Covid LIVE: Maharashtra sees 46,393 new cases; Delhi reports 45 more deaths

Till date, a total of 2,759 patients infected with Omicron Variant have been reported in Maharashtra; out of these 416 cases were reported today.

11:13 AM

DDMA allows private offices to open with 50% staff in view of declining Covid-19 cases

With a decline in the daily Covid-19 cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday allowed private offices to function with 50 per cent staff but maintained that weekend curfew and other restrictions, including odd-even rule for opening shops in city markets will continue, an order said.

 

Earlier in the day, the Delhi government proposed lifting the weekend curfew and ending the odd-even scheme for opening shops in view of the coronavirus situation but Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal directed that status quo be maintained on the restrictions till the situation is better.

11:11 AM

Battle for UP: Nadda to visit Bijnor, Amroha

BJP national president J.P. Nadda will on Saturday visit the western Uttar Pradesh districts of Bijnor and Amroha and meet party leaders and workers ahead of the upcoming state Assembly polls.

During the visit, he will meet party candidates, workers and leaders associated with the election campaign for the 30 Assembly seats in Bijnor, Amroha, Muzaffarnagar, Nagina, Muradabad, Rampur and Sambhal.

Nadda will reach Bijnor by afternoon, where he will meet party candidates and office bearers of 15 Assembly seats of Muzaffarnagar, Nagina and Bijnor and take stock of the political situation.

11:05 AM

WhatsApp to allow transfer of chats from Android to iPhone

Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly testing the possibility of allowing users to migrate chats from their Android device to an iPhone.

According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is working on an "import chat history" feature that will let Android users move their chats to an iPhone device.

The feature was spotted in development in the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS v22.2.74. Currently, it is not available to everyone at the moment. It appears that WhatsApp will rely on an app called Move to iOS in order to make the migration possible.

11:02 AM

179 fresh cases of COVID-19 recorded in Ladakh

Ladakh reported 179 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the overall caseload in the Union Territory to 24,213 and active cases to 1,101, officials said on Saturday.

Leh district reported 112 positive cases while the rest 67 came from Kargil district, they said.

According to the officials, no COVID deaths were reported in the previous day and the death toll remained unchanged at 222 with 164 fatalities in Leh and 58 in Kargil.

11:01 AM

Chinese vaccine Sinovac no match against Omicron variant: Study

Millions of people in 48 countries have received two shots of Sinovac, a Chinese-manufactured Covid-19 vaccine, but those vaccinations alone are of no help against the Omicron variant, a peer-reviewed study published in Nature Medicine has said.

An analysis of blood serum from 101 individuals from the Dominican Republic showed that Omicron infection produced no neutralising antibodies among those who received the standard two-shot regimen of the Sinovac vaccine.

ntibody levels against Omicron rose among those who had also received a booster shot of the mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech, showed the new study by researchers at Yale University and the Dominican Republic.

11:00 AM

Jharkhand reports 2,015 new COVID-19 cases, 9 fresh fatalities

Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally rose to 4,17,403 on Saturday as 2,015 more people tested positive for the infection, while nine fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 5,244, a health bulletin said.

Ranchi district registered the highest number of new cases at 487, followed by 466 in East Singhbhum, under which Jamshedpur falls, and 146 in Deoghar, it said.

10:45 AM

1,214 players register for IPL 2022 mega auction

The Indian Premier League (IPL) player registration closed on January 20 and a total of 1,214 players (896 Indian and 318 overseas) have signed up to be part of the IPL 2022 player auction.

The two-day mega auction will see 10 teams bidding for some of the finest talents in the world cricket. The players' list incorporates 270 capped, 903 uncapped, and 41 Associate players.

10:45 AM

Maha: Thane district reports over 3,000 new COVID-19 cases, 10 more die

With the addition of 3,006 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 6,87,858, while the death of 10 patients took the toll to 11,696, an official said on Saturday.

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

Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.70 per cent at present.

10:23 AM

15 injured as major fire breaks out in Mumbai high-rise

At least 15 persons were injured, three of them seriously, in a major fire that broke out on the 18th floor of a residential building in Tardeo area of central Mumbai on Saturday morning, an official said.

The blaze erupted around 7 am in Kamla building located opposite Gandhi Hospital at Gowalia Tank, the official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

10:22 AM

Brazil reports over 160,000 new Covid cases for 3rd straight day

In the last 24 hours, Brazil reported more than 160,000 new Covid-19 cases for a third consecutive day, the National Council of Health Secretaries said.

The new infections has increased Brazil's overall caseload as of Saturday morning to 23,766,499, the third highest after the US and India.

In the same time, the country registered 358 fatalities, taking the national death toll to 622,875, the second largest after the US.

10:13 AM

10,050 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus detected in India so far: Union health ministry

10,050 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus detected in India so far: Union health ministry

10:11 AM

Election Commission to take call on holding physical poll rallies, roadshows today

The Election Commission of India on Saturday will hold a meeting with the Union Health Secretary and the Chief Health Secretaries of the five poll-bound states to review the ban on holding physical roadshows and rallies by political parties ahead of Assembly elections.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra will hold virtual meetings with the Health Secretary, Chief Secretary, and Chief Electoral Officers of five poll-bound states to take stock of the situation as India is reporting a continuous rise in COVID-19 cases.

9:57 AM

Andaman & Nicobar reports 131 new COVID-19 cases

Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported 131 new COVID-19 cases, 36 more than the previous day's count, pushing the tally in the union territory to 9,164, a health department official said on Saturday.

Of the 131 new cases, two were airport arrival and 129 were detected during contact tracing, he said.

The archipelago now has 516 active COVID-19 cases, while 8,519 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 80 in the last 24 hours, the official said.

9:56 AM

Mizoram logs 1,116 new COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths in last 24 hours

As many as 1,116 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths were reported in Mizoram during the last 24 hours, the Department of Information and Public relations informed on Saturday.

With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state rose to 1,58,368, including 9,608 active cases.

The positivity rate is 19.35 per cent.

9:56 AM

India added 337,704 new coronavirus cases, active cases highest in 237 days

India added 337,704 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 38,903,731, which includes 10,050 cases of the Omicron variant, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

 

The active cases have increased to 2,113,365, the highest in 237 days, while the death toll has climbed to 488,884 with 488 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

 

There has been a 3.69 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Friday, the ministry said.