coimbatore logged 346 and 139 cases respectively, while the rest were scattered across other districts.

8:26 PM

Twenty more fatalities, 2,089 new Covid-19 cases recorded in a day in Rajasthan

Twenty more fatalities related to the coronavirus infection took the death toll in Rajasthan to 2,429 on Sunday, while 2,089 new cases pushed the infection tally to 2.80 lakh, according to a health department bulletin.

Of the total caseload, 22,427 are under treatment while 2,55,729 people have been discharged after treatment till now, it stated.

In Jaipur, the death toll stood at 455, followed by 253 in Jodhpur, 198 in Ajmer, 163 in Bikaner, 147 in Kota, 113 in Bharatpur, 104 in Udaipur and 95 in Pali.