Covid LIVE: Over 570 mn vaccine doses administered so far, says govt

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1:19 PM

Telangana's second wave has ended: Official

Telangana has the coronavirus in control and the second wave of infections has ended, said a civil servant on Thursday. "It can be said that second wave has fully come to an end in Telangana. If we take various parameters like the number of new cases being reported, daily positivity rate and hospitalisation rate, coronavirus, as of now, is fully under control across Telangana, in all districts and all regions," state Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao was quoted by PTI as saying.

1:05 PM

Arunachal reports 144 new cases

Arunachal Pradesh detected 144 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours to take its total to 51,799, PTI reported quoting the state health department. The Covid death toll the increased to 254 in the state after two more persons succumbed to the infection in two days, PTI reported.

12:19 PM

Australia's new cases break record a year ago

Australia suffered its worst day since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with cases surpassing the record posted more than a year ago as an outbreak of the delta variant spreads, Bloomberg reports.

11:48 AM

Nepal sees spike in suicides amid pandemic

A total of 7,141 suicides were recorded in Nepal in the 2020-21 fiscal year that ended in mid-July, up 14.2 per cent year-on-year amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest data released by the police.

 

Of the deaths, 3,928 were males, 2,449 were females and the rest were children, the data revealed.

 

Saroj Prasad Ojha, head of the Psychiatry Department at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, blamed mental health problems amid the pandemic for more suicides in the country.

 

"Almost 90 per cent of suicides are associated with mental health issues like anxiety and depression, which have increased this year," he told Xinhua on Wednesday.

 

"Social isolation has triggered mental health problems among people," he said.

11:31 AM

Mexico authorises emergency use of Moderna vaccine

Mexico has authorised the emergency use of the US-manufactured Moderna vaccine against Covid-19, the country's Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion Hugo Lopez-Gatell said.

 

The Mexican official confirmed on his Twitter account on Wednesday that the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks "issued the authorisation for emergency use of the Moderna vaccine", reports Xinhua news agency.

 

"We have eight approved vaccines with this one, all safe, quality and effective," Lopez-Gatell said.

10:59 AM

World coronavirus update: Israel tightens Covid restrictions

The Israeli government has expanded the nationwide Covid-19 restrictions following the recent surge in new cases, the Health Ministry said.

 

The green pass, which represents a permit to enter indoor and crowded outdoor places for recovered and vaccinated people, was expanded to most sectors, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying on Wednesday.

 

The green pass will now also include swimming pools, museums, libraries, national parks and nature reserves, while hotels, restaurants, cafes, gyms and culture events were already subject to the pass.

 

People neither vaccinated nor recovered will need to present a negative Covid-19 test certificate to enter these places.

10:42 AM

What is being done to distribute Covid-19 vaccines globally?

What is being done to distribute Covid-19 vaccines globally?

 

Several groups are working to get shots to poor countries, but they're falling far short of what's needed to curb outbreaks around the world.

 

Among the efforts is COVAX, which relies on donations from rich countries and private funders. The group has missed its own distribution targets largely because it didn't have the resources to secure vaccine supplies early on in the pandemic.

 

As of mid-August, COVAX has distributed about 207 million doses to 138 countries and territories. That's compared with more than 417 million doses distributed in just the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read on...

10:00 AM

India, Brazil, Russia, S Africa to study intersection of Covid, TB

A consortium of doctors and researchers from India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa have partnered to conduct a study on the epidemiological impact and intersection of the Covid-19 and Tuberculosis (TB) pandemics in these countries.

 

In a statement, India's Science and Technology Ministry said that under this joint research, the teams from these countries will explore the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the epidemiological characteristics of TB infection and search for mechanisms responsible for the interaction of these two processes.

 

"They will also search for strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of the pandemic and develop individual recommendations for each participating country, which can help overcome the impact of epidemics of respiratory viral diseases on the epidemic of tuberculosis," it said. Read on...

9:59 AM

Maharashtra coronavirus update: Thane logs 207 new Covid-19 cases, 7 more deaths

With the addition of 207 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 5,48,779, an official said on Thursday.

 

These new cases were reported on Wednesday, he said.

 

The virus also claimed the lives of seven more people, raising the death toll in the district to 11,207, he said, adding that the Covid-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 2.04 per cent.

 

In neighbouring Palghar district, the Covid-19 case count has gone up to 1,34,086, while the death toll has reached 3,274, another official said.

9:34 AM

Coronavirus in India: Latest update by MoHFW

Summary of MoHFW data (August 19)

Active cases: 364,129 (Net decrease: 3,286)

Deaths: 433,049 (Net increase: 530)

Cured: 31,525,080 (Net increase: 39,157)

Total cases: 32,322,258 (Net increase: 36,401)

Total vaccination: 566,488,433 (Increase over previous day: 5,636,336)

9:07 AM

UAE bans IndiGo flights till Aug 24 over Covid test rule for passengers

IndiGo has been banned for operating flights to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a week.

 

According to sources, the suspension came into effect from Tuesday for carrying passengers who had not undergone a rapid-PCR test at the departure airport and will run till August 24

 

UAE has eased entry restrictions allowing permanent residents to enter the country but passengers are required to undergo a RT-PCR test 48 hours before departure and an another rapid-PCR test at the airport a few hours before the flight. The rapid PCR test requirement came into effect from August 5.

8:58 AM

Govt to rationalise rates of health benefit packages under Ayushman Bharat

In a move to encourage private hospitals to take part in Ayushman Bharat-Jan Arogya Yojana (JAY), the government is planning to rationalise the rates of health benefit packages under the scheme and also resolve issues with payments, officials said on Wednesday.

 

Private hospitals have raised concerns with the health ministry that the rates of treatment under the health scheme are not viable and becoming a hindrance for their participation in the initiative.

8:33 AM

Covid vaccines fight off infections but less effective against delta: Study

Vaccines against Covid-19 are less effective against the delta variant, a large U.K. study showed in results that may fuel a push for booster shots for fully vaccinated people.

 

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s messenger RNA vaccine lost effectiveness in the first 90 days after full vaccination, though that shot and the one made by AstraZeneca Plc still staved off a majority of Covid infections. When vaccinated people did get infected with delta, they had similar levels of virus in their bodies as those who hadn’t had their shots, backing up a recent assessment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read on...

8:19 AM

World coronavirus update: States banning mask mandates could face civil rights probes

In an escalating battle with Republican governors, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered his Education secretary to explore possible legal action against states that have blocked school mask mandates and other public health measures meant to protect students against COVID-19.

 

In response, the Education Department raised the possibility of using its civil rights arm to fight policies in Florida, Texas, Iowa and other Republican-led states that have barred public schools from requiring masks in the classroom.

 

Biden directed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to assess all available tools" that can be used against states that fail to protect students amid surging coronavirus cases.

 

"Some state governments have adopted policies and laws that interfere with the ability of schools and districts to keep our children safe during in-person learning, Biden said in an executive order, adding that some states have gone so far as to try to block school officials from adopting safety measures.

8:05 AM

World coronavirus today: Malta donates 40,000 vaccine doses to Libya

Malta has donated 40,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and the same amount of rapid test kits to Libya, according to the country's Health Minister Chris Fearne.

 

The donations were part of a European Union effort to supply vaccines and test kits to countries that are lagging behind in their vaccination roll-out, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Fearne's announcement on Twitter on Tuesday included photos of the vaccines and test kits being loaded onto an Air Malta plane bound for Libya, a war-torn country in North Africa.