LIVE: India's active Covid cases below 168,000, TN to partly reopen schools

Prime Minister's annual radio speech coincides protests against three agriculture laws enacted in September.

1:07 AM

Collectors, senior cops take Covid-19 vaccine shots in Gujarat

Gujarat on Sunday launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive for frontline workers, covering over 70,000 beneficiaries in a single day, with district collectors, police officials and civic commissioners taking the jabs among others in the initial hours, an official statement said.
 

As against the target to cover over one lakh beneficiaries for the day, 71,534 frontline workers were vaccinated till 8 pm on Sunday, it said.
 

During the day, 19 district collectors, 11 district development officers, and 23 superintendents of police, besides several senior officials of the home, revenue, urban development, panchayat, rural housing and rural development departments, were inoculated.
 

Talking to reporters after taking the vaccine shot, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner Sanjay Srivastava said everyone needs to get inoculated to win the war against Covid-19.
 

"I am feeling absolutely fine after getting vaccinated...policemen are highly exposed, so the vaccination will protect them from the infection," he added.

1:06 AM

MP reports 226 new coronavirus cases; 318 recover, three die

Madhya Pradesh's Covid-19 tally on Sunday rose to 2,55,112 after the state recorded 226 fresh cases, a health official said.

With three more people succumbing to the infection, the death toll rose to 3,810, he said.
 

A total of 318 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, which pushed the state's overall recovery count to 2,48,637.

Bhopal, Gwalior and Damoh reported one death each, the official said.
 

Of the 226 new cases, Indore accounted for 57 and Bhopal 54.
 

The number of cases in Indore rose to 57,490, including 924 deaths, while Bhopal's case tally stood at 42,535 with 611 fatalities.

Bhopal now has 796 active cases, while this figure for Indore is 404.
 

With 18,143 tests conducted in the state in the last 24-hours, the state's overall test count rose to around 53.61 lakh.
 

The coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 2,55,112, new cases 226, death toll 3,810, recovered 2,48,637, active cases 2,665, number of tests so far 53,61,905.
 

1:05 AM

Captain Tom hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19

Tom Moore, the 100-year-old World War II veteran who captivated the British public in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic with his fundraising efforts, has been admitted to a hospital with Covid-19, his daughter said Sunday.
 

Hannah Ingram-Moore revealed in a statement posted on Twitter that her father, widely known as Captain Tom, has been admitted to Bedford Hospital because he needed “additional help” with his breathing.
 

She said that over the past few weeks her father had been treated for pneumonia and that he had tested positive for the coronavirus last week.
 

She said he is being treated in a ward, not in an intensive care unit.
 

“The medical care he has received in the last few weeks has been remarkable and we know that the wonderful staff at Bedford Hospital will do all they can to make him comfortable and hopefully return home as soon as possible,” she said.
 

8:49 PM

China says 16 Chinese Covid-19 vaccines undergoing clinical trials

As the demand for the Covid-19 vaccine intensified around the world, China said that it has increased the number of vaccines undergoing clinical trials to 16 from 11 to step up supplies at home and abroad.

 

China is conducting clinical trials of 16 Covid-19 vaccines, seven of which have entered phase-III trials and one has conditionally hit the market, Wu Yuanbin, an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology, was quoted as saying by the state-run CGTN TV.

 

Wu made the comments during a haematology conference on Saturday.

 

Yang Sheng, Deputy Director of China's National Medical Products Administration's drug registration bureau, said last month that a total of 11 Chinese vaccine candidates are in different stages of testing at home and abroad.

8:30 PM

WHO experts, probing origins of coronavirus, visit Wuhan wet market

The WHO experts, probing the origins of the COVID-19, on Sunday visited the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, where the deadly coronavirus was presumably transmitted from animals to humans in the late 2019 and spiralled into a pandemic.

 

The wet market was where a variety of live animals were traded until it was shut down following fears that the coronavirus had jumped to humans either from bats or pangolins.

 

 

Very important site visits today - a wholesale market first & Huanan Seafood Market just now. Very informative & critical for our joint teams to understand the epidemiology of COVID as it started to spread at the end of 2019, Peter Daszak, a zoologist with the US group EcoHealth Alliance and a member of the WHO team, tweeted on Sunday.

8:07 PM

Those saying Abhishek will be next Bengal CM are trying to create confusion: TMC

The Trinamool Congress said on Sunday that Mamata Banerjee will be the chief minister of West Bengal for the third time when the party is voted to power, asserting that those suggesting her nephew Abhishek Banerjee will be appointed to the top post are trying to create confusion.

Speaking to reporters, senior TMC MP and spokesperson Saugata Roy said that the party has made it clear time and again that it is contesting the upcoming elections with Banerjee as the chief ministerial face.

"Everyone knows that Mamata Banerjee will be our chief minister for the third time. How can Amit Shah make such a claim? There has been no talk in the party to appoint Abhishek as the future CM. Such claims are only aimed to create confusion," Roy said.

7:03 PM

Chattisgarh: Naxals kill ambulance driver over suspicion of being police informer

An ambulance driver has been killed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district over suspicion of being a police informer, police said on Sunday.

 

The incident took place in Tekanar village on Friday evening when the victim, identified as Jairam Usendi (35), went to a local market along with his brother, an official said.

 

Usendi's brother reported the matter to police on Saturday, he said.

 

When the two were about to return from the market, a group of armed Naxals surrounded them and attacked Usendi with sticks and sharp-edged weapons. The victim died on the spot, the police official said.

6:23 PM

Over 200,000 candidates appear for TET in Bengal

Candidates adhered to Covid-19 protocols such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distance as the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) exams were held across the state on Sunday.

An estimated 250,000 candidates sat for the exam, which was held after five years, an official of West Bengal Board of Primary Education said.

Only candidates who had submitted online applications were eligible to appear for the examination from 1 pm.

6:23 PM

Over 200,000 candidates appear for TET in Bengal

Candidates adhered to Covid-19 protocols such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distance as the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) exams were held across the state on Sunday.

An estimated 250,000 candidates sat for the exam, which was held after five years, an official of West Bengal Board of Primary Education said.

Only candidates who had submitted online applications were eligible to appear for the examination from 1 pm.

5:24 PM

J&K: Srinagar shivers at -8.8°C as severe cold grip Valley

4:59 PM

Covid-19: Total active cases in India drop to 1.68 lakh

India is at the fifth position globally in terms of the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered within the country, while the total active cases have dropped to 1.68 lakh comprising just 1.57 per cent of the total cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.

 

As of January 29, the country ranked fifth worldwide in term of vaccine doses administered, the ministry said. Elaborating on the active cases, the ministry said that 31 states and UTs have less than 5000 active cases. Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported 4 active cases followed by Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli with 6 active cases.

 

4:42 PM

RBI to do annual assessment of banks' grievances redressal system

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will undertake annual assessment of customer service and grievances redressal mechanisms of banks as part of its supervisory mechanism. The RBI recently decided to put in place a comprehensive framework for grievances redressal.

"The Reserve Bank will undertake, as a part of its supervisory mechanism, annual assessments of customer service and grievance redressal in banks based on the data and information available through the Complaint Management System, and other sources and interactions," said an RBI notification.

Banks identified as having persisting issues in grievances redressal will be subjected to an intensive review of their mechanisms to better identify the underlying systemic issues and initiate corrective measures.

3:43 PM

Oppo, Vivo grow strong in China smartphone market: Report

The smartphone market in Mainland China finished 2020 with 84 million units shipped in Q4 2020, declining 4 per cent year-on-year, and brands like Oppo and Vivo performed really well, according to a new report.

Oppo rose rapidly into second place, shipping 17.2 million smartphones, growing 23 per cent year-on-year. Vivo also showed strong year-on-year growth at 20 per cent, and came in third at 15.7 million units.

For Q4 2020, Huawei (including Honor) managed to ship 18.8 million units, and its market share declined to 22 per cent from 41 per cent in Q3 2020.

For the full year, the China market declined 11 per cent to arrive at just over 330 million units, as market recovery was stalled by the rapid deterioration of Huawei's performance as a result of US sanctions, reports market research firm Canalys.

3:13 PM

Egypt receives coronavirus vaccines from India

2:30 PM

Schools, colleges reopen partially as Tamil Nadu eases lockdown further

The Tamil Nadu Government has introduced more relaxations even while extending the lockdown till February 28. The relaxations include resuming classes for Standards IX to XI, along with undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and diploma courses from next month.

 

The state has permitted in-person classes for undergraduate and postgraduate students in arts and science, technical, engineering, agriculture, fisheries and veterinary colleges and universities to resume from February 8