A woman receives a dose of the Covid vaccine at an inoculation centre in New Delhi. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)Coronavirus India Highlights: Pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and GSK have received approval for the Phase 3 clinical study in India to assess the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of their adjuvanted recombinant-protein Covid-19 vaccine candidate, news agency PTI reported.
The global, randomised, double-blind Phase 3 trial will include more than 35,000 volunteers aged 18 and older across countries like the US, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Sanofi said in a statement.
As countries around the world rush to vaccinate their populations in the wake of more virulent variants, the global coronavirus death toll crossed the grim four million mark.
India reported 45,892 new coronavirus cases and 817 deaths in the last 24 hours, ending 8 am on Thursday. With this, the country’s overall caseload has risen to 3,07,09,557, while its death toll has climbed to 4,05,028. The number of active cases in the country has dropped to 4,60,704.
In other news, nearly a month after testing positive for Covid for a second time, Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Virbhadra Singh passed away on Thursday, doctors told ANI. He was 87. As a mark of respect to the former chief minister, the state government has decided to observe three days of state mourning, from 8th July to 10th July.
Crowd at Sadar Bazaar in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
For the second consecutive day on Thursday, Gujarat did not report a single Covid-19 fatality. The state added 62 new cases, while the vaccination drive remained suspended.
Fourteen districts did not report a single case or a fatality. Of these, Dang has not reported a single case since June 19, that is in nearly three weeks. Chhota Udepur last reported a case on June 22 and has not seen a Covid-19 case detected since.
As per the state Covid-19 dashboard, over 54,000 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, thus pegging the test positivity rate at less than 0.1 per cent.
Accprding to a report by the Union Health Ministry, India’s cumulative vaccination Coverage reached nearly 37 crores Thursday, 7pm. 36,08,940 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, news agency ANI reported.
After a video of an overcrowded Kempty Falls went viral, Manali has initiated a Covid-19 awareness campaign for tourists thronging the state. A fine of Rs 5,000 or 8 days in jail will be slapped on those found not wearing a mask, news agency ANI reported. "We have recorded over 300 challans in the last 7-8 days and have recovered Rs 3 lakh," Gurudev Sharma, SP Kullu, said.
In a press briefing Thursday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Covid relief fund will be utilised to form pediatric care centers in 736 districts and create 20,000 ICU beds. He added that the Rs 23,123 crore package will be used jointly by the Central and state governments, and set a limitation period of nine months, news agency ANI reported.
According to the state health department, Goa recored 195 new Covid cases Thursday, taking its active cases to 1,965. The death toll climbed to 3,086 with four additional deaths, news agency PTI reported.
Mumbai reported 540 new positive cases and 13 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to ANI. The city also saw 628 recoveries. It currently has 7,714 active cases.
The newly-appointed Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced a Rs 23,123 crore package as emergency Covid response in a press briefing after the first Cabinet meeting.
With a single-day spike of 13,772 new coronavirs cases, Kerala's active cases has crossed 1.10 lakh Thursday, news agency PTI reported. Overall, the state's infection caseload stands at 30.25 lakh.
In the last 24 hours, the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) was at 10.83 per cent. It also recorded 142 more deaths.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Kerala High Court on Thursday rapped the state government over the overcrowding in front of the state-run liquor shops. The court demanded a report by the state excise commissioner on the steps taken to reduce the crowd. It also asked the state government to ensure that sufficient facilities are made available to the customers so that they can make their choice of purchase of liquor in a 'civilised manner'. Read the full report here.
As the threat of a third wave of coronavirus looms large, a video shot at a popular tourist destination in Uttarakhand showing a crowd of people not following Covid-appropriate behaviour is going viral on social media.
In the undated video, people of all age groups are seen having a gala time at Mussoorie’s Kempty Falls. The video, first shared on Instagram by a travel handle 100ThingsInLudhiana on Wednesday, quickly went viral across social media platforms. “Not so empty views from Kempty Falls, Mussoorie this past weekend!!” the admin of the page wrote. Read more here.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the national capital's second genome-sequencing laboratory at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) Thursday to help detect new coronavirus variants.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has adopted several strategies like vaccinating maximum eligible people to limit the spread of Covid-19 in the state, Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar informed the Union home ministry on Wednesday.
Attending a video conference chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the state chief secretary said that the Arunachal Pradesh government has taken up three strategies – extensive tracking and testing, enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour, and vaccination drive for all age groups – to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
The meeting was held to review the COVID-19 situation in all the north-eastern states and union territories. More details here.
As part of its efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Oman on Thursday indefinitely suspended passengers flights from 24 countries, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, news agency PTI reported.
Sanofi and GSK have received approval for their Phase 3 clinical study in India to assess the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of their adjuvanted recombinant-protein Covid-19 vaccine candidate. The global, randomised, double-blind Phase 3 study will include more than 35,000 volunteers aged 18 and older across sites in the US, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Sanofi said in a statement on Thursday.
"India is participating in Sanofi Pasteur's pivotal Phase 3 study, and subject to subsequent approvals, we should soon begin enrollment of study participants in the country," Sanofi Pasteur India, Country Head, Annapurna Das said. (PTI)
Mizoram logged 548 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the highest single-day spike in July so far, raising the coronavirus tally to 22,703, a senior official told news agency PTI. With the two more fatalities, the death toll has climbed to 101, he said. The northeastern state now has 3,959 active cases.
With Olympics opening in just two weeks, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a state of emergency for Tokyo due to surging Covid-19 cases. (AP)
Arunachal Pradesh reported 404 fresh cases of Covid-19, raising the tally to 38,283, a senior health department official said on Thursday. The death toll in the state mounted to 184 with three more persons succumbing to the virus, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Lobsang Jampa said.The state now has 3,363 active cases with a positivity rate of 7.4 per cent, news agency PTI reported.
Scientists have identified a novel target for a drug that can treat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, and also help tackle a future coronavirus pandemic. According to the latest study, published in the journal Science Signaling, Nsp16 is considered one of the key viral proteins that could be inhibited by drugs to stop the virus shortly after a person gets exposed. The goal, researchers said, is to stop the virus early before people get too sick. Read the full report here.
Till date, a total of 50,00,525 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Pune district. In the state, it is behind only Mumbai, which has administered over 60 lakh jabs, as per data released by the Maharashtra Health Department.
In Pune, a total of 19.68 lakh persons in the 45+ age group have been administered the first dose, while about 7.8 lakh have received both jabs. In the 18-44 age group, a total of 15.71 lakh beneficiaries have got the first vaccine dose, while a total of 40,764 have got both doses, state health officials said. Read the full report here.
Odisha's Covid-19 tally soared to 9,32,330 on Thursday as 2,542 more people tested positive for the infection, while 57 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 4,415, a health official said. Though there has been a decline in fresh cases, daily coronavirus fatalities continued to remain above the 50-mark since July 5. Odisha now has 27,580 active cases.
The Health Department, however, clarified that fresh fatality numbers include deaths caused earlier which are now being added to the toll after an audit. (PTI)