Covid LIVE: Karnataka sees nearly 23,000 new cases; 20,740 in Maharashtra

Coronavirus live updates: India reported 186,364 fresh Covid-19 infections today, taking the caseload tally to 27,555,457. Death toll stands at 318,895. Stay tuned for corona-related news

6:03 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: UK approves single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine

The U.K. cleared a Covid-19 vaccine for use from Johnson & Johnson, the first single-dose shot to be authorized in Britain against the disease.

 

The country’s drug regulator gave the green light for the vaccine, the Department of Health and Social Care said Friday in a statement. The authorization gives Britain a fourth shot in its arsenal, though its use may be initially limited given more than half the population has already received one vaccine dose.

 

The J&J shot has been watched closely as the only vaccine to reach advanced trials testing a single dose regimen. Britain co-funded the company’s global clinical studies and has bought 30 million doses of the shot. The U.S. approved the vaccine at the end of February and the European Union followed suit in March.

 

Through the country’s vaccine task force, 20 million doses of the vaccine have been secured for the U.K., with first deliveries are expected to arrive later this year, according to the statement.

6:00 PM

Covaxin manufacturing to vaccination takes 4 months, says Bharat Biotech

Manufacturing to supply of COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin involves four months of lag time depending on technology and regulatory approvals, Bharat Biotech said on Friday.

 

"The timeline for manufacturing, testing and release for a batch of Covaxinis approximately 120 days, depending on the technology framework and regulatory guidelines to be met.

 

Thus, production batches of Covaxin that were initiated during March this year will be ready for supply only during the month of June," the vaccine maker said in a press release.

5:57 PM

Kerala govt to issue Covid vaccination certificates with passport numbers to those in need

5:56 PM

Oxygen Expresses delivered more than 19,408 MT of oxygen to the nation: Govt

5:55 PM

14,429 Covid positive cases, 103 deaths reported in Andhra Pradesh

Continuing the downward trend, Andhra Pradesh on Friday added 14,429 new cases of coronavirus, taking the gross to 16,57,986. In 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday, the state saw 20,746 patients recover from the pandemic infection and another 103 succumb, a health department bulletin said.

 

The active cases in the state is now 1,80,362 after a total of 14,66,990 recoveries and 10,634 deaths, the bulletin said.

 

Chittoor topped the chart with 2,291 new case additions and East Godavari 2,022. Four districts reported between 1,000 and 1,200 fresh cases each while seven registered below 1,000 each.

5:52 PM

Have lockdowns been successful? Vaccination data shows a different picture

At the peak of the second wave, India was registering over 4 lakh daily Covid-19 infections. However, the concern for administration was not that cases were galloping fast but that most states did not have the requisite infrastructure to deal with rising infections. Thus, many states and districts decided to impose lockdown. This was expected to serve two purposes -- ease the pressure on health resources, and reduce the transmission rate.

 

States have been able to achieve both of these objectives. Against an occupancy rate of 95-99 per cent for hospital beds, ventilators and ICUs, most cities now have the requisite capacity available. Delhi, on Friday, had 3,585 of the 6,970 ICU beds available and 849 of 2,563 ventilators available. Similarly, Mumbai had 595 of the 2,865 ICU beds and 180 of the 1,496 ventilator beds available. READ ON...

5:49 PM

Covid raises heart attack risk in people with high cholesterol

People with genetic high cholesterol, heart disease or both, and infected with Covid-19 can be more at risk of heart attacks, according to new research.

 

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common genetic condition that increases an individual's risk for cardiovascular disease by up to 20-fold due to lifelong elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels.

 

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, also confirms that Covid-19 increases heart attack rates in individuals with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).

5:44 PM

Andhra Pradesh reports 14,429 new Covid cases, 20,746 recoveries and 103 deaths in the last 24 hours

Andhra Pradesh reports 14,429 new Covid cases, 20,746 recoveries and 103 deaths in the last 24 hours.

 

5:31 PM

UK's lockdown lifting plan hangs in balance over B.1.617 variant concerns

UK's roadmap to lifting all coronavirus restrictions appeared to be balanced on a knife-edge, with authorities and scientists urging caution amid the rapid spread of the B.1.617 COVID-19 variant first identified in India, which the health secretary says is estimated to be behind up to three-quarters of new infections in the country.

 

Public Health England data shows cases of the variant have risen by 3,535 to 6,959 since last week. READ ON...

5:18 PM

Covid LIVE: Indian Immunological to start producing Covaxin from mid-June

In a bid to augment the vaccine production, the Government has decided to support some public sector companies with grants under the Mission COVID Suraksha. One such company is the Hyderabad based Indian Immunological limited (IIL), which a facility under the PSU, National Dairy Development Board. 

 

A technical collaboration agreement has been reached between IIL and Bharat Biotech, for IIL to supply of the drug substance required the for manufacturing Covaxin Vaccine to Bharat Biotech. The Managing Director of Indian Immunological Limited, Dr K Anand Kumar said that the IIL is planning to start the production of  drug substance for Covaxin from next month, June 15, and send out the first batch to Bharat Biotech limited by July. 

 

Stating that Indian Immunologicals is expected to produce the drug substance for about 10-15 million doses per month, Dr Anand Kumar said it will be initially 2-3 million doses and will be scaled up to 6-7 million per month later in the year.

5:10 PM

Sikkim reports highest single-day spike of 420 COVID-19 cases

Sikkim reported the highest single-day spike of 420 COVID-19 cases pushing the tally to 14,634, a health department bulletin said on Friday. The coronavirus death toll in the Himalayan state rose to 243, with three fatalities reported in the past 24 hours.

 

East Sikkim reported the maximum number of 235 fresh cases, followed by South Sikkim at 136, West Sikkim at 47, and North Sikkim at two. At present, there are 3,794 active cases, while 212 others have migrated to other states and 10,385 patients have recuperated from the infection. So far 11,15,641 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state, including 422 in the past 24 hours.

5:01 PM

DRDO constructing a 300-bedded Covid care centre in Assam: CM

4:50 PM

Delhi records 1,141 fresh cases of Covid-19 at positivity rate of 1.59%; 139 new deaths

4:37 PM

Delhi records 1,141 fresh cases of Covid-19 at positivity rate of 1.59%; 139 new fatalities

Delhi records 1,141 fresh cases of Covid-19 at positivity rate of 1.59%; 139 new fatalities

4:37 PM

Can't imagine how many children orphaned by Covid, says SC; directs states to help them

Observing that it cannot even imagine how many children in this large country have got orphaned due to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court Friday directed the State authorities to immediately identify them and provide relief.

 

The top court asked state governments to understand the agony of children starving on the streets and directed the district authorities that they be immediately taken care of without waiting for any further orders from the courts.

 

A vacation bench of Justices L N Rao and Aniruddha Bose directed district administrations to identify the orphans in their areas and upload their data on the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) website by Saturday evening.