Covid LIVE: Delhi records 85 fresh cases, lowest daily rise this year

Stay tuned for news related to the pandemic

1:36 PM

US FDA okays arthritis drug for treatment of hospitalised Covid-19 patients

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the drug Actemra (tocilizumab) -- used for arthritis -- for the treatment of hospitalised patients with Covid-19.

 

Under the EUA, the drug can be administered only ot hospitalised adults and pediatric patients (2 years of age and older), receiving systemic corticosteroids and require supplemental oxygen, non-invasive or invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

 

However, Actemra is not authorised for use in outpatients with Covid-19, the FDA said in a statement. Read on...

1:00 PM

1 fresh case takes Covid-19 tally of Andamans to 7,441

The Covid-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 7,441 on Saturday as one more person tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said.

 

Thirty-one more people have been cured of the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 7,245, it said, adding that the Union territory now has 69 active cases.

 

A total of 127 patients have succumbed to the infection so far.

12:41 PM

38% Australians who lost jobs during pandemic were younger than 25: Study

More than one-third or 38 per cent of Australians who lost their jobs during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic were younger than 25, a government study has found.

 

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Friday published a report on the psychological distress experienced by young Australians in the early stages of the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

It revealed that 38 per cent of the 592,000 Australians who lost employment in April 2020 amid a nationwide lockdown were aged 15-24 and that the proportion of people aged 18-24 experiencing severe psychological distress increased from 14 per cent in 2017 to 22 per cent. Read on...

12:32 PM

Vaccinated & covid-recovered 65 year-old woman tests positive for Delta

In the first case of Delta positive in Rajasthan, a 65-year-old woman, who recovered from Covid-19 in May and had undergone both doses of vaccination, has tested positive with the variant.

 

However, the woman is healthy, confirmed government officials.

 

With this, Rajasthan became the ninth state in the country to register the new virus strain.

 

According to Bikaner's PBM Hospital Superintendent Parmendra Sirohi: "The patient's sample was sent to NIV on May 31 and after 25 days, the state government received the reports which were then sent to Bikaner district collector for further action."

 

Bikaner CMHO O.P. Chahar said: "Special instructions have been issued for tracing in and around the residence of the woman. All those people who tested positive in the area in last one month will be tested again," he added.

 

This woman has already recovered from the Covid infection," Chahar said. Read on...

12:24 PM

Indonesia examines use of Sinovac, Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines for kids

Indonesia is currently examining the use of the Sinovac and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines for people under 18 years of age after detecting many cases of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus among children and youths.

 

"We are currently reviewing which vaccines already have an EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) for young people. What we have observed is that there are two on our list; Sinovac for those aged three to 17 years old and Pfizer for those aged 12-17 years old," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said at a virtual press conference on Friday.

 

China has approved the emergency use of its Sinovac vaccine for children as young as three-year-old, while the US has green-lighted the Pfizer jab for those as young as 12, reports Xinhua news agency. Read on...

11:40 AM

People who have been vaccinated with two doses of Covid vaccine will be exempted from mandatory testing: Assam

People who have been vaccinated with two doses of the Covid vaccine will be exempted from mandatory testing on arrival at airports or railway stations in Assam: Assam Govt

11:30 AM

Indonesia's doctors becoming patients after taking China's Covid vaccine

Facing increased COVID-19 infections and a deadly variant, Indonesia's doctors are at the centre of the crisis as many have died after being vaccinated by the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine - Sinovac.

 

On Thursday, the country recorded more than 20,000 cases of COVID-19, the highest number since the pandemic began. Oxygen is again running out at hospitals in Jakarta, the country's capital, and the national percentage of positive COVID tests reached 14.6 per cent this past week, reported the New York Times (NYT)

 

 

Since the pandemic began, 401 doctors in Indonesia have died, the risk mitigation team of the Indonesian Medical Association said on Friday. At least 20 doctors were fully vaccinated with Sinovac. 

11:24 AM

Doubts about China's transparency on the Covid-19 origins piling up: Report

Jesse Bloom, a virologist and professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, discovered the deletion of some early sequences of coronavirus from Wuhan which were missing from the Sequence Read Archive, a public archive of high throughput sequencing data, and noted that it seems likely that sequences were deleted by Chinese researchers "to obscure their existence."

 

An opinion piece in the Washington Post 'Doubts about China's transparency on the pandemic origins are piling up' says that Dr Bloom's discovery just adds to the pile of questions about whether China is hiding something.

 

"It is time to launch a serious, sustained investigation," it says. Read on...

11:17 AM

Thai PM orders one month closure of worker camps in Bangkok due to Covid

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday that temporary closure will be applied to specific clusters to stem domestic spreads of Covid-19.

 

Prayut said that construction worker camps in Bangkok and surrounding provinces together with selected sites in four southern provinces will be closed down for a month effective from the upcoming Monday, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

He further rejected pressure to put Bangkok under a full lockdown despite increasing local infection rates.

 

The capital has suffered by far from the highest infections among all provinces in Thailand since the beginning of the third wave. Read on...

11:06 AM

Bangladesh to impose nationwide 'hard lockdown' from June 28 for 7 days

Amid a dramatic surge in Covid-19 infections, Bangladesh will be going into a nationwide 'hard lockdown' from Monday for seven days in a bid to stem the spread of cases.

 

In a notification on Friday, the Information Ministry said that all government and private offices, except for emergency services will remain closed during the lockdown, Dhaka Tribune reported.

 

All kinds of transports, except for those carrying emergency supplies, ambulances and vehicles for healthcare services and media, will remain suspended from Monday, it said. No one will be allowed to leave home without emergency purposes. Read on...

11:00 AM

Global Covid-19 caseload tops 180 mn; deaths surge to more than 3.90 mn

The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 180 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.90 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

 

In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 180,346,611 and 3,907,269, respectively.

 

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 33,603,077 and 603,526, respectively, according to the CSSE.

 

In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 30,134,445 cases.

10:53 AM

Copa America Covid-19 cases rise to 166 in Brazil, spread slows

There were 166 known COVID-19 cases at the Copa America in Brazil, CONMEBOL said on Friday.

 

The figures included all tests up to Monday, the same day the soccer body said 140 people had been infected in connection with the tournament.

 

CONMEBOL said 22,856 tests had been taken with people related to the tournament, and 0.7% of the results came back positive. At the beginning of the week that figure was at 0.9%.

 

CONMEBOL works with Brazil's health ministry to track cases. More than 510,000 known people have died due to the coronavirus. Read on...

10:50 AM

Number of active Covid-19 cases declines to 5,95,565 in India: Health Ministry

Number of active Covid-19 cases declines to 5,95,565 in India: Health Ministry

10:42 AM

Uttarakhand to issue Chardham Yatra guidelines for pilgrims from 3 districts

As Uttarakhand has allowed state residents to undertake the Char Dham Yatra from July 1 amid Covid-19, the state government will be issuing guidelines for the pilgrimage for people from three districts.

 

Government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal informed these three districts are Chamoli, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag.

 

Uniyal also mentioned that the state government will take all necessary steps to follow Covid-19 protocols, and will ensure that priests are vaccinated against Covid-19.

 

The four pilgrimage sites in Uttarakhand are Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri. Read on...

10:27 AM

West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari demands central agencies to investigate alleged vaccine fraud case

West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan demanding central agencies to investigate the Kolkata vaccine fraud case.