LIVE: UP restricts visitors to indoor events at 100 as Covid-19 tally rises

Coronavirus live updates: At 1,780,208, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 873,046, Andhra Pradesh 862,000, Tamil Nadu 769,000 and Kerala 562,735

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Covid-19 cases in US may double before Joe Biden takes office: Study

With Inauguration Day for US President-elect Joe Biden still two months away, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country is likely to increase to 20 million by the end of January, nearly doubling the current level of 12 million cases, predicts a new study. The research, published in the journal Scientific reports, applied a mathematical model which had accurately forecasted the rate of COVID-19 growth over the summer of 2020.

 

"One of the key reasons for the increased accuracy of this model over other COVID-19 forecasts is that this model accounts for the fact that people live in interconnected social networks rather than interacting mostly with random groups of strangers," said study co-author Raphael Thomadsen from the Washington University in St. Louis in the US. "This allows the model to forecast that growth will not continue at exponential rates for long periods of time, as classic COVID-19 forecasts predict," Thomadsen said.

 

According to the study, the current social distancing reflects an approximate 60 per cent return to normalcy, as compared with the level of social distancing before the pandemic.

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India and Israel to develop rapid test kits and cooperate on vaccine research: MEA

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Covid-19 LIVE: 16 arrested in Indore for partying during night curfew

Ten men and six women were arrested in Indore in Madhya Pradesh for allegedly partying and firing a celebratory shot in the air during night curfew imposed to stem the coronavirus spread, police said on Monday.

 

All 16 were charged under relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act and the IPC and taken into custody on Sunday night from Paradise Garden in the Dwarkapuri area, an official said.

 

"One of the arrested persons, identified as Gaurav Puri, is a history-sheeter and we have seized a country-made pistol and some bullets from him. "He has been charged under the Arms Act as well. Music was being played loudly and guests were without face masks at the party, where social distancing was not being observed," he said.

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Coronavirus LIVE: Sri Lanka's Covid-19 cases top 20,000-mark

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Sri Lanka on Monday surpassed the 20,000 mark after 400 new infections were reported. The Health Ministry said that the national tally has now increased to 20,171 with 87 deaths and 14,069 recoveries, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

There were four more deaths registered on Sunday.

 

Health authorities on Monday lifted the isolation status in certain areas in the capital Colombo, citing a decline in cases detected locally. Still residents in the areas with restrictions eased are urged to strictly follow all health guidelines while other areas remaining in isolation. Following a decline seen in infections since the second wave of the pandemic last month, all schools other than in Western Province re-opened on Monday after being closed from the first week of October.

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AstraZeneca will have enough Covid-19 vaccine for 200 million doses this year

AstraZeneca will have enough of its candidate vaccine for 200 million doses by the end of 2020, with drug substance for 700 million doses by the end of the first quarter of 2021 globally, operations executive Pam Cheng said on Monday. Cheng told a briefing that the company would keep the "active" drug substance in stock while it awaited regulatory approval around the world.

 

She said there would be enough vaccine for 20 million doses in Britain by the end of the year, with enough "active" drug substance for 70 million doses for the UK by the end of Q1 2021.

 

She said she expected that to translate into 4 million finished vaccine doses by the end of 2020, and 40 million finished doses by the end of Q1 next year.

 

4:09 PM

Doctor dies from coronavirus in Haryana's Faridabad

One more doctor has died from coronavirus in Haryana's Faridabad, a spokesperson of the Indian Medical Association's local unit said. So far, four doctors have succumbed to the infection in the city. The spokesperson said deceased Dr Santosh Grover worked at Ashok Nursing Home in the NIT 3.

 

A week ago, another doctor, Archana Bhatia, died from the infection. The other doctors who succumbed to the infection in the city are Renu Gambhir and Abha Sabharwal. The IMA appealed to all doctors to treat patients carefully and take care of themselves.

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Himachal Pradesh imposes night curfew in Mandi, Shimla Kullu and Kangra between November 24 and Dec 15

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25,000 health workers identified in Meghalaya for first batch of Covid-19 vaccine

The Meghalaya government has identified around 25,000 health workers who will be administered the COVID-19 vaccine on priority, as and when the first batch is rolled out, an official said on Tuesday.

 

In accordance with the directions of the central government, the state has enlisted around 25,000 healthcare workers, both public and private, who would be covered during the first phase of vaccination, Health Commissioner and Secretary Sampath Kumar said.

 

The rollout is expected to be smooth and successful, the health commissioner said. Kumar, who is also the COVID-19 task force chief in the state, had said during a meeting on Sunday that the whole exercise of vaccination will be taken up in phases.

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What's going on, asks SC as Covid-19 worsens in Delhi, 'out of control' in Gujarat

The Supreme Court on Monday said the Covid-19 situation has worsened in Delhi and it has spiralled out control in Gujarat. Asking the governments to prepare for the worst in December, the top court noted that there has been sudden spike in novel Coronavirus cases across the country in November.

 

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and comprising Justices R.S. Reddy and M.R. Shah asked the central and state governments to file status reports within two days detailing steps taken and intended to address the pandemic.

 

The bench noted that the situation in Delhi has worsened in the last two weeks and asked the Arvind Kejriwal government to examine the bottlenecks in connection with the pandemic management. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the Centre has taken steps to improve the situation in Delhi. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing Delhi government, submitted before the top court that an expert committee has been constituted and the government had informed the court about it in July.

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HC declines to entertain 'half-baked' plea for immediate lockdown in Delhi

The Delhi High Court Monday declined to entertain a plea seeking directions to the AAP government to immediately place the city under lockdown in view of the rising COVID-19 cases and air pollution levels, saying the petition was "half-baked" and "unnecessary".

 

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said the plea was filed without doing any homework and it ought to be dismissed with costs.

 

It asked the counsel for the petitioner, Dr Kaushal Kant Mishra, whether she will withdraw the petition or should it be dismissed with costs. Mishra's lawyer, Pooja Dhar, agreed to withdraw the plea and sought liberty to move a representation before the appropriate authorities. The court, however, declined to grant any such liberty and said "petition is dismissed as withdrawn". READ ON...

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Odisha's coronavirus tally climbs to 314,629, death toll at 1,657

Odisha's COVID-19 caseload rose to 3,14,629 with 668 people testing positive, while 17 more fatalities pushed the coastal state's death toll to 1,657. Of the new cases detected from 28 districts, 385 were reported from different quarantine centres, while the remaining 283 are local contact cases. Nuapada district registered the highest number of 68 infections followed by Khurda (56) and Sundargarh (55).

 

Taking to Twitter, the Health and Family Welfare Department said: "Regret to inform the demise of seventeen #COVID19 positive patients while under treatment in hospitals."

 

The deaths were reported from Khurda, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh Jharsuguda, Bolangir and Kendrapara districts.

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Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan distributes masks in Bhopal

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PM Modi to hold a meeting with CMs of states over Covid-19 situation tomorrow

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Stubble-burning led to high Covid-19 death rate in Delhi, downtrend expected in 2-3 weeks: Satyendar Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday attributed the high COVID-19 death rate in the city to the pollution caused by stubble-burning and expected a downtrend in it in the next two-three weeks. The minister told reporters here that the pollution due to stubble-burning created a big problem in Delhi. It caused problems in breathing and those who had COVID-19 inhaled the smoke, which aggravated the seriousness, he said.

 

Its effect on the city's COVID-19 death rate will go away in the next two-three weeks since pollution due to stubble-burning has lessened in the last few days, he said.

 

"There was heavy pollution due to stubble-burning amid the COVID-19 pandemic and it came as a double attack. Since the pollution due to stubble-burning is less now, the downtrend in deaths will be there in a few weeks," Jain said.

 

Delhi recorded 6,746 fresh COVID-19 cases on Sunday and a positivity rate of 12.29 per cent, while 121 more fatalities pushed the city's death toll due to the disease to 8,391, authorities said.

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Covid-19 LIVE: China tests millions after coronavirus flare-ups in three cities

Chinese authorities are testing millions of people, imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after multiple locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered in three cities across the country last week.

 

As temperatures drop, large-scale measures are being enacted in the cities of Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli, despite the low number of new cases compared to the United States and other countries that are seeing new waves of infections.

 

Many experts and government officials have warned that the chance of the virus spreading will be greater during the cold weather. Recent flareups have shown that there is still a risk of the virus returning, despite being largely controlled within China.

 

On Monday, the National Health Commission reported two new locally transmitted cases in Shanghai over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to seven since Friday.