Coronavirus LIVE: Wearing masks mandatory for next 6 mnths, says Thackeray

Coronavirus live updates: Kerala reported the maximum number of new cases in the country on Saturday with 6,293 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours.

5:13 PM

Tripura logs 26 more coronavirus cases; tally rises to 33,145

Twenty-six more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tripura on Saturday taking the tally to 33,145, a health department official said. The death toll due to the disease remained unchanged at 375 as no fatalities were reported during the last 24 hours. Tripura currently has 269 active cases, The official said.

 

He said that 32,478 people have recovered from coronavirus so far. A total of 63 patients were discharged from GB Pant hospital, the main referral hospital for COVID-19 in Tripura, on Friday. Twenty-three patients have migrated to other states. As many as 5,64,132 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state so far, he said.

4:54 PM

DYFI activists booked for taking out march violating COVID-19 protocol

A case was registered against a group of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) activists for taking out a protest march to the municipal corporation here and allegedly barging into the office buildingviolating COVID-19 protocol.

The DYFI workers, on Friday, had also unfurled the national flag atop the Municipality building as a reply to the BJP activists who had hoisted a giant banner with 'Jai Sri Ram' written on it after the saffron party won in the recently held local body polls here.

Television visuals showed that while a protest meeting was being held in front of the office, some of the activists had climbed the building walls and rolled down the flag.

Based on the complaint of the Municipal Secretary, Palakkad Town South police registered a case for unlawful assembly under IPC section 143 and for the violation of COVID protocols.

4:17 PM

Amit Shah has lunch at house of farmer in Bengal

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday had lunch at the house of a farmer in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district as part of his exercise to strengthen relations with the agriculturists ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.

Shah's move assumes significance in the wake of the ongoing farmers' protests in Delhi against the three farm laws.

Shah, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal to take stock of the BJP's affairs in the state, arrived here on Saturday and offered puja at a local temple.

4:07 PM

Covid vaccine: Govt will inoculate 30 cr people in 6-7 months, says Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said that country's scientists and health experts have worked on the development of an indigenous vaccine and in the upcoming six to seven months India will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore people.

 

Addressing the 22nd Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting on COVID-19, Health Minister said, "Our scientists and health experts have worked on the development of a vaccine by genome sequencing and isolation of the coronavirus and developed an indigenous vaccine. In 6-7 months, we will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore people."

 

The Health Minister said, "There have been a little over one crore cases of COVID-19 in India. Of that, 95 lakh 50 thousand cases have recovered successfully. India has one of the highest recovery rates in the world at 95.46 per cent."

3:41 PM

Jawaharlal Nehru University to reopen the campus for students from December 21

Jawaharlal Nehru University to reopen the campus for students from 21.12.2020 in Phase IV. All students have to undergo self-quarantine of seven days after arrival at Delhi from outstation and before joining the university: JNU

3:30 PM

Karnataka govt to reopen schools, PU colleges for classes 10 & 2nd yr PUC students

The Karnataka government on Saturday decided to reopen schools and Pre-University Colleges that were shut due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation, for class 10 and second year PUC (class 12) students from January 1.

It also decided to start the Vidyagama programme, which enables continued schooling for students from classes six to nine.

The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on reopening schools and PU colleges in the state.

He said the advice given by the state's Technical Advisory Committee for COVID-19 on reopening of schools was discussed in detail for about an hour.

3:03 PM

India's cumulative COVID-19 tests cross 16 crore-mark

More than 11 lakh samples were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking total number of tests conducted so far in the country to over 16 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

2:39 PM

Over 3.9 million people facilitated via Vande Bharat Mission

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday informed that more than 3.9 million people were facilitated international travel ever since the Vande Bharat Mission was launched.

2:11 PM

Head of Pakistan's anti-coronavirus body tests positive for COVID-19

Pakistan's planning minister and the head of the nation's anti-coronavirus body has tested positive for COVID-19, the latest of several politicians in the country to contract the virus.

Asad Umar, the minister for planning development and special initiatives, tweeted on Friday night: "Just got my covid test result and it is positive. Will be isolating at home.

Umar is heading the National Command and Operation Center, which is spearheading a national drive to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

1:43 PM

Seems third wave of COVID-19 in Delhi brought under control: Arvind Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday said the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Delhi seems to be under control now, as the city reported 1,133 fresh cases at a positivity rate of less than 1.5 per cent.

"There was a time in November when the daily cases went up to nearly 8,600. But, even then it wasn't a panicky situation in Delhi, and beds were available. We fought it all together. The fresh cases count today is 1,133, the official report will soon be out," he told an online briefing.

The highest single-day spike till date -- 8,593 cases -- was reported on November 11.

The chief minister said the situation in Delhi has improved significantly as the positivity rate had gone up to 15.26 per cent as in early November.

1:14 PM

India requires Rs 80,000 cr for vaccine distribution next year: Serum

Pune-based vaccine-maker Serum Institute of India, which has partnered with AstraZeneca to manufacture the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, on Saturday said that the country would require a massive funding of Rs 80,000 crore for distribution of the Covid vaccine for the next one year.

 

The Central government plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase of drive. It will be offered to one crore healthcare workers, along with two crore frontline and essential workers and 27 crore elderly, mostly above the age of 50 years with comorbidities.

12:47 PM

China says it has already given 1 mn Covid-19 vaccine shots, planning more

China said it has already administered more than 1 million coronavirus vaccines since July and plans a phased rollout going forward that will initially target workers at higher risk of infection, as the country seeks to be at the vanguard of the global Covid-19 immunization effort.

 

Vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and the state-owned China National Biotec Group Co. have been dispensed in the country since they were granted emergency-use authorization in July. Read More

12:28 PM

'Why India' to 'Why Not India': Modi on change his reforms have brought

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hard sold his government's reforms spanning from manufacturing to taxation to labour, saying they have changed the world perception about the country from 'why India' to 'why not India' and went on to quote record foreign investment during the pandemic as a testimony to that.

Speaking at industry association Assocham's Foundation Week event, Modi also said agriculture reforms brought by his government six months back have started benefiting farmers.

"There was a situation in the past when investors would question 'why India' (for investing in the country). With reforms (of past six years) and their effects, its proposition has changed to 'why not India'," he said.

He cited scrapping of 1,500 old and obsolete laws and farming new ones that in tune with the changing investment order as an example of his government's outlook.

"Earlier investors cited high tax rates to say Why India but today (corporate) tax rates are so competitive that they say why not India'," he said.

Previously, a web of regulations and rules were cited by investors to ask why to invest in India but easing compliance burden in the new labour laws have made them say why not India', he said.

Red tape previously made investors say Why India but a red carpet is now making them say why not India', he said.

From a non-existent culture for innovation to a new ecosystem promoting and nurturing startups has given the world confidence to say why not India'.

12:24 PM

8 COVID-19 patients killed in hospital fire in south Turkey

Eight people were killed on Saturday in a fire at an intensive care unit treating COVID-19 patients in southern Turkey, state-run media reported.

The Anadolu news agency said the fire started when an oxygen cylinder exploded at the privately-run Sanko University Hospital unit in Gaziantep.

The agency cited a hospital statement identifying the victims as being aged between 56 and 85. The fire was quickly brought under control.

The statement said 14 patients undergoing intensive care treatment were transferred to other hospitals. An investigation was underway.

Intensive care units across Turkey currently have a 74% bed occupancy rate due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to government figures, although medical associations have claimed that hospitals are overrun.

On Friday evening, the Health Ministry reported 26,410 new cases over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total since March to 1.98 million. The figure includes asymptomatic cases that Ankara did not report in the four months to late November.

A record daily high of 246 COVID-19-related deaths were recorded, the ministry said, taking the total to 17,610.

12:22 PM

German Covid-19 vaccination plan aims to protect most vulnerable first

Germany's Minister of Health Jens Spahn has announced a detailed plan for the country's Covid-19 vaccination campaign, saying its first goal is to protect the most vulnerable.

All citizens over 80 years of age as well as residents and staff of nursing homes would be among the first to get vaccinated, Xinhua news agency quoted Spahn as saying at a press conference on Friday.

As the vaccination of the first risk group would take at least one to two months before the vaccination program in Germany could be expanded, Spahn asked the public to be patient.

"This means for all of us that there still is a long winter ahead. We will have to live with this virus for a long time," the Health Minister added.

The coronavirus vaccine produced by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech and US company Pfizer is expected to be approved by the European Medicines Agency next week.

If approved before Christmas, vaccinations in Germany could begin on December 27, according to the government.

Spahn has repeatedly stressed that there would not be enough vaccines at the beginning, making it necessary to prioritize.

By the end of January, 3 to 4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses would be made available across Germany, according to the Ministry of Health.