Tuesday, March 18, 2025 | 01:19 AM ISTहिंदी में पढें

Coronavirus LIVE: More than 13.7 million vaccine doses administered so far

Coronavirus live updates: The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (2,130,000), Kerala (1,049,000), Karnataka (949,636), Andhra Pradesh (889,409), and Tamil Nadu (849,166)

BS Web Team New Delhi

A healthcare worker receives a dose of the Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine at a hospital in La Plata, Argentina | Photo: Bloomberg

3:39 PM

Covid LIVE: Centre explains basic features of Co-WIN 2.0 to states/UTs

Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary along with Dr R S Sharma, Chairman of Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (Co-WIN) and member, National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of Covid-19 (NEGVAC) chaired a high-level meeting today with Health Secretaries and MDs (NHM) of States and UTs on the vaccination of age-appropriate groups through a video conference (VC), according to a press release.

The States and UTs were explained the basic features of version 2.0 of the digital platform CO-Win, which is a population-scale software with capacity of processing several thousands of entries. The new phase of vaccination of age-appropriate groups will expand the Covid-19 vaccination in the country manifold. With a citizen –centric approach, the fundamental shift in this phase is that citizens in the identified age groups, as also those healthcare workers and frontline who have been missed out or left out of the present phase of vaccination, can select vaccination centres of their choice. Secondly, the private sector hospitals will be involved as Covid-19 Vaccination centres to harness their potential to expand the vaccination capacities.

2:54 PM

No Covid-19 vaccination will take place on Saturday and Sunday: Govt

No vaccination will take place on Saturday and Sunday as the Centre will enable transition of CoWIN app from version 1.0 to 2.0 ahead of the commencement of vaccination from March 1 for people above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with comorbidities, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

"On this Saturday and Sunday (27th and 28th Feb), the Co-Win digital platform will be transitioning from Co-Win1.0 to Co-Win 2.0. In view of this, COVID 19 Vaccination sessions will not be scheduled during these two days. The States and UTs have been already informed about this transition," the ministry added.

As per the officials, the inoculation drive will be driven by CoWIN 2.0 which the government's plans to launch the next by Sunday. The eligible population of those over 60 years and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to self-register on the app.

2:43 PM

Russia records 11,086 Covid-19 cases in past 24 hours

Russia's single-day increase in coronavirus cases fell to the lowest level since October 5 with 11,086 new cases confirmed (down from 11,198 the day before), the coronavirus response center said on Friday.

On October 5, Russia confirmed 10,888 coronavirus cases.

1:54 PM

Covid-19 India LIVE: Less than 1,000 active cases in 21 states, UTs

Twentystates and UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in a span of 24 hours, while21 states andUTs have less than 1,000 active cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. India's COVID-19 active caseload was recorded at1,55,986 comprising 1.41 per centof the total infections. This is largely attributable to the upsurge in daily new cases in some states and UTs, the ministry said.

"However, 21 states and UTs have less than 1,000 active cases," it underlined.

These are Jammu and Kashmir (820), Andhra Pradesh (611), Odisha (609), Goa (531), Uttarakhand (491), Bihar (478), Jharkhand (467), Chandigarh (279), Himachal Pradesh (244), Puducherry (196), Lakshadweep (86), Ladakh (56), Sikkim (43), Manipur (40), Tripura (32), Mizoram (27), Meghalaya (20), Nagaland (13), Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (5), Arunachal Pradesh (3) and Andaman and Nicobar islands (2).

1:53 PM

Sri Lanka ends forced cremations of Covid-19 victims

Amidst mounting international criticism, Sri Lanka has revised a controversial mandatory order to cremate the bodies of COVID-19 victims, which denied minority communities, including Muslims, their religious rights. The government on Thursday revised a gazette notification issued in April last year. The new notification has allowed both burials and cremations.

For 10 months, Muslim and Christian minorities in the country and international rights groups have been lobbying the government to end the policy of forced cremations.

The government was resisting calls to allow burials citing health concerns. It cited the opinion of some experts who claimed that the burial of COVID-19 victims would contaminate the water table thereby spreading the pandemic further.

11:30 AM

Facebook disagrees with Oversight Board on tweaking Covid-19 policies

Facebook has disagreed with one Covid-19 related recommendation made by the independent Oversight Board, saying that this will lead to softening its enforcement of misinformation related to the pandemic.

The Oversight Board last month made 17 recommendations, based on the six cases, for Facebook to improve its content moderation.

Nick Clegg, VP, Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook said on Thursday that they are committed to consider the recommendations and communicate transparently about actions taken. Read on...

10:34 AM

Coronavirus in US: Biden marks 50 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in first 5 weeks in office

Days after marking a solemn milestone in the pandemic, President Joe Biden is celebrating the pace of his efforts to end it.

On Thursday, Biden marked the administration of the 50 millionth dose of Covid-19 vaccine since his swearing-in. The moment came days after the nation reached the devastating milestone of 500,000 coronavirus deaths and ahead of a meeting with the nation's governors on plans to speed the distribution even further.

The more people get vaccinated, the faster we're going to beat this pandemic, Biden said at the White House ceremony, noting that his administration is on course to exceed his promise to deliver 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. Read on...

10:07 AM

Hospitals turn to pre-Covid biz as patients prefer home quarantine

The sudden spike in positive cases across many states is not making too many hospitals change their plans yet on winding down infrastructure exclusively linked to Covid-19. Hospitals and health care centres had begun freeing up space dedicated to Covid when cases went downhill. Even as cases have risen recently, home quarantine seems to be the preferred health care option for a large majority, according to health care executives.

The scene at Manipal Hospitals, which has the country’s second-largest hospital network in terms of beds, captures the new reality. The hospital has re-converted its Covid intensive care units into regular ICUs. These ICUs have an isolated section where Covid-19 patients can be kept, if necessary. Read on...

10:06 AM

Hong Kong begins Covid vaccinations for 7.5 mn residents with Sinovac jab

Hong Kong began administering its first Covid-19 vaccines to the public Friday, kicking off its program offering free vaccinations to all 7.5 million residents.

People age 60 and older and health care workers are among the some 2.4 million people currently prioritized to receive vaccines at community centers and outpatient clinics across Hong Kong. The government said registrations for the first two weeks of the program are full. Read on...

10:00 AM

Brazil signs Covid vaccine deal with Bharat Biotech for 20 mn Covaxin doses

On the same day Brazil reached the grim milestone of 250,000 deaths by Covid-19, the country's health ministry signed a deal with Indian pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech for the purchase of 20 million doses of the Covaxin vaccine, which is yet to be approved by local regulators.

The administration of President Jair Bolsonaro said the first 8 million Covaxin shots, which will be made by Brazilian company Precisa Medicamentos, will arrive in March. A second batch of another 8 million doses is expected for April and in May, another 4 million doses will be available.

9:55 AM

Hungary extends Covid-19 restrictions to March 15

Hungary will maintain the restrictive measures introduced to rein in the novel coronavirus pandemic until March 15, Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, said here on Thursday.

"Mass vaccination will provide an opportunity to ease the restrictions, but we are currently in the third wave of the epidemic, so we will extend the measures in force until March 15, taking into account the views of epidemiological experts," Gulyas said at a press conference following a session of the government.

He said that the national vaccination campaign has been accelerated, and explained that the restrictions could be radically eased once people over the age of 60 and those living with some kind of chronic illness -- who are most at risk -- receive the jab, the Xinhua news agency reported.

9:51 AM

India looks set to beat recession even as new coronavirus cases loom

As India’s economic fortunes stand at the cusp of a turnaround, a spike in coronavirus cases across its key business centers risks undoing some of the gains.

Data due later Friday will probably show gross domestic product expanded 0.6 per cent in the three months ended December, after contracting for two consecutive quarters, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. That will help Asia’s third-largest economy exit an unprecedented recession. Read on...

9:44 AM