Covid LIVE: Maharashtra reports 58,993 cases in a day; over 8,500 in Delhi

Coronavirus live updates: Pune has recorded 12,090 cases, Delhi 7,437 Covid cases in the last 24 hours. PM Modi said Covid situation is very grim in some states. Stay tuned for corona-related news

9:39 AM

Mumbai: 272 Remdesivir injections recovered that were kept at a shop in Andheri for black marketing

Maharashtra: Crime Branch of Mumbai Police recovered 272 Remdesivir injections that were kept at a shop in Andheri for black marketing. Two persons have been arrested.

9:24 AM

China's bid to ramp up Covid vaccinations hindered by supply shortages

China’s ambitious effort to vaccinate 560 million people -- 40% of its population -- by the end of June is running into a supply shortage, forcing health authorities to extend the intervals between two doses, and leaving some people unable to book their second shots.

 

The supply bottleneck comes as China’s vaccination roll out accelerates to nearly 5 million doses a day, the fastest in the world, though the proportion of its vast population covered still lags the U.S., Israel and other leading inoculating nations. Read on...

8:49 AM

Australia's most populous state suspends AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine

Australia's most populous state said on Friday it has temporarily suspended the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine following updated advice from the federal government.New South Wales said inoculations using the AstraZeneca vaccine will be paused for a few hours while it updates its advice to patients allowing them to give informed consent

8:35 AM

Australian PM holds national cabinet meeting amid vaccine upheaval

The move sees Australia joining countries around the world which have put restrictions on one of the most widely accessible vaccines against the coronavirus over concern about links to very rare blood clots. Australia will now seek tens of millions more doses of Pfizer's product.

 

8:13 AM

Delhi Covid-19 update: Journalists exempted from night curfew e-pass rule

The DDMA, in a "partial modification" of its earlier order, on Thursday exempted mediapersons from the need to carry e-passes during night curfew hours.

 

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in its April 6 order imposed curfew from 10 pm to 5 am, everyday till the end of the month, in view of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

 

Print and electronic mediapersons along with some other categories were required to apply for e-passes to be able to venture out during curfew hours.

 

Now, the mediapersons will need to carry their identity cards instead of e-passes, said a DDMA order issued by Vijay Dev, chief secretary amd chairperson of executive committee.

8:11 AM

Coronavirus in Uttarakhand: 90 students test positive at IIT-Roorkee

A total of 90 students have tested positive for COVID-19 at IIT Roorkee in the last few days, says IIT Roorkee media cell in-charge Sonika Srivastava

 

8:10 AM

Serum Institute refunds South Africa for undelivered Covid-19 vaccines

"Treasury has confirmed that the Serum Institute of India has fully refunded us for the remaining 500,000 doses that had not been delivered to South Africa and the money is already in our bank account," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said at a televised media briefing on Thursday.

7:32 AM

No need for lockdown, focus on Covid-19 tests: PM Narendra Modi to CMs

Conceding that India was in the grip of a serious public health crisis that had surpassed the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged state governments to test more even if that meant higher reporting of the infection. Armed with experience of managing the first wave, better health infrastructure and a locally manufactured vaccine, lockdowns should be avoided altogether, the PM told chief ministers at the virtual meet on Covid.

 

“In the last phase of the infection, we had to impose lockdowns because at that time, we did not have the infrastructure to control the infection: no PPE suits, not enough sanitisers, masks… we are no longer facing those shortages. So micro-containment zones should be the strategy,” he said. Read on...

7:30 AM

Coronavirus world update: UK reports another 3,030 coronavirus cases, 53 deaths

Another 3,030 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,370,321, according to official figures.

 

The country also reported another 53 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 126,980. These figures released on Thursday only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

More than 31.8 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the official figures.

7:03 AM

IPL 2021: Night curfews will push up TV & digital viewership, say experts

The absence of spectators in stadiums for the IPL matches will result in teams losing out on ticket sales, which make for 15-20 per cent of their revenue. But there is hope of strong viewership demand.

 

"Eighty per cent of revenue comes from media rights, central sponsorship and team-level sponsorships," says Karan Taurani, vice-president, research, Elara Capital. "But teams will not suffer when it comes to other sources of income, since the demand for IPL remains high.”

 

Navin Khemka, CEO, South Asia, MediaCom, agrees: “Localised lockdowns and night curfews will actually push up TV and digital viewership, like it did last year.” Read on...