Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi schools to reopen for Classes 10, 12 from Jan 18

Coronavirus live updates: In the last 24 hours, India registered 15,968 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 10,495,147. Globally, nearly 92 million people have been infected by the virus

2:42 AM

Rajasthan: 373 fresh Covid-19 cases, 3 more deaths; infection tally at 314,091

Rajasthan recorded three more fatalities due to novel coronavirus on Wednesday, taking the Covid-19 death toll in the state to 2,742, a health department bulletin said.
 

The state also reported 373 fresh cases on Wednesday. The total number of people infected by Covid-19 now stands at 314,091, out of whom, 5,780 are under treatment, it said.
 

As per the bulletin, 3,05,569 people have been discharged after treatment till now.
 

So far, 509 people have died in Jaipur, 298 in Jodhpur, 221 in Ajmer, 168 in Kota, 167 in Bikaner, 120 in Bharatpur, 112 in Udaipur, 109 in Pali and 100 in Sikar.
 

Out of the 373 fresh cases, 72 were reported in Jaipur, 36 in Kota, 29 each in Bhilwara and Ajmer, 26 each in Jodhpur and Nagaur, 22 in Dungarpur, 21 in Udaipur besides the cases reported in other districts of the state, the bulletin added.

2:42 AM

West Bengal's Covid-19 toll climbs to 9,993, tally at 562,795

The Covid-19 toll in West Bengal mounted to 9,993 after 18 more people succumbed to the virus on Wednesday, the health department said.
 

The coronavirus tally rose to 562,795 with 723 fresh cases, it said.
 

The discharge rate improved to 96.93 per cent after 794 recoveries were reported in the state since Tuesday.
 

Altogether, 545,499 patients have so far been cured of the disease.
 

North 24 Parganas accounted for six deaths, while the city registered five fatalities, Nadia (3), South 24 Parganas (2) and Hooghly (1), it said.
 

The maximum number of 275 new infections were reported from North 24 Parganas, followed by 169 cases in Kolkata, the department said.
 

In the last 24 hours, at least 30,107 samples have been tested, pushing the total number of such clinical examinations to 75,27,944.
 

Meanwhile, another senior doctor associated with the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) died due to the contagion on Wednesday, an official of the department said.

2:41 AM

Assam reports 53 fresh Covid cases, one more death

Assam's Covid-19 death toll increased to 1,065 with one more person succumbing to the disease on Wednesday, while 53 new positive cases took the tally to 2,16,743, a bulletin issued by the National Health Mission said.
 

Forty patients have recovered from the disease during the day, pushing the total number of cured people to 2,12,672.
 

Assam now has 3,003 active cases, the bulletin said adding that three patients have migrated out of the state.
 

It said that 1,347 coronavirus positive patients have died due to other reasons.
 

The state reported 53 new cases out of 12,297 tests conducted at a positivity rate of 0.43 per cent. The total number of such tests so far is 62,26,872.

2:40 AM

US economy growing modestly but virus tempers optimism, Fed says

US economic activity increased modestly in recent weeks and a growing number of the Federal Reserve's districts saw a drop in employment as a surge in coronavirus cases led to more shutdowns of businesses, the US central bank said on Wednesday.
 

In the Fed's latest "Beige Book" report, a collection of anecdotes from businesses across the country, Fed officials revealed how the pandemic's imprint varied by region and industry as rising infections dampened the optimism promised by the arrival of effective coronavirus vaccines.
 

Indeed, the vaccine rollout was a frequently cited source of optimism in many of the Fed's 12 regional districts, with 10 mentions in the report, twice the number in the previous Beige Book that was released in early December.
 

"Although the prospect of Covid-19 vaccines has bolstered business optimism for 2021 growth, this has been tempered by concern over the recent virus resurgence and the implications for near-term business conditions," the Fed noted in the report.
 

The report was the first since last May to report outright declines in activity in some of the Fed's districts.
 

While contacts in most of the country reported economic gains, the New York and Philadelphia districts said activity had weakened and the Cleveland district reported a loss in momentum due to the rise in infections. The St. Louis and Kansas City districts reported little change.
 

A majority of the Fed districts said employment had risen, though the pace was slow. More troubling was that "a growing number of Districts reported a drop in employment levels" since the previous Beige Book was compiled.
 

The manufacturing, construction and transportation industries continued to add jobs, but the report said "contacts in the leisure and hospitality sectors reported renewed employment cuts due to stricter containment measures."
 

2:39 AM

J&J Covid-19 vaccine on track for March rollout, still aims for 1 bn doses this year

Johnson & Johnson is on track to roll out its single-shot coronavirus vaccine in March, and plans to have clear data on how effective it is by the end of this month or early February, the US healthcare company's chief scientific officer said.
 

Dr. Paul Stoffels in an interview on Tuesday also said J&J expects to meet its stated target of delivering 1 billion doses of its vaccine by the end of this year as the company ramps up production.
 

The New York Times reported earlier on Wednesday that J&J was experiencing manufacturing delays that would reduce the number of doses initially available. Stoffels declined to say how many doses would be ready to go into people's arms in March, presuming it receives emergency authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.
 

"We are aiming for 1 billion doses in 2021. If it is a single dose, that means 1 billion people. But it will be in a ramp-up throughout the year," Stoffels said.
 

Initial launch capacity depends in part on validation of manufacturing plants, he added. The company is scaling up efforts to both produce the active vaccine and the means to package and ship it in large quantities.
 

Johnson & Johnson's vaccine is being produced in the United States, Europe, South Africa and India with the help of contract manufacturers in order to build capacity.
 

"It's a few weeks too early to be giving final numbers on what we can launch in the first couple months," he said.
 

2:16 AM

United States sets another record with over 4,300 Covid-19 deaths

Covid-19 deaths in the US climbed to another record high on Tuesday, as 4,327 people succumbed to the virus, The Hill reported citing Johns Hopkins University.

 

A New York Times tracker shows that deaths from Covid-19 are increasing at an alarming rate in the US. The seven-day average for daily deaths rose from about 2,600 per day to about 3,300 per day in the past week.

 

Hospitalizations are also at a record high, with over 131,000 people in hospitals with coronavirus, although signs of the increases slowing to some extent are being reported.

 

The situation could get worse, however, as a more contagious variant of the virus from the United Kingdom, which has already been detected in several states in the US, is expected to grow more prominent, according to The Hill.

 

"This strain's destiny is to become dominant here in the weeks ahead... If there ever were a time for the United States to pull out all the stops, this is it," tweeted Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research.

 

The Trump administration had announced steps on Tuesday to try to speed up the pace of vaccine distribution, including no longer holding back doses in reserve for second doses, and opening up the categories of people eligible for inoculations to those 65 and older and those with a pre-existing condition that puts them at high risk.

 

The overall number of infections in the US has reached 22,864,103, along with 381,513 deaths, according to the latest update by Johns Hopkins University.

12:08 AM

10 million Americans have received first Covid shots

12:07 AM

20,000 doses of Bharat Biotech Covaxin stored at Rajiv Gandhi hospital amid tight security

Twenty thousand doses of the Covid-19 vaccine made by Bharat Biotech have been stored at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Delhi, ahead of the vaccination rollout on January 16, officials said on Wednesday. The first batch of Oxford Covishield vaccine containing 2.64 lakh doses reached the Delhi's central storage facility at RGSSH on Tuesday amid high security, officials earlier said.

"We also received 20,000 doses of Bharat Biotech-made Covaxin yesterday. Both the vaccines are stored in the ground floor of the utility building on our premises, earmarked for the central storage in temperate-controlled environment," a senior official said. At RGSSH, a three-layer security cover guards the stored vaccine, with about 15 new CCTV cameras recently installed to keep a round-the-clock eye on the facility.

"Each Covaxin vial has 20 doses, and we have received 1,000 vials. Besides, police, paramilitary personnel and our internal security team guard the facility 24x7 in different shifts. These vaccines are worth more than precious gold right now," the official said. The vaccination rollout will be kicked off from the LNJP Hospital on January 16 with a simple ceremony in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Health Minister Satyendar Jain, sources said on Wednesday.

11:33 PM

Delhi reports 357 fresh Covid cases, 11 deaths; positivity rate 0.50%

Delhi recorded 357 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the infection tally in the city to over 6.31 lakh, even as the positivity rate slipped to 0.50 per cent. This is also the tenth time the daily incidences count stood below the 500-mark in January. The infection tally in the city stood at over 6.31 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,718 with 11 new fatalities, they said.

This month, 585 cases were reported on January 1 and 494 on January 2; 424 on January 3; 384 on January 4, and 442 on January 5; 654 on January 6; 486 on January 7 and 444 on January 8; 519 on January 9 and 399 on January 10; 306 on January 11 and 386 on January 12. The active cases tally on Wednesday stood at 2,991, while the positivity rate dropped to 0.50 per cent.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier said that the positivity rate had been below one per cent for the past several days, indicating improvement in the pandemic situation here.

11:32 PM

Raj receives 562,500 doses of Covid-19 vaccines ahead of mass inoculation drive

Rajasthan on Wednesday received 5,62,500 doses of Covid-19 vaccines ahead of the nationwide inoculation drive beginning January 16. Supplies of Bharat Biotech's 'Covaxin' and Serum Institute's 'Covishield' vaccines reached Jaipur and Udaipur by air, officials said. The first phase of the mass coronavirus vaccination drive will start from Saturday wherein health personnel working in both government and private health institutions will be administered the vaccines.

Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said a total of 5,62,500 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including 20,000 doses of Covaxin, arrived in the state. All these vaccines have been stored safely amid full security and as per the technical standards, he said, adding that the state has the capacity to safely store more than 3 crore vaccine doses.
 

Sharma said all necessary arrangements have been made for the vaccination drive. He said those who have been registered on CoWIN portal will be vaccinated as per the prescribed guideline of the Union health ministry.

11:27 PM

US sets another record with over 4,300 Covid-19 deaths

Covid-19 deaths in the US climbed to another record high on Tuesday, as 4,327 people succumbed to the virus, The Hill reported citing Johns Hopkins University. A New York Times tracker shows that deaths from Covid-19 are increasing at an alarming rate in the US. The seven-day average for daily deaths rose from about 2,600 per day to about 3,300 per day in the past week.

Hospitalizations are also at a record high, with over 131,000 people in hospitals with coronavirus, although signs of the increases slowing to some extent are being reported. The situation could get worse, however, as a more contagious variant of the virus from the United Kingdom, which has already been detected in several states in the US, is expected to grow more prominent, according to The Hill.

10:35 PM

Punjab records 7 more Covid-19 deaths, 258 fresh cases

Punjab recorded seven more coronavirus-related fatalities, pushing the death toll to 5,463 on Wednesday, while the caseload surged to 1,69,737 with 258 fresh infections, according to a medical bulletin. There are 2,817 active Covid-19 cases in the state, as of now, the bulletin said. Mohali reported42 new cases, Ludhiana 38 and Jalandhar 24 among others.
 

A total of 222 coronavirus patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from infection, taking the number of cured persons to 1,61,457 in the state, as per the bulletin. Nine critical patients are on ventilator support, while 94 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said. A total of 41,58,855 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in the state so far, it said.

10:01 PM

UK registers daily record of 1,564 Covid fatalities

10:00 PM

Karnataka reported 746 new Covid-19 cases, 765 discharges

8:59 PM

The first consignment of the Coronavirus vaccine arrives in Rajasthan

8:07 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Bihar reports 294 more Covid-19 cases

Bihar reported 294 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and the total count of cases has gone up to 2,56, 309 cases. According to Bihar Health Department, four more people have died due to the disease and the death toll has gone up to 1, 443.

 

It said "294 more COVID-19 positive cases have been reported so far on January 12". The department said that Araria, Banka, Buxar, East Champaran, Gopalganj, Jamui, Koorurma, Sheohar reported one case each. Patna reported the highest number of new cases at 99.

7:42 PM

2.65 lakh more doses of 'Covishield' reach Gujarat

Consignments of 2.65 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine 'Covishield' reached Gujarat by air and road on Wednesday from Serum Institute of India (SII) in Maharashtra's Pune city. The vaccine vials reached Surat and Vadodara by road and Rajkot by air, three days ahead of the nationwide launch of the inoculation drive on January 16.

 

As many as 2.76 lakh doses of the coronavirus vaccine, developed by Oxford University and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Pune-based SII, had landed at the Ahmedabad airport on Tuesday, the first consignment for Gujarat.

 

A total of 2.65 lakh doses of the vaccine were dispatched from the SII for Gujarat's three regional centres -- Surat (93,500), Vadodara (94,500) and Rajkot (77,000), the officials said. In Surat and Vadodara, the vials reached in temperature-controlled trucks.

7:15 PM

Both Covishield and Covaxin are safe; no apprehension about their safety: ICMR

6:55 PM

Mumbai airport delivers 274,400 doses of Covishield vaccine to 22 cities

The Mumbai airport on Wednesday said it is facilitating the delivery of about 2,72,400 doses of the Covishield vaccine to 22 domestic destinations on the first of commencement of flights carrying COVID-19 vaccines from the city.

 

Earlier in the day, the country's second busiest airport commenced transportation of the vaccines with low-cost carrier GoAir's first flight to Goa. This came a day after a massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 was set in process with more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine leaving Pune for 13 cities across the country. The vaccinations are scheduled to begin on January 16.

As part of the momentous mission, CSMIA will facilitate the distribution of a total of 227 boxes containing about 2,72,400 doses of the vaccine, the private airport operator said in a statement on Wednesday. READ ON...

6:22 PM

Sri Lanka detects first patient with new Covid-19 variant

Sri Lanka has detected the new strain of the Covid-19 virus after a British national who has arrived here recently tested positive for the new variant, Chief Epidemiologist of the Health Ministry's Epidemiology Unit Sudath Samaraweera said on Wednesday. This is the first case of the new variant to be reported in the island country, Xinhua reported.

 

Samaraweera said the infected patient had arrived in the country a week or two ago and further investigations were underway.

 

Till date, Sri Lanka has detected over 49,000 positive Covid-19 patients as the country is in the midst of a second wave of the pandemic. According to the Health Ministry, out of 49,537 patients detected since March, 42,621 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals bringing down the active patient count to 6,627.

5:54 PM

Johnson & Johnson likely to apply for EU approval for Covid vaccine in February

Johnson & Johnson is likely to apply for EU approval for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in February, a top lawmaker said on Wednesday.

 

"EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides announced during our (EU lawmakers) group meeting this morning that the vaccine manufacturer Johnson & Johnson is likely to submit an application for approval to the EU for their vaccine in February," said Peter Liese, who represents health matters for the EU's centre-right group, the assembly's largest.

 

The EU drugs regulator had said in December it expected the company to apply in the first quarter of this year.

5:25 PM

Total recovered cases stand at 10,129,111 with a Recovery Rate of 95.51%

5:07 PM

Maharashtra receives total of 9.83 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses

Maharashtra has received a total of 9,83,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, of which 9,63,000 have come from Serum Institute of India and the remaining from Bharat Biotech, said Rajesh Tope, state's Health Minister.

 

"Maharashtra needs a total of 17.5 lakh vaccine doses, but we have been able to acquire 55 per cent of the required number as of now," he said, adding that a gap of four to six weeks will be necessary between the two required doses. "Eight centres have been set up across the state where vaccines have been dispatched. Doses will be sent to district, sub-district and rural hospitals across Maharashtra," said Tope.

 

The minister said eight lakh health workers are to be vaccinated first and vaccine shots will be administered at 350 centres. Also, Tope assured everyone that the two vaccines are completely safe.

4:40 PM

First batch of Covid-19 vaccine arrives at Kochi

4:22 PM

Transported 3.5 tonnes of Covid-19 vaccines to 11 cities on Wednesday: SpiceJet

SpiceJet said it transported 3.5 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday from Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad to 11 cities across the country. The movement of COVID-19 vaccines began on Tuesday morning. The shots will be used in the vaccination drive beginning Saturday.

 

"On January 13, 2021, SpiceJet shipped 111 boxes of Covid-19 vaccine, weighing 3.5 tonnes from Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad to 11 cities including Bagdogra, Dehradun, Srinagar, Jammu, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Jabalpur, Ranchi, Rajkot, Delhi and Bengaluru," the airline said in a statement.

 

The carrier said its freighter flight SG7555 operating from Hyderabad to Bengaluru took-off at 8.50 AM on Wednesday with a consignment of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin weighing 90 kg. It landed in Bengaluru at 10.23 am.

 

"From Mumbai, SpiceJet carried 74 boxes of Serum Institute of India's (SII's) Covishield vaccine to various cities including two to Bagdogra, 10 to Dehradun, seven to Srinagar, six to Jammu, six to Kanpur, nine to Gorakhpur, 13 to Jabalpur, 14 to Ranchi & seven to Rajkot," it noted.

4:11 PM

Bharat Biotech successfully ships out Covaxin to 11 cities, donates 16.5 lakh doses to Govt

4:06 PM

Tripura receives first lot of 56,500 doses of Covid vaccine

The first consignment of 56,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived here on Wednesday in a cargo flight of a private carrier. The containers of the vaccine were shipped from Pune's Serum Institute and ferried to a special storage unit here from the city airport. 

 

"The consignment of 56,500 doses of Covishield vaccine arrived at the Agartala airport in the morning. The vaccine containers were transported to a National Health Mission (NHM) storage facility at Gorkhabasti area," State Immunization Officer Kallol Roy told reporters.

 

The health department authorities have already started distribution of the vaccine doses to all the eight district headquarters of the state, he said.

3:25 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi schools to reopen for Classes 10, 12 from Jan 18

The Delhi government on Wednesday allowed all schools in the national capital to reopen for Classes 10 and 12 from January 18 in view of board exams, according to officials of the Directorate of Education. Students will attend schools only with consent of parents and physical attendance is not compulsory, while schools will follow all COVID-19 guidelines, PTI reported.

 

"In order to conduct activities pertaining to pre-board preparations and practical work, the head of government, aided and unaided recognised schools may call students of Classes 10 and 12 only to school with effect from January 18, 2021," a senior official at the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.

 

However, a child should be called to school only with the consent of parents and following standard operating procedures, he said. Records of children coming to school will be maintained and the same should not be used for attendance purposes as sending a child to school is completely optional for parents.

3:14 PM

No Covid-19 vaccine for minors, pregnant women: Maharashtra minister

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Wednesday that the 'Covishield' vaccine will not be administered to people under 18 years of age, pregnant women and those with allergies, as per the Centre's protocols.

 

"We have decided to give the full two-doses to the selected persons, the first dose now and the second after 4-6 weeks. However, those below 18 years, pregnant women or people with allergies shall not be administered the vaccine," Tope told mediapersons.

 

He said so far, Maharashtra has received 963,000 doses of the expected 17,50,000 - which is around 55 per cent of the state government's quota - from the manufacturers Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune. READ MORE...

2:50 PM

15,968 daily new cases registered in the last 24 hours against 17,817 recoveries