Covid LIVE: Kerala sees 26,701 new cases, 74 deaths in last 24 hours

Catch all the latest updates on coronavirus situation

12:38 PM

COVID-19:Puducherry logs 120 new cases

The Union of Territory of Puducherry recorded 120 new cases of coronavirus after testing 5,017 samples during the last 24 hours ending 10 am on Saturday, taking the overall tally to 124,049, Health department director G Sriramulu said.

 

Puducherry recorded 70 fresh cases, Karaikal 17, Yanam 8 and Mahe 25. With one more person from Mahe succumbing to the infection, the death toll has risen to 1,816, he said. 

 

Active cases now stand at 937. Of them, 172 people are being treated in hospitals while the rest are in home isolation, the official said. 

12:13 PM

Hawaii health care workers decry lack of COVID mandates

Health care workers in Hawaii say a lack of government action is worsening an already crippling surge of coronavirus cases in the islands, and without effective policy changes the state's limited hospitals could face a grim crisis.

 

Soon we're going to be in a situation where we're going to ration health care, said Dr. Jonathan Dworkin, an infectious diseases specialist in Hawaii.

 

Dworkin said that while mandates may be unpopular, rationing Hawaii's limited health care resources is going to be far more ugly.

12:10 PM

75% of above-30s in Sri Lanka fully vaccinated against Covid-19

Sri Lankan authorities said that 75 per cent of those aged above 30 in the country have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 amid a mass inoculation drive.

 

Army chief and head of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of Covid-19 Outbreak Gen. Shavendra Silva told Xinhua news agency on Friday that thousands of vaccines were being administered in all districts daily and till Thursday 75 per cent of the over 30 age group received both doses.

 

He said that authorities have begun administering the vaccines to those between 20 to 30 years since Thursday at district levels.

11:41 AM

Total COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeds 677.2 million in India

India administered 5.885 million COVID vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, taking the inoculation coverage to 677,211,205 crore until 7 am on Saturday, according to the provisional report released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

 

According to the figures available, as many as 10,360,248 healthcare workers have been inoculated with 1st dose of COVID vaccine while 8,449,196 people have been inoculated with both the doses, states the report.

 

Meanwhile, the number of frontline workers vaccinated stands at 18,328,477 (first dose) and 13,455,994 (two doses).

 

11:40 AM

China reports one case in Yunnan

China reported one locally transmitted Covid-19 case Friday in the southern province of Yunnan, the National Health Commission said in a statement. There were 27 imported cases. China has managed to bring an outbreak of the delta variant since late July largely under control.

11:36 AM

Australia’s Covid epicenter sees another day of record cases

New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, reported a record 1,533 new daily coronavirus cases, with the state’s creaking health system braced for a peak in hospitalizations in October. 

 

The number of people in the state being treated for the virus in hospital rose above 1,000 for the first time and is expected to climb in the coming weeks. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Friday she would outline a plan next week on how the health system would handle the surge. 

 

The state’s ambulance service is making contingency plans to draft in police and firefighters to drive ambulances to help deal with increasing patient numbers, Brad Hazzard, the state’s health minister, said at a news conference Saturday. “I don’t think that’s been finalized yet, but that’s certainly a plan, and I support that plan.” Friday had been the second busiest day for the ambulance service in the state’s history, he said.

11:14 AM

Florida school mask debate headed for appeals court battle

The battle over mask requirements to guard against coronavirus in Florida schools headed for a new legal phase Friday following an appeal by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of a judge's ruling that a blanket ban on mask mandates exceeds the state government's authority.

 

The case heads next to the 15 judges on the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee and could ultimately wind up in the state Supreme Court. The issue is whether the freshly minted Parents Bill of Rights law means parents have sole authority to decide if their child wears a mask or permits a school board to impose a broad mask requirement.

 

Because that will likely take time, lawyers for parents challenging the ban on mask requirements want Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper to immediately lift an automatic stay that effectively allows the ban to continue to be enforced during the appeal.

11:01 AM

13 Delhi govt hospitals get nodal officers to oversee preparations for possible 3rd Covid wave

The Delhi government on Friday appointed nodal officers for 13 hospitals run by it to oversee preparations for a possible third COVID-19 wave.

 

The nodal officers have been directed to immediately start monitoring the preparations, including bed escalation, sourcing of requisite human resource, oxygen supply, procurement and storage (of) sufficient drugs and engineering works if any.

 

They will also coordinate with agencies such as the Public Works Department and district magistrates concerned.

10:30 AM

US sees spike in kids hospitalisations due to Delta variant

Covid-19 cases, emergency department visits, and hospital admissions increased from June to August among children aged 0-17 years in the US, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

In a two-week period (August 14-27), Covid-19-related emergency department visits and hospital admissions among the mentioned age group in the states with the lowest vaccination coverage were 3.4 and 3.7 times than in those with the highest inoculation rate, respectively, said the study published on Friday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Report.

 

Meanwhile, weekly Covid-19-associated hospitalisation rates among children and adolescents rose nearly five-fold during the period from late June to mid-August, coinciding with increased circulation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, said a second CDC report published also on Friday.

10:01 AM

India records 42,618 Covid cases, 330 deaths in a day; weekly positivity rate 2.63%

India's COVID-19 infection tally rose by 42,618 in a day to reach 32,945,907 while the number of active cases touched 405,681 following an increase for the third consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The death toll climbed to 440,225 with 330 more people succumbing to the viral disease, showed the data updated at 8 am.

In a span of 24 hours, the active caseload rose by 5,903. The number of active cases now comprise 1.23 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.43 per cent, the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded 2.50 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was 2.63 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 71 days.

10:00 AM

Summary of MoHFW data

Summary of MoHFW data 
 

Active cases: 405,681 (Net increase: 5,903)

Deaths: 440,225 (Net increase: 330)

Cured: 32,100,001 (Net increase: 36,385)

Total cases: 32,945,907 (Net increase: 42,618)

Total vaccination: 677,211,205 (Increase over previous day: 5,885,687)

 

9:56 AM

Thane reports 356 new cases, seven deaths; vaccination count crosses 5-mn mark

The coronavirus infection tally in Thane district of Maharashtra grew by 356 to 552,337, while the death of seven patients took the toll to 11,309, an official said on Saturday.

 

These cases and fatalities were reported on Friday, he said.

 

The COVID-19 mortality rate of Thane is 2.04 per cent.

 

District information officer Ajay Jadhav said that the number of people vaccinated against the viral infection in Thane crossed the 5-million mark on Friday.

 

9:47 AM

FDA pushes for Moderna booster shot data in weighing dose

US health regulators are seeking additional coronavirus booster shot data from Moderna Inc., as the Biden administration expects to begin a widespread booster campaign later this month with only the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech vaccine, people familiar with the matter say.

 

Moderna announced Friday that it had “completed” its submission of data to the Food and Drug Administration for authorization of boosters. The FDA has been seeking more data as Moderna’s submission rolled in, the people added.

9:19 AM

Vietnam's capital extends COVID-19 restrictions in some districts for 15 days

The administration of the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi will reimpose coronavirus lockdown measures in several city districts for 15 days starting September 6, the government said on Friday.

 

"Ha Noi authorities have divided the city into three zones for application of different COVID-19 prevention and control measures, starting from September 6," the Vietnamese government said in its official online newspaper.

 

In the so-called red zone including 15 districts residents are allowed to leave their homes only for essential or emergency purposes.

8:56 AM

Global Covid-19 caseload tops 219.7 million

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 219.7 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.55 million and vaccinations soared to over 5.40 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

 

In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and vaccination tally stood at 219,739,748, 4,552,477 and 5,402,742,641, respectively.

 

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 39,848,170 and 647,573, respectively, according to the CSSE.