Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: India's active COVID tally drops to near 2.5 lakh as 23,181 recover in a day

Coronavirus Live updates: Budget to set course for economic pick up after COVID carnage

Indian economy is now expected to see a faster turnaround given the impending rollout of vaccine, increased mobility and less disruptions to business operations as the economy opens up but a lot will also depend on the upcoming Budget for 2021-22 to steer its course.

India, which had in 2019 overtaken the UK to become the fifth-largest economy in the world, was knocked off course somewhat due to the carnage that the pandemic and the ensuing strict lockdown unleashed -- businesses were shut, consumption slumped, investments took a hit and jobs were lost.

The combined effect being that the economy got relegated to the sixth spot in 2020.

The Budget for the next fiscal starting April 2021 that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present a month from now will be the starting point for picking up the pieces after the economic destruction.

Coronavirus Live updates: COVID-19 cases explained in charts

The total number of COVID-19 cases in India is now at 1,02,86,709, with 98,83,461 recoveries and 1,48,994 deaths. The country's mortality rate is 1.4 percent, with Punjab reporting the highest (3.2 percent). More than 10 lakh daily tests were reported on December 31, with more than 17.31 crore tests carried out till date.

While India reports high cases and deaths overall, it ranks low in terms of cases and deaths per million population.

Coronavirus Live updates: COVID-19 cases explained in charts

Maharashtra reported the most (58 or 23 percent) deaths followed by Kerala (30), West Bengal (29), Chhattisgarh (21), Delhi (13) and Tamil Nadu (13). These six states account for 64 percent of the new deaths reported India.

About 11 states and union territories—like Andaman and Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli/Daman and Diu, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Pudduchery, Sikkim and Tripura—did not report any deaths. 

India’s recovery rate stands at 96.1 percent. Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu have the highest recovery rate at (99.6 percent, while Sikkim has the lowest at 88.9 percent. Kerala recorded 5,376 recoveries, the most, followed by Maharashtra (3,612), West Bengal (1,537), Chhattisgarh (1,518) and Karnataka (1,282).

Coronavirus Live updates: COVID-19 cases explained in charts

As many as 20,035 new coronavirus infections were reported in the last 24 hours, taking India's COVID-19 case count to above 1.02 crore, as per the health ministry’s January 1, 2021 update.

India reported 256 new deaths, the seventh day that the toll stayed below 300, and 23,181 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Active cases continue to decline and fell to 2,54,254 with a drop of 3,402 cases in a day.

Kerala reported the most (5,215 or 26 percent) new cases followed by Maharashtra (3,509), West Bengal (1,170), Chhattisgarh (1,035) and Karnataka (952). These five states account for 59 percent of all the new cases in the country.

Coronavirus Live updates: Maharashtra to conduct dry run for COVID-19 vaccination in four districts

Maharashtra will conduct a dry run of the covid-19 vaccine tomorrow. Pune,Nagpur, Jalna and Nandurbar have been selected for the dry run.

Coronavirus Live updates: 'Vaccine, COVID situation, geopolitical trends, Budget to be major drivers for Indian equities in 2021'

The global COVID-19 situation, rollout of vaccines, geopolitical trends, Union Budget and economic recovery would be the major factors driving investor sentiments in 2021 after a tumultuous year which saw both ''the worst of times and the best of times'' for the stock market, said analysts.

Coronavirus Live updates: 12 new cases push Mizoram's COVID-19 tally to 4,216

Mizoram's COVID-19 tally mounted to 4,216 on Friday as 12 more people, including eight security personnel, tested positive for the infection, a health official said. Lunglei district reported six new cases, Aizawl five and Kolasib one, he said.

Five Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, two CRPF jawans and an Army man are among the new patients, the official said. Mizoram now has 110 active coronavirus cases, while 4,098 people have recovered from the disease and eight patients have succumbed to the infection so far, he said.

The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 97.21 percent, the official said. The state has so far tested 1.8 lakh samples for COVID-19, including 926 in the last 24 hours, he added. 

Coronavirus Live updates: 4 new cases push COVID-19 tally of Andamans to 4,945

The COVID-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 4,945 on Friday as four more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.
All the new cases were detected during contact tracing, he said.

Six more people have recovered from the infection, the official said. The archipelago now has 57 active cases, while 4,826 people have been cured of the disease and 62 patients have succumbed to the infection so far, he said. The administration has so far tested over 1.8 lakh samples for COVID-19, the official added.

Coronavirus Live updates: Telangana logs 461 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths take toll to 1,544

Telangana recorded 461 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the total positives to over 2.86 lakh while three fatalities pushed the toll to 1,544, the state government said on Friday. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 108, followed by Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri with 44 and 41 respectively, it said in a bulletin, providing details as of 8 PM on December 31.

The total number of cases stood at 2,86,815 while recoveries were at 2,79,456. As many as 5,815 patients are under treatment and 42,013 samples were tested on Thursday. Cumulatively, over 69.24 lakh samples have been tested.

The samples tested per million population was over 1.86 lakh, the bulletin said. The case fatality rate in the state was 0.53 per cent, while it was 1.4 per cent at the national level. The recovery rate in Telangana was 97.43 per cent, while it was 96.1 per cent in the country.

Coronavirus Live updates: Thane district's COVID-19 count rises by 343, death toll by 4

With 343 new coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 2,43,178, an official said on Friday. These new cases were reported on Thursday, he said. As the virus claimed the lives of four persons during the day, the death toll in the district rose to 5,958.

Thane district's mortality rate is 2.45 percent, he added. So far, 2,33,168 patients have recuperated from the infection, which took the recovery rate to 95.88 percent. There are 4,052 active cases in the district at present, the official said. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 44,278, while the death toll is 1,186 now, he said. 

Coronavirus Live updates: New daily cases in India remain below 30,000; recovery rate above 96%

The daily new coronavirus infections in India remained below 30,000 for the 19th consecutive day taking the COVID-19 caseload to1,02,86,709, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98.83 lakh, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

A total of 20,035 new infections were reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,48,994 with 256 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98,83,461 pushing the national recovery rate to 96.08 percent,while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 percent.

Coronavirus Live updates: Anthony Fauci calls COVID-19 vaccine rollout in US as 'disappointing'

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci on Thursday said that the coronavirus vaccine rollout hasn't gone as he expected adding that it has been 'disappointing'.

"We would have liked to have seen it run smoothly and have 20 million doses into people today by the end of 2020, which was the projection," Fauci said during an appearance on "Today", as quoted by The Hill and added, "Obviously, it didn't happen, and that's disappointing."