Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Vaccine Safe, Says Serum Institute CEO as Uddhav Thackeray Takes Stock

Wearing a mask is not mandatory for family travelling in four-wheelers in Pune from now. For passenger vehicles (such as OLA, UBER) and two-wheelers mask will still remain mandatory: Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol

Jharkhand reported 75 new COVID-19 cases and 127 recoveries today, as per the State Health Department

Total cases: 1,18,154
Total recoveries: 1,16,116
Active cases: 1,060
Death toll: 978

Made in India vaccine delivered to Mauritius: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar

Two flights, each carrying two million doses of Covishield vaccine, departed from the Mumbai airport for Brazil and Morocco in the early hours of Friday.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) passes an order to allow reopening of schools for classes 5th to 8th from February 1 following SOP (standard operating procedure) that have been provided by the state government.

Maharashtra reports 2,779 new COVID19 cases, 3,419 discharges, and 50 deaths today

Total cases - 20,03,657
Total recoveries - 19,06,827
Death toll - 50,684
Active cases - 44,926

Tamil Nadu reported 574 new #COVID19 cases, 689 discharges, and 8 deaths in the last 24 hours: State Health Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu

Total cases: 8,33,585

Total discharges: 8,16,205

Death toll: 12,307

Active cases: 5,073

22 new COVID19 cases and 27 recovered cases in Puducherry today.

Total number of cases: 38,749
Total active cases: 294
Total recovered cases: 37,857
Death toll: 643

Karnataka reported 324 new COVID19 cases, 890 discharges, and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours: State Health Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu

Total cases: 9,34,576

Total discharges: 9,15,382

Death toll: 12,190

Active cases: 6,985

12.7L Healthcare Workers Vaccinated | The cumulative number of vaccinated healthcare workers across the country has surpassed 12.7 lakh through 24,397 sessions. Over 2.2 lakh beneficiaries were vaccinated & 267 cases of Adverse Effect After Vaccination (AEFI) reported till 6 pm today: Ministry of Health.

Capacity to Test 1Mn Samples Daily: Nadda | During the lockdown we had the capacity to conduct Covid-19 test on 1500 samples daily. Today, India has the capacity to test 1 million samples for coronavirus. This is a feature of the lockdown imposed by the government: BJP national president JP Nadda speaking at the enlightened conference in Lucknow.

Andhra Pradesh reports 137 new #COVID19 cases in the last 24 hours, as per State Health Ministry.

Total cases: 8,86,694
Total recoveries: 8,78,060
Death toll: 7,146

Active cases: 1,488

Inquiry Being Conducted: CM on SII Fire | News came that fire broke out at the institute but fortunately site where vaccine is manufactured & stored, isn't affected. I'm informed by Adar and Cyrus that COVID vaccine is manufactured at distance from fire site. An inquiry is being conducted. Unless the investigation report comes in, there can not be any conclusion about it: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Serum Institute of India fire

The supply of COVID-19 will not be affected due to the fire (at Serum Institute of India facility). No actual vaccine was being made at that facility. The extent of the damage is more than 1,000 crores: Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla

Kerala reports 6753 new COVID19 cases. Number of active cases now at 70,395; so far 8,03,094 patients have recovered.

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla thanks Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for and extending help to the SII after a fire in the Manjari building killed five on Friday.

Thank you Shri Uddhav Ji @CMOMaharashtra and @AUThackeray for visiting @SerumInstIndia and extending your help and support during this terrible crisis. As you have seen, the production of #COVISHIELD is on schedule and remains unaffected by this tragedy. pic.twitter.com/H4GxubS67U

— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) January 22, 2021

Fire Had No Impact on Covishield Production: Poonawalla | The fire had no impact on the production of Covishield vaccine and no damage has occurred to the existing stock either: Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla

Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (WHO) has concluded that Pfizer is safe in older adults.

Not Aware of Any Req from Pakistan for Vax: MEA | I am not aware of any request for the supply for Indian made vaccines by Pakistan on a G2G (Government to Government) basis or commercial basis. Contractual supplies are being undertaken to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Bangladesh and Myanmar as of now: MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava

Three more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram, taking the tally to 4,349, an official said on Friday. The three new cases were reported from Aizawl district. The number of active cases now stands at 64, while 4,276 people have recovered from the disease in the state. The death toll in the state is nine, the official said. Till date, Mizoram has tested 1,99,000 samples for COVID-19, including 1,325 on Thursday. Altogether 2,537 healthcare workers have been given the first dose of Covishield vaccine during the ongoing inoculation drive, the official said. 

Indian vaccines reach Seychelles. That’s what friends are for, says External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Hasina Thanks Modi For Vaccine | Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has thanked her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for sending over two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh. India officially handed over 2 million doses of domestically produced Covishield vaccine to Bangladesh. The vaccines were provided at a crucial time when the number of coronavirus cases in Bangladesh is rising "I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending the vaccine (batch) as a gift," Hasina said at an online international conference held on the occasion of the 100th founding anniversary of the University of Dhaka. She said the government has already planned how it would proceed with the vaccine. 

Thackeray Heads to SII | Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray lands in Pune, heads to Serum Institute of India (SII) where fire claimed the lives of five people yesterday.

PM Seeks to Dispel Fears Over Vax | Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to dispel fears and misconceptions over the efficacy and safety of Covid vaccines in an interaction with health workers in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency. "When doctors and health workers give a clean chit to the vaccine, it sends a very strong message among people about the efficacy of the shots," he said through video conference. Health practitioners who have been vaccinated against coronavirus or have administered the shots to others took part, sharing their first-hand experiences.

Bharat Biotech has successfully administered second dose of its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin to 13,000 volunteers as part of its ongoing phase-3 clinical trials of the jab, Suchitra Ella joint managing director of Bharat Biotech said on Friday. She said in a tweet, "13,000 volunteers have been successfully administered the 2nd dose in the phase-3 clinical trials of Covaxin. My heartfelt thanks to all of them for their pro-vaccine public health voluntarism. The city-based vaccine maker has successfully completed enrollment of25,800 volunteers for the Phase-3 trials of Covaxin, Ella had earlier said. The Central Licensing Authority has granted permission for the sale or distribution of Covaxin for restricted use in emergency situations in public interest as an abundant precaution, in clinical trial mode.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan welcomes US President Joe Biden's decision to continue to remain a part of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Wholeheartedly welcome this decision by @POTUS !

As Chairman @WHO Exec Board, I greatly appreciate the decision by President @JoeBiden administration to continue to remain a part of #WHO

Fight to end this #pandemic will only be won with everyone on board@WhiteHouse @DrTedros https://t.co/6kIhgh60M1

— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) January 22, 2021

Phase 1 Trial Results Show Covaxin Has Enhanced Immunity: Lancet Study | The slide in the number of fresh COVID-19 cases, deaths and positivity rate in Delhi can be attributed to aggressive containment measures, a segment of population achieving immunity and fewer outside patients, experts said on Friday. Some of them, however, noted that it is hard to "ascertain the actual position" as many people having mild symptoms have been skipping testing. Suresh Kumar, the medical director of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, Delhi's largest health facility, said authorities have been able to contain the coronavirus spread through aggressive testing and contact tracing.

Tezpur: 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' mission has become a part of everyday life of the country and its spirit pervades from the cricket field to COVID-19 management, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on…

Serum Institute of India (SII) officials cited that they have suffered financial losses due to the fire that broke in an under-installation building of SII plant at Manjari, Pune & this will impact production of BCG & Rota vaccines in the future: SII statement to ANI

India's Active Caseload Falls to 1.78 percent of Total Cases | "Comprehensive and widespread testing on a sustained basis has resulted in bringing down the positivity rate. The cumulative Positivity Rate stands at 5.59 percent as of today," the ministry said. Steadily following the trend set over the past weeks, India's active caseload has fallen to 1.78 percent of the total cases. India's Active Caseload presently stands at 1,88,688. A total of 18,002 new recoveries were registered in a span of 24 hours. This has led to a net decline of 3,620 cases from the total COVID-19 active caseload in a day.