Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra reports more than 9,000 new cases in a day

Coronavirus live updates: Over 5 million people have registered themselves on the Co-WIN portal since Monday. Stay tuned for corona-related news

5:45 PM

Bharat Biotech's Covaxin 81 pc efficient in Phase 3 trials

Vaccine major Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, has demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81 per cent in the Phase 3 clinical trials.

 

The trials involved 25,800 subjects, the largest ever conducted in India, in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Hyderabad-based company said in a statement.

 

"Today is an important milestone in vaccine discovery, for science and our fight against coronavirus. With today's results from our Phase 3 clinical trials, we have now reported data on our COVID-19 vaccine from Phase 1, 2, and 3 trials involving around 27,000 participants," Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said.

5:07 PM

Covid LIVE: Covaxin demonstrated 81% interim efficacy, says Bharat Biotech

Bharat Biotech Announces Phase 3 Results of COVAXIN: India’s First Covid-19 Vaccine Demonstrates Interim Clinical Efficacy of 81%

4:15 PM

People can get vaccinated against Covid-19 24x7, says Harsh Vardhan

The government has lifted the time restriction on receiving Covid-19 vaccine jabs so as to increase the pace of immunisation, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.

 

People can now get vaccinated round-the-clock according to their convenience, he said in a tweet, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi values the health as well as the time of the citizens of the country. READ ON...

4:00 PM

Eight States seeing an upward trajectory in daily new Covid cases

3:48 PM

Coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil more contagious

The coronavirus variant detected in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas is twice as contagious and capable of re-infecting those who already had Covid-19, according to a study

 

The Sao Paulo Research Foundation said on Tuesday that the scientific research group was coordinated by Ester Sabino, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of Sao Paulo, and Nuno Faria, a researcher at Oxford University, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

The virus variant was initially detected in November 2020 in Manaus, capital of Amazonas state.

3:17 PM

Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, TN, Gujarat, Karnataka continue to see upsurge in new Covid-19 cases

Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka continue to report a surge in fresh COVID-19 cases and they account for85.95 per cent of the cases reported in a span of 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

 

The ministry said that 14,989 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours.

 

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 7,863. It is followed by Kerala with 2,938, while Punjab reported 729 new cases.

2:59 PM

People can get vaccinated against coronavirus 24x7: Harsh Vardhan

The government has lifted the time restriction on receiving COVID-19 vaccine jabs so as to increase the pace of immunisation, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.

 

People can now get vaccinated round-the-clock according to their convenience, he said in a tweet, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi values the health as well as the time of the citizens of the country.

 

"The government has lifted the time restriction to increase the speed of vaccination. People can now get vaccinated 24x7 according to their convenience. Prime Minister Narendra Modi understands the value of health as well as the time of citizens," Vardhan tweeted in Hindi.

2:54 PM

24x7 vaccination facility at all hospitals across India: Union Health Minister

2:44 PM

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan took his first dose of Covid-19 in Thiruvananthapuram today

2:41 PM

Gurugram Health Department to begin random Covid-19 testing

As the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing daily in Gurugram, the Health Department will soon begin random testing across the district, officials said on Wednesday.

 

Recently, an upscale condominium in Sector-67 at Gurugram was declared a containment zone after 22 cases of Covid-19 infections were detected there.

 

Gurugram has reported more than 35 cases a day during the last 10 days with more than 3,000 tests conducted in a day, the officials added. As per health officials, random sampling would be conducted in societies, containment zones and several other locations in Gurugram.

2:00 PM

President Ram Nath Kovind gets first dose of Covid vaccine at Army hospital in Delhi

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday administered the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the Army hospital (Research and Referral) in New Delhi.

 

The President received his first shot as the country's vaccination campaign has been widened to include people above 60, and those who are 45 or more and suffering from certain medical conditions.

 

He had earlier said it was a matter of immense pride that India is conducting the world's largest vaccination programme. "Both the vaccines rolled out under this programme are produced indigenously," he had said. READ MORE...

1:41 PM

US halts trial of Covid-19 convalescent plasma

The US' National Institutes of Health (NIH) has halted a clinical trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 convalescent plasma in treating emergency department patients who develop mild to moderate symptoms.

 

An independent data and safety monitoring board met for the second planned interim analysis of the trial data, and determined that while the convalescent plasma intervention caused no harm, it was unlikely to benefit this group of patients, the NIH said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

 

Launched in August 2020, the trial was being conducted at 47 hospital emergency departments across the US and had enrolled over 500 participants, Xinhua news agency reported.

1:12 PM

US National Institute of Health to research on Covid-19 impact on children

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a new research effort to understand how Covid-19 affects children, who have accounted for roughly 13 percent of total confirmed cases in the country.

 

The research will investigate why some children are at greater risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection than others, why symptoms vary among children who are infected, and how to identify children at risk for severe illness from SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to a release of the NIH on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. Read on...

1:07 PM

First batch of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine arrives in Taiwan

The first batch of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in Taiwan.

 

Taiwan has signed contracts securing 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 5.05 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 4.76 million doses of vaccines through COVAX. Wednesday's delivery had 117,000 doses, which was transported from the airport with a police escort.

 

Health care workers, especially those who have direct contact with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases, will be the first to get the shots, Taiwan's Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a news briefing. The island has yet to announce a mass vaccination campaign for the general public. Read on...

11:24 AM

Coronavirus in India: Latest update by MoHFW

Active cases: 170,126 (Net increase: 1,768)

Deaths: 157,346 (Net increase: 98)

Cured: 10,812,044 (Net increase: 13,123)

Total cases: 11,139,516 (Net increase: 14,989)

Total vaccination: 15,620,749 (Increase over previous day: 768,730)