Coronavirus LIVE: Kerala reports 13,658 new cases; 4,506 in Tamil Nadu

Today's coronavirus numbers: Bengaluru (753 cases), Mumbai 562 cases), Chennai (275 cases), Kolkata (191 cases), Delhi (59 cases). Stay tuned for corona-related news

7:31 PM

Vladimir Putin says he remains opposed to compulsory Covid vaccinations in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been confirmed with high-level antibodies against COVID-19 virus after being inoculated with Sputnik V vaccine, on Wednesday said he remains opposed to compulsory coronavirus vaccinations for Russians, even as the country faces a deadly third coronavirus wave.

 

"I said once as you remember that I don't support compulsory vaccination. And I continue to adhere to the same point of view, " Putin said during his annual "Direct Line" call-in television show, responding to citizens questions, the Russian news agency TASS reported.

 

The 68-year-old Russian leader was quoted by The Washington Post as saying: "The only way to prevent the pandemic from developing further is vaccination," he said. "I hope that the prejudices among people will decrease."

7:15 PM

562 Covid recoveries, 364 new cases in Jammu and Kashmir

Recoveries continued to outnumber new Covid cases in J&K on Wednesday as 562 patients recovered while 364 new cases and 7 deaths were reported during the last 24 hours.

 

Officials said the new cases comprised 149 from the Jammu division and 215 from the Kashmir division.

 

No new case of black fungus was reported, and the tally stayed at 29. As many as 315,662 people have been infected with coronavirus so far out of which 306,739 have recovered, and 4,323 have succumbed.

7:13 PM

Ready to build idle vaccine capacities via long-term contracts: Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute has offered to create large-scale empty vaccine manufacturing capacities to some regions which do not have substantial vaccine manufacturing capacities as preparedness for future pandemics, CEO Adar Poonawalla said.

 

Poonawalla, the CEO of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volumes, was speaking at the Indian Global Forum. READ ON...

7:03 PM

Karnataka reports 3,382 new coronavirus cases and 111 deaths in past 24 hours

Karnataka reports 3,382 new coronavirus cases, 12,763 discharges and 111 deaths in the past 24 hours.

 

Active cases: 76,505

Total recoveries: 27,32,242

Death toll: 35,040

6:39 PM

Odisha halts vaccination drive in 11 districts due to 'shortage' of Covishield doses

The Odisha government on Wednesday stopped the COVID-19 vaccination drive in 11 districts due to an "acute shortage" of Covishield doses, officials said.

 

The inoculation exercise was temporarily halted during the day in Angul, Bolangir, Balasore, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Koraput and Sonepur , they said.

 

The authorities were administering over 3 lakh doses of the vaccines to eligible beneficiaries every day since June 21 after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had asked officials to accelerate the inoculation process before the possible third wave of COVID-19.

6:17 PM

Kerala reports 13,658 new Covid cases, 11,808 recoveries and 142 deaths

6:13 PM

Shortage of doses at vaccination centre in Guwahati

6:05 PM

Andhra Pradesh reports 3,797 new Covid cases and 35 deaths in last 24 hours

Andhra Pradesh reports 3,797 new Covid positive cases, 5,498 recoveries and 35 deaths in the last 24 hours.

 

Total cases: 18,89,513

Total recoveries: 18,38,469

Death toll: 12,706

 

Active cases 38,338

5:49 PM

Mizoram's Covid tally tops 20,000-mark with 256 fresh cases

Mizoram reported 256 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, raising the tally past the 20,000-mark, a health department official said. The total number of infections rose to 20,075 with a single-day positivity rate of 7.27 per cent, he said.

 

The new cases - the highest of 154 from Aizawl - include 68 children.

 

Mizoram now has 4,471 active cases, while 15,512 people have recovered from the disease. The death toll stood at 92. The state has so far tested over 4.85 lakh samples for COVID-19, the official said. According to State Immunisation Officer Lalzawmi, more than 5 lakh people have been vaccinated till Tuesday.

5:38 PM

People living with HIV/AIDS may be less susceptible to Covid: AIIMS study

The presence of antibodies, or the seroprevelance against the SARS-CoV-2 was found to be lower among people living with HIV and AIDS according to a study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

 

In the observational prospective cohort study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, researchers conducted the study of 164 PLHAs or people living with HIV/AIDS (aged a mean of 41.2 years), recruited from the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre at AIIMS between September 1 and November 30 last year.

 

The antibody prevalence was found to be 14 per cent among the 164 persons with HIV/AIDS, who visited the hospital for their anti-retroviral therapy.

5:22 PM

Covid death toll in Odisha crosses 4,000-mark

Odisha's COVID-19 death toll breached the 4,000-mark on Wednesday as the state reported 48 more fatalities due to the infection, the highest single-day count, a health department official said.

 

The new fatalities raised the toll to 4,018, he said.

 

At least 3,371 fresh coronavirus cases pushed the tally to 9,09,800.

5:12 PM

Partial lockdown to continue in Odisha till July 16

5:04 PM

Indian banks will face heat of second Covid wave in H1 of FY22: S&P

Indian banks face systemic risks as the country wades through the aftermath of the Covid second wave. The banking sector's weak loans are likely to remain elevated at 11-12 per cent of gross loans in the next 12-18 months, according to Standard and Poor's (S&P).

 

The second wave will impair the performance of Indian financial institutions in the first half of fiscal 2022, with much resting on the effectiveness of government measures to address this problem. READ MORE...

4:45 PM

Bengal govt taking strong action against fake vaccine scam: CM Mamata Banerjee

4:33 PM

Candidates can opt out of CA exams if they, family members suffer from Covid: SC

Observing that the scheme provided by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is not enough, the Supreme Court Wednesday permitted candidates scheduled to appear for the upcoming CA exams to opt out if they or their family members have suffered from COVID-19.

 

A three-judge bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose also made it clear that a candidate need not produce RT-PCR (real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test if medical certificate issued by registered medical practitioners for his family members is produced along with request for opting out.