Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Bengal's COVID-19 toll mounts to 9,841, tally at 5.56 lakh

Coronavirus Live Updates: WHO disappointed China hasn't granted entry to coronavirus experts

The World Health Organization expressed dissappointment over China not finalising the permissions for the arrival of the team that was to investigate the origin of the coronavirus, said world health body chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday (local time).

"Over the past 24 hours, members of the international scientific team on COVID-19 virus origins began traveling from their home countries to China. Today we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team's arrival in China," he said.

The WHO Chief said that the official visit was as per arrangements jointly developed between WHO, the Chinese government, and countries for which the team was meant to travel through on their way to Wuhan.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Schools, colleges to reopen in Rajasthan from 18 January

The educational institutions including schools, colleges, universities and coaching centres will reopen in Rajasthan from January 18, after a gap of over nine months since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot made this announcement after holding a review meeting on the COVID-19 situation in the state with officials on Tuesday.

As per Chief Minister's Office (CMO) release, classes from 9 to 12 in schools, last year classes of university and college, coaching centres and government training institutes have been directed to be opened from 18 January, keeping in view the falling COVID-19 cases in Rajasthan.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Covid-19 vaccination voluntary, both doses important, says AIIMS Director Guleria

Getting immunised against COVID-19 will be a voluntary exercise and it is important that both dozes of the vaccine be administered to an individual for developing better immune response against the disease, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria has said.

Protective levels of antibodies generally develop two weeks after receiving the second dose, he said.

The senior pulmonologist also stressed that the vaccine introduced in India will be as effective as any vaccine developed by other countries.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Grammy Awards postponed to March 14 due to Los Angeles coronavirus surge

The Grammy Awards ceremony due to take place on January 31 has been rescheduled to March 14 because of the coronavirus surge in Los Angeles, organizers said on Tuesday.

The Recording Academy and broadcaster CBS said in a joint statement that the ceremony to present the highest honors in the music industry had been delayed after talks with health experts and musicians.

“After thoughtful conversations with health experts, our host and artists scheduled to appear, we are rescheduling the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards® to be broadcast Sunday, March 14, 2021," the statement said.

Coronavirus Live Updates: World economy faces debt doom loop, more inequity post pandemic

The world economy will be exiting the pandemic weighed down by much bigger debts and increased inequality that could hobble growth in the longer term. That was one of the memes making the rounds at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association that winds up on Tuesday.

While global growth is widely expected to strengthen as more people are vaccinated, top economists at the virtual three-day conference focused on the glaring inequities that the pandemic had exposed and the fall-out from the efforts to cope with and combat Covid-19.

Coronavirus Live Updates: WHO recommends two doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine within 21-28 days

People should get two doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine within 21-28 days, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as many countries struggled to administer the jabs that can ward off the COVID-19 virus.

Many are experiencing intensifying pressure on their health services due to surging coronavirus cases and the emergence of new variants that appear to spread more easily.

Governments are introducing new lockdown measures to halt the spread while facing massive demand for vaccines which are seen as the best way out of the global health crisis.

But with jabs in limited supply as production ramps up, the WHO has been examining how they can be used most effectively.

Coronavirus Live Updates: 'UK' coronavirus variant detected in 41 Countries/Territories, says WHO

The 'UK' coronavirus variant had been detected in 41 countries/territories, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement.

"As of 5 January 2021, the VOC-202012/01 variant initially detected in the United Kingdom has been detected in a small number of cases in 40 other countries/territories/areas in five of the six WHO regions, and the 501Y.V2 variant initially detected in South African in six other countries/territories/areas," the WHO said.

On December 14, 2020, the UK announced that a new coronavirus strain had been detected in the country, with the new variant being 70 per cent more transmissible.

After the news emerged, many countries suspended travel to and from the UK.

Coronavirus in Delhi LIVE Updates | Delhi records 442 new COVID-19 cases

Delhi recorded 442 fresh COVID-19 cases and 12 new fatalities yesterday, while the city's positivity rate came down to 0.55 percent, authorities said. The infection tally in the city stood at over 6.27 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,609, they said. The 442 new cases came out the 79,777 tests conducted the previous day, including 41,633 RT-PCR tests and 38,144 rapid antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department. (PTI)

Coronavirus in West Bengal LIVE Updates | Bengal reports 24 more COVID-19 deaths, 812 fresh cases

The COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal rose to 9,841 after 24 more people succumbed to the disease yesterday, the state health department said in a bulletin. The tally mounted to 5,56,384 after 812 fresh cases of the infection were reported from various parts of the state, it said. Since Monday, 1,166 recoveries were reported in the state bettering the discharge rate to 96.56 percent. Altogether 5,37,250 people have so far been cured of the disease in West Bengal, the bulletin said. The state now has 9,293 active cases. (PTI)

Hello and welcome to Moneycontrol’s LIVE coverage of the novel coronavirus pandemic and its socio-economic impact.

The COVID-19 outbreak has spread across 191 countries and territories. Today is the 288th day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown.

Stay tuned to this LIVE blog for the latest updates through the day.