LIVE: Kerala considering re-opening schools, consulting experts, says CM

Covid-19 live updates: Tamil Nadu extends ban on religious gatherings; Microsoft won't forecast new date for returning to office.

12:08 PM

Construction of first Chinese Covid-19 vaccine production facility starts in Serbia

Construction of the first Chinese Covid-19 vaccine production facility in Europe started in Serbia on Thursday.

 

The factory is planned to produce 30 million vaccine doses annually starting in April 2022, and is expected to supply Serbia and several countries in the region and Europe with the Chinese-developed Sinopharm vaccines, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The foundation stone for the new factory was laid by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in the presence of Chinese Ambassador Chen Bo, according to a press release from the President's office.

 

11:37 AM

Arunachal reports 53 new cases

Arunachal Pradesh reported 53 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours to take its total to 53,604, PTI reported quoting the state health department. The death toll in the frontier state remained at 269.

11:07 AM

India's daily positivity rate at 1.96%

India's daily positivity rate--the share of tests turning positive for the virus--is 1.96 per cent, said the health ministry on Friday. It has been less than three per cent for last 11 days. The weekly positivity rate is at 2.31 per cent, keeping under three per cent for 77 days.

10:41 AM

Karnataka ends weekend curfew in some districts

Karnataka's government has ended a weekend curfew in the border districts of Kerala and Maharashtra following a decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases. The decision was taken in a meeting held on Thursday and orders were issued later in the evening, IANS reported.

10:00 AM

India reported 34,973 new cases and 260 deaths

India reported 34,973 new cases of Covid-19 and 260 deaths from the disease in 24 hours, says health ministry.

9:58 AM

US doubles fines for mask rule violation on planes

The US is doubling the fine for people who break the rule requiring masks on planes, trains and other forms of public transit to slow the spread of Covid-19, with President Joe Biden warning Thursday that violators should “be prepared to pay.” First-time offenders would face a potential fine of $500 to $1,000 and second-time offenders could pay $1,000 to $3,000 under rules that the Transportation Security Administration said will go into effect Friday, the AP reported.

9:48 AM

223.16 million people infected worldwide: Reuters tally

More than 223.16 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 4,780,274 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

9:47 AM

BRICS members praise India's role in vaccine distribution

India's BRICS Sherpa Sanjay Bhattacharyya on Thursday said that the bloc's member nations have appreciated New Delhi's role in COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

 

"In the distribution of vaccines, all the BRICS members were very appreciative of our role, not only as a major country producing vaccines but also distributing in times when we had a large number of people affected by it," Bhattacharyya said at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.

 

"Members agreed for extensive vaccination and the development of vaccines," he added.

9:46 AM

TN govt to hold mega COVID vaccination camp on Sept 12

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday appealed to people to make use of the mega vaccination camp scheduled to be held on September 12 by it, saying such an event was essential to attain Covid-19 free status.

 

Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said as part of the mega camp, 40,000 booths would be established in primary health centres, government run hospitals, noon meal centres, schools and other vital locations in the state. 

9:36 AM

New Zealand new cases fall to 11

New Zealand, which went into lockdown a month ago on one Covid-19 case, reported 11 new infections in the community Friday, the lowest tally since the first days of the stay-at-home order. Singapore, meanwhile, is seeing infections at levels not seen since the early days of the outbreak, putting the financial hub’s recent pledge to slowly open up and live with the virus to the test.

9:26 AM

Australia's Covid epicentre announces roadmap out of lockdown

New South Wales (NSW), Australia's current Covid-19 epicentre, has unveiled a "roadmap to freedom" out of the prolonged lockdown imposed on much of the state as it continues to battle a raging outbreak of the virus.

 

Addressing reporters in state capital Sydney, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the newfound freedoms would be contingent on 70 per cent of people aged 16 and older receiving their two doses of vaccine, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

"I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to get vaccinated, if you have not had both doses of the vaccine by the time we hit the 70 per cent milestone, you will not be able to take advantage of these freedoms," Berejiklian said.

 

No date has been given for the roadmap introduction, however, the state's present uptake of jabs means its vaccine rollout target should be reached by mid-October.

 

9:16 AM

Africa's Covid-19 cases surpass 7.97 mn: Africa CDC

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said that the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa have reached 7,973,133.

 

The Africa CDC, the specialised healthcare agency of the African Union, said that the death toll from the pandemic across the continent stood at 201,340 as of Thursday evening, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

Some 7,209,766 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease so far.

9:16 AM

Washing, drying reusable cloth masks doesn't affect their filtering ability: Study

The reusable cloth masks people have been using for the past year or more may look a little worse for the wear. But new research from the University of Colorado Boulder finds that washing and drying them doesn't reduce their ability to filter out viral particles.

 

The study, published in the journal Aerosol and Air Quality Research, also confirms previous research that layering a cotton mask on top of a surgical mask--properly fit on one's face--provides more protection than cloth alone.

9:12 AM

Global Covid-19 caseload tops 223 mn

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 223 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.60 million and vaccinations soared to over 5.59 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

 

In its latest update on Friday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and vaccination tally stood at 223,100,992, 4,604,426 and 5,597,039,397, respectively.

 

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 40,600,763 and 654,576 respectively, according to the CSSE.

9:12 AM

Biden announces new vaccine mandates amid Covid-19 surge

US President Joe Biden has announced sweeping new vaccine requirements, which may affect about 100 million Americans, as part of a new action plan to curb the surging Covid-19 cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

 

"While America is in much better shape than it was seven months ago when I took office, I need to tell you a second fact, we're in the tough stretch and it could last for a while," said Biden, speaking from the White House on Thursday.

 

The US President has put forward a six-point initiative to boost vaccinations, improve access to testing and make Covid-19 treatments more widely available, reported Xinhua news agency.