LIVE: PM's US visit allowed for high-level interactions, says Foreign Secy

Development should be all-inclusive, universal and one that nurtures all, says PM Modi at 76th Session of UNGA

6:12 PM

Kerala reports 17,983 new Covid-19 cases

5:18 PM

Attendance not compulsory for any beneficiary scheme or exam

5:11 PM

The schools in Maharashtra will reopen from October 4

5:04 PM

Delhi reports 24 new Covid-19 cases, 66 recoveries

4:46 PM

MP: 30 new Covid-19 cases detected in Mhow cantonment in 24 hrs

At least 30 persons have tested positive for coronavirus in Mhow cantonment area in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district in the last 24 hours, a health official said on Friday.

While the infected persons are asymptomatic, they have been isolated and are being treated at the Mhow military hospital, nodal officer for the prevention of COVID-19, Dr Amit Malakar said.

The health authorities were alerted after as many as 30 cases emerged from the area in 24 hours, the official said.

4:35 PM

Mizoram reports 1,257 new Covid-19 cases, 3 more fatalities

Mizoram on Friday reported 1,257 new Covid-19 cases, 37 less than the previous day, which pushed the tally to 85,366, an official said.

The Covid-19 death toll rose to 281 as three more persons succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, he said.

At least 252 children were among the newly infected people, he said.

4:15 PM

India's Shilpa Medicare to produce Cadila's Covid-19 shot

Indian drugmaker Shilpa Medicare Limited said on Friday it had agreed to produce Cadila Healthcare Ltd's three-dose COVID-19 vaccine.

The country's health authorities had given emergency approval in August for Cadila's vaccine, the world's first COVID-19 DNA shot, in adults and children aged 12 years and above.

Cadila, which is expected to begin supplying its vaccine from next month, aims to make 100 million to 120 million doses of ZyCoV-D a year.

3:24 PM

WHO's emergency use authorization to Covaxin is expected soon

3:19 PM

Over 813.9 mn Covid vaccine doses sent to states, UTs so far: Govt

More than 81.39 crore Covid vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories so far, while 85,92,550 doses are in the pipeline, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

Over 4.23 crore balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states and Union Territories for inoculation, it said.

The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of Covid vaccination throughout the country, the ministry said in a statement.

2:56 PM

Ladakh sees five-fold increase in active Covid cases in 10 days

Ladakh has reported over five-fold increase in active Covid cases in the last 10 days, officials said on Friday.

The Union Territory reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the tally to 20,771, they said.

On September 13, the number of active Covid cases in Ladakh was 30, including 28 in Leh and 2 in Kargil. On Thursday, the active cases increased to 164, including 161 in Leh and 3 in Kargil, they said.

2:17 PM

Covid: WHO recommends antibody treatment for some patients

The World Health Organisation has on Friday recommended a treatment combining two antibodies -- casirivimab and imdevimab -- for two specific groups of patients with Covid-19.

The first are patients with non-severe Covid-19 who are at the highest risk of hospitalisation and the second are those with severe or critical Covid-19 who are seronegative, meaning they have not mounted their own antibody response to Covid-19, the WHO Guideline Development Group (GDG) panel of international experts and patients wrote in The BMJ.

The GDG panel, however, urged drug producing companies and governments to address the high price and limited production of the antibody combination and ensure safe and appropriate handling of the medicine.

1:48 PM

Puducherry adds less than 100 cases for second straight day

The union territory of Puducherry logged 94 fresh Covid-19 cases during the last 24 hours as the overall tally rose to 1,25,920, a senior Health department official said on Friday.

The union territory recorded less than 100 infections for the second straight day after adding 91 on Thursday.

Director of the Health Department G Sriramulu said the new cases were identified at the end of the examination of 4,836 samples and were spread over Puducherry (65), Karaikal (25) and Mahe (four).

1:40 PM

Indian vaccine cardholders are now eligible for Green Pass: Italy

1:17 PM

Ghana president slams European countries not recognising India-made Covishield

Ghana has termed as unfortunate the development in some countries in Europe of not recognising the Covishield vaccine manufactured in India for travellers, saying the use of vaccines as a tool for immigration control will be a truly retrogressive step.

 

On Wednesday, the UK government added Covishield, the India-manufactured Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, to an updated international travel advisory.

 

Indian travellers vaccinated with two doses of Covishield will still have to undergo 10 days of quarantine in the UK even as the vaccine has been approved under the revised British guidelines for travel, according to UK officials.

1:15 PM

US initial jobless claims rise for 2nd straight week

Initial unemployment claims in the US have increased for a second straight week to 351,000, indicating a disrupted labour market recovery amid an ongoing Delta variant-fuelled Covid-19 resurgence, the Labour Department reported.

 

In the week ending September 18, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased by 16,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 335,000, according to a report released on Thursday by the Department's Bureau of Labour Statistics.

 

The four-week moving average, a method to iron out data volatility, however, decreased by 750 to 335,750, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

In recent months, initial jobless claims hit fresh lows on multiple occasions in the pandemic era, but the declining trend was repeatedly reversed, indicating a bumpy economic recovery.

 

The jobless claims report also showed that the number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits in the week ending September 11 increased by 131,000 to 2.8 million.

 

That number peaked in April and May last year, when it was over 20 million.