Covid LIVE: India administers over 12 mn vaccine doses, highest in a day

Coronavirus live updates: EU countries reimpose restrictions on non-essential travel from the US; Indonesia relaxes curbs.

4:46 PM

WHO says C.1.2. Covid-19 variant does not seem to be spreading

4:17 PM

Delhi records 28 fresh Covid cases, one death

The national capital recorded 28 fresh COVID-19 cases and one death on Tuesday, while the positivity rate stood at 0.05 per cent, according to a bulletin issued by the Delhi health department, PTI reported.

The city did not record any fatalities due to the infection for four days till Sunday.

The low number of cases can also be attributed to fewer tests (55,371) conducted on Monday which was a holiday due to Janmashtami.

3:48 PM

Covid-19: Delhi HC resumes physical functioning partially

The Delhi High Court, which has been holding virtual proceedings since March 2020, resumed its physical hearings on Tuesday in a restricted manner after a gap of nearly five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PTI reported.

Presently, two division benches and 10 single-judge benches are conducting proceedings physically and the remaining benches are continuing to take up matters through video conferencing.

Most of the judges, who are sitting on physical hearing, are also conducting hybrid proceedings or video conferencing where a request to such an effect is made by the parties.

3:30 PM

Avoid gatherings during Dahi Handi and Ganeshotsav, says Uddhav

2:43 PM

Covid vax mounts antibodies in 90% people taking immunosuppressants

Covid-19 vaccination elicited antibody responses in nearly nine out of 10 people with weakened immune systems, although their responses were only about one-third as strong as those mounted by healthy people, according to a study, IANS reported.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, US, analysed a group comprising 133 patients each taking at least one immune-suppressing medication for illnesses such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis, who were compared with 53 healthy people.

The participants provided blood samples within two weeks before receiving the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and within three weeks after receiving the second dose.

2:24 PM

45 per 1,000 people in Mizoram Covid-positive

Mizoram on Tuesday reported its highest single-day spike of 1,157 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 59,119, an official said, according to PTI.

At least 45 persons per 1,000 population have been infected by the coronavirus in the state, taking into account the 2011 census, he said.

As per the 2011 census, Mizoram's population was 10.97 lakh.

2:09 PM

Ladakh records four fresh Covid cases, no new death

Ladakh recorded four fresh Covid cases, taking the infection tally to 20,555 on Tuesday, while the death toll remained at 207 as no new fatality was reported in the past 24 hours, officials said, according to PTI.

The Union Territory has registered 207 Covid-related deaths -- 149 in Leh and 58 in Kargil -- since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.

At present, there are 71 active cases in Ladakh, while 20,277 people have recovered from the infection so far.

1:06 PM

Third wave knocking at Mumbai’s doors: Bombay HC

Mumbai risks a surge in Covid-19 cases surged if crowding in public places was not controlled, said the state High Court on Tuesday. The court said experts had warned a third wave of the pandemic was “knocking at our doors”.

12:32 PM

Indonesia probes suspected flaw in testing app

Indonesia is investigating a suspected security flaw in a Covid-19 test-and-trace app that left exposed personal information and the health status of 1.3 million people, a health ministry official said on Tuesday. Researchers from encryption provider vpnMentor said personal information in the Indonesia Health Alert Card (eHAC) app, often required to be used by travellers, was accessible "due to the lack of protocols put in place by the app's developers." Reuters reported this

 

12:11 PM

US study finds more than 50 long-term side effects of Covid

More than 50 long-term effects of Covid-19 have been detected, with mild to debilitating symptoms lasting for weeks to months after recovery, according to a study. A study by Houston Methodist found that the most common of these lingering symptoms are fatigue at 58 per cent, followed by headache (44 per cent), attention disorder (27 per cent), hair loss (25 per cent), shortness of breath (24 per cent), loss of taste (23 per cent) and loss of smell (21 per cent).

11:33 AM

Andaman and Nicobar logs one new case in 24 hours

Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported one new Covid-19 case to took the Union Territory's total to 7,565, PTI reported the health department as saying on Tuesday. No new death was reported overnight, keeping total fatalities at 129.

11:16 AM

China’s services sector contracts amid delta virus spread

China’s economy took a knock from the delta virus outbreak in August, with the services industry contracting for the first time since February last year and manufacturing hit by supply-chain problems. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 50.1 from 50.4 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, slightly lower than the 50.2 median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists

10:55 AM

India recovery rate at 97.53%: Health Ministry

India's active cases--Covid-19 patients under treatment--comprise 1.13 per cent of the total infections, said the health ministry on Tuesday. The national recovery rate is 97.53 per cent.

10:35 AM

New Zealand reports drop in new cases for second day

New Zealand on Tuesday reported that new Covid-19 cases fell for a second day, down to 49, amid the tight lockdown the country undertook during the latest outbreak this month. Except for a small number of cases in February, New Zealand was mainly coronavirus-free for months, until an outbreak of the Delta variant imported from Australia prompted Ardern to order a snap nationwide lockdown on August 17, Reuters reported.

10:04 AM

Moderna creates twice as many antibodies as Pfizer: Study

Moderna Inc.’s Covid vaccine generated more than double the antibodies of a similar shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in research directly comparing immune responses to the inoculations. A study of almost 2,500 workers at a Belgium hospital system found antibody levels among individuals who hadn’t been infected with the coronavirus before getting two doses of the Moderna vaccine averaged 2,881 units per milliliter, compared with 1,108 units/mL in an equivalent group who got two jabs of the Pfizer shot. Bloomberg reported this.