Coronavirus LIVE: India's tally hits 8.8 mn, Shah reviews Delhi situation

Coronavirus LIVE: updates: Maharashtra has 1,740,461 coronavirus cases, Karnataka 857,928, Andhra Pradesh 851,000, Tamil Nadu 752,521 and UP has 514,060

8:01 AM

Coronavirus LIVE: Jharkhand reports 154 new Covid-19 cases, 328 recoveries

Jharkhand reported 154 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,05,935, according to the state health department. Notably, 328 recoveries were also reported.

 

According to the department, as many as 922 people have died due to COVID-19 in the state. So far, 1,01,897 people have been discharged while there are 3,116 active cases. As many as 10,693 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Saturday taking the total number of samples tested in the state so far to 37,77,488, the data revealed.

7:57 AM

Global coronavirus death toll crosses 1.3 million-mark

The global tally of deaths due to coronavirus has crossed 1.3 million, according to the latest update by the Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll rose to 1,309,713, while there were more than 53 million cases worldwide.

 

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has risen by 657,312 within the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic, Sputnik reported the World Health Organisation as saying on Saturday.

 

Austria will enter a second national lockdown on Tuesday for at least two and a half weeks, after its target infection rate of Covid-19 exploded to 10 times higher than expected. The WHO had declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.

7:50 AM

Johnson & Johnson, US govt expand pact to support next phase of Covid-19 vaccine R&D

Johnson & Johnson and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have expanded an agreement to support the next phase of COVID-19 vaccine candidate research and development, the company said on Saturday.

 

Under the agreement the company will commit approximately $604 million and the HHS Department's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will commit about $454 million to support the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE trial evaluating Janssen's investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate as a single dose in up to 60,000 volunteers worldwide, the company said in a statement

 

7:42 AM

West Bengal reports 3,823 new Covid-19 cases, 53 fresh fatalities

West Bengal's COVID-19 tally rose to 4,28,498 on Saturday as 3,823 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. Fifty-three more patients succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's COVID-19 death toll to 7,610, it said. A record 4,479 more people were cured of the disease, taking the state's recovery count to 3,90,096, the bulletin said.

 

The recovery rate among the COVID-19 patients in the state has improved to 91.04 per cent, it said. Kolkata reported the highest number of new cases at 836, followed by North 24 Parganas (820) and South 24 Parganas (228), the bulletin said.

7:37 AM

Coronavirus latest update: 3,997 succumbed to Covid-19 since March in Bengaluru

As many as 3,997 persons succumbed to Covid-19 in Bengaluru since the pandemic broke in March first week. With Bengaluru Urban district accounting for 1,195 fresh cases and nine deaths on Friday, cumulatively, the city has reported 3,997 deaths, 3,56,440 infections and 3,34,258 discharges, the Covid-19 bulletin released by the health department for Friday on Saturday stated.

 

Ironic it seems, despite the considerable dip in death rate as well as positive cases, the tech city still remains number 1 district in terms of casualties.

 

According to the bulletin, Karnataka reported 2,154 fresh Covid-19 positive cases and 17 deaths, taking the infection count and toll to 8,60,082 and 11,508 respectively since the pandemic broke in March, the health department said.

7:27 AM

Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has 'extraordinarily high degree of efficacy': Fauci

The success of Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine trial may help persuade more people to get inoculated amid a surge in new coronavirus cases, according to Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease doctor.

 

Pfizer’s vaccine, developed in collaboration with Germany’s BioNTech SE, has “an extraordinarily high degree of efficacy -- more than 90 per cent, close to 95 per cent,” Fauci said in an interview. That could be a key factor in overcoming reluctance to take pandemic vaccines that have been developed at top speed.

 

“What I would hope is that even though there’s a degree of skepticism about vaccines in general, that when the general public sees how effective this vaccine is,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “we might see a turnaround of the attitude toward vaccination.” READ ON...

7:20 AM

Turkey sees new daily high in coronavirus cases

Turkey saw a new record of daily coronavirus infections on Saturday, with the number of people who tested positive soaring by 3,116, official figures showed.

 

The country has recorded a total of 411,055 cases since the epidemic began in March, data shared by the Health Ministry showed. It last saw a daily high of 3,116 cases on April 24.

 

Further 92 coronavirus patients have died in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 11,419. Another 3,423 patients are in intensive care.

7:13 AM

Coronavirus latest update: Mumbai reports 726 new Covid-19 cases, 16 deaths

Mumbai reported 726 new COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths on Saturday, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) said. There are 10,077 active cases in the city while 850 more cases have been discharged. With this, 2,69,130 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the city so far, including 2,44,659 recoveries and 10,555 fatalities.

 

Meanwhile, Maharashtra reported 4,237 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, along with 2,707 recoveries and 105 deaths. With this, the total number of active cases in the state now stands at 85,503 including 16,12,314 recoveries and 45,914 fatalities.

7:01 AM

Coronavirus pandemic LIVE: France reports 32,095 Covid-19 cases in a day

France confirmed 32,095 Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, pushing the total count to nearly two million, while hospitalisation-related figures improved, figures released by health authorities showed on Saturday.

 

Since the country reported its first Covid-19 case in mid-February, a total of 19,54,599 people have been infected, of whom 44,246 have died, up by 354 in one day, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Hospital admissions fell by 208 to 32,499, while the number of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) dropped by 32 to 4,872, reflecting an improvement in the coronavirus situation in France.

6:54 AM

Canada's Covid-19 cases surpass 2.90 lakh

Canada reported 3,041 new cases of Covid-19 Saturday noon, bringing the total up to 2,90,596 cases, including 10,888 deaths. Ontario reported 1,581 new cases on Saturday, marking another new record in daily-reported infections in the province. It is also the ninth day in a row that Ontario has seen case counts over 1,000, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Ontario also added 20 deaths, which is the highest single-day death toll reported since the start of the pandemic's second wave in late September. Ontario's seven-day average for the number of cases has continued to climb and is now 1,419. The total number of lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in Ontario stands at 92,761, including 3,332 deaths and 77,241 recoveries.

6:51 AM

WHO confirms 657,312 coronavirus cases worldwide in single day

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has risen by 657,312 within the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic, the World Health Organisation said on Saturday. As of 19:30 GMT, the global tally of COVID-19 infections amounts to 53,164,803.

 

Most of those new cases were registered in Europe (over 285,000) and the Americas (over 269,000). Meanwhile, the death toll worldwide has reached 1,300,576, with 9,797 fatalities being recorded over the past day.

6:44 AM

Delhi's Covid-19 tally reaches 4.82 lakh with 7,340 new cases, death toll rises to 7,519

Delhi recorded 7,340 COVID-19 cases in a day taking the infection tally to over 4.82 lakh on Saturday, while 96 more fatalities during the same period pushed the death toll in the city to 7,519. These fresh cases were detected from 49,645 tests, including 19,635 RT-PCR ones and 30,010 by rapid antigen tests, conducted the previous day. The positivity rate in the city was 14.78 per cent amid festivities and rising pollution, according to a bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

 

The highest single-day spike of 8,593 cases was recorded on Wednesday and 85 fatalities were recorded that day. On November 12, the number of fatalities was 104, the highest in over five months.

 

On Saturday, 96 more fatalities were recorded, pushing the death toll in the national capital to 7,519, the bulletin said. The tally of active cases in the national capital on Saturday rose to 44,456 from 44,329 the previous day. According to the bulletin, the total number of cases has reached 4,82,170, while recovery rate stood at over 89 per cent.