Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: India reports 16,375 COVID-19 new cases in a day, active cases fall to 2.3 lakh

Coronavirus Live updates: Top Japan sumo wrestler Hakuho infected with coronavirus

Japan’s top-ranked sumo wrestler Hakuho has tested positive for coronavirus, the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) announced on Tuesday. Mongolian-born Hakuho, who is the longest-serving yokozuna - top-ranked sumo wrestler - of all time announced via the JSA website that he took a COVID-19 test after losing his sense of smell.

Hakuho will now seek the advice of specialists and the other wrestlers in his Miyagino stable will now also be tested, according to the statement. Hakuho’s positive test comes just five days before the sumo New Year Grand Tournament is due to start on January 10. So far, the JSA hasn’t said whether the tournament will be postponed. In May, 28-year-old sumo wrestler Shobushi died due to multiple organ failure related to the coronavirus after he became infected.

Coronavirus Live updates: Brazil scrambles for India-made COVID vaccines

Brazil made a diplomatic push on Monday to guarantee an Indian-made shipment of British drugmaker AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, hoping to avoid export restrictions that could delay immunizations during the world's second-deadliest outbreak.

In parallel, Brazil's private clinics struck a preliminary deal for an alternative injection made by India's Bharat Biotech despite a lack of public results from late-stage trials.

The scramble by Brazil's government and private sector underscored how Latin America's largest nation, once an example of mass immunization success in the developing world, has fallen behind peers in the race to inoculate against the coronavirus.

Coronavirus Live updates: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus applauds India's decisive action

Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday lauded India's action and its resolve to end the COVID-19 pandemic as the largest vaccine producer of the world.

"#India continues to take decisive action & demonstrate its resolve to end #COVID19 pandemic. As the world's largest vaccine producer it's well placed to do so," tweeted WHO chief.

Lauding the efforts of PM Modi in the fight against the pandemic, he wrote, "If we #ACTogether, we can ensure effective & safe vaccines are used to protect the most vulnerable everywhere @narendramodi".

India has one of the largest vaccine manufacturing capacities in the world (including the largest vaccine producer - Serum Institute of India) and has secured authorisation to mass-produce the AstraZeneca, Novavax and Gamaleya Research Institute vaccines.

Coronavirus Live updates: India records lowest daily cases in over six months

India recorded 16,375 new cases of coronavirus, the lowest in over six months, taking the country''s COVID-19 caseload to 1,03,56,844, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The death toll increased to 1,49,850 with 201 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed  

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 99,75,958  pushing the national recovery rate to 96.32 percent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 percent.

Coronavirus Live updates: Uttar Pradesh starts COVID vaccination dry run in all 75 districts

A dry run for vaccination against COVID-19 is being held in all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh today.

"The mock drill started at 10 am in the morning. It will help us to identify gaps in preparation and take corrective steps so that everything is conducted smoothly when actual vaccination is done," Additional health chief secretary of the state Amit Mohan Prasad.

Earlier Prasad had written to all commissioners and collectors of the state regarding a dry run for COVID-19 vaccination, asking the authorities to ensure that vaccination team reaches the site 45 minutes in advance.

Coronavirus Live updates: Three more UK returnees test positive for new Britain strain, says Tamil Nadu Govt

Three more returnees from the United Kingdom have tested postive for the new Britain COVID-19 strain, genomic analysis has confirmed, Tamil Nadu government said here on Monday. With this, the number of UK returnees who have tested positive for the new variant in the state has gone up to four. A youth, who returned here from the UK had recently tested positive for the new strain found in Britain.

Quoting results of genomic analysis from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said eight others have tested negative for the UK strain. Out of 44 returnees, the results of genomic analysis of 12 have been received and 32 were being awaited, he said in a statement tonight. "All of the returnees are being treated in government hospitals in separate wings. Their health condition is stable and they are being closely monitored by doctors," he said.

Coronavirus Live updates: India reports 16,375 new cases in a day, active cases fall to 2.3 lakh

India reported 16,375 new COVID-19 cases and 29,091 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) informed on Tuesday. With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 1,03,56,845, including 2,31,036 active cases and 99,75,958 recoveries.

As many as 201 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll in the country to 1,49,850. The total number of samples tested up to 4th January is 17,65,31,997 including 8,96,236 samples tested on Monday. Delhi reported 384 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, according to Delhi's Health Department on Monday.

Coronavirus Live updates: Two Barcalona staff members test positive for COVID-19

Two members of Barcelona’s first team staff have tested positive for COVID-19, the Catalans said on Monday. A statement from Barca said the whole squad would undergo tests on Tuesday, in line with La Liga’s protocol. They added that their training session and news conference ahead of Wednesday’s La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao would be rescheduled.

Coronavirus Live updates: Private sector should be an ally in India’s big COVID vaccine push

The Indian state faces one of the world’s most formidable challenges: rolling out a Covid-19 vaccination program for 1.3 billion people. To succeed, many things have to go right in a country that usually gets a lot wrong. The government would be wise to enlist the country’s private sector in this gargantuan effort — and soon.

The vaccine rollout is already off to a shaky start. The government last week announced emergency approval for two vaccines. The first, a joint effort from AstraZeneca PLC and Oxford University, is being produced by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. The other has been developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech International Ltd.

The media and opposition figures have justifiably asked why Bharat Biotech’s candidate was approved at the same time as AstraZeneca’s, when it hasn’t even finished or published results from Stage III trials. There’s no evidence that Indian drug regulators allowed political considerations to affect their decision. Still, the timing is suspect, given that the approval comes after right-wing legislators began to attack regulators for preferring “foreign" vaccines, and the government itself has begun to show a distinct protectionist tilt.

Coronavirus Live updates: States begin preparation for mega Covid-19 vaccination drive. Take a look

As the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Sunday approved two vaccines for Covid-19 -- Oxford's Covishield, which is being developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin -- the state governments across the nation are waiting for instructions from the Central Government on when to start the vaccination drive.

As many as 30 crore frontline workers are expected to get the Covid-19 vaccine dose in the first phase.

The health officials of the state governments have said that in the second phase those above 50 years of age and with co-morbidities would be given a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

To prepare for the Covid vaccination drive, the health authorities have said that the data of frontline workers have been updated on the Central Government's portal.

Coronavirus Live updates: Vaccinations are increasing in a 'glimmer of hope', says Anthony Fauci

The US ramped up COVID-19 vaccinations in the past few days after a slower-than-expected start, bringing the number of shots dispensed to about 4 million, government health officials said Sunday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, also said on ABC's “This Week" that President-elect Joe Biden's pledge to administer 100 million shots of the vaccine within his first 100 days in office is achievable.

And he rejected President Donald Trump's false claim on Twitter that coronavirus deaths and cases in the US have been greatly exaggerated.

Coronavirus Live updates: Larry King, hospitalised with COVID, moved out of ICU

Veteran talk show host Larry King, suffering from COVID-19, has been moved out of the intensive care unit at a Los Angeles hospital and is breathing on his own, a spokesman said on Monday. King was moved to the ICU on New Year''s Eve and was receiving oxygen but is now breathing on his own, said David Theall, a spokesman for Ora Media, a production company formed by King.

The 87-year-old broadcasting legend shared a video phone call with his three sons, Theall said. King, who spent many years as an overnight radio DJ, is best known as host of the “Larry King Live” interview show that ran in prime time on CNN from 1985 to 2010.