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

Coronavirus live updates: A mega immunisation drive against Covid-19 has kicked off with nine flights transporting over 5.6 million doses of the vaccine to 13 cities across the country on Tuesday. Kerala will get the first consignment of over 400,000 coronavirus vaccines today.

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.

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. The country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 13th among worst-wit nations by active cases, according to data from Worldometer.
 

The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (1,971,552), Karnataka (928,055), Andhra Pradesh (885,037), Tamil Nadu (826,943), Kerala (814,258).
 

World coronavirus update: Coronavirus cases rise unabated across the globe, with nearly 92 million infected by the deadly contagion. While 65,806,183 have recovered, 1,968,544 have died so far. The US remains the worst-hit country with 23,364,614, followed by India, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom. However, it terms of the total number of active cases, US tops the charts, followed by France, UK, Brazil and Belgium.

Stay tuned for the latest coronavirus-related news.

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