Coronavirus LIVE: 22k new cases in Kerala in a day; 6,258 in Maharashtra

India recorded 29,689 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, which pushed its tally of Covid-19 cases to 31,440,951

6:08 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Kerala reports 22,129 cases in a day

Kerala reports 22,129 new cases and 156 deaths today; active caseload reaches 1,45,371. Positivity rate rises to 12.35 per cent, according to the state health department

5:27 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Expect to have 150 mn vaccine doses in Aug, says V K Paul

The Indian government expects to have around 150 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in August, Vinod Kumar Paul, who heads a federal government panel on vaccines, told a news conference on Tuesday.

 

India will meet its target of supplying more than half a billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to states by the end of this month, the health ministry had said earlier in the day. (Reuters)

4:51 PM

INSACOG sequenced over 57,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes since Dec: Govt

An Indian genomics consortium has sequenced over 57,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes out of which nearly 45,000 samples have been analysed, assigned pangolin lineage classification and submitted for public health correlation, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

 

Different variants have been detected through the whole genome sequencing activities undertaken by Indian SARS CoV2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG) and the information so obtained has been regularly shared with states and union territories to strengthen their public health response to the pandemic, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a written reply.

 

The government had established INSACOG in December 2020 which is a consortium of 28 laboratories for whole genome sequencing and surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the light of sudden outbreak of the new coronavirus variant in the UK. National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is the coordinating agency for the consortium. (PTI)

4:38 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Decreasing case trend reversed in some districts, a sign of concern, says govt

Coronavirus LIVE: Decreasing case trend reversed in some districts, a sign of concern, says govt

4:29 PM

22 districts reporting increasing trend; high positivity rate in 54 districts, says govt

3:58 PM

Ind vs SL: Krunal Pandya tests positive for Covid, second T20I postponed

The second T20I between Sri Lanka and India, scheduled for Tuesday evening, has been postponed by a day - the reason, as ESPNcricinfo has learnt, is that an Indian cricketer has tested positive for Covid-19. News agency ANI said all-rounder Krunal Pandya has tested positive.

3:39 PM

Vaccination of children likely from next month, says health minister

3:13 PM

Robust system of recording all Covid deaths already exists, says govt

1:52 PM

Schools in Uttarakhand to re-open for classes 6-12

1:24 PM

Australia's Victoria reports 10 locally acquired Covid-19 cases

Australia's Victoria state on Tuesday reported 10 locally acquired cases of Covid-19, down from 11 a day earlier, as the state's nearly 7 million residents wait to see whether a hard lockdown will end on Tuesday night.

 

All new local cases are linked to the latest outbreak and were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period, the state's health department said.

 

1:20 PM

Africa must build vaccine-making capacity: WTO Chief

African nations should build capacity to produce vaccines on the continent and work with pharmaceutical companies to ensure that the raw materials needed to produce the inoculations are available, according to World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

 

While a waiver on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, that is being discussed at the WTO is seen as a way to improve the supply of Covid-19 vaccines to the world’s least inoculated continent, Okonjo-Iweala cautioned that only a handful of African countries have the capacity to produce the life-saving drugs.

1:05 PM

Antibodies from Sinovac's Covid-19 shot fade after about 6 months, booster helps: Study

Antibodies triggered by Sinovac Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine declined below a key threshold from around six months after a second dose for most recipients, although a third shot had a strong booster effect, according to a lab study.

 

Chinese researchers reported the findings from a study of blood samples from healthy adults aged between 18-59 in a paper published on Sunday, which has not been peer reviewed.

 

Among participants who received two doses, two or four weeks apart, only 16.9% and 35.2% respectively still had neutralising antibodies above what researchers regard as a detectable threshold level six months after the second shot, the paper said.

 

12:40 PM

UN: Covid hitting poor and conflict nations worse this year

The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting conflict-ridden and impoverished countries much worse this year than in 2020, with many facing higher caseloads and rising deaths, the U.N.'s deputy humanitarian chief warned Monday.

 

Ramesh Rajasingham said in a closed briefing to the U.N. Security Council that these surges are being fueled by a lack of access to vaccines, an easing of public health measures, increased social mixing, and the spread of the delta variant to at least 124 countries, including 17 fragile and conflict-affected nations.

 

12:27 PM

Pondy clocks 113 new coronavirus cases, one death

Puducherry registered 113 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday raising the tally to 1,20,530 while one more person succumbed to the deadly virus taking the toll to 1,791.

 

The new cases were identified at the end of examination of 5124 samples and the fresh cases were spread over Puducherry 75, Karaikal 13, Yanam 5 and Mahe 20.

 

12:02 PM

Australian city Melbourne ends 5th Covid-19 lockdown

Australia's second-most populous city Melbourne will end its fifth lockdown on Tuesday with the Victoria state government declaring it had beaten an outbreak of the highly contagious Covid-19 delta variant for a second time.

 

The five-day lockdown across Victoria ends at 11:59 p.m., allowing schools, pubs and restaurants to reopen, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. But people will not be allowed to have visitors in their homes for another two weeks.