Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: The Union health minister Thursday said Maharashtra, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have seen a sudden spike in coronavirus cases recently
Representational image. AP
"Coronavirus vaccines 'Covishield' and 'Covaxin' are on the verge of being available in the country. Our efforts are to ensure seamless last mile delivery of the vaccine," Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.
With 230 more people testing positive for the infection, Odisha's COVID-19 tally on Thursday mounted to 3,31,151, while one more fatality pushed the state's coronavirus toll to 1,888, a health department official said.
The new cases were detected in 23 of the state's 30 districts, with 134 reported from different quarantine centres and 96 are local contact cases.
Sundergarh district recorded the highest of 30 new cases followed by Angul (24) and Bolangir (18).
The dry run for COVID-19 vaccine will be carried out in 33 states and Union Territories on Friday, said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. "Feedback on dry run of COVID vaccine in four states was reviewed. Tomorrow dry run will be done in 33 states & Union Territories," said Vardhan.
"Maharashtra, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have seen a sudden spike in coronavirus cases recently. This gives us a warning that we shouldn't forget precautions and continue our fight against COVID-19," he said.
Punjab: Schools reopen for students of classes V to XII from today; visuals from Shri Ram Ashram Public School in Amritsar.
— ANI (@ANI) January 7, 2021
Students are undergoing temperature check & hand-sanitization at the entrance gate of the school. pic.twitter.com/X2tTTEXILS
The number of people who have recuperated from the novel coronavirus surged to 1,00,16,859, pushing the national recovery rate to 96.36 percent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stood at 1.45 percent, said the Union health ministry on Thursday.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 17,84,00,995 COVID-19 samples have been tested so far, with 9,37,590 samples being tested on Wednesday alone.
The number of active COVID-19 cases remained below three lakh for the 17th consecutive day. There are 2,28,083 active coronavirus cases in the country, which account for 2.19 percent of the total caseload.
Noting that the roll-out of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus is expected to begin in the "near future", the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said that another mock drill of the inoculation drive will be held in all districts of the country on 8 January.
The first country-wide vaccination dry run was conducted on 2 January.
India's drug regulator on Sunday (3 January) approved two COVID-19 vaccines — Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute, and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin — for restricted emergency use and Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said the health ministry was prepared to launch the vaccine within 10 days of the authorisation.
India will deploy its ability to combat the pandemic across the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday. The two leaders interacted via video conference, and Modi described the discussion as fruitful.
"The Prime Minister briefed Chancellor Merkel on the developments in India with regard to vaccine development and assured her of the commitment to deploy its capacities for the benefit of the world," the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Telangana recorded 379 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the total confirmed cases over 2.88 lakh while three more deaths were added pushing the toll to 1,559.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 71, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri and Rangareddywith 37 and 36 respectively, a government bulletin said on Wednesday.
The total number of cases stood at 2,88,789 while recoveries were at 2,82,177.
News LATEST Updates: The Union health minister Thursday said Maharashtra, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have seen a sudden spike in cases recently.
The number of active cases remained below three lakh for the 17th consecutive day. There are 2,28,083 active cases in the country, which account for 2.19 percent of the total caseload.
The number of fresh cases in India increased by 20,346 since yesterday, indicating a 12 percent spike, to hit 1,03,95,278 on Thursday. Of these, a little over 2.8 lakh were active cases.
As many as 222 patients succumbed to the novel in the past 24 hours, taking the toll in the country to 1,50,336, said the health ministry on Thursday.
India reported 20,346 fresh cases of in a span of 24 hours, pushing the overall confirmed cases in the country to 1,03,95,278, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.
Delhi recorded 654 fresh cases and 16 fatalities linked to the disease on Wednesday, even as the positivity rate stood at 0.88 percent, authorities said.
The infection tally in the city rose to 6.28 lakh and the toll mounted to 10,625, they said.
The 654 new cases came out the 74,650 tests conducted the previous day, including 39,623 RT-PCR tests and 35,027 rapid antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.
The active cases tally on Wednesday dropped to 4,481 from 4,562 the previous day, it said. Delhi had recorded 442 cases on Tuesday with a positivity rate of 0.55 percent.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had tweeted on Saturday that the positivity rate had been below one percent for the past 11 days, and fresh cases were the lowest since 17 May.
From 21-23 December, the daily cases count had been below the 1000-mark. The city reported 803 cases on 21 December; while it registered 939 new infections on 22 December and 871 on 23 December.
However, on 24 December, the National Capital recorded 1,063 cases, dropping again to 758 on 25 December and 655 on 26 December. A total of 757 cases were reported on 27 December while on 28 December, the daily cases count was 564, the lowest in the last five months.
The Wednesday's bulletin said the number of cases has climbed to 6,28,352 in Delhi. Out of the total 14,076 beds in COVID hospitals, 12,371 are vacant, it said.
According to the bulletin, 144 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by people under quarantine, including travellers who have returned by Vande Bharat Mission and bubble flights.
The Delhi government significantly ramped up testing in the past few weeks, with the count on several times crossing the 60,000-mark.
The number of tests done per million, as on Tuesday was over 4.77 lakh while the total number of tests stood at over 90.8 lakh.
The bulletin said that 6,13,246 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far.
The number of containment zones in Delhi dropped to 3,202 on Wednesday from 3,400 the previous day, authorities said.
The number of people in home isolation dropped to 2,067 on Wednesday from 2,426 the previous day.