Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said today that all schools in Delhi will continue to remain closed till further orders. “It is not safe to reopen schools in Delhi yet, parents are not in favour too,” he said. Meanwhile, with 43,893 new Covid-19 infections, India's total cases surge to 79,90,322. Over 500 new deaths were reported, taking the toll to 1,20,010. Total active cases are 6,10,803 after a decrease of 15,054 in the last 24 hours. Total recoveries stand at 72,59,509 with 58,439 new discharges in last 24 hours. In another key development, UK Vaccine Taskforce Chair Kate Bingham said on Tuesday that the first generation of COVID-19 vaccines "is likely to be imperfect" and that they "might not work for everyone".
HERE ARE THE LIVE UPDATES ON CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:
◕ French drugmaker Sanofi SA and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline plan to make 200 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate available to the vaccine allocation plan co-led by GAVI and the World Health Organization. The companies said on Wednesday they have signed a statement of intent with vaccine alliance GAVI, which is coordinating the global plan known as COVAX.
◕Total 10,54,87,680 samples have been tested for Covid-19 up to October 27. Of these 10,66,786 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Wednesday. Today's positivity rate stands at 4.1 percent.
Today's Data Highlights
- 43.9k new cases in India (36.5k yesterday). 15k dip in active cases
- With 5.4k new cases (highest in India), Kerala crosses 4 lakh total cases
- West Bengal reports a dip in active cases (-18) for the first time in 50 days
- Delhi reports its highest daily new cases yet (4.8k)
- Total cases in USA cross the 9 million mark
- Deaths per million population in the USA is now 700. The corresponding figure for India is 87 and the world average is now 150. India ranks 85th in the world in deaths per million population
- Italy reports its highest daily new cases yet (21.9k)
- Recoveries in India have been more than new cases for the last 25 days at a stretch
◕ Europe Enacts New Curbs as COVID Surges in Absence of Vaccine | European governments moved on Tuesday to impose new curbs to try to rein in a fast-growing surge of coronavirus infections and provide economic balm to help businesses survive the pandemic. World leaders face an increasingly difficult task holding the disease at bay while keeping their economies afloat as they pin their hopes on as-yet unproven vaccines. "We are dealing with exponential growth," German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told a virtual German-French economic conference in Berlin. "In Germany the number of new infections is rising by 70-75% compared to the week before." Hundreds of protesters took to the streets across Italy on Monday to vent their anger at the latest round of restrictions, including early closing for bars and restaurants, with demonstrations in some cities turning violent. In France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin warned the country to prepare for "difficult decisions" after some of the strictest restrictions currently in place anywhere in Europe have failed to halt the spread of the disease.
◕ Greece Exceeds 1,200 Daily COVID-19 Infections for First Time | Greece recorded a single-day record of 1,259 confirmed coronavirus infections on Tuesday, health authorities said, while the education minister tested positive for the virus. Tuesday's jump followed 715 new cases recorded on Monday. Greece has been reporting a steady increase in cases since early October. There were also 12 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday. Night-time curfews from 12:30 am to 5 am were enforced in the capital Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki last weekend. Sotiris Tsiodras, one of the government's top scientific advisers, appealed anew to the public to enforce social distancing rules.
◕ Pfizer Says No COVID-19 Vaccine Data Yet, Could Be Week or More Before it Reports Drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Tuesday it does not yet have data from the late-stage trial of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with Germany's BioNTech SE, and provided a timeline that makes its release unlikely ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election.Pfizer said there had not yet been enough infections in the 44,000-volunteer trial to trigger an analysis of whether or not the vaccine works. An independent panel will conduct the first analysis when it reaches 32 infections.