Covid LIVE: Tamil Nadu sees 15,759 new cases in a day; 8,249 in Karnataka

Coronavirus live updates: Tamil Nadu recorded 16,813 cases in the last 24 hours. Kerala registered 14,424 infections, Maharashtra 12,207, Karnataka 11,042, Delhi 305. Stay tuned for corona-related new

4:04 PM

Covid LIVE: 'Expectation to keep vaccine wastage 1% or less is reasonable'

3:53 PM

Odisha reports 5,235 new Covid-19 cases, 43 more fatalities

Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 8,42,461 on Friday as 5,235 more people tested positive for the infection, the lowest single-day rise in the last 50 days, a health department official said. Forty-three fresh fatalities due to the contagion pushed the death toll to 3,210, he said.

 

Of the new cases, 2,975 were reported from quarantine centres, and 2,273 detected during contact tracing. Khurda district, which comprises the state capital Bhubaneswar, reported the highest number of new cases at 726, followed by Cuttack (557) and Jajpur (394).

3:30 PM

Asymptomatic cases in children should be taken care of under home isolation: Himachal Pradesh govt

3:30 PM

What the world wants China to disclose in Wuhan lab leak probe

The U.S. push for a new inquiry to determine the origins of the coronavirus -- including whether it leaked from a Wuhan lab -- raises a key question: What has China failed to disclose?

 

The Group of Seven leaders this weekend are set to call for a fresh, transparent, World Health Organization-convened study into the origins of this virus, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg News. Yet so far they’ve been vague on what exactly they want. READ ON...

3:25 PM

Sri Lanka records highest single-day Covid-19 death toll

The coronavirus death toll in Sri Lanka has crossed the 2,000-mark as the country on Thursday recorded its highest single-day fatalities with 101 deaths since the onset of the pandemic.

 

The death toll from the coronavirus has now reached 2,011 in Sri Lanka, which is facing a third wave of the pandemic, health officials said on Friday.

 

The 101 deaths reported on Thursday was the highest number of deaths confirmed in a day since the onset of the pandemic in the country in March 2020.

3:15 PM

Govt issues guidelines to vaccine makers for minimum wastage of vials

2:59 PM

1,400 kids orphaned in Tamil Nadu due to Covid-19 pandemic

The District Child Protection offices of Tamil Nadu have identified about 1,400 children in the state who have lost either one or both parents to the Covid-19 pandemic since the first wave hit the state.

 

This data compiled by the district child protection offices are as on Wednesday.

 

Of this 50 children are orphaned, losing both parents. The Tamil Nadu state government has announced 5 lakh to the children who are orphaned due to Covid-19. However if a person is cured of Covid-19 and dies due to post Covid complications, there is no compensation to the children who lose their parents creating a major discrepancy.

2:47 PM

'Worse than Covid': Threat of pandemics spurs race for vaccines in 100 days

Covid-19 has been devastating. A future pandemic could be far worse.
 

If scientists used a scale to classify pandemics like hurricanes, the fatality rate of Covid-19 would probably make it a “category two” out of five, according to Richard Hatchett, a former White House adviser who leads the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

 

“What’s the worst case?” he asked. “It’s a lot worse than Covid.” READ MORE...

2:42 PM

Over 1.17 crore Covid vaccine doses available with states: Centre

More than 1.17 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs, while over 38 lakh doses will be received by them within the next three days, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. Over 25.60 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through the Government of India (free of cost channel) and direct state procurement categories.

 

Of this, the total consumption, including wastage is 24,44,06,096 doses, the ministry said. A total of 1,17,56,911 COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.

 

"Furthermore, 38,21,170 vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days," the ministry said.

2:26 PM

Supreme Court orders postponement of INI-CET 2021 exam

2:14 PM

Ladakh reports 90 new Covid cases

Ladakh reported 90 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 19,475, while 160 people were discharged after getting recovered, bringing down the number of active cases to 853, officials said on Friday.

 

Ladakh has so far recorded 197 coronavirus-related deaths -- 143 in Leh district and 54 in Kargil district. A total of 18,425 patients have recovered from the disease so far, they said. A total of 90 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday. Out of these, 77 were in Leh and 13 in Kargil, they said.

2:09 PM

Revised guidelines to continue in districts with high Covid positivity: Karnataka govt

1:50 PM

Pfizer Covid-19 jabs protective against Beta, Gamma variant

US pharmaceutical Pfizer's vaccine against Covid-19 can effectively neutralise Beta, Gamma variant of the Coronavirus disease, according to a study.

 

The study led by researchers from the New York University, US, showed that the Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccination worked well against the majority of variants as the earlier virus, but the vaccine neutralised the South African variant and the Brazil variant with a 3-fold decrease in titer.

 

"Our interpretation of the results is that the vaccine antibodies are very powerful, and even if you lose 3-fold of the titer, there is still plenty of antibody there to neutralize the virus. We believe the findings demonstrate that the vaccines will remain protective against the variants that we tested," said Nathaniel "Ned" Landau, Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in New York City.

1:47 PM

FDA denies Bharat Bio's US partner emergency approval for Covaxin vaccine

In setback that could potentially delay the launch of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin in USA, the Food and Drug Administration there has "recommended" Ocugen Inc, the US partner of the Indian vaccine maker, to go for Biologics Licence Application (BLA) route with additional data, nixing hopes of Emergency Use Authorisation.

 

Ocugen in a statement on Thursday announced that as recommended by the FDA, it will pursue submission of a biologics licence application (BLA) for Covaxin. BLA is a "full approval" mechanism by the FDA for drugs and vaccines. READ MORE...  

1:38 PM

Puducherry logs 429 new Covid-19 cases, 11 deaths

Puducherry continued to see a fall in number of fresh coronavirus cases with the union territory reporting 429 in the last 24 hours as against the 507 on the previous day.

 

The new infections pushed the cumulative Covid-19 tally in the union territory to 1,11,684, Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said.

 

The 429 cases were identified at the end of the examination of 9,159 swabs in the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Friday, he added. While Puducherry registered 322 of the fresh cases, Karaikal logged 83, followed by Mahe (19) and Yanam (5). The union territory had recorded 507 new infections on Thursday.