LIVE: Govt is alert, taking proactive action, says PM at Covid review meet

Centre on Thursday in an advisory cautioned states to observe all precautions and don't let the guard down in view of the rise in Omicron variant cases

9:50 AM

UNGA President Abdulla Shahid tests positive for COVID-19

President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the current Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid on Thursday informed that he has tested positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms.

The Foreign Minister pointed out that he had been fully vaccinated including a booster.

"I have tested positive for COVID-19 today. I am isolating at home with mild symptoms. I was privileged to have been fully vaccinated including a booster. My prayers are with the millions suffering from Covid and the billions without access to vaccine," Shahid said in a Tweet.

9:34 AM

Malaysia reports 3,519 new COVID-19 infections, 29 more deaths

Malaysia reported 3,519 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Wednesday, bringing the national total to 2,728,203, the health ministry said.

Some 100 of the new cases were imported, with 3,419 being local transmissions, the data released by the ministry showed.

Another 29 deaths had been reported, bringing the death toll to 31,221.

9:34 AM

Amit Shah to address series of meetings in UP

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is embarking on a statewide tour of Uttar Pradesh from Friday to give momentum to the party's election campaign.

Shah is expected to address public meetings at nearly 21 different locations and each public meeting will be attended by party workers and supporters from the surrounding seven Assembly constituencies.

In this way, he will be covering around 140 Assembly seats in his tour.

9:30 AM

Australian state sees major spike in cases, hospitalisation

Australia on Thursday reported a major spike in coronavirus infections, a day after Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected lockdowns or mask mandates to slow the spread of the omicron variant.

 

The most populous state, New South Wales, recorded 5,715 new cases, up from 3,763 and almost as many as were recorded across all of Australia on Wednesday. New South Wales also reported one death.

 

There were 347 people in New South Wales hospitals, up from 302 the previous day, and 45 in intensive care units, up from 40. Victoria state also saw a sharp increase, reporting 2,005 new infections on Thursday and 10 deaths.

9:17 AM

Blanket vaccine booster programs may prolong Covid-19 pandemic: WHO chief

Blanket vaccine booster programs are likely to prolong the Covid-19 pandemic rather than ending it, as a result of unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.

 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing that "diverting supply to countries already having high levels of vaccination coverage" will give the virus "more opportunity to spread and mutate", Xinhua news agency reported.

 

WHO has previously called on countries to reach a target of vaccinating 40 percent of their populations by the end of the year, but only half of WHO member states have been able to make it, which has largely been a result of the global inequity of vaccine distribution, according to Tedros.

 

8:55 AM

Turkey confirms 19,095 daily COVID-19 cases

Turkey on Wednesday reported 19,095 new COVID-19 cases, raising its tally of infections to 9,228,835, according to its health ministry.

 

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 179 to 80,957, while 22,816 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, said the ministry.

 

A total of 352,438 tests were conducted over the past day, it added.

8:48 AM

PM Modi to inaugurate several projects worth Rs 870 cr in Varanasi today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 22 development projects worth Rs 870 crores in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi on Thursday.

 

As per a press release issued by the Prime Minister's Office, PM Modi will lay the foundation stone of 'Banas Dairy Sankul' at UP State Industrial Development Authority Food Park, Karkhiyaon, Varanasi. Spread across 30 acres of land, the dairy will be built at a cost of about Rs 475 crores and will have a facility for processing 5 lakh litres of milk per day.

8:29 AM

China locks down city of 13 million in protracted Covid battle

China locked down the western city of Xi’an on Thursday to stamp out a persistent outbreak, its biggest such move since the pandemic started in Wuhan, underscoring how the country’s zero-tolerance approach has not allowed it to move on since Covid-19 emerged nearly two years ago. 

 

The 13 million residents of Xi’an were told to remain in their homes and to designate one person to go out every other day for necessities, while non-essential travel out of the city was banned. This came after a second round of mass testing weeded out 127 Covid infections scattered across 14 districts, making containment of the virus “grave and complicated,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported. 

 

8:28 AM

Omicron hospitalisation risk far below Delta’s in two studies

The highly-mutated omicron variant appears less likely to land patients in the hospital with Covid-19 than the delta strain, according to preliminary data from a trio of studies. 

 

Researchers in Scotland found omicron was associated with a two-thirds lower risk of hospitalization compared to the earlier variant, though it was 10 times more likely than delta to infect people who’d already had Covid. An Imperial College London team working with a larger data set found that people with omicron were almost half as likely to need an overnight hospital stay.

7:44 AM

Blanket booster drives risk prolonging Covid-19 pandemic, says WHO chief

The head of the World Health Organization warned Wednesday that blanket booster programmes in rich countries risk prolonging the world's battle with COVID-19 and said that no country can boost its way out of the pandemic.

 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the priority must be to reduce deaths and help all countries meet minimum vaccination targets that many still haven't reached. And he noted that the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are in unvaccinated people, not unboosted people.

7:39 AM

PM Modi to hold review meeting today over COVID-19 situation

Amid the emergence and spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting to review the pandemic situation in the country on Thursday, said sources.

 

According to the Ministry, 213 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported in the country so far. Out of this, Delhi topped the list with 57 confirmed cases followed by Maharashtra (54 cases) and Telangana (24 cases).

 

Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry on Tuesday alerted States and Union Territories about the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, and said that based on current scientific evidence, Omicron is at least three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

7:38 AM

Odisha Chief Secretary reviews COVID preparedness to deal with Omicron

Odisha Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra has reviewed the covid scenario and the preparedness to deal with the new Omicron variant, with all Collectors, Superintendent of Police, and Chief District Medical Officers.

 

Chief Secretary on Wednesday directed to be vigilant and intensify testing, vaccination, and enforcement of COVID guidelines at the field level, for combating the possible spread of the new Covid-19 variant.

7:38 AM

US FDA authorizes Pfizer's COVID antiviral pill for people aged 12 and above

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday (local time) authorized Pfizer's Paxlovid COVID-19 pill for high-risk people aged 12 and over to treat coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

 

"The US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer's Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets, co-packaged for oral use) for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kilograms or about 88 pounds) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death," US Food and Drug said in a statement.

7:37 AM

US to provide additional one million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Afghanistan: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday (local time) said that the United States will work with the international community to scale up the level of assistance provided to Afghanistan, adding to provide one million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to the strife-torn country through COVAX.

 

The United States is working tirelessly with the international community to ensure humanitarian assistance and other essential support flows to the people of Afghanistan to support those in need, Blinken said in a statement.

7:37 AM

$475 million settlement proposed in longest-running US oil spill

A New Orleans-based oil company has agreed to turn over a USD 432 million cleanup trust fund and pay an additional USD 43 million to settle a federal lawsuit over cleaning up abandoned wells leaking since 2004, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

 

"This settlement represents an important down payment to address impacts from the longest-running oil spill in US history," Nicole LeBoeuf, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency's National Ocean Service, said in a news release from the US Department of Justice.