The first batch of the Covid 19 vaccines arrived at the IGI airport in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express Photo/Tashi Tobgyal)Coronavirus India Live Updates: The number of people in India who have tested positive for the new UK variant of coronavirus has climbed to 102, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Till January 11, the number of people affected by this strain of the coronavirus was 96.
So far, more than one crore and 4.95 lakh people have been infected, of which about 2.14 lakh are currently active cases. India on Wednesday reported 15,968 new cases of coronavirus and 202 deaths. While Kerala has reported 5,507 new cases, Maharashtra has found 2,936 cases
Meanwhile, with less than a week left before India starts its nationwide inoculation drive, the first consignment of Oxford-Astrazena’s Covishield vaccine was dispatched from Pune early Tuesday. About half a crore doses of Serum Institute of India’s (SII’s) Covishield vaccine were shipped out of Pune to cities across India on Tuesday. In the morning, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had posted on Twitter that the four carriers would operate nine flights from Pune to ferry 56.5 lakh doses of the vaccine to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Shillong, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Patna, Lucknow, and Chandigarh.
On the global front, Japan is set to expand its state of emergency beyond the Tokyo region and Indonesia has kicked off what is set to be Southeast Asia’s largest inoculation program. The U.K. will crack down on people flouting lockdown rules as the number of patients needing ventilators rose to the highest since the pandemic began.
A private RT-PCR testing facility at the Ahmedabad airport for travellers. (Express photo)
The full initial procurement of 1.65 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines has been allocated to all states and UTs in proportion to their healthcare workers database, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. As the country is set to begin a massive anti-coronavirus inoculation drive from January 16, the ministry said each vaccination session will cater to a maximum of 100 beneficiaries per day and it has advised states not to organise "unreasonable numbers of vaccination per site per day".
"States have been advised to organise vaccination sessions taking into account 10 percent reserve/wastage doses and an average of 100 vaccinations per session each day.
"Therefore, any undue haste on the part of states to organize unreasonable numbers of vaccination per site per day is not advised," the ministry said.
It also said that states and UTs have also been advised to increase the number of vaccination session sites that would be operational every day in a progressive manner as the vaccination process stabilizes and moves forward. (PTI)
Coronavirus deaths in the US hit another one-day high at over 4,300 with the country's attention focused largely on the fallout from the deadly uprising at the Capitol. The nation's overall death toll from COVID-19 has eclipsed 380,000, according to Johns Hopkins University, and is closing in fast on the number of Americans killed in World War II, or about 407,000. Confirmed infections have topped 22.8 million.
With the country simultaneously facing a political crisis and on edge over threats of more violence from far-right extremists, the US recorded 4,327 deaths on Tuesday by Johns Hopkins' count. Arizona and California have been among the hardest-hit states.
The daily figure is subject to revision, but deaths have been rising sharply over the past 2 1/2 months, and the country is now in the most lethal phase of the outbreak yet, even as the vaccine is being rolled out. New cases are running at nearly a quarter-million per day on average.
More than 9.3 million Americans have received their first shot of the vaccine, or less than 3 per cent of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is well short of the hundreds of millions who experts say will be need to be inoculated to vanquish the outbreak.
England's health care system may move patients into hotels to ease pressure on hospitals struggling to handle rising COVID-19 admissions. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday that the National Health Service was looking at various ways to reduce the strain on hospitals, including moving patients to hotels when appropriate. Discussions about the issue were first reported by the Guardian newspaper.
"We would only ever do that if it was clinically the right thing for somebody," Hancock told Sky News. "In some cases, people need sit-down care, they don't actually need to be in a hospital bed."
Two districts of Karnataka on Wednesday received 2.52 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, as Health Minister K Sudhakar said the state would soon also get 20,000 doses of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. According to the minister, the only difference between the two vaccines is Covishield has five ml of vaccine in a vial and Covaxin has 10 ml.
One vial can vaccinate 20 people. Both the vaccines will be given in the state, he said, adding that the vaccination drive will start from January 16 in line with the Centre's guidelines. Frontline workers will get the vaccine first. (PTI)
Uttar Pradesh recorded 487 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday which took its tally to 5,94,641 while 15 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 8,529. This is the first time in almost seven months that the state has reported less than 500 infections in a day, said Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad.
The number of active cases in the state stands at 10,132. Of these, 3,746 are in home isolation, 1,010 are undergoing treatment in private hospitals, and the remaining are being treated in government facilities, he said. So far, 5,75,980 people have recovered from the infection and been discharged from hospitals. The recovery rate of the state stands at 96.86 per cent, he added.
There have been 8,529 deaths due to COVID-19, Prasad said. So far, over 2.57 crore tests have been done in the state, with over 1.38 lakh conducted on Tuesday alone, he said. (PTI)
A new potentially life-saving inhaler-based treatment which is hoped will protect COVID-19 patients from developing severe illness has begun a major trial at UK hospitals. It involves inhaling a protein called interferon beta-1a (SNG001), which the body produces when it gets a viral infection, and the hope is it will stimulate the body's immune system and prime cells to be ready to fight off viruses.
Synairgen's SG018 trial is a randomised placebo-controlled study being conducted in approximately 20 countries enrolling a total of 610 COVID-19 patients who require supplemental oxygen. "We need treatments as well as vaccines to fight highly pathogenic viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19]. Development of treatments like ours will remain necessary in cases where vaccines are not effective, for those who do not get vaccinated, and in case the virus mutates to the point where vaccines become less effective," said Richard Marsden, CEO of Synairgen. (PTI)
Japan expanded a coronavirus state of emergency for seven more prefectures Wednesday, affecting more than half the population as infections spread across the country.
Prime Minister Yoshide Suga's announcement comes less than a week after his January 7 emergency declaration for Tokyo and three nearby prefectures. The new declaration adds seven other prefectures in western and central Japan. The measure, which focuses on requests for bars and restaurants to close at 8 p.m. and for people to avoid nonessential outings, takes effect Thursday and lasts until February 7.
China's COVID-19 cases crossed the 100-mark for the first time in recent months, ahead of Thursday's visit of the WHO team to Wuhan to probe the origins of the coronavirus. The number of coronavirus cases in China climbed to 115 on Tuesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Wednesday, adding that 107 of the infections were locally transmitted and the rest arrived from outside. Of the locally transmitted cases, 90 were reported in north China's Hebei Province, which neighbours Beijing; 16 in Heilongjiang Province and one in Shanxi Province, the NHC said.
As of Tuesday, China reported a total of 87,706 COVID-19 cases and 4,634 deaths due to the virus. The sudden spike in cases after China contained the virus raised concern as the surge comes ahead of the Spring Festival, the biggest annual holiday in the Chinese lunar calendar. The week-long festival, which also marks the Chinese New Year, will commence on February 12 during which millions of Chinese travel to home and abroad to celebrate the holidays. (PTI)
The Delhi government on Wednesday allowed all schools in the national capital to reopen for Classes 10 and 12 from January 18 in view of board exams, according to officials of the Directorate of Education.
Students will attend schools only with consent of parents and physical attendance is not compulsory, while schools will follow all COVID-19 guidelines, they said. "In order to conduct activities pertaining to pre-board preparations and practical work, the head of government, aided and unaided recognised schools may call students of Classes 10 and 12 only to school with effect from January 18, 2021," a senior official at the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.
However, a child should be called to school only with the consent of parents and following standard operating procedures, he said.
The AAP government will provide coronavirus vaccine free to the people of Delhi if the Centre fails to do so, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday. He said he has already appealed to the Centre for ensuring free vaccination in the country since there are many people who may not afford the life-saving shot.
"We will see what the Centre does. If need be and the Centre does not provide the vaccine free of cost, we will make it available free of cost for the people of Delhi," he told reporters here.
The Chief Minister also appealed for not spreading rumours about the vaccine. "I understand that the Centre and our scientists have brought the vaccine following all the protocols and safeguards. So, there should not be any doubt and people should come forward for vaccination," he said.
Gujarat police have collected fines worth Rs 3.63 crore between January 8 and 11 from people violating the mask rule for COVID-19 prevention and those spitting in public, officials said on Wednesday. The fine for not wearing a mask in public places in the state is Rs 1,000.
On an average, around 9,000 people were fined every day from January 8 to 11 for the COVID-19 related violations in Gujarat, the state police said in a release. "A penalty of Rs 3.63 crore was collected in the four days from 36,510 people who were found moving out without mask or spitting in public," the police said. (PTI)
The second consignment of 1.47 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines arrived here on Wednesday from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, a health official said. The first consignment of about 6.48 lakh doses of Covishield vaccines had reached Bengaluru on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters here, the District Health Officer Dr Shashikant Munyal said the vaccine stock is meant for distribution in eight districts. "vaccine doses were packed in 14,700 bottles.. Each bottle covers 10 dose units and will be administered twice, whereas the second dose will be given after 28 days. After administering the dose, each person will be observed for three hours and will be discharged if no side effects are noticed," Munyal said.
As many as 56,500 doses of Covisheild were flown into Agartala this morning. The doses were transferred to a special storage unit at National Health Mission (NHM) office at Gorkhabasti in Agartala. Speaking to indianexpress.com, State Immunization Officer Kallol Roy said the doses will be distributed to all districts today.
The number of people in India who have tested positive for the new UK variant of coronavirus has climbed to 102, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Till January 11, the number of people affected by this strain of the coronavirus was 96. On Wednesday, the ministry said, "The total number of persons found to be positive with the new UK variant genome stands at 102 today." All these people were kept in single-room isolation in designated healthcare facilities by respective state governments. Their close contacts have also been put in quarantine and comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others.
The first consignment of Covidshield vaccine from Pune-based Serum Insititute of India arrived at the Cochin international airport here on Wednesday morning to combat COVID-19, official sources said. The Go Air flight carrying the vaccine for Ernakulam and Kozhikode landed at the airport at 10.35 am, they said. Special refrigerated vans were arranged to transport the vaccine safely to the respective centres. Transfer of vaccine boxes from the plane to vans was completed in 10 minutes, they said. The second flight carrying the vaccine is expected to reach Thiruvananthapuram international airport this afternoon. (PTI)
The first batches of Covaxin, the Bharat Biotech's coronavirus vaccine, left Hyderabad early this morning for Delhi, Haryana and 10 other places, a day after Serum Institute of India rolled out its vaccine against COVID-19
Indonesian President Joko Widodo became the first person in the country to receive a COVID-19 vaccine shot on Wednesday, as the government launched an ambitious vaccination campaign in a bid to stem one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia. The immunisation campaign aims to inoculate 181.5 million people, with the first to be vaccinated receiving the CoronaVac vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech, which Indonesia authorised for emergency use on Monday. Dressed in a white shirt and wearing a face mask, the president, who is known as Jokowi, received the jab in his left arm at the presidential palace
About half a crore doses of Serum Institute of India’s (SII’s) Covishield vaccine were shipped out of Pune to cities across India on Tuesday as the country launched its final phase of preparations for the mass inoculation drive against the novel coronavirus that begins on Saturday. The first consignment of 2.64 lakh doses of the vaccine took off for Delhi on a SpiceJet flight soon after 8 am, landing in the national capital a little before 10 am. A GoAir flight to Chennai and an Air India flight to Ahmedabad followed. The last flight of the day with the vaccine cargo, an IndiGo flight to Lucknow, left Pune at 2.10 pm.
The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the Delhi government to hold a fresh review of its order on reservation of ICU beds for Covid patients in private hospitals before January 18. The Delhi government on Tuesday argued that the petition against reservation has become infructuous as it has been brought down to 40 per cent.
Justice Navin Chawla, after hearing arguments on both sides in the petition filed by the Association for Healthcare Providers (India), adjourned the case for next hearing on January 19. The court earlier asked the hospitals whether they would be able to create some place for Covid patients in case the order for reservation of ICU beds for Covid patients has to go.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain argued that not a single hospital has come before the court to say that they have suffered financial losses because of the order, and submitted that even individual hospitals have not come forward before the court. Contending that the State has not taken an uninformed decision, Jain submitted that the Covid situation still was not certain.
“We are still in the grey area. There is nothing certain,” submitted Jain, adding that the earlier order of 80 per cent reservation in 33 hospitals has been superseded and they will continue to review the situation.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, who represents the petitioner, earlier argued that the state cannot nationalise private hospitals. The association has challenged the government order, which was passed by the state last September, and has been arguing that the reservation amounts to violation of the rights of non-Covid patients.
As many as 93,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccination will be administered to frontline warriors, including healthcare workers and armed forces, in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Tuesday.
Thakur made the announcement while presiding over a meeting to review arrangements made for COVID-19 vaccination besides reviewing bird flu surveillance with the deputy commissioners of the state. He said his government constituted a state-level steering committee to monitor effective administration of the vaccination.
In the first phase of COVID vaccination, 93,000 doses will be administered to frontline warriors at 46 sites across the state.