Covid LIVE: Kerala sees 12,161 new cases, 155 fatalities in last 24 hrs

Covid-19 live updates: Pfizer submits research on the effectiveness of its vaccine in children; Japan to lift a state of emergency at the end of September.

1:27 PM

Indian millennials seek safety in international holiday: Study

Indian millennials want an international holiday but they will heed restrictions for Covid-19 and connectivity in selecting overseas destinations, says a report. According to BOTT (Business of Travel Trade) Travel Sentiment Tracker, around 73 per cent millennial travellers would prefer overseas destinations where the Covid outbreak is in control, PTI reported quoting the tracker.

1:13 PM

Delivery times for new iPhone stretch as Covid hits Vietnam suppliers

Buyers of Apple's new iPhone 13 face longer-than-expected delivery times because of a wave of Covid-19 infections in Vietnam, where components for the device's new camera module are assembled, Nikkei Asia said. The disruption, which could ease as soon as mid-October, is linked to a constriction in supplies of modules for the phone's four models, as a significant number of components are assembled in Vietnam, it said, citing people familiar with the matter.

 

12:58 PM

Sweden to offer booster vaccination shots

Sweden will offer additional groups, including people aged 80 and above, to top up their Covid-19 vaccinations with a third dose, Reuters reported the Nordic country's health minister as saying.

12:15 PM

Puducherry logs 93 new cases

Puducherry said on Wednesday it had recorded 93 new cases and a single death in 24 hours, taking total infections to 126,308 and increasing fatalities to 1,840. Recovery rate in the union territory was 1.46 percent, PTI reported.

11:58 AM

Arunachal Pradesh logs 49 fresh COVID-19 cases, one new fatality

Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 caseload rose to 54,444 as 49 more people tested positive for the virus, a senior health official said here on Wednesday.

 

The COVID-19 death toll in the northeastern state climbed to 275 after a 55-year-old man of Lower Subansiri district succumbed to the disease on Monday, State Surveillance Officer Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

 

Twenty-nine more people recuperated from the disease on Tuesday pushing the total COVID-19 recoveries in the frontier state to 53,831, the official said.

11:58 AM

Deaths of women, children show wider impact of Covid-19 pandemic

Disruption to health systems in lower-income nations during the pandemic has caused an increase in deaths among women and children that’s more than double the toll from Covid-19, new research shows.

 

The estimates highlight a crisis that’s threatening years of hard-fought progress in improving the health of women and children, according to the Global Financing Facility, launched in 2015 by the World Bank, United Nations and others.

11:56 AM

Australian Covid-19 payments to end when 80% fully vaccinated

The Australian government announced it will wind back Covid-19 financial support measures on Wednesday when the vaccination rate hit 80 per cent in its battle against the third wave of infections.

 

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced on Wednesday that once a state or territory reaches 70 per cent full inoculation, the automatic renewal of the payment will end, meaning recipients will have to reapply every week to remain eligible, Xinhua news agency reported.

 

"Once those states and territories reach a double-dose vaccination rate of 80 per cent, the Covid disaster payment will come to an end," he said, adding that there will be a two-week transition period.

11:42 AM

Malaysia reports 11,332 new Covid-19 cases, 240 new deaths

Malaysia reported 11,332 new Covid-19 infections as of midnight Tuesday, bringing the national total to 2,220,526, according to the health ministry.

 

Some 23 of the new cases are imported and 11,309 are local transmissions, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the data released on the ministry's website.

 

Another 240 deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 25,935.

11:01 AM

Romania reports record cases

Romania reported a record number of daily infections. More than 11,000 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, data released Tuesday showed. Large cities including Bucharest are approaching infection rates that will lead to new restrictions, including a weekend curfew and online schooling. The country has the second-lowest rate of vaccination in the European Union after Bulgaria, Bloomberg reported. 

10:30 AM

Man gets rabies vaccine instead of Covid shot in Thane

A man was given an anti-rabies medicine instead of Covid-19 vaccine at a medical centre in Maharashtra's Thane district. A doctor and a nurse were suspended for the error, PTI reported quoting a municipal official. Rajkumar Yadav went to the civic-run medical centre in Kalwa area on Monday to get a jab against the coronavirus infection. He stood in a wrong queue and after being vaccinated, he was informed that he was administered the vaccine against rabies, a spokesperson of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) told reporters on Tuesday. 

9:55 AM

232.79 million infected worldwide: Reuters tally

More than 232.79 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 4,967,894 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.

9:30 AM

India records 18,870 new cases

India recorded 18,870 new cases of Covid-19 and 378 deaths in 24 hours, said the health ministry on Wednesday. Total Covid-19 cases increased to 33.72 million and deaths reached 447,751.

8:26 AM

US senator lauds India's decision to resume COVID-19 vaccine export

A top Republican senator on Tuesday welcomed India's decision to resume the export of COVID-19 vaccines.

 

Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also urged India to increase the production of such vaccines so that it can meet its international obligations.

 

I welcome the announcement by #India that it will restart exporting COVID19 vaccines, Risch said in a tweet.

8:26 AM

US administers 391.2 mn doses of vaccines

The United States has administered 391,152,574 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of Tuesday morning and distributed 472,646,105 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The number of doses administered is up from 390,664,923 vaccine doses as reported on Monday, Reuters reported the CDC as saying.

8:15 AM

Jharkhand govt launches 60 Vaccine Express vehicles to speed up COVID-19 vaccination campaign

Jharkhand government on Tuesday launched 60 Vaccine Express vehicles to speed up the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the state.

 

These 'Vaccine Express' vehicles were flagged off by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren with an aim to vaccinate around 12,000 people per day. Launched for all 24 districts of the state, these vehicles would move around the rural areas and will be stationed at other areas, as per requirement.

 

As he flagged off the vehicles in Ranchi, Soren said, "The vehicles would be distributed among all 24 districts. I request people to abide by Covid-appropriate behaviour."