Coronavirus Live Updates: Daily new cases of COVID-19 remain below 50,000, says Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry today said that the number of daily cases of Covid-19 in India have remained below 50,000 for more than 10 days now. 

The Health Ministry shared a graph that showed the number of cases from 21 November to 1 December. The Health Ministry also said that the number of tests have also gone up to more than a million daily.

#IndiaFightsCorona #Unite2FightCorona pic.twitter.com/wwCgIKCD0t

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) December 2, 2020

Coronavirus Live Updates | Free Covid-19 vaccinations: Japan parliament passes bill

Japan’s parliament passed a bill to provide coronavirus vaccinations free of charge with the central government covering the cost, offering a key plan to stem the virus as the country struggles with its worst-yet wave of infections.

Coronavirus Live Updates: CDC to shorten COVID-19 quarantine to 10 days, 7 with negative test

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to shorten the recommended length of quarantine after exposure to someone who is positive for COVID-19, as the virus rages across the nation.

According to a senior administration official, the new guidelines, which are set to be released as soon as Tuesday evening , will allow people who have come in contact to someone infected with the virus to resume normal activity after 10 days, or 7 days if they receive a negative test result. That''s down from the 14-day period recommended since the onset of the pandemic.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the policy change has been discussed for some time, as scientists have studied the incubation period for the virus. It was discussed Tuesday at a White House coronavirus task force meeting.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Pakistan approves initial funds to purchase COVID-19 vaccine

Pakistan approved $150 million in funding to buy COVID-19 vaccines, initially to cover the most vulnerable 5% of the population, the de facto health minister said. The initial phase of vaccinations would focus on providing free shots for frontline health workers and people above the age of 65 years, Faisal Sultan told a news conference in Islamabad, adding that the go-ahead for funding the programme had been given at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

A panel of experts was compiling a list of recommendations on how to procure the vaccine, Sultan, the prime minister’s special adviser on health, said. “We will see whether we need to tap more than one source, including some Western manufacturers or some Chinese, so we will move forward with all these options,” he said.

In making a choice, consideration would be given to the vaccine’s efficacy, level of protection and safety, Sultan said, as well as “cold chain” storage requirements and Pakistan’s ability to acquire stocks.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Sunny Deol tests COVID-19 positive, says Himachal Pradesh health secretary

Bollywood actor and BJP MP from Gurdaspur Sunny Deol has tested positive for COVID-19, the Himachal Pradesh health secretary said on Tuesday.

Deol have been staying in Kullu district for some days, Health Secretary Amitabh Awasthi said.

The health secretary told PTI that according to information received from the district chief medical officer, the MP and his friends were planning to leave for Mumbai, but his COVID-19 test result came out positive on Tuesday.

The 64-year-old bollywood actor had undergone a shoulder surgery at Mumbai and was recuperating at a farmhouse near Manali in Kullu district.

Coronavirus Live Updates: US plans for rapid vaccine rollout as COVID-19 surges to new heights

U.S. officials on Tuesday unveiled plans to begin vaccinating millions of Americans against COVID-19 as early as mid-December, as coronavirus infections and hospitalizations in the United States soared once more to unprecedented heights.

With outgoing President Donald Trump's coronavirus strategy relying heavily on a vaccine, the chief adviser of his administration's Operation Warp Speed program said on Tuesday that 20 million people could be inoculated by the end of 2020, and that by the middle of 2021 most Americans will have access to highly effective vaccines.

"Within 24 hours, maybe at most 36 to 48 hours, from the approval, the vaccine can be in people's arms," Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, said at an event conducted by The Washington Post newspaper

Coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh LIVE Updates | Himachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally crosses 41,000-mark

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Himachal Pradesh has reached 657 as 21 more people succumbed to the virus on Tuesday, official data showed. The 21 deaths are the highest COVID-related deaths on a single day in the state. Six deaths were reported from Kangra, four from Mandi, three each from Shimla and Kullu, two from Solan and one each from Hamirpur, Chamba and Una, according to the health department data.

Of the deaths, 11 were females and 10 were males of the ages between 47 and 89. Meanwhile, 709 new cases pushed the infection count to 41,228. A total of 759 patients recovered from the disease on the day, pushing the total recoveries to 32,309. The state currently has 8,218 active COVID-19 cases. 

Coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh LIVE Updates | Himachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally crosses 41,000-mark

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Himachal Pradesh has reached 657 as 21 more people succumbed to the virus on Tuesday, official data showed. The 21 deaths are the highest COVID-related deaths on a single day in the state. Six deaths were reported from Kangra, four from Mandi, three each from Shimla and Kullu, two from Solan and one each from Hamirpur, Chamba and Una, according to the health department data.

Of the deaths, 11 were females and 10 were males of the ages between 47 and 89. Meanwhile, 709 new cases pushed the infection count to 41,228. A total of 759 patients recovered from the disease on the day, pushing the total recoveries to 32,309. The state currently has 8,218 active COVID-19 cases. 

Coronavirus in Bihar LIVE Updates | Bihar reports 4 more COVID deaths, 482 fresh cases

Four more persons succumbed to COVID-19 in Bihar in the past 24 hours raising the death toll to 1,268, while 482 fresh cases took the tally to 2,36,097, a health department bulletin said on Tuesday. It said that 567 patients recovered from the disease taking the total number of cured people to 2,29,365.

The recovery rate in the state at present is 97.15 percent. Bihar now has 5,464 active cases, the bulletin said. Two of the four new coronavirus casualties were registered in West Champaran district and one each in Patna and Vaishali.

Coronavirus in Assam LIVE Updates | Assam's COVID-19 tally rises to 2,12,998 

Assam reported 222 new COVID-19 positive cases raising the tally to 2,12,998 on Tuesday, Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. No deaths were registered for the second consecutive day and the fatality figure remained unchanged at 981, he said.

Altogether 135 patients recovered from the infection, pushing the number of cured people to 2,08,528. The recovery rate in the state currently is 97.90 percent.  Assam now has 3,486 active cases, the minister said adding that three had migrated out of the state.

The new cases were detected out of 20,852 tests conducted during the day at a positivity rate of 0.74 per cent. The total number of tests done in the state so far is 53,35,041 which includes both Rapid Antigen and RT-PCR tests.
 

Coronavirus in Nagaland LIVE Updates | Nagaland has 840 active COVID-19 cases

Nagaland on Tuesday recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 recoveries after 108 patients were discharged from hospitals, even as 23 fresh cases pushed the tally to 11,209, a state minister said. The recovery rate has improved to 90.94 percent. The state now has 840 active cases, while 10,194 people have recovered from the disease.

A total of sixty-seven patients have died due to contagion. Out of the fatalities, 57 are due to COVID-19 and seven owing to comorbidities, while the deaths of three patients are under investigation, officials said. Nagaland has so far tested 1,13,371 samples. 

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | India's COVID-19 tally rises to 94.62 lakh

India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 94.62 lakh, while total recoveries surged to 88,89,585, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Tuesday. The total coronavirus cases mounted to 94,62,809 with 31,118 new infections, while the death toll climbed to 1,37,621after 482 more fatalities were reported, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 percent. The active COVID-19 caseload remained below five lakh for the 21th consecutive day.  There are 4,35,603 active cases in the country which comprise 4.60 percent of the total caseload, the data stated.