In many parts of Kolkata, hand-drawn rickshaws are lying empty on the roads. They have been left without work due to the pandemic. (Express Photo: Shashi Ghosh)Coronavirus India News Live Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to US President-elect Joe Biden Tuesday night, the first phone conversation between the leaders since the latter won the American presidential elections. PM Modi and Biden discussed their shared priorities and concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic, among other things.
With several vaccines for the novel coronavirus in late-stage clinical trials, the Indian government is strategising their distribution. On Monday, Dr V K Paul, member, NITI Aayog, who heads the high-level national expert group on vaccine administration, said the government was relying on the five candidates being clinically tested in India. This is because, he said, candidates like Pfizer and Moderna are yet to be granted licences in India, and are likely to first be delivered to countries that have already signed deals with these firms. The doses are likely to arrive in India months later. Paul said the candidates being tested locally will be able to fulfill the large domestic requirements.
The Union Health Ministry Tuesday reiterated the need to be careful and implement “Covid appropriate behaviour”. In view of the festive season, it said the “effects of polls, Durga Puja, Diwali may be seen in coming weeks. We have to keep watching new cases very carefully.”
Delhi, which continues to contribute the highest number of cases to India’s Covid-19 tally, may soon see curbs on activities again, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal writing to the Centre seeking permission to reduce wedding functions to 50 persons and shut down local markets. The national capital reported 6,396 new cases on Tuesday, taking its totaly number of infections to 4,95,598.
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Testing for Covid-19 in progress in Mumbai. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Several Hepatitis C drugs have been found to inhibit a crucial protein enzyme in the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The experiments were led by researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The results are published in the journal structure.
Once it has entered the human cell using its spike protein, the coronavirus uses an enzyme called the main protease to replicate. The coronavirus expresses long chains of compounds, which must be cut by the main protease to become functional proteins. Inhibiting the functioning of the main protease, therefore, is vital to stopping the virus from spreading in patients with Covid-19.
The new study is part of efforts to quickly develop treatments for Covid-19 by repurposing existing drugs for other viral diseases. Read more here
In their first conversation since the results of the US election earlier this month, US President-elect Joe Biden called Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday night, during which the PM congratulated Biden and reiterated New Delhi’s commitment to the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed their “shared priorities and concerns”.
Of the three issues that Modi flagged, the first two, Indo-Pacific and Covid-19, are areas of continuity between the Trump and Biden presidencies, while climate change is an old favourite of the Democratic administration.
Delhi recorded 6,396 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 4.95 lakh, while 99 more fatalities pushed the toll to 7,812, authorities said. These fresh cases came out of the 49,031 tests conducted the previous day, while the positivity rate stood at 13.04 per cent amid the festive season and rising pollution in the city, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. The highest single-day spike till date here -- 8,593 cases -- was recorded on November 11 when 85 fatalities were recorded. (PTI)
Bihar's COVID-19 tally rose to 2,27,945 on Tuesday as 513 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. Five more patients succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's coronavirus death toll to 1,194, it said. Bihar's recovery count surged to 2,21,210 as 749 more people were cured of the disease, the bulletin said. The recovery rate among the COVID-19 patients in the state has improved to 97.04 per cent, it said. The state now has 5,541 active coronavirus cases, the bulletin said. (PTI)
National Conference (NC) leaders and father-son duo Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah went into self-isolation on Tuesday after one of their secondary contacts tested positive for COVID-19. The announcement was made by Omar Abdullah on Twitter, saying doctors had advised them self-isolation for a week, before undergoing a precautionary COVID test. "My father & I have been in contact with a person who was in turn staying with a relative who tested COVID positive. Based on medical advice, we will be self-isolating for a week before getting a precautionary COVID test," the NC vice-president said in a tweet.
The Congress Tuesday sought immediate steps to check the spread of coronavirus in the national capital and favoured a complete lockdown of markets, public transport and government offices, instead of a partial one.
Congress senior spokesperson Ajay Maken said the COVID situation in the national capital is "very bad" as "one in every five persons" infected by COVID-19 is from Delhi.He said there cannot be a worse decision than Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's proposal to impose partial lockdown in markets and hotspots in Delhi as it would lead to the virus spreading faster to other areas and markets.terming it as a knee-jerk reaction, he said, "There should be a complete lockdown and not partial." "Kejriwal ji's idea to selectively close markets in Delhi is disastrous. By doing so, he will concentrate crowds to a select few markets," he said.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rose to 17,52,509 with the addition of 2,840 new cases on Tuesday, while recoveries outstripped fresh infections with 5,123 patients discharged from hospitals, said the state health department. With 68 more COVID-19 deaths, the state's fatality count rose to 46,102, the department said in a statement. The department said of the 68 deaths, 51 were from the past 48 hours, while 12 from the last week. The remaining five deaths were from the period before the last week, it said. A total of 5,123 patients were discharged from hospitals on Tuesday, which took the number of recovered persons to 16,23,503 so far, the department said. (PTI)
Mumbai reported 541 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 2,70,654, while more than 1,500 patients recovered from the infection, the city civic body said. On Monday, the financial capital had reported 409 cases, the lowest daily count in the past several months. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) updated data, the death toll increased to 10,596 after 14 more patients succumbed to the infection. In the last 24 hours, 1,565 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered cases to 2,47,339, about 91 per cent of the COVID-19 tally. (PTI)
From Wednesday, people coming from Delhi to Noida will be randomly tested for Covid-19, the administration of Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh said. "In view of the rising cases of coronavirus in Delhi, the district magistrate has directed officials to form teams that would be deployed at Noida-Delhi borders at DND and Chilla to randomly check people coming from the national capital for the infection," District Magistrate Suhas L Y told PTI.
However there will be no restriction on free movement of people between Noida and Delhi.
A day after Jharkhand announced the ban of religious congregations and ceremonies on the banks of water bodies for Chhath Puja, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren Tuesday reversed the ban by allowing the celebrations at river banks if all Covid-19 protocols like social distancing and face coverings are followed. The state government late on Sunday announced a set of precautionary guidelines in which it banned any event near the water bodies during November 17 to 21. The practise of bathing in water bodies by large groups could increase chances of virus transmission, the guidelines warned. Earmarking of areas and putting barricades to perform the puja was also banned this year.
Punjab recorded 515 new cases and 30 deaths in the 24 hours ending Tuesday morning. The state's current tally stands at 1,42,597 cases and its death toll is at 4,510. Out of the total cases 1,32,266 have recovered after testing positive.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised the Uttar Pradesh government for its COVID-19 management strategy terming it as a good example for other states to follow, an official statement said here on Tuesday.
“The UP government’s strategic response to COVID-19 by stepping up contact tracing efforts is exemplary and can serve as a good example for other states,” Roderico Ofrin, WHO Country Representative, said in a statement issued here by the state government.(Read more here)
Andhra Pradesh recorded 1,395 new cases in the 24 hours ending 10 am Tuesday. The state's current tally stands at 8,56,159 cases and its death toll is at 6,890. Out of the total cases, 6,985 are active while 8,32,284 have recovered after testing positive.
Delhi recorded over one lakh new coronavirus cases and around 1,200 deaths between November 1-16 while nearly 94,000 COVID-19 patients recovered during the same period, according to official data. The national capital has witnessed a sudden spike in coronavirus cases since October 28 when the daily rise breached the 5,000-mark for the first time and it crossed the 8,000-mark on November 11.
On November 12, 104 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest in over five months, were recorded in the city. According to health department data, 1,01,070 coronavirus cases have been recorded so far this month. Also, 1,202 people have died of COVID-19 while 93,885 coronavirus patients have recovered from the virus since November 1. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said that India's vaccine production will help in tackling the covid-19 crisis faced around the world. Addressing the 12th BRICS summit hosted by Russia, Modi said, “India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will also work in interest of humanity to tackle COVID crisis.” Modi also asserted that India post-COVID could be a force multiplier for the global economy.
As Delhi’s Covid cases show no signs of abating, the Union Health Ministry in its briefing introduced a few measures the centre is planning to take to deal with the ongoing situation in the national capital. For Delhi’s containment and other vulnerable zones, house to house surveys will be done. For this, a total of 7000 to 8000 teams will be put in place, Niti Aayog informed.
Talking about the issue of ICU beds crunch faced by Delhi hospitals, the Health Ministry said that they aim to increase the ICU beds from the current 3,500 to 6,000 in the next few days. “Increase in beds, doubling testing capacity, right mix of RT-PCR and RAT among actions to be taken for rise of COVID cases in Delhi,” the ministry said.
In Union Health Ministry's breifing Tuesday, Niti Aayog notified that out of three vaccines currently under trial in India,two are already in their third phase. "The vaccine of Serum Institute is in the third phase. At least, five vaccines are under trial in the country of which two are in the third phase."
The Health Ministry in its briefing reiterated the need to be careful and properly implement “Covid appropriate behaviour.” Keeping in mind the festive season complacencies, the health ministry urged people to be extra careful in these times. The Ministry highlighted that "effects of polls, Durga Puja, Diwali may be seen in coming weeks. We have to keep watching new cases very carefully. Strictly following all the precautionary measures like not visiting crowded places, taking extra care of the vulnerable sections of the society and maintaining “2-feet” distance are still very important. “Don't be hesitant to get yourself tested” in case of symptoms, the health ministry secretary.
The Union Health Ministry also noted India’s increased capacity to conduct Covid-19 tests on a daily basis.Evaluating India’s testing capabilities as compared to other nations, the health ministry said, “in terms of Covid-19 tests conducted daily we are above nations like the United States, United Kingdom and Russia.”