Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra records 6,185 fresh cases, 85 deaths

Coronavirus live updates: At 1,808,550, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 879,560, Andhra Pradesh 865,000, Tamil Nadu 776,174 and Kerala 583,000

7:59 PM

Nearly 4,000 fresh coronavirus cases in Kerala push tally to 587,707

Kerala's COVID-19 tally touched 5,87,707 on Friday with the addition of 3,966 fresh cases while the toll rose to 2,171 with 23 deaths. A total of 4,544 people recovered from the disease, taking the total number of those cured in the state to5,21,522, state Health Minister K K Shailaja said.

 

Currently, 63,885 patients were undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in the state.

 

"Out of the total cases today, 3,348 were cases of local transmission and the source of infection was unknown for 488. Of those diagnosed, 81 have arrived from outside the state. There were 49 health workers among the infected," she said. In a release, the Minister said 39,108 samples were tested and the test positivity rate is 10.14 per cent.

7:39 PM

Covid-19 LIVE: ICMR nod for CCMB dry swab testing for coronavirus

The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved a dry swab RNA- extraction-free testing method for the COVID-19 virus developed by CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, CCMB said on Friday. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an important macromolecule that is present in all biological cells. In the conventional testing method, nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab samples collected by sample collection centres are transported to testing centres, sometimes even hundreds of kilometres away.

 

The samples are generally placed in a liquid called Viral Transport Medium (VTM).

 

To avoid leakage, they are packed heavily that adds on to sample processing times at both the sample collection and testing centres. Despite this, there are leakages from samples, which render those batches untestable and unsafe in handling.

6:59 PM

Centre in SC blames Delhi govt for rise in Covid-19 cases, says no steps taken despite exhortations

The Centre on Friday blamed Delhi government for rising COVID-19 cases in the national capital and said that despite repeated exhortations it did not take steps to enhance testing capacity, particularly for RT-PCR, which remained static at around 20,000 tests for a long time.

 

The Centre said that Delhi government was well aware that the confluence of winter, festival season and pollution were likely to witness a surge in cases and this foreknowledge ought to have led to strict enforcement and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) measures being instituted well in time but this was not done.

 

In its affidavit, filed before the top court, the Ministry of Home affairs (MHA), said while there were regular advertisements on achievements of Delhi Government, including on dengue prevention and control, no ads on COVID appropriate behaviour were to be seen. The people, at large, were also not apprised about this through regular outreach measures.

 

It said, That despite repeated exhortations in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, the Delhi Government did not take steps to enhance testing capacity, particularly for RT-PCR, which remained static at around 20,000 RTPCR tests for a long time.

6:47 PM

Rajasthan reports 3,093 new coronavirus cases; state tally 260,040

6:41 PM

16 mn Brazilian Covid patients' personal info leaked online: Report

Healthcare records and personal information of 16 million Covid-19 patients in Brazil were found exposed online. The treasure trove of data got leaked after a hospital employee uploaded on open source code repository GitHub a spreadsheet containing key information such as usernames, passwords, and access keys to sensitive government systems, ZDNet reported on Thursday.

 

Among those affected by the leak are Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, seven government ministers, and the governors of 17 Brazilian states, said the report.

 

Besides names of patients, addresses and ID information, the exposed database also contained sensitive healthcare records including medical history and medication regimes.

5:57 PM

With 594 new cases, Odisha's coronavirus tally reaches 317,239

Odisha reported 594 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total tally of cases in the state to 3,17,239 till Thursday. The total number of Coronavirus cases in the state include 308839 recoveries and 6629 active cases. Fourteen patients succumbed due to the virus in the past 24 hours, according to the Health Department of Odisha.

 

In terms of district-wise cases on Thursday, Khurda witnessed the most number of cases at 56, followed by Sundargarh (55), Cuttack (55), Balangir (42), Mayurbhanj (42), Angul (37), Puri ( 37), Balasore (34), Jharsuguda (27) Nuapada (25), Jagatsinghpur (24), Kalahandi (20), Keonjhar (19), Bargarh (14), Sambalpur (17), Kendrapada (16), and Bhadrak (11).

5:37 PM

Classes to resume in medical colleges of West Bengal from December 1

5:22 PM

Around 83% of Indian workforce nervous to go back to office without Covid-19 vaccine: Survey

Around 83 per cent of employees in India are still nervous about going back to the office as there is no vaccine, according to a survey by IT company Atlassian. From an organisational perspective, 88 per cent of Indian employees believed their company was already well prepared for returning to the office, while 78 per cent of the workforce in India were annoyed that it took a pandemic to allow them to work from home, the survey found.

 

The survey, conducted in October, found that around 86 per cent of employees in India thought the members of their team feel closer to each other now and 75 per cent thought their team worked better together compared to pre-COVID-19.

 

"The research findings point to how the 'new normal' will shape work, relationships and collaboration in the future. These are the voices of real people facing real complexities," Dinesh Ajmera, site lead and head of engineering (Bengaluru) at Atlassian, said in a statement.

4:44 PM

2,366 fresh coronavirus cases take Uttar Pradesh's tally to 537,747

The COVID-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 7,697 on Friday with 23 more fatalities, while 2,366 fresh cases pushed the infection tally to 5,37,747, a senior official here said.

 

"In the past 24 hours, 2,366 fresh cases have been reported in the state, which has 25,639 active cases while 5,04,411 people have been treated and discharged," Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters.

 

He said the death toll in the state has risen to 7,697 while the total number of cases has gone up to 5,37,747. Among the 25,639 active cases in the state, 12,455 are in home isolation, 2,281 are undergoing treatment in private hospitals and the rest are in government hospitals, where they are getting treatment free of cost, Prasad said.

 

On Thursday, over 1,83,557 COVID-19 tests -- the highest in a day so far -- were conducted in the state, taking the total number of tests to over 1.88 crore, Prasad said.

4:16 PM

Delhi has infrastructure to inoculate entire city population when Covid-19 vaccine is out: Satyendar Jain

The Delhi Government has the infrastructure and capacity to inoculate the entire population of Delhi as soon as the COVID-19 vaccination is out, claimed Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday.

 

"In Delhi, three times testing is being done as compared to the rest of the country. We have the infrastructure and capacity to innoculate the entire population of Delhi as soon as the vaccination is out," said Jain in a daily press briefing.

 

"Do not worry about the storage of the vaccine. There has been a decline in the positive ratio in Delhi after November 7. The new cases have not crossed the 7,000-mark for one week, it is also a positive indication," he added.

 

Jain had on Thursday said the COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital has come down to 8.5 per cent in the last three weeks.

3:56 PM

Covid-19: Only women, no children allowed in Mumbai's local trains

Amid a continued surge of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the Railways today reiterated that children will not be allowed on local trains and only women will be allowed to board these.

 

"Railway Board has only permitted the ladies passengers to travel in local trains during the stipulated hours over Mumbai Metropolitan region," the directive issued by DRM/MMCT stated.

 

The decision came after it was noticed that a large number of women passengers were seen travelling with children in the trains.

3:12 PM

Five coronavirus patients die in Gujarat hospital fire; SC takes note

Five coronavirus patients died after a fire broke out in the ICU of a designated COVID-19 hospital at Rajkot in Gujarat on Friday. The Supreme Court took cognizance of the fire incident and sought a report from Gujarat government on the issue. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said 26 patients at the hospital were rescued and shifted to other facilities.

 

The fire broke out around 12.30 am in the ICU ward located on the first floor of the four-storey Uday Shivanand Hospital in Anand Bungalow Chowk area, where around 31 patients were admitted, Patel added.

 

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani expressed grief over the incident and ordered a probe into it. He also announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each deceased. Rajkot Police Commissioner Manoj Agarwal said, "Out of the 11 coronavirus patients admitted to the ICU ward, five lost their lives in the fire, which was quickly brought under control before it could spread to other floors."

3:01 PM

Thirty-nine coronavirus positive cases so far in Sabarimala

As many as 39 people including pilgrims, police personnel and temple employees, have tested positive for coronavirus in Sabarimala so far since the Lord Ayyappa temple here was openedfor the annual pilgrimage season on November 16. According to Travancore Devaswom Board sources here, of the total positive cases, 27 were employees of various departments and all of them were shifted to the first line Covid-19 treatment centres immediately.

 

All necessary precautionary measures had been taken at the shrine premises and base camps adhering to Covid-19 guidelines.

 

Four employees of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) including two temporary staff are among those who have been tested positive during the period. Two employees of the police mess here were tested positive on Thursday.

2:44 PM

PM to visit Zydus Cadila's Covid-19 vaccine development centre in Ahmedabad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit pharma major Zydus Cadila's plant near Ahmedabad on Saturday to get information about the development of its COVID-19 vaccine, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on Friday. Zydus Cadila's plant is situated at Changodar industrial area near Ahmedabad city.

 

The drug maker had earlier announced that the phase-I clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, has been completed and it has commenced phase-II clinical trials from August.

 

"PM Narendra Modi will be on a brief visit of Gujarat on Saturday, during which, he will visit Zydus Cadila's facility to get first-hand information about the progress made by the company so far in terms of development of vaccine against coronavirus," Patel said.

 

An official said that the prime minister is likely arrive at the plant around 9.30 am.

2:20 PM

PM Modi will visit Serum Institute of India in Pune tomorrow to review Covid-19 vaccine production