Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Punjab among 5 states adding 80% of new COVID cases to India's caseload, says Centre

Over 1.48 crore people vaccinated against COVID-19 till now

A total of 1,48,54,136 vaccine doses have been administered so far. Of this, over 5.52 lakh were inoculated on Monday, the beginning of the second phase of India’s vaccination drive, when the vaccines were rolled out for public use.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi receives first COVID-19 shot

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi took the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, a day after the start of the second phase of the inoculation drive.

Naqvi got inoculated at Rampur's KD Dalmia Eye Hospital and was administered Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

After getting inoculated, the minister thanked the medical staff at the hospital and urged all those eligible to get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19.

Pfizer, Oxford vaccines reduce severe COVID-19 in elderly, says study

The Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines for COVID-19 are highly effective in reducing severe coronavirus infection among people aged 70 years and above, according to a study.

The research, posted as a pre-print and yet to be peer-reviewed, estimated the effect of both the COVID-19 vaccines on laboratory confirmed symptomatic disease in individuals aged 70 years or older in England.

The researchers, including those from Public Health England (PHE), compared the rate of hospitalisation and deaths in confirmed COVID-19 patients aged over 80 who were vaccinated more than 14 days before testing positive, with unvaccinated cases.

Data suggests that in the over 80s, a single dose of either vaccine is more than 80 percent effective at preventing hospitalisation, around 3 to 4 weeks after the jab, PHE said in a statement.

Single-daily surge in COVID-19 cases witnessed in Maharashtra, four other states

The Union health ministry on Tuesday said that the single-daily surge in coronavirus infection was witnessed in Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. 

"States have been advised to maintain a continued rigorous vigil for containing the spread of COVID-19," the Centre said, adding that no new COVID-19 fatalities were reported in 19 states and UTs in the past 24 hours.

29 new cases of coronavirus in Puducherry, no fresh fatality 

Puducherry clocked 29 fresh COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours ending 10 am on Tuesday, raising the aggregate to 39,763. There was no fresh fatality and the toll remained 669.

The new cases were spread over Puducherry and Karaikal regions (eight cases each) and the Mahe region accounted for
remaining 13 cases.

Ravi Shastri receives first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Ahmedabad

The Indian cricket team's head coach Ravi Shastri on Tuesday received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a city hospital in Ahmedabad.

Shastri, who is 58, thanked the staff at the Apollo Hospital for their co-operation and support.

"Got the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Thank you to the amazing medical professionals & scientists for empowering India Flag of India against the pandemic, the former India cricketer tweeted.

Over 8.25 lakh vaccinated against COVID-19 in Karnataka so far

With the inoculation drive against COVID-19 for senior citizens and those with comorbidities kickstarting, a total of 4,942 people have received the shot, taking the total number of those vaccinated in the state so far to 8.25 lakh, the Karnataka government said.

In 199 sessions held on Monday, 2,264 vaccinated were above 60 years and 624 were between 45-60 years with comorbidities.

Harsh Vardhan gets inoculated today 

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and his wife received the first dose of COVID vaccine at Delhi Heart and Lung Institute on Tuesday.

Farooq Abdullah gets vaccine shot

National Conference MP Farooq Abdullah took his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science in Srinagar.

TRS MP gets COVID-19 vaccine

K Keshava Rao Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Hyderabad.

Call for lockdowns, curfews in Brazil

Brazilian health officials are urging nationwide lockdown and curfews because hospitals are running short of intensive-care unit beds as COVID-19 claims more than 1,000 lives each day in the country.

The return of the pandemic in several states is making their private and their public assistance networks collapse and has brought imminent risk of spreading it to all regions of Brazil, Brazil's National Council of Health Secretaries said Monday in an open letter, adding that the nation is experiencing its worst moment since the pandemic began.

Arunachal Pradesh reports first COVID-19 case after two days

Arunachal Pradesh reported a fresh case of COVID-19 after remaining coronavirus-free for two consecutive days, a senior health official said on Tuesday.

The northeastern state's tally rose to 16,837, while 16,780 patients have recovered from the disease, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Lobsang Jampa said.

A total of 56 people have so far died due to the contagion in the state.

China aims to inoculate 40% of population by June

China is lagging in its coronavirus vaccination rollout because it has the disease largely under control, but plans to inoculate 40 percent of its population by June, Chinese health experts said Monday.

Zhong Nanshan, the leader of a group of experts attached to the National Health Commission, said the country has delivered 52.52 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of 28 February.

China has been slow to vaccinate its people relative to other countries, inoculating only 3.56 percent of its population of 1.4 billion so far, according to Zhong.

Over 21.76 cr COVID-19 samples tested so far: ICMR

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 21,76,18,057 samples for COVID-19 have been tested up to 1 March. Of the total, 7,59,283 samples were tested on Monday alone.

India's COVID-19 recovery rate rises to 97.07%

The number of people who have recuperated from the novel coronavirus surged to 1,07,98,921, taking the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 97.07 percent, said the Union health ministry on Tuesday.

On the other hand, the case fatality rate has dropped to 1.41 percent.

India's active COVID-19 cases stand at 1.68 lakh

India's active COVID-19 cases stand at 1,68,358, while 1,07,98,921 people have recovered from the infection so far, said Union health ministry on Tuesday.

At least 567 new COVID-19 cases in Thane, 4 more deaths

Thane has reported 567 new cases of coronavirus, raising the infection count in the Maharashtra district to 2,65,485, an official said on Tuesday.

Besides these new cases reported on Monday, four more people died of COVID-19 in the district, taking the toll to 6,276, he said.

BJP MP in Madhya Pradesh dies of COVID-19

Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan, a BJP Lok Sabha member from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, passed away in Delhi on Monday. He had tested positive for COVID-19 and was undergoing treatment in Medanta Hospital, Delhi-NCR, on Monday.

India records 12,286 new COVID-19 cases in a day; tally crosses 1.11 cr

India on Tuesday registered 12,286 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall count to 1,11,24,527. The toll was increased to 1.57 lakh after 91 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, said the Union health ministry.

Supreme Court judges to get first vaccine shot today

Judges of the Supreme Court will get COVID-19 vaccine shots from Tuesday. Those eligible for the vaccine in the drive also includes the families of the judges and retired judges. 

The top court registry has arranged a vaccination facility on the premises in addition to the ones at the government hospitals listed for the vaccination.

The judges will not be able to choose between Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, and Covishield, developed by Pune's Serum Institute of India.

'Premature, unrealistic' to think COVID-19 pandemic will end this year: WHO

A senior World Health Organization official said Monday it was premature and unrealistic to think the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year, but that the recent arrival of effective vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalisations and death.

The world's singular focus right now should be to keep transmission of COVID-19 as low as possible, said Dr Michael Ryan, director of WHO's emergencies program.

If we're smart, we can finish with the hospitalisations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic by the end of the year, he said at media briefing.

Ryan said WHO was reassured by emerging data that many of the licensed vaccines appear to be helping curb the virus' explosive spread.

"If the vaccines begin to impact not only on death and not only on hospitalisation, but have a significant impact on transmission dynamics and transmission risk, then I believe we will accelerate toward controlling this pandemic," he said.

Phase 2 of vaccination at 56 govt hospitals, 136 pvt facilities in Delhi

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said that 56 government hospitals and 13 private facilities in the city are part of the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination that began on Monday.

A total of 15,521 beneficiaries including 5,176 senior citizens received the shots on Monday, according to data shared by Delhi health department. He said 308 centres have been set-up across 192 hospitals in the city for this phase.

"A total of 192 hospitals have been prepared in Delhi for this phase, among which 136 are private hospitals and 56 are government hospitals," he told reporters.

PM among top leaders to take COVID vaccine in phase 2

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine — he got his first dose of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin at AIIMS, New Delhi, early Monday morning.

Home Minister Amit Shah and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu were among the host of top leaders who took the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Monday with the start of the next phase of the inoculation drive.

Over 1.43 cr vaccine doses administered to healthcare workers in phase 1

In the first phase of coronavirus vaccination drive, 1.43 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines were administered to healthcare and frontline workers.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on 16 January with the inoculation of healthcare workers, while the vaccination of the frontline workers (FLWs) started from 2 February.

Over 1.29 lakh from priority groups get first dose of COVID-19 vaccine

According to a provisional report of the Union Health Ministry, around 1.29 lakh people from the two priority groups got their first doses of the vaccine on Monday. This is the first time the general population is being vaccinated.

Nearly 25 lakh registrations on Co-WIN portal on Day 1

As the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination saw a nationwide rollout on Monday — for those above 60 years of age and those above 45 with specified co-morbid conditions — around 25 lakh potential beneficiaries registered on the Co-WIN portal on Day 1.