Covid LIVE: Delhi's positivity rate falls to 12%; 1,857 new cases in Mumbai

Number of active cases in Mumbai are 21,142; Delhi sees 5,760 new cases

Live news updates: India reported 306,064 new cases of Covid-19 and 439 deaths from the disease in the last 24 hours, said the health ministry on Monday.

Total Covid-19 cases increased to 39.54 million and pandemic fatalities to 489,848. The daily positivity rate--the percentage of tests that return coronavirus positive--increased from 17.78 per cent to 20.75 per cent. The weekly positivity rate is at 17.03 per cent. Active cases now comprise 5.69 per cent of total infections and national Covid recovery rate has decreased to 93.07 per cent. 

Indian industry has urged states to lift Covid restrictions on businesses and public life, saying hospitalisation was manageable in the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggested the Union Budget include an additional 1 per cent levy under corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds — apart from the mandatory 2 per cent — for a year to fund booster doses of the vaccine.

Amazon told independent directors of Future Retail Ltd that Samara Capital was still interested in investing Rs 7,000 crore to buy all retail assets of the debt-ridden company. Amazon reached out to Future Retail after the India company said in a letter that it was willing to accept the e-commerce giant’s proposal but had certain conditions.

10:03 PM

Kerala records 26,514 new COVID-19 cases

After registering over 45,000 daily new COVID-19 cases for the past few days, Kerala on Monday recorded 26,514 fresh ones and took the total affected in the State to 56,46,665.

 

It reported 45,449 cases on Sunday while there were 45,136 new cases the next day. On January 20, there were 46,387 cases, the highest single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.

 

The Health department said 55,557 samples were tested in the last 24 hours which apparently explains a low number of positive cases today. The State had a full lockdown on Sunday and the testings were limited. On Sunday, the State reported over 45,000 cases after testing 1,01,252 samples on Saturday.

9:41 PM

Maharashtra's COVID-19 cases sharply drop to 28,286

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 28,286 fresh coronavirus cases, 12,519 less than the previous day, and 36 fresh deaths linked to the infection, the state health department said.

 

Wit this, the overall tally of COVID-19 cases surged to 75,35,511 and the death toll jumped to 1,42,151, a department bulletin said. As per the bulletin, the number of recovered cases in Maharashtra increased to 70,89,936 after 21,941 patients were discharged during the day, leaving the state with 2,99,604 active cases. On Sunday, the state had recorded 40,805 new cases and 44 new cases.

Also, 86 new cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus came to light in the state during the day, raising the tally of such infections to 2,845, the department said. Out of these, 1,454 Omicron patients have already recovered, the bulletin added.

9:10 PM

Delhi's Covid cases falls to 5,760, deaths still high at 30

Delhi on Monday recorded a nearly 37 per cent decline in daily Covid cases at 5,760, as against 9,197 on Sunday, while there were 30 deaths too.

 

The fresh cases and fatalities have taken the tally to 17,97,471 and the death toll to 25,650.

 

Meanwhile, Delhi's positivity rate has come down to 11.79 per cent with active cases declining to 45,140 as per the Health Department bulletin.

8:56 PM

Karnataka reports 46,426 new Covid cases

8:52 PM

Kerala records 26,514 new Covid cases, 171 more deaths

After registering over 45,000 daily new COVID-19 cases for the past few days, Kerala on Monday recorded 26,514 fresh ones and took the total affected in the State to 56,46,665.

 

It reported 45,449 cases on Sunday while there were 45,136 new cases the next day. On January 20, there were 46,387 cases, the highest single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.

 

The Health department said 55,557 samples were tested in the last 24 hours which apparently explains a low number of positive cases today. The State had a full lockdown on Sunday and the testings were limited.

 

On Sunday, the State reported over 45,000 cases after testing 1,01,252 samples on Saturday.

8:31 PM

Mumbai reports 1, 857 new Covid cases,

8:12 PM

Covid protocol will be implemented again in the Budget Session of the Parliament

7:20 PM

1,000 Made in India drones rehearse for Beating the Retreat ceremony

7:00 PM

Delhi reports 5,760 new Covid cases

6:06 PM

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal to chair DDMA meeting on Jan 27

5:54 PM

England to drop COVID travel test demand, says PM Johnson

People arriving in England from abroad will no longer have to take COVID-19 tests if they have been vaccinated, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday, ahead of an expected announcement.

 

Johnson told reporters the rule change was designed to show that the country was open for business and travellers. He did not say when the requirement would change but further details are expected to be given later on Monday.

5:32 PM

WHO head says 'dangerous' to assume pandemic is nearing end

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday it would be dangerous to assume that the highly transmissable Omicron was the last variant to emerge and that the world was in the 'end game' of the pandemic.

 

However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was possible this year to exit the acute phase of the pandemic where COVID-19 constitutes a global health emergency if strategies and tools such as testing and vaccines are used in a comprehensive way. Speaking at the opening of Executive Board meeting, Tedros said since Omicron was first identified a little over nine weeks ago, more than 80 million cases had been reported to the UN agency, more than were reported in the whole of 2020. "Conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge," he added.

4:39 PM

Dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant: WHO

3:56 PM

BJP to contest 65 seats in Punjab, ally Amarinder's party to contest 37

3:15 PM

Kejriwal trying to fake a perception: Navjot Singh Sidhu