Covid LIVE: Cumulative vaccine doses administered cross 926 million

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Kerala recorded 9,735 cases, Maharashtra 2,401, Delhi 27, Karnataka 523, Tamil Nadu 1,531 cases in the last 24 hours. Stay tuned for corona updates

12:50 PM

Chinese mainland reports 24 imported Covid cases

The Chinese mainland reported 24 imported Covid-19 cases and two locally-transmitted infections on Tuesday, the National Health Commission in its daily report on Wednesday.

 

One of the newly reported local cases was registered in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and the other in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Of the new imported cases, 13 were reported in Yunnan, four in Shanghai, two in Guangxi, and one each in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Shandong.

12:47 PM

Punjab administers over 20 million doses of vaccine

Punjab has administered over two crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine so far, Deputy Chief Minister Om Prakash Soni said.

 

He said 1.48 crore people had got the first dose while 52 lakh got both doses.

 

The Deputy Chief Minister, who is also holding the Health portfolio, said 2.16 lakh people got vaccinated on Tuesday.

 

Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Patiala were the top five districts in immunisation.

 

Soni said 1.77 crore doses of Covishield and 23 lakh doses of Covaxin had been administered.

12:33 PM

70% patients missed cancer surgery globally during Covid lockdowns

One in seven cancer patients around the world have missed out on potentially life-saving operations during Covid-19 lockdowns, a new study reveals.

 

Led by experts at the UK's University of Birmingham, almost 5,000 surgeons and anaesthetists from around the world worked together to analyse data from the 15 most common solid cancer types in 20,000 patients across 466 hospitals in 61 countries. The team published its findings in The Lancet Oncology.

 

Researchers analysed data from adult patients suffering from cancer types including colorectal, oesophageal, gastric, head and neck, thoracic, liver, pancreatic, prostate, bladder, renal, gynaecological, breast, soft-tissue sarcoma, bony sarcoma, and intracranial malignancies.

12:08 PM

Pakistan reports 1,212 new Covid cases; 39 deaths

Pakistan on Tuesday confirmed 1,212 new Covid-19 cases and 39 more deaths, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Wednesday.

 

The NCOC, a department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic, said that the country has conducted 19,685,529 tests so far and confirmed a total of 1,253,868 cases, including 1,181,054 those who have recovered, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The number of active cases has dropped to 44,828 across the country, while 3,079 patients are in critical condition.

11:50 AM

Malaysia reports 8,817 new Covid-19 infections, 117 deaths

Malaysia reported another 8,817 new Covid-19 infections, as of midnight Tuesday, bringing the national total to 22,94,457, according to the health ministry.

 

Some 14 of the new cases are imported and 8,803 are local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

 

Another 117 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 26,876.

 

About 15,615 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 2,131,636.

11:41 AM

Border restrictions eased in Australian states despite Covid cases surge

The border restrictions between Australia's Victoria, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and New South Wales (NSW) will be eased, as the "relative risks" change in Victoria amid the worsening Covid-19 situation.

 

From midnight Wednesday, non-lockdown areas of NSW and ACT will change from red to orange zones, and extreme risk zones will move to red zones. Residents entering Victoria from those areas will need to have a test after arriving and wait for a negative result prior to moving into the community, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

"As the relative risks change and as we move progressively towards opening up of the Victorian community under the national plan... we will continue to monitor and as we are confident the risk continues to be mitigated in NSW. We want to make sure that we continue to keep a close eye on that and if there are further changes to be made in due course, we will, let everybody know," the Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said.

11:35 AM

Border restrictions eased in Australian states despite surge in Covid-19 cases

The border restrictions between Australia's Victoria, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and New South Wales (NSW) will be eased, as the "relative risks" change in Victoria amid the worsening COVID-19 situation.

 

From midnight Wednesday, non-lockdown areas of NSW and ACT will change from red to orange zones, and extreme risk zones will move to red zones. Residents entering Victoria from those areas will need to have a test after arriving and wait for a negative result prior to moving into the community.

 

"As the relative risks change and as we move progressively towards opening up of the Victorian community under the national plan... we will continue to monitor and as we are confident the risk continues to be mitigated in NSW. We want to make sure that we continue to keep a close eye on that and if there are further changes to be made in due course, we will, let everybody know," the Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said.

11:25 AM

Malaysia reports 8,817 new Covid-19 infections, 117 deaths

Malaysia reported another 8,817 new Covid-19 infections, as of midnight Tuesday, bringing the national total to 22,94,457, according to the health ministry.

 

Some 14 of the new cases are imported and 8,803 are local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

 

Another 117 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 26,876.

 

About 15,615 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 2,131,636

11:10 AM

India conducts over 570 million Covid-19 test so far: ICMR

The testing capacity has been ramped up extensively and so far India has conducted 57,68,03,867 Covid-19 sample tests, informed the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday.

 

Of the total test conducted, 14,09,825 samples were tested yesterday.

 

Meanwhile, India on Tuesday recorded 18,346 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, of which 8,850 new cases were reported in Kerala.

11:00 AM

Maharashtra: 255 new Covid-19 cases in Thane, 4 deaths

Thane has reported 255 new cases of coronavirus, raising the infection count in the Maharashtra district to 5,60,622, an official said on Wednesday.

 

Besides these new cases added on Tuesday, four people also died of the viral infection, which pushed the fatality toll in the district to 11,424, he said.

 

The Covid-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 2.03 per cent, he added.

10:54 AM

South Korea reports 2,028 fresh Covid cases

South Korea reported 2,028 more cases of Covid-19 as of midnight on Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 323,379, officials said.

 

The daily caseload was up from 1,575 in the prior day, hovering above 1,000 for 92 straight days since July 7. The daily average tally for the past week was 2,094, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The recent resurgence was attributable to cluster infections in the Seoul metropolitan area.

10:33 AM

Cadila gets DCGI nod to conduct phase III trials for two-dose Covid vaccine

Drug firm Cadila Healthcare on Tuesday said it has received permission from the Indian drug regulator for conducting phase III trials for its two-dose Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D.

 

The company has already received the emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D to be administered in three doses on August 20.

 

The company has "... got the permission for conduct of phase III trials for two-dose Covid vaccine," Cadila Healthcare said in a regulatory filing.

 

Earlier in August, in a filing to BSE, Cadila Healthcare had said that it plans to seek approval for the two dose regimen of the vaccine. It had also mentioned that the company plans to manufacture 10-12 crore doses of ZyCoV-D annually. Read on...

10:01 AM

Kerala coronavirus update: Covid positivity rate drops to 10.44%

The daily Covid test positivity rate in Kerala on Tuesday came down to 10.44 per cent with 9,735 persons testing positive for the virus after 93,202 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, said a statement issued by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

 

On Monday, the state had reported a test positivity rate of 11.82 per cent.

 

The statement added that 13,878 persons recovered from the disease in the same time period, taking the number of active cases in Kerala to 1,24,441, of which 11.10 per cent are admitted to different hospitals.

 

The state also reported 151 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours, mounting its overall Covid death toll to 25,677. Read on...

9:54 AM

Mumbai's Mumba Devi Temple trust issues guidelines as temple opens from tomorrow for the public

Mumbai's Mumba Devi Temple trust has issued guidelines for devotees as the temple opens from tomorrow for the public with Covid protocols. All devotees will be allowed only through pre-booking on Temple Trust's mobile application.

9:23 AM

WHO still reviewing Sputnik V vaccine, as Russia presses bid

The World Health Organisation is still reviewing data about Russia's Sputnik V vaccine as part of hopes that it can be approved by the UN health agency for emergency use against coronavirus, but said Tuesday that no decision is imminent.

 

The clarification comes after Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in recent days reportedly said that administrative issues were among the main holdups in WHO's decision-making process about whether to grant an emergency use listing to Sputnik V as it has for a half-dozen other vaccines.

 

Such approval would be a show of international confidence in the vaccine after a rigorous review process, and could pave the way for its inclusion into the COVAX program organised by WHO and key partners that is shipping Covid-19 vaccines to scores of countries around the world based on need. Read on...