Coronavirus LIVE: India's cumulative Covid-19 tests inch closer to 150 mn

Coronavirus live update: At 1,859,367, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 895,284, Andhra Pradesh 872,839, Tamil Nadu 792,788, and Kerala 644,696

12:27 AM

Pfizer vaccine to star in America's historic Dec 10 science court

Pfizers Covid-19 vaccine is edging closer to approval in the United States and will star in a historic 'science court' that will be live streamed to the world on December 10.

Starting 9 a.m. EST on December 10, US regulators and independent experts who make up the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will debate if clinical evidence is strong enough to recommend vaccinating Americans 16 years of age and older.

Earlier this week, in a 92 page document, the US Food and Drug Administration released a sunny evaluation of the vaccine, setting an upbeat tone ahead of what will be the biggest vaccination effort in the nation's history. Most physicians are expecting to start getting shots in arms by December 15.

The Trump administration's vaccine czar Moncef Slaoui said on Wednesday that all systems are locked and ready for an imminent emergency use approval.

Here are highlights that will inform the 12-hour long December 10 FDA meeting and what follows soon after:

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have reported their shots are 95 per cent effective at preventing mild to severe Covid-19 disease in a large, ongoing study. The efficacy results are based on 170 infections. Only eight of the infections were among volunteers who got the vaccine; the rest were among those who got dummy shots.

12:22 AM

Bengal reports 47 more Covid deaths, 2,956 fresh cases

West Bengal's Covid-19 death toll rose 8,867 after 47 more people succumbed to the disease on Wednesday, the health department said in a bulletin here.

The tally mounted to 5,10,951 after 2,956 fresh cases of infection were reported from different parts of the state.

The bulletin said that 3,009 recoveries were registered in the state during the day, taking the total number of cured people to 4,78,434.

The state now has 23,650 active cases.

Of the fresh fatalities, 17 were reported from Kolkata and 12 from Howrah district. The remaining deaths were registered in several other districts.

The bulletin said that 39 of the Wednesdays fatalities were due to comorbidities where Covid-19 was incidental.

The 2,956 fresh positive cases included 753 from Kolkata and 746 from North 24 Parganas district.

In the last 24 hours, 44,351 samples were tested for Covid-19 taking the total number of such tests to 62,55,888, the bulletin added.

10:23 PM

Ahmedabad district adds 280 new Covid-19 cases; 293 recover

Ahmedabad district on Wednesday reported 280 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the tally of infections to 52,910, the Gujarat health department said.

With eight more patients succumbing to the viral disease, the toll in the district went up to 2,145.

At 293, the number of recoveries exceeded the fresh cases in the district. The count of recoveries now stands at 47,702, the department said.

Ahmedabad city's north-west zone now has 474 active cases, followed by 459 in the west zone and 422 in the south- west zone, said the city civic body.

The number of micro containment areas in the city hasfallen to 170 now.

Bed occupancy in private hospitals requisitioned for the treatment of Covid-19 patients now stands at 61.2 per cent with 2,092 out of 3,416 beds remaining occupied.

A total of 174 beds remained occupied while 72 beds are available in ICUS with ventilators. 352 beds remained occupied while 151 beds are available in ICUs without ventilators, said the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association in its latest update.

9:53 PM

Nagpur district sees 403 new Covid-19 cases, 230 recoveries

The COVID-19 tally in Nagpur district of Maharashtra rose to 1,15,728 on Wednesday with the addition of 403 fresh infections, as per an official release.

With nine more patients succumbing to the viral disease, the number of fatalities in the district rose to 3,763, it stated.

The number of recoveries went up to 1,06,092 after 230 patients getting discharged in the day.

The district is now left with 5,873 active cases, as per the release.

9:35 PM

Provide more safety data on Covid-19 vaccine: SEC to Serum, Bharat Biotech

In a major development related to Covid-19 vaccine, Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked for more safety and efficacy data from Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech for their Covid-19 vaccines.

 

According to government sources, an SEC meeting was held on Wednesday to review the application submitted by the pharma majors for emergency use authorisation (EUA) for their vaccine candidates.

 

"Serum Institute of India has been asked for an updated safety data of phase 2 and 3 clinical trial in the country and immunogenicity data from the clinical trial in the United Kingdom and India. While considering the application of Bharat Biotech company, the SEC after detailed evaluation recommended that the pharma major should submit the safety and efficacy data from its ongoing phase 3 clinical trial in India for more analysis," a source said.

 

The application submitted by the Pfizer was not discussed at the SEC meeting as the company has requested for more time for giving its presentation, sources said.

9:22 PM

MP's Covid-19 case count rises by 1,272, death toll by eight

Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday reported 1,272 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the state's infection count to 2,18,574, health officials said.

With the virus claiming eight more lives in the state, the death toll rose to 3,366, they said.

A total of 1,323 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, which pushed MP's overall recovery count to 2,01,987.

Of the new fatalities, four died in Indore, two in Bhopal and one each in Damoh and Sheopur, the official said.

Out of the 1,272 new cases, Indore accounted for 495 and Bhopal 316.

The number of cases in Indore rose to 46,971, including 796 deaths, while Bhopal's count stood at 34,841 with 535 fatalities.

Indore now has 5,168 active cases, while this figure for Bhopal is 3,126.

9:21 PM

Covid-19 positive voters can cast ballot after wearing PPE gear: Goa poll guidelines

Covid-19 positive persons will be allowed to vote during the December 12 zilla panchayat elections, only during the last hour of voting and after wearing full PPE gear, according to the State Election Commission guidelines (SEC) which were issued on Wednesday.

"The required number of PPE kits and hand gloves based on the number of Covid positive persons, shall be provided by the returning officer to the block level officers, which shall be used by the Covid positive persons when they come to the polling station for voting," the guidelines.

The guidelines also mandate poll officials to make a list of Covid-19 positive persons in each of the 48 constituencies which are going to poll in the coastal state, so that proper preparations are made at the respective polling booths, where infected persons are eligible to vote.

"Covid-19 positive persons will be allowed to cast their vote during the last hour of the polling day i.e. between 4 pm to 5 pm. The block level officers shall be instructed to identify the covid positive person in each polling station," the guidelines also state.

Polling staff have been directed to regularly sanitise the polling station as well as regularly touched surfaces and articles inside the premises.

9:20 PM

Another fatality takes Covid-19 death toll to 96 in UP's Muzaffarnagar

One more person succumbed to Covid-19 in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, pushing the death toll to 96, while 55 new cases brought the infection count to 7,348 on Wednesday, officials said.

The 46-year-old coronavirus positive woman died at the Muzaffarnagar Medical College on Tuesday, they said.

A jail inmate is also among the fresh Covid-19 cases, which brought active case count to 509 in the district.

According to District Magistrate Selvakumari J, results of 981 samples were received on Wednesday. The DM said 33 more people recovered from the infection, taking the COVID-19 recovery count to 6,743 in the district.

8:53 PM

Kerala sees 4,875 new Covid-19 cases, 35 more deaths

Kerala on Wednesday saw 4,875 people turn Covid positive from 52,655 samples sent for testing in the past 24 hours, state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said. In a statement, she also said that 4,647 people turned negative, taking the total cured to 5,86,998, while there were 59,923 active cases.

 

The day saw 35 more Covid deaths taking the total toll to 2,507. There were 3,09,935 people under observation at various places including 14,164 people at hospitals, while the state had 440 hot spots.

8:43 PM

LIVE: 1,279 new Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, 20 more deaths

Karnataka reported 1,279 new cases of COVID-19 and 20 related fatalities on Wednesday, taking the total number of infections to 8,96,563 and the toll to 11,900. The day also saw 3,218 patients getting discharged after recovery. Bengaluru Urban, with 728 cases, topped the state in the number of fresh infections. Cumulatively 8,96,563 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 11,900 deaths and 8,61,588 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

 

It said that out of 23,056 active cases, 22,791 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 265 are in Intensive Care Units. Bengaluru Urban also topped the list in number of deaths, accounting for 13 fatalities, followed by Dakshina Kannada (2), Bengaluru Rural, Dharwad, Kalaburgai, Mysuru and Tumakuru (1 each). All the deceased had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), the bulletin said.

8:24 PM

Lack of adequate cold chain biggest challenge in Covid-19 vaccine distribution: Report

Despite having one of the largest universal immunization programmes (UIPs), lack of cold chain may prove to be one of the biggest challenges for India in COVID-19 vaccine distribution, a foreign brokerage said on Wednesday. The cold chain market with 37 million tonne capacity is very fragmented in India, and the country does not have a single cold chain operator with a capacity of over 5,000 tonne, analysts at Bofa Securities said adding very few of the 3,500 companies are 'pharma-compliant' as per WHO norms.

 

"India's struggle with cold chain for COVID-19 vaccine stems from the fact that despite one of the large cold chain capacities in the world, there are not many large participants, they said.

 

It can be noted that India runs the widely successful polio immunization programme, where the vaccine is transported in temperatures ranging from 2-8 degrees Celsius and there is a dedicated cold chain, which is likely to be repurposed for the COVID-19 vaccine.

7:36 PM

Covid-19 LIVE: 1,381 fresh coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh reported 21 more COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, taking the toll to 7,987, while 1,381 fresh cases pushed the infection tally to 5,59,409. Five deaths were reported from Lucknow, followed by 2 each in Kanpur, Prayagraj and Barabanki. Of the 1,381 fresh COVID-19 cases, 195 were reported from Lucknow, followed by 113 in Varanasi and 102 in Ghaziabad.

 

As many as 2,022 COVID-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours. So far, 5,30,854 patients have recovered from the disease in the state, the statement said. The count of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 20,568. In the past 24 hours, more than 1.44 lakh people have been tested for COVID-19.

7:10 PM

Coronavirus tally in Nagaland rises to 11,508 with 29 new cases

Nagaland's COVID-19 tally mounted to 11,508 on Wednesday, after 29 fresh cases were reported, a health department official said. Dimapur registered the highest at 14, followed by Kohima (11), Wokha (3) and Tuensang (1). Sixty-two coronavirus patients have recovered during the day, Health Department director Dr Denis Hangsing said.

 

A total of 10,728 patients have been cured of the disease and the recovery rate has improved to 93.22 per cent from Tuesdays 91.91 per cent. Nagaland now has 589 active cases while the COVID-19 death toll in the state stands at 70. A total of 121 patients have migrated to other states, he said. The northeastern state has so far conducted 70,473 RT-PCR tests, 8,893 rapid antigen tests and 36,217 through TrueNat, Dr Hangsing said.

6:58 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Rajasthan reports 1,511 new cases, 2,577 recoveries and 17 deaths today

6:55 PM

Covid-19 vaccine to have differential pricing: Pfizer

Global pharma major Pfizer has said it will have differential pricing on its COVID-19 vaccine for different countries, as the company aims to make the vaccine available across the world. The company's Indian arm has sought emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 in the country fromthe Indian drug regulator.

 

After the UK approval for the vaccine, Pfizer and BioNTech are anticipating further regulatory decisions across the globe in the coming days and are ready to deliver vaccine doses following potential regulatory authorisations or approvals,Pfizer had earlier said.

 

"The fundamental that went into the pricing was that we make sure we make it very quickly available to everyone," Pfizer Inc Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said at a virtual press conference organised by International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) on Tuesday.