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

7:42 AM

8 labs in 4 cities, part of CCMB-led consortium to identify Covid-19 variants

Complementing national efforts led by INSACOG, a consortium of four city clusters - Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Pune - has been established to upscale the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus genomic surveillance.

 

Eight labs in these four cities will attempt to develop strategies to identify "variants of concern" before they spread widely.

 

The consortium, established with support and seed funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, aims to develop targeted sampling strategies based on granular epidemiological and clinical data, a statement informed.

 

Coupled with intense environmental surveillance and advanced computational techniques, the consortium would also focus on building capabilities for real-time surveillance and epidemiology.

 

The new effort will track the emergence of viral variants correlated to epidemiological dynamics and clinical outcomes.

7:37 AM

Reports suggest CoWin website hacked; health ministry, researchers deny

The CoWin website was hacked, putting data of 150 million users at risk, various websites reported late on Thursday evening.

 

DarkTracker, in their tweet, stated that information of about 150 million vaccinated people in India is at stake.

The Health Ministry and security researchers, however, denied the breach, as news of the hack spread on the internet, sparking panic.

7:31 AM

Covid-19 pandemic: Health ministry flags poor coverage of second dose

The health ministry on Thursday flagged the poor coverage of second dose among the priority groups in states, with only 56 per cent of the health care workers and 47 per cent of the frontline workers having received full vaccination so far.

 

At a meeting to review the progress of vaccination, the government also raised the issue of less-than-adequate private sector participation in some states that have limited and unequal spread of private hospitals such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam.

7:27 AM

US extends expiration dates for Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine by 6 weeks

Johnson & Johnson said Thursday that U.S. regulators extended the expiration date on millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by six weeks.

 

The company said a Food and Drug Administration review concluded the shots remain safe and effective for at least 4 1/2 months. In February, the FDA originally authorised J&J's vaccine for up to three months when stored at normal refrigeration levels.

 

Thursday's announcement comes after state officials warned that many doses in storage would expire before the end of the month. Read on...

7:22 AM

Tunisia coronavirus update: 2,373 Covid cases reported, tally at 362,658

Tunisian Health Ministry on Thursday reported 2,373 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 362,658.

 

The death toll from the virus rose by 76 to 13,305 in Tunisia, while the total number of recoveries reached 317,758, the ministry said in a statement.

 

A total of 1,540,880 lab tests have been carried out in Tunisia so far, according to the ministry.

 

Since the start of the national vaccination campaign against the coronavirus on March 13, a total of 1,252,125 people have received the vaccines, with 352,570 of them having received both doses, according to the latest figures published by the ministry.

7:17 AM

Coronavirus in India: Andhra Pradesh reports 8,110 new cases and 67 deaths in past 24 hours

Andhra Pradesh reports 8,110 new cases and 67 deaths in past 24 hours. The total number of cases in the State is 17,87,883 including 99,057 active cases. 

 

In the past 24 hours, 12,981 persons are recovered. Total number of recovered cases is 16,77,063.