Testing for Covid-19 in progress in Mumbai. Nearly 71 per cent of the 496 new COVID-19 fatalities reported in a span of 24 hours were from eight states and union territories with Delhi recording the highest number of 89 deaths followed by Maharashtra with 88 and West Bengal with 52, the Union health ministry said on Sunday.
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It said 22 states and UTs have recorded case fatality rates lower than the national average of 1.46 per cent. Maharashtra recorded the highest positive change with the addition of 1,940 cases, whereas Delhi recorded the highest negative change with a decrease of 1,603 active cases in a span of 24 hours, the ministry said.
India’s Covid-19 tally rose to over 93.92 lakh on Sunday, after the country detected 41,810 new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am. As many as 496 new deaths took the country’s toll to 1,36,696. Of India’s 93,92,920 cases, over 4.53 infections are active, while over 88.02 lakh patients have recovered after testing positive.
The Rajasthan government has imposed a curfew from 8 pm to 6 am within urban limits of the district headquarter towns of Kota, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Nagore, Pali, Tonk, Sikar & Ganganagar from December 1 to December 31.
Assam reported one more fatality due to COVID-19 on Sunday, pushing the death toll to 981, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said.The coronavirus tally in the state rose to 2,12,617 with 134 fresh cases, he said. "Sad to share the demise of one #COVID patient today... Condolences to the bereaved family," Sarma tweeted.The current death rate in the state has been constant at 0.46 per cent during the month, which included five days when no fatalities were reported.
Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded one more fatality linked to COVID-19 on Sunday that pushed the death toll to 82, while 123 new cases pushed the infection tally to 22,592, official data showed.
Active cases in the district came down to 1,193 from 1,279 the previous day, while the recovery rate crossed the 94 per cent-mark, according to the data released by the UP Health Department for a 24-hour period. The number of active cases in Gautam Buddh Nagar is the fourth highest in the state. On the bright side, 210 more patients got discharged during the period with the overall recoveries reaching 21,317, the fifth highest in the state.
With the death toll reaching 82, the district has a mortality rate of 0.36 per cent. The recovery rate of patients reached 94.35 per cent, the statistics showed.
Meanwhile, the number of active cases in UP came down to 24,575 from 25,243 on Saturday, while the overall recoveries reached 5,09,556 and the death toll linked to COVID-19 climbed to 7,742 on Sunday, the data showed.
Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 115 and reached 47,804 on Sunday, while one death took the toll to 687, an official said. The number of people who have recovered reached 45,790, with 135 being discharged on Sunday, leaving the state with 1,327 active cases, he added.
The official said 1,998 samples were tested during the day.
Goa's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 47,804, new cases 115, death toll 687, discharged 45,790, active cases 1,327, samples tested till date 3,47,199.
At least 16 people, including two Border Security Force (BSF) jawans, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram on Sunday, taking the state's tally to 3,822, a senior official said. Of the 16 fresh cases, seven were reported from Aizawl, five from Lawngtlai and one each from Lunglei, Mamit, Siaha and Champhai, the official said.
Four cases were detected through RT-PCR at Zoram Medical College, one at a TrueNat lab in Siaha district and the rest by Rapid Antigen Test, he said.
Two BSF jawans, one policeman and two children, aged eight and 10, are among the newly infected people, he said. Six of the new patients have shown symptoms of COVID-19 and the remaining 10 are asymptomatic. The infection rate in the state is on the decline since last week, primarily because of the lockdown imposed on Aizawl and 'no tolerance drive' launched in other parts of the state, the official said.
'COVID-19 No Tolerance Drive' will be underway across the state till January 10 next year, he said. According to state health department, Mizoram currently has 392 active cases, of which Aizawl district accounts for 179, followed by Lawngtlai district at 84. Five COVID-19 deaths have been registered in the state. Altogether 3,425 people have recuperated from the viral infection, it said.
A 40-year-old man who took part in the ‘Covidshield’ vaccine trial here has alleged serious side effects, including a virtual neurological breakdown and impairment of cognitive functions and has sought Rs five crore compensation in a legal notice to Serum Institute and others, besides seeking a halt to the trial. Alleging that the candidate vaccine was not safe, he has also sought cancelling approval for its testing, ‘manufacture and distribution’, failing which legal action would be taken.
The legal notice has been sent to Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), which has collaborated with Oxford University and Astra Zeneca, a pharmaceutial company, in connection with making of the vaccine, ‘Covidshield’.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, one of the sponsors besides SII, and Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, which administered the vaccine to the man, have been served with the notice.
The man, it alleged, suffered acute encephalopathy, damage or disease that affects the brain, following vaccination and all tests confirmed that the setback in his health was due to the test vaccine. READ MORE
Nine more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, pushing the tally in the union territory to 4,698, a health department official said on Sunday. Of the nine new cases, eight have travel history while one was detected during contact tracing, he said.
Ten more people recovered from COVID-19, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,518, the official said.
The archipelago now has 119 active coronavirus cases, while 4,518 people have recovered from the disease and 61 patients have succumbed to the infection till date, he said. The administration has so far tested 1,26,328 samples for COVID-19, the official added.
As many as 759 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in Thane, raising the tally in the Maharashtra district to 2,27,860, an official said on Sunday. The death toll due in the district has gone up to 5,669 with 10 more people succumbing to the disease, he said.
So far, Kalyan town in the district has reported 53,760 COVID-19 cases, followed by Thane city-51,040, Navi Mumbai-47,990 and Mira Bhayander-24,085. Among the fatalities, Thane city has recorded 1,228, Kalyan 1,057, Navi Mumbai-979 and Mira Bhayander-756, the official said.
As of now, there are 7,830 active COVID-19 cases in the district, while 2,14,361 patients have recovered, he said.
The COVID-19 recovery rate in the district is 94.08 per cent, mortality rate stands at 2.49 per cent, while the active cases constitute 3.44 per cent of the total number of infections reported so far, the official added. In neighbouring Palghar, there have been so far 42,669 cases of coronavirus and 1,156 deaths due to the infection, an official from the district administration said.
Amid a fresh rise in COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, the state health department has again directed oxygen production units to keep 50 per cent of their production for medical use so that it could be easily made available to hospitals treating coronavirus patients. The state health department on September 10 also issued a similar notification.
In its new order dated November 26, issued under various sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act and the Disaster Management Act, the department has directed oxygen production units to keep their production uninterrupted and at their maximum production capacity. The units have been directed to produce 50 per cent oxygen for medical use, to be supplied to hospitals in Gujarat, and divert the remaining for industrial use.
The units have also been asked to give priority to supply oxygen to hospitals as compared to industries, in case the need arises. The order remains in operation till December 31, said the notification
In one of the highest sero-prevalence rates reported in the country, 605 of 806 patients that underwent antibody testing at five slums in Cuffe Parade tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.
Eyebetes foundation, Dr Nishant Kumar and BJP corporator Harshita Narwekar organised the sero-prevalence survey for all slum residents in the ward.
Conducted between October 5 and 10 at five locations in the ward, the tests showed that 75% of the population tested positive for Covid antibodies–much higher than the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) seroprevalence results of 45% in slums and 18% in buildings.
Odisha's COVID-19 tally on Sunday surged to 3,18,307 after 518 more people tested positive for the infection, while four fresh fatalities pushed the coastal state's death toll to 1,734, a senior health department official said. Of the 518 new cases, 297 were reported from various quarantine centres, and the remaining detected during contact tracing, the official said. Sundergarh recorded the maximum number of fresh cases at 52, followed by Mayurbhanj at 49 and Cuttack at 45. (PTI)
Addressing the nation in his monthly radio programme, Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday warned that any kind of laxity in dealing with Covid-19 is still very dangerous. He told citizens to firmly fight against the ongoing pandemic and highlighted that now that the nationwide lockdown is over, the government will be focusing on developing vaccines.
The Serum Institute of India (SII) on Saturday said that it is in process of applying for an emergency use licence for AstraZeneca-Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the next 2 weeks.
Addressing a virtual press conference on the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the company's Pune facility, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said: "We discussed the plan, the implementation plan which will happen only after the emergency use licensure, that is granted based on the data that will have to be submitted. We are in the process of submitting that officially to the drug controller of India...".
The vaccine will be distributed initially in India and then the company will look at Covax countries, which are mainly in Africa, he added. Serum Institute of India (SII) is conducting clinical trials of AstraZeneca-Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine candidate in India.(With PTI)
India's Covid-19 tally rose to over 93.92 lakh on Sunday, after the country detected 41,810 new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am. As many as 496 new deaths took the country's toll to 1,36,696. Of India's 93,92,920 cases, over 4.53 infections are active, while over 88.02 lakh patients have recovered after testing positive.
West Bengal's COVID-19 tally rose to 4,77,446 on Saturday as 3,459 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. Fifty-two more patients succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's coronavirus death toll to 8,322, it said. As many as 3,487 more people have been cured of the disease, taking the state's recovery count to 4,44,587, the bulletin said. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 93.12 per cent, it said. Kolkata reported the highest number of new cases at 890, followed by North 24 Parganas (863) and South 24 Parganas (236), the bulletin said. (PTI)
Maharashtra's COVID-19 case tally rose to 18,14,515 on Saturday as it recorded 5,965 new cases, said a health official. The state also reported 75 fatalities during the day, taking the COVID-19 death toll to 46,986, he said. A total of 3,937 patients were discharged from hospitals, so the tally of recovered people rose to 16,76,564. There are 89,905 active patients in the state. Mumbai city reported 1,063 new cases, which pushed its overall case count to 2,81,881, while its death toll rose to 10,847 with 17 deaths being reported on Saturday. (PTI)
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a simple and fast method for COVID-19 testing which can not only increase the number of RT-PCR tests but can also bring down costs, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said on Saturday. The method -- Dry Swab-Direct RT-PCR -- developed by CSIR's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, is a variation of the existing gold standard RT-PCR method and can easily scale up the testing by 2 to 3 fold with no new investment of resources. "After evaluating this method and finding an overall concordance of 96.9 per cent, ICMR has now issued an advisory for the use of CSIR-CCMB dry swab method, considering its lesser cost and quick turn-around time," the CSIR said. (PTI)
US President-elect Joe Biden will let health experts decide who will get a COVID-19 vaccine in the country first, according to Dr. Celine Gounder, a member of his coronavirus advisory board. Since the risk for COVID-19 can vary among different groups of people, prioritisation for a vaccine will be tricky, and Biden will leave those decisions to health experts, the Indian-American infectious disease physician said.
It is expected that there will likely be a limited supply of coronavirus vaccine doses available immediately after a vaccine is authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration. "Other than health care workers, others who will be first in line to get it will be people who do have chronic underlying medical conditions who are older, as well as communities of colour who have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic," Gounder told CNN on Friday.
The country's death toll since the pandemic's start is now more than 264,000. And nearly another 60,000 people could lose their lives over the next three weeks, according to an ensemble forecast published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Pune on Saturday on the last leg of his three-city visit to review coronavirus vaccine development in India. After landing at Pune airport around 4.30 pm from Hyderabad, Modi proceeded to the Serum Institute of India (SII) by helicopter. Modi's visit to SII is aimed at reviewing the progress of the vaccine candidate for coronavirus infection and to know about its launch, production and distribution mechanism, an official said.