Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra reports over 10,000 new cases and 53 deaths

Coronavirus live updates: Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 9,000 new cases. Stay tuned for corona-related news

8:51 PM

Maharashtra's Covid surge continues, reports over 10,000 new cases

Maharashtra on Friday recorded over 10,000 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total infection count to 2,198,399, the state health department said. 

 

With 53 new deaths, the state's total toll reached 52,393. Over 6,400 discharges have been recorded during the same period.

 

Meanwhile, Mumbai has registered 1,173 new cases and three deaths due to the virus in the last 24 hours.

8:50 PM

Covid-19: Tamil Nadu clocks 543 new infections, 5 fatalities

Tamil Nadu on Friday saw its daily new infections crossing the 500 mark once again, the last being in early February, with 543 people testing positive for the virus, pushing the tally to 8,53,992 while five more deaths took the toll to 12,513.

 

Recoveries, however, eclipsed new cases with 562 patients being discharged taking the cumulative number to 8,37,525, leaving 3,954 active cases in the State, a health department bulletin said.

 

8:30 PM

Rajasthan records 195 fresh Covid-19 cases, 1 death

Rajasthan on Friday recorded 195 fresh coronavirus cases, raising its tally to 321,123 , while the death toll in the state reached 2,789 with one more fatality, according to a health department bulletin.

 

A total of 1,584 patients are under treatment, while 3,16,750 have been recovered from the infection, it stated.

 

So far, 519 have died in Jaipur, 307 in Jodhpur, 222 in Ajmer, 169 in Kota, 167 in Bikaner, 120 in Bharatpur, 123 in Udaipur, 109 in Pali and 101 in Sikar due to COVID-19, as per the bulletin.

8:11 PM

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw slams calls for free vaccines at Pvt hospitals

Biotechnology industry veteran Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has slammed calls from some experts and politicians to provide Covid-19 vaccines at private hospitals for free, terming them irrational.

 

The Executive Chairperson of biotech major Biocon Limited noted that people have a choice to pay or get a free vaccine.

 

"So if they want to opt for a private hospital they must agree to pay for the vaccine too", she told PTI on Friday.

 

"They are getting free vaccine at any Government hospital".

 

The Health Ministry said last week that private hospitals functioning as COVID-19 vaccination centres may recover a charge, subject to a ceiling of Rs 250 per dose.

8:05 PM

Opposition doing politics over indigenous Covid vaccine: BJP

Keeping up its attack on the Opposition over the Covid-19 vaccine issue, the BJP on Friday said all that its rivals, especially the Congress, have contributed to the matter is "politics and confusion".

 

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hit out at opposition-ruled states like Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Kerala for "refusing" to use the indigenous Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, and said they are playing with the lives of people for their "petty" politics.

 

On the other hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent out a big message to the world by getting the Covaxin jab, he told reporters here.

 

"The politics being played in the opposition-ruled states is an insult to the country's scientists and also hurts the 'aatmanirbhar bharat' sentiments," Patra said.

7:57 PM

Made in India vaccines reach Uganda

7:40 PM

677 new Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, 4 deaths

Karnataka reported 677 new Covid-19 cases and four related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 9.53 lakh and the toll to 12,354, the Health department said on Friday.

 

The day also saw 427 patients getting discharged after recovery.

 

Bengaluru Urban accounted for 444 of the total number of cases.

7:35 PM

Covid-19: Jammu and Kashmir records 81 new cases, 1 death

Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 81 new coronavirus cases, raising the tally to 1,26,853, officials said.

 

The union territory also reported one death due to the infection in the past 24 hours, they said.

 

Of the fresh cases, 20 were detected from the Jammu division and 61 from the Kashmir division.

 

The officials said Srinagar district recorded the highest of 35 cases, followed by 14 in Jammu district.

7:35 PM

Goa sees 79 new Covid-19 cases, test count crosses 500,000 mark

Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 79 and reached 55,291 on Friday, while the day also saw one death from the infection and 42 people recovering, an official said.

 

The state's toll now stands at 799 and the recovery count is 53,817, leaving it with 675 active cases, he added.

7:34 PM

Sri Lanka buries first Covid-19 victims after long standoff

Sri Lanka ended its forced cremation policy by allowing the burial of two persons who succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic, Army chief Gen Shavendra Silva said on Friday.

 

Amidst mounting international criticism, Sri Lanka revised a controversial mandatory order to cremate the bodies of Covid-19 victims, which denied minority communities, including Muslims, their religious rights.

 

The government last month revised a gazette notification issued in April last year. The new notification allowed both burials and cremations.

7:33 PM

France backs Italy in vaccine ban as EU defends mechanism

Europe's vaccine solidarity got a shot in the arm Friday as France rallied to support Italy, saying it could follow suit in blocking exports of coronavirus vaccines outside the European Union if necessary to enforce its own contracts with drugs manufacturers.

 

The European Union defended the Italian authorities' decision to stop a large shipment of doses destined for Australia as part of a longstanding feud with drug manufacturer AstraZeneca.

 

The EU's executive commission said the decision was not targeting Australia but had been taken to ensure that AstraZeneca delivers the number of doses it committed to dispatch to EU countries.

7:21 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi reports 312 new cases, 312 recoveries and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours

Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi reports 312 new cases, 312 recoveries and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours

6:55 PM

US ban on export of critical raw materials to limit vaccine supply: Serum

A temporary US ban on exports of critical raw materials could limit the production of coronavirus vaccines by companies such as the Serum Institute of India (SII), its chief executive said in a World Bank panel discussion on Thursday.

 

SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has licensed the AstraZeneca/Oxford University product and will soon start bulk-manufacturing the Novavax shot.

 

"There are a lot of bags, filters and critical items that manufacturers need," Adar Poonawalla said. "The Novavax vaccine, which we are a major manufacturer of, needs these items from the U.S."

6:27 PM

Andhra reports 124 fresh COVID-19 cases

Active coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh rose to 900 as 124 were added afresh in 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday as the caseload now touched 8,90,441.

 

The state reported 94 recoveries and one death in a day, the latest bulletin said.

 

Total recoveries now increased to 8,82,369 and the death toll to 7,172, it said.

6:27 PM

Delhi bus owners seek exemption from road tax, penalty amid pandemic

The Delhi High Court has directed the concerned authorities to treat a plea as representation filed by a bus association, seeking exemptions from payment of road tax and levy of penalty post December 2020, in view of the losses suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

A single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva has directed the petition to be treated as a representation by the respondent.

 

Respondent, in this case, the Delhi government shall decide the representation after affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners and take a decision preferably within a period of six weeks, the court said.

 

Petitioners would be at liberty to take further recourse if so required after the decision is taken, it added.