Coronavirus News Live Updates: Pfizer withdraws application for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in India

Coronavirus Live updates | After the Centre's go-ahead, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat allow theatres to operate at 100%

After the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) allowed theatres to operate at 100 percent capacity from February 1, states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have also allowed cinema halls to increase occupancy from 50 percent to 100 percent. According to Karan Taurani, Vice-President, Elara Capital, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat put together account for 25 percent of box office business for Hindi films.

As for regional cinema from down south, Tamil Nadu accounts for about 70 percent of collections for Tamil and 15-20 percent for Telugu films. For Telugu films, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the bigger markets as they account for 70 percent of box office collections. Overall, four states, including West Bengal, so far have allowed theatres to operate at full capacity. Taurani thinks that if the producers have visibility of 70 percent of the states opening up 100 percent occupancy, they will start announcing release dates in the coming weeks.

Coronavirus Live updates | Government to begin privatising airports by 2022, says civil aviation secretary

The Centre will begin privatising airports by 2022 and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is “examining a possibility” of offloading loss- making airports along with profitable ones. Civil Aviation ministry secretary Pradeep Kharola on February 4 said the process of award will be for around 10 airports and part of the third phase of airport privatisation, The Economic Times reported.

“AAI is examining giving non-profitable airport and profit-making airports as a package. We could see six to 10 airports being taken up. The airports will be given to the private sector for 50 years,” Kharola said. Further, Kharola also addressed the issue of Air India's divestment, saying it was fairly at an "advanced stage", PTI reported.

"When we say Air India, we mean the Air India family. So Air India goes along with Air India Express and AISATS... this side is Pawan Hans. This would be completed. Air India is, fairly I would say, at an advanced stage," he said.

Coronavirus Live updates | 4 new cases take Mizoram's COVID-19 tally to 4,380

Four more people, including a three-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram, taking the state''s caseload to 4,380, a health official said on Friday. Three cases were reported in Aizawl district and one in Lunglei, he said.

The state now has 29 active cases, while 4,342 people have recovered from the disease and nine patients have succumbed to the infection so far. Mizoram has so far tested 2,12,737 samples for COVID- 19, including 1,314 on Thursday, he said. A total of 10,044 people have been vaccinated to date, including 49 on Friday, he added. 

Coronavirus Live updates | Australia to quarantine all overseas visitors even after COVID vaccine roll-out

Australia on Friday said it would keep a mandatory two-week quarantine for all overseas visitors, even as vaccinations are rolled out across the country and the world. Chief medical officer Paul Kelly said there is still not enough evidence about vaccines' ability to limit transmission to allow the dismantling of border controls that have virtually closed the country off from the world for almost a year.

Most non-citizens are barred from entering Australia; there are strict caps on how many residents can return each day and anyone who does so must undergo two weeks of self-paid hotel quarantine. A few thousand short-term visitors now enter the country every month, down from more than one million before the pandemic began.

Coronavirus Live updates | COVID-19 cases explained in charts

The total number of COVID-19 cases in India is now at 1,08,02,591 with 1,04,96,308 recoveries and 1,54,823 deaths as per February 5, update. The mortality rate in the country stands at 1.4 percent with Punjab reporting the highest (3.2 percent). Less than 8 lakh daily tests were reported on February 4 with more than 19.99 crore tests carried out to date. Despite the high number of cases and deaths reported by India, the country fares better when compared with other nations in terms of per million population.

Coronavirus Live updates | COVID-19 cases explained in charts

Maharashtra reported the most (46) new deaths, followed by Kerala (17), Delhi (7), Punjab (7), Chhattisgarh (6), and Uttar Pradesh (6). These six states account for 74 percent of all the new deaths reported across the country.

About 15 states and union territories--Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli/Daman, and Diu, Jharkhand, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, and Tripura did not report any deaths today. 

India’s recovery rate is now 97.2 percent. Dadra Nagar Haveli/Daman & Diu record the highest (99.8 percent) recovery rate. In terms of cases, Kerala recorded 6,341 new recoveries, the most, followed by Maharashtra (5,339), Tamil Nadu (517), Karnataka (470) and Gujarat (430).

Coronavirus Live updates | COVID-19 cases explained in charts

As many as 12,408 new cases of novel coronavirus were reported, with India’s total COVID-19 cases now above 1.08 crore, as per the health ministry’s February 5, 2021 update.

India reported 120 new deaths and 15,853 new recoveries in the last 24 hours, the latest release show. Active cases drop to 1,51,460 with a fall of 3,565 cases on February 5.

As many as 49,59,445 beneficiaries have been vaccinated across India according to February 5, update. 

Kerala reported the most (6,102) new cases in the last 24 hours, followed by Maharashtra (2,736), Tamil Nadu (494), Karnataka (474) and Chhattisgarh (373). These five states account for 82 percent of all the new cases reported in India.

Coronavirus Live updates | WHO urges Europe, pharma groups to work together to speed up COVID vaccination

Europe and pharma groups must work together to speed up Covid-19 vaccinations, the head of the European branch of the World Health Organization said Friday, expressing concern about the effectiveness of vaccines on virus variants. "We need to join up to speed up vaccinations," WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told AFP in an interview, as Europe bids to overcome a slow start to its vaccination campaign amid tensions between Brussels and vaccine manufacturers.

"Otherwise competing pharmaceutical companies (must) join efforts to drastically increase production capacity ... that's what we need," Kluge said. In the European Union, just 2.5 percent of the population has received a first vaccine dose, though announcements by several laboratories of increased vaccine deliveries have raised hopes of an acceleration.

Coronavirus Live updates | UK to quarantine travelers from coronavirus hot spots starting February 15

The U.K. will require travelers from coronavirus hot spots to quarantine starting Feb. 15, the government said, adding flesh to a policy first announced last month. Arrivals from countries on the U.K.’s travel ban list will be required to isolate for 10 days after arrival in government-approved accommodation, the Department for Health and Social Care said Thursday in a statement. The government said it’s seeking bids from hotels near airports and ports to support the program.

The announcement comes after days of confusion over how soon the government would implement a policy it announced last month as a key tool to stop mutations of the coronavirus that may be more resistant to vaccines from entering the country. “In the face of new variants, it is important that the government continues to take the necessary steps to protect people and save lives," the government said in the statement. “With increased police presence at airports and more physical checks at addresses to make sure people are self-isolating, we are taking decisive action."

Coronavirus Live updates | Pfizer withdraws application for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in India

Pfizer Inc has withdrawn an application for emergency-use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine in India that it has developed with Germany's BioNTech, the company told Reuters on Friday.

The U.S. company, which was the first drugmaker to apply for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country, had a meeting with India's drugs regulator on Wednesday and the decision was made after that, the company said.

"Based on the deliberations at the meeting and our understanding of additional information that the regulator may need, the company has decided to withdraw its application at this time," it said in a statement to Reuters, adding it will in the future look to resubmit its application with the additional information that the regulator requires.

Coronavirus Live updates | COVID-19 patients have higher risk of dying after cardiac arrest

A new study has found that COVID-19 patients who suffer cardiac arrest have a higher probability of dying in comparison to those who are not infected with it. Women particularly have a nine times higher chance of dying due to the same reason.

According to research published in the 'European Heart Journal', the study from Sweden included 1946 people who suffered a cardiac arrest out of hospital (OHCA) and 1080 who suffered one in hospital (IHCA) between 1 January and 20 July. During the pandemic phase of the study, COVID-19 was involved in at least 10 per cent of all OHCAs and 16 per cent of IHCAs.

Coronavirus patients who had an OHCA had a 3.4-fold increased risk of dying within 30 days, while IHCA patients had a 2.3-fold increased risk of dying within 30 days. None of these patients had been discharged alive from the hospital by the time the study was written in October 2020. Many had died and the rest were still being treated in hospital.

Coronavirus Live updates | India to get 97.2 million COVID vaccines under Covax initiative despite tepid demand

India is set to receive the most number of Covid-19 vaccine doses -- 97.2 million shots -- in the first tranche of distribution from the World Health Organization’s Covax initiative, despite the fact that supply in the country appears to outstrip demand currently. The Covax initiative, aimed at creating equitable global access to Covid vaccines especially for developing countries, is planning to distribute an initial 337.2 million doses starting as early as later this month, the first delivery of some 2 billion shots it’s ordered so far.

According to an interim distribution forecast published on Wednesday, countries are allocated doses according to population size. The second-biggest tranche of 17.2 million shots will go to Pakistan, followed by 16 million doses to Nigeria and 13.7 million to Indonesia.  North Korea will receive 2 million shots. The large allocation to India may raise eyebrows given that, unlike many places, India seems to have plenty of shots currently but few takers.

Only around half of those eligible to get vaccinated in its inoculation drive have come forward, and local media reports say that India producer Serum Institute of India is sitting on over 55 million doses and has temporarily halted production.