Covid LIVE: Kerala CM rules out complete lockdown for economic reasons

Coronavirus LIVE updates: India's active Covid-19 cases increase to 400,000. Delhi reported 39 Covid-19 cases and no fatality. Stay tuned for corona updates

7:33 AM

Coronavirus LIVE updates: West Bengal logs 695 new Covid-19 cases, 13 fresh fatalities

West Bengal's Covid-19 tally rose to 15,49,978 on Thursday as 695 more people tested positive for the infection, while 13 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus toll to 18,472, a health bulletin said.

 

Of the fresh fatalities, five deaths were reported from Nadia district, and three from North 24 Parganas.

 

The state now has 8,734 active cases, while 15,22,772 people have recovered from the disease to date, including 749 in the last 24 hours.

 

The recovery rate among coronavirus patients now stands at 98.24 per cent.

7:21 AM

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Don't expect a century every day, says govt on 10 million-plus jabs

India may not be able to cross the 10-million mark for daily vaccinations every single day but states are expected to maintain the momentum to administer higher average doses, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. In the last seven days, India vaccinated more than 10 million twice, raising hopes for inoculating all (in the eligible group) by the end of this year.

 

“You do not expect a good cricketer to hit a century in every match. But you do expect a consistency in their performance that they will perform above a certain minimum level. This is our expectation from states as well,” said Rajesh Bhushan, health secretary. Read on...

7:16 AM

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Variant alert for states amid rising mutants

With reports of new mutations and rising variants of interest of coronavirus, the health ministry has added seven more countries to the list of nations where travellers have to take an RT-PCR test upon arrival in India. These countries include South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and China.

 

Earlier as part of the guidelines for international travel, UK, Europe and West Asia were on the list, where passengers had to board with a negative RT-PCR report and get tested upon arrival. Read on...

7:03 AM

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Italy mulls compulsory Covid vaccination

Italy will start administering a third Covid-19 vaccine shot to people with the most fragile immune systems and plans to extend the use of the so-called Green Pass certificate, the country's leaders said here on Thursday.

 

The government might also consider making Covid-19 vaccination compulsory for everyone.

 

Following the first cabinet meeting after the summer break, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said during a joint press conference with several ministers that 80 per cent of the country's population would be fully immunised by the end of September, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

"This is, of course, reassuring in terms of both economic recovery and school reopening," Draghi noted.

6:49 AM

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Number of Covid-19 cases in Brazil rises by 26,280

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Brazil has increased by 26,280 to 20,830,495 within the past 24 hours, the national Ministry of Health said on late Thursday.

 

According to the ministry, the death toll has risen by 764 to 581,914 people within the same period of time.

 

More than 19.8 million patients have recovered since the start of the outbreak.