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Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Maharashtra will begin Covid-19 vaccination drive for people aged between 30-44 years from Saturday, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said. The required changes will be made in the CoWin app according to the new drive. Till now, people from this age bracket could only get vaccinated at the private centres. The Central government had allowed prioritising of vaccines amid a limited supply. The state had provided free vaccines for 18-44 age group from May 1 to May 12, before it stopped the drive to prioritise those due for the second dose.
Announcing the suspension of the Covid-19 inoculation drive for the 18-44 age group, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had on May 23 said the supply of vaccines was not smooth. Thackeray, during a meeting with paediatric doctors and COVID task force team through video conference, had said, “COVID inoculation drive for 18-44 age group has been suspended as the supply of vaccines is not smooth. I am hopeful that from June production capacity of vaccines will increase, then, we can run 24-hour vaccination drive in the state.”
Maharashtra on Friday recorded 9,798 new Covid-19 cases, taking its case tally to 59,54,508, while 198 fatalities raised the death toll to 1,16,674, the health department said. Of 198 deaths, 133 occurred in the last 48 hours while 65 took place in the last week. Another 450 deaths which had taken place earlier were added after reconciliation of records. The death toll, overall, went up by 648.
Delta Variant in Over 6% of Cases with Variants in New York City | The Delta variant, first detected in India, constituted over 6 per cent of COVID-19 cases tested for virus variants in New York City, according to official data from the city's health department. The New York City Health Department said in its recent update that out of the 105 NYC COVID-19 cases tested for variant viruses for the week ending June 5, the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) constituted 6.7 per cent.
READ | Four Covid-hit Lions in Tamil Nadu Zoo Infected With Delta Variants, Govt Forms Task Force for Support
Genome sequencing of the samples of four COVID-19 infected lions at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP) at Vandalur, near here, has revealed that they belong to Pangolin lineage B.
Punjab reports 626 new Covid cases, 1,229 patient discharges, and 35 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Active cases: 8,829
Total discharges: 5,66,568
Death toll: 15,771
Madhya Pradesh reports 110 new Covid-19 cases, 28 deaths, and 339 recoveries in the last 24 hours.
Active cases 2727
Case tally 7,89,064
Jharkhand reports 141 new positive cases, 274 recoveries and 2 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases at 1,811 and total positive cases at 34,4270.
Zydus Cadila Likely to Seek Emergency Nod for Vaccine Next Week | Indian pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila is likely to apply to the central drugs regulator seeking emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D next week, official sources said. If approved, it will be the world's first DNA vaccine against coronavirus and the fourth to become available in the country. "The analysis of the phase-three trial data is almost ready and the company has informed the government that it could apply for emergency use licensure for its COVID-19 vaccine next week," an official source said.
Delta Covid-19 Variant Becoming Globally Dominant: WHO Chief Scientist | The Delta variant of Covid-19, first identified in India, is becoming the globally dominant variant of the disease, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Friday. Swaminathan also voiced disappointment in the failure of CureVac's vaccine candidate in a trial to meet the WHO's efficacy standard, in particular as highly transmissible variants boost the need for new, effective shots.
AstraZeneca Chief Investigator Backs India's 12-16 Week Dose Gap | Backing the 12-16 weeks gap between the two doses of Covishield in the country, the chief investigator of the AstraZeneca vaccine clinical trials on Friday said that the level of protection provided by one dose of the preventive significantly increases in the second and third months after the jab. In an interview with The Wire, Professor Andrew Pollard said the immunization policy in Britain and India should not be compared because of the different circumstances in the two countries.
Maha to Begin Vaccination for 30-44 Age Group from Today | Maharashtra will begin Coronavirus vaccination drive for people aged between 30-44 years from Saturday, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced on Friday. The required changes will be made in the CoWin app according to the new drive. Till now, people from this age bracket could only get vaccinated at the private centres.
