Coronavirus LIVE: Kerala reports 6,316 fresh Covid-19 positive cases

Coronavirus live updates: At 1,828,826, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 886,227, Andhra Pradesh 868,000, Tamil Nadu 783,319 and Kerala 608,357

8:24 PM

Rajasthan reports 19 more coronavirus deaths, 1,990 new cases

Nineteen more people succumbed to the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan, bringing the toll to 2,350 on Wednesday, while 1,990 fresh cases raised the infection count to 2,72,400 in the state, according to a health department bulletin. The state now has 26,710 active COVID-19 cases. According to the bulletin, a total of 2,43,340 people have been discharged after recovering from the infection in Rajasthan.

 

The death toll from the pandemic stands at 441 in Jaipur, followed by 244 in Jodhpur, 190 in Ajmer, 162 in Bikaner, 139 in Kota, 107 in Bharatpur, 98 in Udaipur and 92 in Pali.

 

Of the fresh COVID-19 cases, 610 were registered in Jaipur, 218 in Jodhpur, 195 in Ajmer, 155 in Kota, 130 in Alwar, 96 in Bharatpur, 88 in Nagaur and 76 in Udaipur, besides cases reported in other districts of the state.

8:08 PM

LIVE: Karnataka reports 1,440 new coronavirus cases

Karnataka has reported 1,440 new COVID-19 cases and 16 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 8,87,667 and the death toll to 11,808, the Health department said on Wednesday. The day also saw 983 patients getting discharged after recovery. Out of 1,440 fresh cases reported on Wednesday, 712 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.

 

As of December 2 evening, cumulatively 8,87,667 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 11,808 deaths and 8,51,690 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin. It said, out of 24,150 active cases, 23,832 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 318 are in ICU. Ten of the 16 deaths reported on Wednesday were from Bengaluru Urban, followed by Bengaluru Rural, Chitradurga, Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Kolara and Vijayapura (1).

 

All the dead were with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI). Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 712, followed by Tumakuru (80), Mysuru (64), Mandya (52), Chitradurga (46), Hassan (42), Chikkamagaluru (38), Bengaluru Rural (36) and Dakshina Kannada (35) followed by others.

8:04 PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin orders authorities to begin mass vaccinations against Covid-19 from next week

7:43 PM

516 fresh coronavirus cases in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand's COVID-19 tally rose to 75,784 on Wednesday with 516 more people testing positive, while 13 more infected patients died. Dehradun district reported the highest number of 194 cases, Haridwar 68, Nainital 67, Udham Singh Nagar 47, Almora 33, Pithoragarh 26, Pauri 20, Chamoli 17, Champawat 16, Tehri 10, Uttarkashi eight, Rudraprayag seven and Bageshwar three, astate health department bulletin said.

 

Thirteen more COVID-19 patients died in the state, taking the toll to 1,251, the bulletin said. It said 68,838 people have recuperated, 740 migrated and 4,955 are undergoing treatment.

6:59 PM

Kerala records 6,316 new Covid-19 cases, recoveries touch 5,924

Kerala recorded 6,316 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total caseload to 6.14 lakh as the toll mounted to 2,298 with 28 additional fatalities. As many as 5,924 have been cured, taking the total recoveries so far to 5,50,788 and 61,455 people are undergoing treatment for the virus, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters.

 

The state's covid tally so far has touched 6,14,673.

 

In the last 24 hours, 56,993 samples have been tested, as the test positivity rate climbed to 11.08 per cent, Vijayan said. So far 63,78,278 samples have been sent for testing. Malappuram recorded the maximum of 822 cases, followed by Kozhikode 734, Ernakulam 732, Thrissur 655, Kottayam 537 and Kasaragod 108.

6:39 PM

Uttar Pradesh records 1,799 fresh coronavirus cases, 29 more deaths

Uttar Pradesh's COVID-19 tally surged to 5,47,308 on Wednesday with 1,799 fresh cases, while the death toll climbed to 7,817 with 29 more fatalities, officials said. The number of active cases in the state stands at 22,797, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said. So far, 5,16,694 people have recovered from the infection. Of these, 2,607 were discharged from hospitals the previous day, he said, adding that the state has a recovery rate of 94.40 per cent.

 

Uttar Pradesh's death toll has gone up to 7,817. The overall case fatality rate stands at 1.428 per cent, Prasad said. According to a health department bulletin, six fresh deaths were reported from Lucknow, four from Kanpur Nagar, and two each from Varanasi, Rampur, Rae Bareli, and Unnao, among other districts.

 

Of the 1,799 fresh cases, 236 were reported from Lucknow, 166 from Gautam Buddh Nagar, 162 from Ghaziabad and 157 from Meerut, among other districts, the bulletin said. So far, a total of 1.96 crore tests have been conducted in Uttar Pradesh, including over 1.51 lakh on Tuesday.

6:01 PM

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to take first Covid-19 vaccine shot

With the COVID-19 vaccine in the final stages of operationalisation in India, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday announced that he will take the first shot of the vaccine in the state, once it is cleared by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

 

According to an official release, the Chief Minister made this announcement at the virtual Cabinet meeting during a presentation to discuss the Covid situation and the state's preparedness to roll out the vaccine. The announcement comes days after, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij was administered a trial dose of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine 'Covaxin' at a hospital in Ambala.

 

"It is a matter of pride for India that a company of India has developed a vaccine for coronavirus. Two successful trials have been done and the third phase has begun today. I offer to be the first volunteer so that people without any fear can come forward for vaccination trials. If everything goes well, this vaccine will be in the market soon," Vij had told ANI on November 22.

5:46 PM

Covid-19 RT-PCR test price reduced to Rs 400 at private labs in Odisha

The Odisha government on Wednesday slashed the price of RT-PCR tests for detection of COVID-19 at private laboratories to Rs 400 from the existing Rs 1,200, a notification said. In July, the state government had capped the price of RT-PCR tests at private laboratories at Rs 2,200 and it was then reduced to Rs 1,200 in August.

 

According to the notification issued by the health and family welfare department, anyone undergoing RT-PCR test at private laboratories, within the state, will now have to pay a maximum amount of Rs 400, including GST. The tests will be conducted by private laboratories under the supervision of Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, following ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) guidelines, it said.

 

The tests at government laboratories are free of cost. The state has four ICMR approved laboratories where RT-PCR tests can be done.

5:12 PM

NGT extends ban on sale, use of firecrackers until Covid-19 situation improves

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has extended its ban on the sale and use of firecrackers in the national capital region and all cities and towns across the country where the ambient air quality falls under the 'poor and worse' category until the situation created due to the COVID-19 pandemic improves.

 

"There will be a total ban on the sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers during COVID-19 pandemic in the NCR and all cities/towns in the country where the ambient air quality falls under the 'poor' and above category," a bench of the NGT, headed by its chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, said in its order on Tuesday.

 

The tribunal directed to restrict the use of firecrackers in cities and towns, where air quality is 'moderate' or below, to green crackers only and for the duration of not more than two hours and only for the celebration of any specified festivals or permitted occasions will continue.

4:48 PM

Italy plans 202 million Covid-19 vaccine doses

Italy will distribute 202.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines during 2021 in "an unprecedented effort that will require a huge collective commitment.'' Robert Speranza said the vaccines will not be mandatory, but that the doses allotted Italy through an EU collective purchasing agreement would be "enough to potentially vaccinate the entire population."

 

Speranza emphasized that the distribution of the vaccines would depend on regulatory approval which was still pending from the European Medicines Agency. The first vaccines are expected to arrive in January with Pfizer's vaccine expected to get first EMA approval by Dec. 29 and Moderna by January 12.

 

Priority will be given first to Italy's front-line health care workers, then residents of nursing homes, then to elderly over 80 before moving to other groups like people with medical risks, law enforcement, teachers and prison workers.

4:30 PM

Delhi records 3,944 fresh cases from nearly 79,000 Covid tests; death toll 9,342

Delhi recorded 3,944 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 5.78 lakh on Wednesday, while 82 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 9,342, authorities said. These fresh cases came out of the record 78,949 tests conducted the previous day, including 36,370 RT-PCR tests, while the positivity rate dropped to five percent, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

 

Eighty-two more fatalities were recorded, pushing the toll in the national capital to 9,342. The active cases tally on Wednesday dropped to 30,302 from 31,769, the previous day. According to the bulletin, the total number of cases has climbed to 5,78,324.

3:33 PM

Highest single-day spike of 595 coronavirus cases in Indore

Indore recorded the highest single -day spike of 595 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the tally in the worst affected district of Madhya Pradesh to 43,286. So far, 767 people have died due to COVID-19 in the district, which is the state's industrial hub, they said.

 

On Tuesday, out of 5,274 samples, 595 tested positive for coronavirus.

 

The daily infection rate of coronavirus in the district has increased to 11.28 per cent. The COVID-19 mortality rate in the district is 1.77 per cent, higher than the current national average of 1.45 per cent, as per an analysis of the government data. As of now, there are 4,556 active COVID-19 cases in Indore, including patients in home isolation.

3:16 PM

New single dose vaccine shows protection against Covid-19: Study

Scientists have developed a new vaccine candidate against COVID-19 based on the yellow fever vaccine, a single dose of which protects hamsters and monkeys from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The researchers at the Rega Institute at KU Leuven in Belgium are currently preparing for clinical trials of the vaccine candidate.

 

To develop the vaccine, tentatively named RegaVax, the researchers inserted the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spikes into that of the yellow fever vaccine. RegaVax is a vector vaccine which uses the genetic code of the yellow fever vaccine virus as a carrier for the genetic code of the coronavirus spikes.

 

According to an early version of the research paper accepted for publication in the journal Nature, the researchers tested the vaccine in healthy hamsters and monkeys, with another group of the animals receiving a placebo. The researchers first vaccinated the hamsters and then dripped the virus into their noses.

3:06 PM

Make those not wearing masks serve at Covid-19 centres: Gujarat HC

Expressing concern and dissatisfaction over the violating the Covid-19 guidelines in Gujarat, the High Court on Wednesday ordered the state government to issue a notification to make those not wearing face masks to perform community services at Covid care centres for five to 15 days. The High Court also expressed "shock" over the way BJP legislator Kanti Gamit allegedly flouted all Covid-19 protocols and guidelines at a family function. The court also asked what the state government was doing about the issue.

 

A video clip had gone viral on the social media, wherein over 6,000 persons had gathered at his grandson's engagement ceremony, most of them without masks and violating all Covid-19 guidelines.

 

"This is shocking and unfortunate. What was the police doing when such a large gathering occurred? We are not at all satisfied with the way the government has handled the situation. Incidents like this make all your efforts till now meaningless."

 

A bench of Chief Justice Vikramnath and Justice JB Pardiwala, during a suo motu hearing on coronavirus and lockdown situation, on which over 50 PILs have been filed, ordered the Gujarat government to issue the notification to ensure social service by face mask norm violators at Covid care centres apart from fine of Rs 1,000.

2:34 PM

Second wave of coronavirus in Karnataka expected during Jan-Feb

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for COVID-19 in Karnataka has said that the second wave of the pandemic is expected during January-February in 2021. The panel has asked to keep ready by first week of January, the clinical facilities at an October level (when there was over 10,000 cases per day) in terms of beds, ICUs, ventilators, and so on, both in government and private hospitals or this could be ramped up at a short notice of 2-3 days maximum.

 

It has also recommended to ban new year public celebrations from December 26 to January 1 and impose night curfew (8 pm to 5 am) during this period.

 

The TAC, based on the deliberations at its 53rd meeting held on November 24, has given advisory on recognition and containment measures for the second wave of COVID-19 in Karnataka. According to TAC, an early recognition of the second wave of COVID-19 in the state can be done by closely monitoring the 7-day average growth rate and reproduction number (R0) at district and state levels.