Covid LIVE: At 453, Mumbai reports lowest daily cases since Feb 9

Today's coronavirus numbers: Bengaluru (520 cases), Mumbai 489 cases), Chennai (214 cases), Kolkata (64 cases), Delhi (54 cases). Stay tuned for corona-related news

10:47 AM

Andhra Pradesh registers 2,100 new Covid-19 infections, 26 deaths

Andhra Pradesh logged 2,100 fresh cases of coronavirus, 3,435 recoveries and 26 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Monday.

 

Active cases stood at 33,964.

 

A total of 2.24 crore tests so far turned out 19,05,023 positive cases of Covid-19 in the state, at an overall positivity rate of 8.65 per cent.

 

The overall recovery rate improved to 97.47 per cent after 18,58,189 infected persons got cured.

 

The mortality rate remained stable at 0.67 per cent as the gross toll mounted to 12,870, government data said. Read on...

10:35 AM

Maharashtra coronavirus update: Thane logs 445 new Covid-19 cases, 11 more deaths

With the addition of 445 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has reached 5,34,897, an official said on Tuesday.

 

Besides these new cases reported on Monday, the virus also claimed 11 more lives, pushing the death toll in the district to 10,755, he said.

 

The Covid-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 2.01 per cent, he added.

 

Details of recovered and under-treatment patients were not provided by the district administration.

10:25 AM

Germany lifts travel ban on travellers from India, 4 other countries

Germany is lifting a ban on most travellers from five countries hit by 'Delta' variant of Covid-19, including India and the UK from Wednesday, said German envoy Walter J Lindner.

 

"From tomorrow, Germany is removing the entry ban and easing travel rules for five countries where Delta variant is widespread, including India," tweeted German ambassador to India, Walter J Lindner on Tuesday.

 

German public health agency the Robert Koch Institute on Monday said India, Nepal, Russia, Portugal and the UK, currently listed as so-called virus variant countries, would be reclassified from Wednesday as "high-incidence areas". Read on...

10:20 AM

Lucknow madrasa to double up as Covid care clinic

A madrasa in Lucknow will convert into a Covid care clinic from Wednesday, paving the way for more such initiatives.

 

The charitable clinic at Madrasa Abu Talib in the densely populated Kashmiri Mohalla area will be inaugurated by its patron, Maulana Saif Abbas and will provide timely and free medical facility to patients.

 

Doctors, nurses and paramedic staff will be stationed at the madrasa-clinic which will be equipped with Covid diagnosis kit, oximeters and other equipment required for early detection of the coronavirus infection.

 

In the second phase, Abu Talib Charitable Clinic will also have isolation beds and the unit will work as a primary isolation facility.

 

According to Maulana Saif Abbas, "The idea came from the experience during the second wave of coronavirus pandemic that hit the city in April-May. People, especially those from the minority community, are afraid of going to hospitals and ignore symptoms initially. By the time they are taken to the hospital, the disease reaches severe stage."

 

He said, "These people will visit the clinic in their vicinity without any hesitation and get themselves checked for Covid if they experience any symptom."

 

The academic activities of the madrasa will, however, continue and students will study on the first floor of the building while the clinic will function on the ground floor.

10:08 AM

Coronavirus in India: Latest update by MoHFW

Active cases: 464,357 (Net reduction: 17,714)

Deaths: 403,281 (Net increase: 553)

Cured: 29,752,294 (Net increase: 51,864)

Total cases: 30,619,932 (Net increase: 34,703)

Total vaccination: 357,553,612 (Increase over previous day: 4,582,246)

9:17 AM

Covid-19 | India reports 34,703 new cases in the last 24 hours; lowest in 111 days

Covid-19 | India reports 34,703 new cases in the last 24 hours; lowest in 111 days. Active cases decline to 4,64,357. The recovery rate rises to 97.17%

 

9:08 AM

Maharashtra: 124 new Covid cases in Nashik, 7 more deaths

The Covid-19 tally in Nashik district of Maharashtra has gone up to 3,95,354 with the addition of 124 new cases of the infection, health officials said.

 

These new cases were reported on Monday.

 

The virus also claimed seven more lives, including three in the city, which took the death toll in the district to 8,385, the officials said.

 

Out of the total fatalities, 356 were reported from Malegaon area of the district, 3,890 from city limits and 4,013 from other parts of the district. Besides, 126 others who lost their lives were from outside the district and underwent treatment, they said.

9:03 AM

Global Covid-19 caseload tops 184 mn; death toll climbs over 3.98 mn

The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 184 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.98 million and vaccinations soared to over 3.2 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

 

In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 184,104,804, 3,983,508 and 3,220,930,100, respectively.

 

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 33,722,994 and 605,567, respectively, according to the CSSE. Read on...

9:00 AM

Present tense, future shaky for Bengal small factory hub amid Covid crisis

Sanat Khan, 35, is on tenterhooks. The foundry unit where he works reopened about a week ago after remaining shut for a month due to various restrictions put in place by the West Bengal government to contain the second wave of Covid-19.

 

“I got paid half the wages for a month,” he says. He somehow managed to make ends meet. But what is now gnawing at him is this question: will there be another round of restrictions or intermittent lockdowns? Khan, who makes Rs 400 a day, can’t afford even a day’s shutdown.

 

But he may still be better off than the others. The 500-odd foundry units in Howrah operate largely with contractual workers. And as they faced liquidity crunch, smaller units were unable to pay the workers even half their wages during the shutdown. Read on...

8:50 AM

Turkey starts phase-2 trials of local Covid-19 vaccine in Istanbul

The phase-2 trials of the locally developed vaccine against Covid-19 started to be administered to volunteers in Istanbul on Monday, local media reported.

 

Volunteers aged between 18 and 59, who do not have serious chronic diseases, are included in the trial, a media report said.

 

The report said that the phase-2 trials include 330 volunteers, while experts plan to increase this number to approximately 15,000 in phase-3, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The vaccine is reportedly expected to be used in the fall in case of successful results obtained in all the phases. Read on...

8:48 AM

As Covid restrictions ease, Isro puts in place aggressive launch timelines

The space sector is hot again. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos will on July 20 launch himself into space on board a Blue Origin rocket, which he owns. Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson is also cooking up a space flight.

 

A similar urgency also seems to be nudging the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which is determined to flag off some key missions. The Covid-19 pandemic, which clamped down hardware supply chains and manufacturing work at various Isro centres, postponed several launches. The agency has drawn up a calendar for at least six launches in 2021, including geo-spatial monitoring satellite GISAT-1 and pre-cursory flights to India’s first manned mission Gaganyaan, according to an official source. Read on...

8:29 AM

Private banks' loan books shrink in Q1 amid second wave of Covid-19

Four small- and mid-sized private banks suffered a contraction in loan books in the June 2021 quarter (Q1FY22) over the previous one as they faced the brunt of the second wave of the pandemic.

 

However, HDFC Bank, one of the country’s largest private-sector lenders, bucked the trend with a marginal 1.3 per cent sequential growth rate in advances, despite restrictive lockdowns impacting economic activity.

 

Sequentially, the credit contraction was between 1 per cent and 3.5 per cent for IndusInd Bank, YES Bank, Federal Bank, and CSB Bank. Read on...

8:14 AM

Germany's Covid-19 vaccination campaign slows down: Robert Koch Institute

Germany's Covid-19 vaccination campaign slowed down as administered vaccine doses decreased by 10.7 per cent to 616,396 during the first weekend of July compared to the previous weekend, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Monday.

 

Average daily vaccine doses used in Germany fell to around 702,000, according to the federal agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. At peak times in mid-June, the national average had been over 840,000, the Xinhua news agency reported. Read on...

8:05 AM

World coronavirus update: UK reports another 27,334 coronavirus cases

Britain has reported another 27,334 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,930,534, according to official figures released on Monday.

 

The country also recorded another nine coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 128,231. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

More than 45.3 million people in Britain have received the first jab of Covid-19 vaccine and over 33.7 million people have received two doses, the official figures showed.

7:56 AM

Bangladesh extends 'strict' nationwide Covid-19 lockdown till July 14

Bangladesh on Monday again extended the ongoing "strict" nationwide lockdown until July 14 in order to control the spread of COVID-19.

 

In a notification, the Cabinet Division said that the ongoing restrictions will remain effective until July 14 midnight. Bangladesh extended the lockdown, a day after the daily coronavirus deaths reached a record high.

 

On Sunday, the health authorities reported 153 deaths in a single day, the highest since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh last year. With the latest tally, the countrywide death toll now stands at 15,065, Dhaka Tribune reported. Read on...