Coronavirus LIVE updates: Containment zones rise to over 4,550 in Delhi

Coronavirus update: US is the worst-hit country with 12,072,560 coronavirus cases, followed by India, which has 9,004,365 cases, Brazil (5,912,903), France (2,065,138), Russia (1,991,998)

10:17 PM

West Bengal's Covid-19 death toll climbs to 7,923 with 50 fatalities; 3,626 fresh cases push tally to 4,49,131: Health Department

A health worker in personal protective equipment (PPE) collects a swab sample from a man at the Sadar Bazar market to conduct tests for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Delhi on Wednesday.

10:08 PM

Delhi records 118 Covid-19 deaths; 6,608 new cases take infection tally to 517,000: Authorities

9:59 PM

eVIN system being repurposed for tracking Covid vaccine delivery: Vardhan

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said a digital platform used in the Universal Immunisation Programme was being repurposed to digitally track movement of stocks of COVID-19 vaccines, once available, and also trace those who will receive the shots thus ensuring last-mile vaccine delivery.
 

 

Interacting with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) via a video link, he mentioned that under Mission Indradhanush, the government has already ramped up its immunisation capability with an elaborate cold storage chain for inoculating children from 12 diseases.

9:49 PM

PM Modi holds meeting to review vaccine strategy, approvals, procurement

Held a meeting to review India’s vaccination strategy and the way forward. Important issues related to progress of vaccine development, regulatory approvals and procurement were discussed, said PM Narendra Modi. He added that he reviewed various issues like prioritisation of population groups, reaching out to healthcare workers, cold-chain Infrastructure augmentation, adding vaccinators, and tech platform for vaccine roll-out.

 

9:22 PM

India's Bharat Biotech offers Brazil potential Covid-19 vaccine

India's Bharat Biotech this week offered Brazil a Covid-19 vaccine that is in late-stage clinical trials and a possible technology transfer partnership, a company executive said on Friday. The private pharmaceutical company based in the southern city of Hyderabad is developing a whole-virion inactivated vaccine called Covaxin that could be licensed by the second quarter of 2021.

 

"The data looks really good in terms of reduction and also prevention of disease, and we started our Phase 3 clinical trials this week," Executive Director Sai Prasad told Reuters.

9:01 PM

Tamil Nadu records 1,686 new coronavirus cases and 18 deaths

Tamil Nadu recorded 1,686 new COVID-19 cases and 18 deaths, pushing the infection count to 7,66,677 and the toll to 11,568, the health department said on Friday. As many as 2,173 people were discharged as the cumulative number of those cured rose to 7,41,705, a bulletin said. Active cases in the state, which has been on the decline, stood at 13,404. The state has been recording less than 2,000 new cases since November 13.

On Friday, the state capital logged 489 new cases, Chengalpet 125, Coimbatore 147 and Kancheepuram 102 while the remaining was scattered across other districts.

 

Perambalur district, which recently recorded 'zero' fresh cases, reported one COVID-19 positive case. Seven districts recorded fresh infections in single digits, the bulletin said. Of the 7.66 plus infections reported in the state, Chennai accounted for 2,11,084 till date.

8:54 PM

Maharashtra reports 5,640 new coronavirus cases, tally rises to 17,68,695

Maharashtra's coronavirus tally on Friday climbed to 17,68,695 with the addition of 5,640 cases. The state reported 155 deaths during the day, which pushed the fatality count to 46,511, he said.

 

A total of 6,945 patients were discharged on Friday after treatment, taking the tally of recovered patients to 16,42,916. With this, the number of active patients in the state reached 78,272.

 

Mumbai city reported 1,031 new coronavirus positive cases on Friday, which pushed its overall tally to 2,73,486, while its death toll rose to 10,639 with 12 fatalities during the day. The state has so far conducted 1,00,35,665 tests. Maharashtra's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases: 17,68,695; new cases: 5,640; death toll: 46,511; discharged: 16,42,916; active cases: 78,272; people tested so far: 1,00,35,665.

8:44 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Phase-3 trial of Covaxin begins in Odisha institute

The third phase human trial of Covaxin, the much-awaited indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine, has begun at an institute here, a senior official said on Friday.

 

The vaccine was administered to two recruits on Thursday at the Preventive and Therapeutic Clinical Trial Unit (PTCTU) at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, the only institute in Odisha chosen by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for the human trial of the vaccine, E.Venkata Rao, the principal investigator in Covaxin human trial said.

 

The indigenous vaccine, which is being developed by Bharat Biotech and ICMR, has received approval of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for initiating the third phase trial. The trial is being conducted at 21 selected medical institutes across the country.

8:40 PM

Maharashtra reports 5,640 new coronavirus cases, tally rises to 17,68,695

8:39 PM

1,031 new coronavirus cases, 553 recoveries/discharges and 13 deaths today in Mumbai

8:31 PM

Rs 2,000 fine in Delhi for spitting in public places, quarantine rules violation and not maintaining social distancing

8:30 PM

661 new coronavirus cases, four deaths in Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 661 new coronavirus cases, raising the infection count to 1,05,376, while four more fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,622. Of the fresh cases, 253 were reported from the Jammu division and 408 from the Kashmir division, they said.

 

The officials said Srinagar district recorded the highest number of 169 cases, followed by 98 in Jammu. There are 5,678 active cases now in the UT, while 98,076 patients have recovered. The UT reported four COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours -- two each from Jammu and Kashmir regions, the officials said.

8:22 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: 1,781 new Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, 17 deaths

Karnataka reported 1,781 new cases of COVID-19 and 17 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 8,69,561 and the death toll to 11,621, the health department said on Friday.

 

The day also saw 2,181 patients getting discharged after recovery.

 

Out of 1,781 fresh cases reported on Friday, 1,067 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone. As of November 20 evening, cumulatively 8,69,561 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 11,621 deaths and 8,33,169 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

8:11 PM

No Covid-19 lockdown to be imposed in Madhya Pradesh: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday rejected recent reports that the state government is mulling to impose lockdown again in the view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chouhan cleared the air surrounding all speculations and said, "No lockdown to be imposed in the state."

 

With the coronavirus cases rising once again in the state, there were reports that the Madhya Pradesh government was considering announcing a fresh lockdown.

 

The state has reported 1,363 new cases and 14 deaths on Thursday, according to the State Health Department. Madhya Pradesh has so far reported a total of 1,88,018 cases of which 1,75,089 have recovered. A total of 3,129 people have lost their lives due to the deadly pandemic.

8:01 PM

Night curfew between 10 pm and 6 am from Nov 21 in five districts: Madhya Pradesh CM