Coronavirus LIVE: India reports 9,102 cases, 117 deaths in last 24 hours

Coronavirus LIVE updates: India continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 13th among worst-hit nations by active cases

4:45 PM

Karnataka becomes first state to vaccinate over 2 lakh healthcare workers against Covid-19

Karnataka has become the first state in the country to vaccinate more than 2 lakh healthcare workers. As of 2 pm on Monday, 2,06,577 healthcare workers had been vaccinated against COVID-19, said the state health department.

 

Meanwhile, the cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 crossed 16 lakh (16,13,667) in the country till 7.30 pm on Sunday through 28,613 sessions, according to the provisional report of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

 

India reported 13,203 new COVID-19 cases, 13,298 discharges and 131 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the MoHFW reports. With this, the total coronavirus cases in the country have risen to 1,06,67,736 including 1,84,182 active cases and 1,03,30,084 total discharges. The total death toll in the country due to the infection mounted to 1,53,470 including the new deaths.

4:18 PM

Covid-19 test positivity rate going up in Kerala, virus spread beyond control

The coronavirus test positivity rate in Kerala is going up and the spread of the virus in the state is "beyond control", said Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, Scientific Advisor, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kerala on Monday. He added the Intensive Care Units (ICU) dedicated to COVID-19 patients in the state are also getting full.

 

"In Kerala, the test positivity rate is going up. Yesterday's number of 12.48 percent is indicating the virus is spreading beyond control," Jayadevan told ANI. "In Kerala, many people are testing daily and our ICUs are a reliable indicator of how many cases are there in the community. Slowly ICUs are getting full. Ten days ago, about 70 percent of the ICUs in Ernakulam district were full," he added.

 

The IMA official highlighted that social distancing guidelines have been relaxed in the last few months.

3:55 PM

Bangladesh receives first Covid-19 vaccine consignment from India

Bangladesh on Monday received the first consignment of the 5 million doses of Covishield vaccines from India under a procurement agreement, four days after New Delhi gifted 2 million doses of the vaccine to Dhaka.

 

A special Air India flight carrying the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine co-manufactured by Serum Institute of India reached the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport earlier in the day to be initially stored at a warehouse of private Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd ahead of their planned countrywide distribution.

 

Bangladesh has so far purchased 30 million doses from the Serum Institute of India through private Beximco pharmaceuticals under a tripartite agreement. The vaccines are being transported to Beximco warehouses in Tongi on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka in special freezer vans, Beximco Pharma's managing director Nazmul Hassan told reporters after receiving the consignment at the airport.

3:15 PM

California Covid-19 vaccine recipient dies after inoculation

A person from the US state of California died hours after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, authorities said, adding that an investigation is underway. Placer County Public Health and the Placer County Sheriff-Coroner Division were recently notified of the death of he individual who had tested positive for the virus last month.

 

"The individual was administered a Covid-19 vaccine several hours before the death on January 21, 2021," the Placer County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post on Sunday. "The vaccine was not administered by Placer County Public Health."

 

The authorities did not provide further information about the fatal case, including the person's age and gender, and the brand of vaccine the individual had received.

3:00 PM

Google CEO Sundar Pichai commits $150mn for equitable access to Covid vaccines

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday pledged more than $150 million to promote vaccine education and ensure equitable distribution so that everyone can benefit from this triumph of scientific achievement, and quickly. The tech giant announcing an additional $100 million in ad grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO) and nonprofits around the globe.

 

"We'll invest another $50 million in partnership with public health agencies to reach underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information," Pichai said in a statement. "We'll also be opening up Google spaces to serve as vaccination sites as needed".

2:23 PM

India's Covid-19 recovery rate improves to 96.83%: Health Ministry

2:00 PM

Delhi's health system didn't collapse during pandemic: Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi faced an extreme level of the coronavirus pandemic, but its health system did not collapse due to "reforms" in recent years and better management, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday.

 

In many developed countries and cities like New York, the health infrastructure collapsed, but measures like home isolation prevented such a situation in Delhi, according to Kejriwal.

 

Over 3.12 lakh people recovered under home isolation that was started first in Delhi, where the first plasma bank in the world opened. So far, 4,929 people have received plasma therapy, Kejriwal said at a Republic Day function. READ ON...

 

 

1:37 PM

Google opening up spaces in US to serve as mass Covid-19 vaccination sites: Sundar Pichai

Google's Indian-American CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Monday that the tech giant will open up its spaces in the US to serve as mass COVID-19 vaccination sites and committed more than USD 150 million to promote vaccine education. Google is initially looking at offices' spaces inside the US, but is open to do the same in other countries as well, a company official said.

 

"Today we're announcing that we'll be opening up Google spaces to serve as mass vaccination sites, committing more than USD 150 million to promote vaccine education and equitable distribution, and making it easier for you to find where and when to get a vaccine," Pichai announced in a blog post on Monday. "Searches for vaccines near me' have increased 5x since the beginning of the year and we want to make sure we're providing timely and locally relevant answers, he said.

1:17 PM

Telangana adds 148 new COVID-19 cases, one death pushes toll

Telangana recorded 148 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total caseload to 2,93,401, while the death toll rose to 1,590 with one more fatality, the state government said on Monday.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 35, followed by Rangareddy and Karimnagar districts with 11 and 10 respectively, it said in a bulletin, providing details as of 8 PM on January 24.

The cumulative recovered cases stood at 2,88,577, while 3,234 were under treatment.

The bulletin said 19,821 samples were tested on January 24.

Cumulatively, the number of samples tested was 76,82,361.

The samples tested per million population was 2,06,404, it said.

The recovery rate in the state was 98.35 per cent, while it was 96.8 per cent in the country, it added.

The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent, while it was 1.4 per cent at the national level, it said.

1:16 PM

Goa Assembly pays tributes to COVID-19 victims

A five-day session of the Goa Assembly began here on Monday with members paying tributes to some prominent personalities who died recently and those who succumbed to COVID-19 in the state.

So far, 761 people have died due to the coronavirus infection in the coastal state, as per official figures.

The session began with Governor B S Koshyari's address to the House, following which members of the opposition parties protested against the state government's decision to hold a curtailed session.

After the governor's address, Speaker Rajesh Patnekar mentioned obituary references for several eminent personalities who died recently.

He also mentioned about the death of several people in Goa due to COVID-19.

The House members then observed a one-minute silence to pay homage to all the departed souls.

After the governor's address, the opposition members, without making any noise, got up and displayed hoardings to protest against the curtailed session.

11:38 AM

Sasikala stable and comfortable

Sasikala is stable and comfortable and is taking oral food normally. She is walking with support now. She is being treated as per standard protocol for COVID-19. She is being continuously monitored: Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute

11:37 AM

Harsh Vardhan releases National Noncommunicable Disease Monitoring Survey

10:48 AM

Australia approves Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine for February rollout

Australia has approved the coronavirus vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech, announced Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday.

"The Therapeutic Goods Administration has today provisionally approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in Australia. This is an important step in our fight against this terrible virus," Morrison wrote in a tweet.

 

10:10 AM

Home health care services on rise in pandemic: Experts

The Covid-19 pandemic has not only forced many professionals to work from home, but also pushed people suffering from various ailments to opt for home health care services instead of going to hospitals for treatment.

This is just a beginning and the home health care system has a lot to offer in future, say experts.

Patients who have to undergo dialysis, physiotherapy and chemotherapy are preferring health care services at home and many are also taking telemedicine consultations, they say.

Talking to PTI, Dr Avinash Ignatius, a nephrologist and transplant physician at a well-known Pune-based hospital, said those suffering from kidney-related problems now have an option of "peritoneal dialysis" which can be done at home.

"In this case, a hemodialysis machine along with all support systems is installed at home. A dialysis technician goes there and does the patient's dialysis," he said.

He said tele-consultation with doctors is also picking up among those suffering from chronic kidney ailments.

10:06 AM

Mexican President tests positive for Covid-19

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Monday that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the latest to join a long list of world leaders to be infected with the disease.

Taking to Twitter, the President said: "I regret to inform you that I am infected with Covid-19. The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward. Dr. Olga Sanchez Cordero (Secretary of the Interior) will represent me in the morning to report how we do it every day.

"I will be aware of public affairs from the National Palace. For example, tomorrow I will take a call with President Vladimir Putin because, regardless of friendly relations, there is a possibility that they will send us the Sputnik V vaccine."

His announcement comes as Mexico, one of the hardest-hit Latin American country, is battling to contain the virus spread.

As of Monday morning, the country's overall caseload has increased to 1,752,347, while the death toll stood at 149,614, currently the fourth largest in the world.