Covid LIVE: 11 cases of Kappa strain in Rajasthan; 2,169 new cases in Assam

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Pune reported 817 new infections, followed by Mumbai (661), Bengaluru (433), Chennai (165), Delhi (45). Stay tuned for corona-related news

4:26 PM

Surge in Covid cases reported across major States in North-East: Health Ministry

4:25 PM

LIVE: Health Ministry addresses media on Covid situation in India

4:20 PM

Covid-19: Despite better infra, Bengaluru has higher death rate than Mumbai

Indeed, the second wave of Covid-19 has been devastating for India. The country witnessed over 400,000 daily infections at the peak, and Covid-related deaths at the time averaged over 4,000. The death rate during the second wave, however, has been lower than the first wave until now.

 

A Business Standard analysis shows that while India reported 1.38 deaths per 100 infections between July 1 and November 1 of 2020, the country has recorded 1.27 deaths per 100 cases between March 1 and July 12 this year. READ MORE HERE...

4:12 PM

PM to interact with CMs of 6 states on July 16 to discuss Covid situation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala on July 16 to discuss the COVID-19 situation in these states.

 

These are among the states where the Covid infection numbers have seen an increase in several districts or have not in general seen a dip like they have in most other states. READ MORE...

3:54 PM

Sikkim logs 226 fresh Covid cases, tally rises to 22,623

Sikkim's COVID-19 tally rose to 22,623 on Tuesday as 226 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. East Sikkim district registered the highest number of new cases at 144, followed by South Sikkim (41), West Sikkim (40), and North Sikkim (one).

 

The Himalayan state now has 2,281 active cases, while 19,767 people have recovered from the disease, 258 patients have migrated to other states and 317 have succumbed to the infection so far. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 88.3 per cent. Sikkim has tested over 1.74 lakh samples for COVID-19 thus far, including 796 in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said, adding that the positivity rate stood at 28.3 per cent.

3:42 PM

India Coronavirus Dispatch: Average daily vaccinations drop in July

Average daily vaccinations are down by around 600,000 shots a day compared to June's numbers, a report in ThePrint said. As many as 3,988,979 vaccine doses were administered each day on average in June. This dropped to 3,388,751 in the first eleven days of July. The total vaccine doses available to states, meanwhile, remained the same — 120 million — for both June and July. Read more

3:33 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: PM Modi to interact with CMs of 6 states on July 16

3:29 PM

Crowds in hill stations, markets without masks cause for concern: PM Modi

Crowds thronging hill stations and markets without masks is "cause for concern", said PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday, reiterating his government’s message that the Covid-19 pandemic continues in the country.

 

"It is true that tourism, business and business have been greatly affected due to coronavirus...but today I will say very emphatically that it is not okay to have huge crowds in hill stations, markets without wearing masks," said Modi according to NDTV.com.

 

Modi interacted with Chief Ministers of the northeastern states on the Covid-19 situation via video conferencing, asking them to closely monitor variants of the coronavirus. READ MORE...

3:24 PM

Delhi govt received about 1.5 lakh fresh doses of Covishield: Jain

The Delhi government has received a fresh supply of 1.5 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines which will allow the vaccination to be carried out for about a day and a half, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Tuesday.

 

Interacting with reporters, he also urged people not to lower the guard, and reiterated that experts have already cautioned about the chance of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

"Yesterday, 45 cases of Covid were recorded, which is the lowest in about a year and few months. Positivity rate too has remained below 0.10 per cent in the last few days. But as long as this virus is there, we have to be alert and follow all Covid-appropriate behaviour," Jain said.

2:53 PM

DATA STORY: India reports 2,020 deaths as Madhya Pradesh clears backlog

India has so far administered 381,467,646 vaccine doses. That is 1234.23 per cent of its total caseload, and 27.36 per cent of its population. Read on...

2:51 PM

Serum Institute to start manufacturing Sputnik vaccine in September

Serum Institute of India (SII) will start production of Sputnik vaccine at the company's facilities in September, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Tuesday.

 

"The first batch of Sputnik vaccine is expected to be produced at SII's facilities in September," RDIF said in a statement.

 

The parties intend to produce over 300 million doses of the vaccine in India per year, it added.

 

"As part of the technical transfer process, SII has already received cell and vector samples from the Gamaleya Center. With their import approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the cultivation process has begun," RDIF said.

1:44 PM

MP adds 1,478 "backlog" deaths

Madhya Pradesh's health department said it has added a "backlog" of 1,478 Covid deaths, raising the fatality toll due to the viral infection in the state to 10,506. It said 208 of these deaths listed fresh were reported among patients kept under home isolation, 762 deaths in private hospitals and 508 people who died at places other than their native districts.  More here

1:26 PM

Odisha logs 1,930 new Covid-19 cases

Odisha's Covid-19 tally increased to 9,43,675 on Tuesday as 1,930 more people tested positive for the infection, while a record 68 fresh fatalities pushed the state''s coronavirus death toll to 4,730. The state registered its previous highest single-day fatalities of 65 on July 11, reported PTI.

1:24 PM

Crowds without masks worrying: PM Modi

Crowds thronging hill stations and markets without masks is "cause for concern", says PM Narendra Modi. "The number of Covid-19 cases is rising. We need to take strict action to curb the situation at the micro level." More here

 

12:56 PM

Improve testing: PM Modi