Page 20 - Coronavirus Tests

Covid will be there forever but worst is over: White House official

COVID-19 in some ways will be there forever but the worst days of the pandemic are "absolutely" over, Dr Ashish K Jha, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, said on Tuesday. Speaking at the 20th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Jha said given the high levels of immunity in the population due to both vaccination and prior infections, "even if we see surges and variants the worst of this pandemic should be behind us". "Covid is not over and in some ways it will be with us forever and we just have to continue to manage it but if the question is are the worst days of covid behind us then my answer is absolutely, it is," he said. With variants cropping up at regular intervals, Jha acknowledged that they are a concern as a very rapid evolution of this virus is being seen over the time. "...the speed at which SARS-CoV-2 is evolving is really remarkable. And there are a variety of reasons why this is happening - the primary one is we have so much immunity across the world due

INSACOG finds new ways for Covid-19 sampling amid a low case count

Plans afoot to expand INSACOG to South Asian countries

Maharashtra logs 91 new Covid cases, zero fatality; active tally at 1,525

Maharashtra on Monday recorded 91 fresh cases of coronavirus that raised the tally of infections to 81,33,494, an official from the state health department said. The toll remained unchanged at 1,48,394, while the count of recoveries reached 79,83,575, after 126 people recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, the official said. As per a bulletin issued by the department, the state is now left with 1,525 active cases. Of the 91 new cases, Mumbai accounted for 25 infections, the bulletin stated. The recovery rate stands at 98.16 per cent, while the fatality rate is at 1.82 per cent, it said. With the addition of 5,574 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the total number of tests conducted in the state has risen to 8,53,55,764, the bulletin said. Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Positive cases 81,33,494; fresh cases 91; death toll 1,48,394; recoveries 79,83,575; active cases 1,525; total tests 8,53,55,764.

China's daily Covid cases jump to six-month high as outbreaks flare

The country reported 5,436 cases for Sunday, up 27% from the day before to the most since May 2, when Shanghai was in the midst of its months-long lockdown.

Tamil Nadu reports 119 new coronavirus infections in last 24 hours

Tamil Nadu has reported 119 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 35,92,696 till date, the Department of Health said on Saturday. There were no fresh fatalities and the overall death toll remained unchanged at 38,048, a bulletin said here. As many as 204 people got recuperated from the virus in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 35,53,509 leaving 1,139 active infections. Chennai added 30 new cases to the tally while the rest were spread across other districts. Eight of the 38 districts reported zero new cases. The State capital leads among districts with 249 active infections and overall 7,92,816 cases. A total of 8,664 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of tests to 6,98,16,827 so far, said the bulletin.

Maharashtra logs 219 new Covid cases, three deaths; active tally 1,639

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 219 new cases of coronavirus and three fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 81,33,173 and toll to 1,48,394, an official from the state health department said. As per a report issued by the department, the casualties were reported from Mumbai, Pune and Osmanabad circles, in the last 24 hours. The state witnessed a slight dip in the daily cases, as it had reported 230 infections on Friday. With the addition of 15,518 swab samples tested in the last 24 hours, the number of tests conducted in the state has risen to 8,53,36,362, the report stated. Mumbai circle, which includes the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, reported the highest 116 new cases, followed by Pune (72), Nagpur (8), Aurangabad (7), Nashik (5), Akola (5), Kolhapur (4), and Latur (2), it stated. The count of recoveries has reached 79,83,140 after 282 patients recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, the report said. Maharashtra currently has 1,639 active cases, of which Mum

China indicates no relaxation of restrictions to 'zero-Covid' policy

Chinese health officials gave no indication on Saturday of any relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, following several days of speculation that the government was considering changes to a zero-COVID approach that has stymied economic growth and disrupted daily life. The officials said at a news conference that they would unswervingly stick to the policy, which seeks to stop cases from coming into the country and snuff out outbreaks as they occur. The announcement was not a surprise and doesn't rule out the possibility that discussions are taking place behind closed doors. But there has been no official confirmation, and most analysts believe that any change will be gradual and major easing is unlikely until sometime next year. The speculation rallied stock markets in China this week, with investors as well as the public latching onto any hints of possible change. The death of a 3-year-old boy in a quarantined residential compound fuelled growing discontent with the China's anti-vir

Maharashtra reports 230 new Covid cases, one death, 229 recoveries in a day

Maharashtra on Friday recorded 230 COVID-19 cases and one death, which took the state's tally to 81,32,954 and the toll to 1,48,391, a health official said. The addition to the tally is a dip from the 259 cases reported on Thursday, he pointed out. Mumbai led with 47 cases, while the sole death took place in Raigad district, he added. The recovery count increased by 229 in the last 24 hours to touch 79,82,858, leaving the state with an active caseload of 1,705, the official informed. State health department data showed the recover rate was 98.15 per cent and the fatality rate stood at 1.82 per cent. So far, 8,53,20,844 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the state, including 16,403 in the last 24 hours, as per official data. Maharashtra's coronavirus cases for the day: Fresh cases: 230; Fatality: 1; Active cases: 1,705; Tests: 16,403.

Tamil Nadu reports 128 new Covid cases, no fatalities in past 24 hours

Tamil Nadu reported 128 fresh coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the tally to 35,92,454 till date. There were no fatalities today. The death toll continued to be at 38,048. The active cases declined to 1,309 as against 1,395 on Wednesday, a bulletin said. As many as 214 patients were discharged today following treatment, taking the net recoveries to 35,53,097 so far.

Maharashtra records 259 new Covid cases, one fatality; active count 1,705

Maharashtra on Thursday recorded 259 fresh coronavirus positive cases and one death, which took its overall infection count to 81,32,724 and toll to 1,48,390, the state health department said. On Wednesday, the state had recorded 295 cases and two fatalities. A total of 211 patients recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative recovery count to 79,82,629. The state's COVID-19 recovery rate is 98.15, it said. Maharashtra's fatality rate is 1.82 per cent and the number of active cases stood at 1,705. Mumbai recorded 62 new cases and one fatality. Pune city saw 35 new cases, followed by 23 in Thane, 22 in Navi Mumbai. As 18,011 tests were conducted in the state in the 24 last hours, the cumulative test count rose to 8,53,04,441. Maharashtra's coronavirus figures are as follows: Positive cases: 81,32,724, fresh cases: 259, death toll: 1,48,390, active cases: 1,705; recoveries: 79,82,629, tests so far: 8,53,04,441.

Maharashtra records 295 new coronavirus cases, two more deaths in a day

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 295 fresh coronavirus cases and two more deaths linked to the infection, while 201 patients recovered in the state, the health department said. With these additions, the state's overall COVID-19 tally rose to 81,32,465, while the toll increased to 1,48,389, the department said in a bulletin. The state had recorded 257 cases and one coronavirus-related fatality on Tuesday. Among the new cases, Mumbai accounted for 85 infections and one death, said the department. The second death linked to the respiratory illness in the last 24 hours was reported from Pune city, said the bulletin. It said 201 COVID-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking their cumulative count to 79,82,418 and leaving the state with 1,658 active cases. The coronavirus recovery rate in the state stood at 98.15 per cent, while the fatality rate was 1.82 per cent, said the department. The health department said 17,605 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, raising ...

New coronavirus variants causing surge in cases in US, shows CDC data

The data revealed that BQ.1 led to about 14 per cent of new infections in the country in the week ending October 29, while BQ.1.1 caused 13.1 per cent of the fresh cases

Tamil Nadu reports 152 new Covid cases, active tally declines to 1,602

Tamil Nadu reported 152 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the tally to 35,92,043. With no fatalities, the death toll continued to remain at 38,048 today. The active cases declined to 1,602 from 1,732 on Sunday, a bulletin from the health department said. As many as 282 patients were discharged following treatment today, taking the net recoveries to 35,52,393.

Data story: India adds 1,604 new Covid cases; active tally at 18,317

India has added 9,524 cases in the past 7 days

Data story: India logs 1,574 new Covid cases; death toll at 529,008

India has added 9,914 cases in the past 7 days

Data story: India logs 2,208 new Covid cases; death toll at 528,999

India has added 10,452 cases in the past 7 days

Omicron BA.2 less severe than its original and Delta variants : Study

The Omicron BA.2 subvariant is less severe than the Delta variant and to an even greater extent than the original Omicron variant, according to a research team led by investigators at the US-based Massachusetts General Hospital. Of 1,02,315 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US from March 3, 2020 to June 20 this year, there were 20,770 labelled as Delta variants, 52,605 labelled as Omicron B.1.1.529 variants, the original Omicron variant, and 28,940 labelled as Omicron BA.2 subvariants, researchers found. Mortality rates were 0.7 per cent for Delta, 0.4 per cent for the original Omicron variant and 0.3 per cent for Omicron BA.2. The researchers said after adjustments, the odds of death were more than two times higher for the Delta and the original Omicron variant compared with Omicron BA.2. Patients with Delta and original Omicron variants were also more likely to need hospitalisation, invasive ventilation and intensive care admissions, according to the study, which has been published

Tamil Nadu records 183 fresh Covid-19 cases; active tally at 2,533

Tamil Nadu registered 183 fresh Covid-19 infections on Wednesday while the active cases continued to drop. The active cases slipped to 2,533 from 2,736 on Tuesday, according to a bulletin. Both the daily additions and the active cases were on the decline over the past many days. As many as 386 people were cured of the disease today. There was no virus-related death, the bulletin said. As many as 35,91,226 people tested positive so far. The total recoveries stood at 35,50,645. The State recorded 38,048 deaths till date.

Data story: India records 830 new Covid cases; zero deaths in last 24 hrs

India has added 11,392 cases in the past 7 days

Latest Live: Rishi Sunak becomes richest-ever occupant of UK's Number 10

From Sunak's appointment as UK PM, Cyclone Sitrang to coronavirus cases and air pollution, catch all the latest developments from across the globe here