Coronavirus LIVE: Doctors, nurses should accept vaccine, says Niti Aayog

Coronavirus live updates: India has so far vaccinated 450,000 people. Globally, nearly 96 million people have been infected, of which, 10,572,672 are in India

10:38 PM

Deplorable to overreact, entice fear without due diligence on vax: Vardhan

It is highly deplorable to overreact, entice fear and spread misinformation without doing any due diligence on Covid-19 vaccine, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday after Bharat Biotech released a factsheet specifying conditions when Covaxin should not be given. He was replying to a tweet that asked why such a crucial information was allegedly not made public earlier.

The health minister also referred to an earlier tweet by him on January 15, wherein he had posted a chart with details of all those people who should not get the vaccine. "Highly deplorable to over-react, entice fear and spread misinformation without performing an iota of due diligence. These facts have been in public domain since the beginning. Follow @MoHFW_INDIA (health ministry Twitter handel) to stay informed and do some research before speaking out," Vardhan tweeted.

10:38 PM

Jharkhand reports 101 new Covid-19 cases, 141 recoveries and 3 deaths

9:46 PM

631,417 health workers vaccinated so far: Health ministry

The cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against Covid-19 has touched 631,417 (till 6 pm today) through 11,660 sessions, as per the provisional report. 3,800 sessions were held till 6 pm today: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

9:44 PM

West Bengal reports 412 new Covid-19 cases, 513 discharges

8:25 PM

Nasal vaccine candidate against Covid-19 could be a game-changer: Dr VK Paul

The Central government on Tuesday said that a nasal vaccine candidate against COVID-19 has been identified that could be a game-changer.

 

"A nasal vaccine candidate has been identified. It has come for consideration for phase 1 and phase 2 trials. If it works then it could be a game-changer," said Dr VK Paul, Member, NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog. He also called upon people to end vaccine hesitancy as India was in a comfortable situation, assuring that both the vaccines against COVID-19 were safe.

 

"We would like to reassure everyone with the data we have seen that the two COVID19 vaccines are safe. The vaccine hesitancy should end. How will we defeat the pandemic then?" Paul added.

 

Paul further requested the doctors and nurses to accept the vaccine. He said, "We are not fulfilling our societal responsibility if a vaccine assigned to you is not being taken. The whole world is clamouring for the vaccine. I request the doctors and nurses to accept the vaccine."

8:02 PM

Over 450,000 people vaccinated in country till now, says Health Ministry

As many as 4,54,049 people have been vaccinated till early Tuesday morning as India's active COVID-19 cases came down to 2 lakhs amid the ongoing vaccination drive in the country.

 

At the Health Ministry's press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, "4,54,049 people have been vaccinated till now. The active cases are around 2 lakhs after seven months and the number is declining. The daily number of deaths is less than 140 after eight months."

 

Bhushan informed that the COVID-19 cases per million in the country is 7,668 while the active cases are less than two per cent of the total number of cases. The death per million is 110 while the test per million has reached 136,089. He further stated that the overall case fatality rate is 1.44 per cent. READ ON...

7:41 PM

Maha reports 2,294 coronavirus cases, 4,516 recoveries; 50 die

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rose to 19,94,977 with the addition of 2,294 fresh cases on Tuesday. With 50 new deaths, the state's fatality count rose to 50,523.

 

Of the 50 deaths, 35 took place in the past 48 hours, while five occurred last week. The remaining 10 deaths occurred in the period before last week, but were added to the toll now. A total of 4,516 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, which took the number of recovered persons to 18,94,839. There are 48,406 active cases in the state at present.

7:13 PM

India will supply Covid-19 vaccines to partner countries over coming weeks: MEA

6:52 PM

Jammu and Kashmir records 113 new Covid-19 cases, 1 death

Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday recorded 113 new coronavirus cases that raised its tally to 1,23,538, while one more fatality pushed the death count to 1,923, officials said. Of the fresh cases, 53 were recorded from the Jammu division and 60 from the Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

 

The officials said Jammu district recorded the highest of 40 cases, followed by 37 in Srinagar district.

 

While six districts -- Anantnag, Ganderbal, Doda, Rajouri, Reasi and Udhampur -- did not report any new case, 12 other districts had fresh cases in single digits, they said. The number of active cases dropped to 1,103 in the union territory, while 1,20,512 patients have recovered so far, the officials said. The UT reported only one COVID-19 related death in the past 24 hours from the Kashmir division, taking the death toll to 1,923, they said.

6:21 PM

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Punjab need to increase their vaccination coverage: Health Ministry

5:40 PM

Uttar Pradesh records four coronavirus-linked fatalities

Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday recorded four coronavirus-linked fatalities, which brought the death toll to 8,584, while 376 fresh infections pushed the caseload to 5,97,238, officials said. The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 8,631, they said.

 

"In the past 24 hours, four deaths and 376 fresh cases were reported in the state and 789 people were discharged," Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters here.

 

"There are 8,172 active cases in the state and the total number of recoveries has risen to 5,80,482. Of the active cases, 2,796 are in home isolation, 757 are undergoing treatment in private hospitals and the rest are in government hospitals," he added.

5:35 PM

A nasal vaccine could be a game-changer: Dr VK Paul, Niti Aayog

5:18 PM

Only Kerala and Maharashtra have more than 50,000 active cases: Health Ministry

5:04 PM

Only 0.18% adverse affects reported post-vaccination: Health Ministry

We have just started COVID-19 vaccination process and it will pick up speed, said the Health Ministry. Of total vaccinated against COVID-19, 0.18 pc were adverse events, while 0.002 pc had to be hospitalised which is fairly low. Better performing states in COVID-19 vaccination coverage include Odisha (82.6 pc), UP (71.4 pc), Rajasthan (71.3 pc). Tamil Nadu (34.9 pc), Puducherry (34.6 pc), Punjab (27.9 pc) have less than 40 pc vaccination coverage, need to improve.

5:02 PM

India vaccinated highest number of people in the world on the first day of vaccination