Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Over 39.49 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses administered so far, says Health Ministry

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Australia races to stem COVID-19 outbreaks in Sydney, Melbourne

Australian officials urged people to obey lockdown measures that cover around 40% of the country's population as an outbreak of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant again picked up pace on Friday. Daily new infections in New South Wales, where the outbreak began about a month ago, rose after a dip a day earlier, while new cases across the border in Victoria remained steady.

Total infections since the first was detected in mid-June, in a Sydney limousine driver transporting overseas airline crews, now stand at more than 1,000. Despite Sydney heading into its fourth week of lockdown, New South Wales officials recorded 97 new locally acquired cases, up from 65 on Thursday. Most concerning for health officials, 29 of those cases were people who spent time in the community while infectious, a situation that New South Wales Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant described as "incredibly concerning".

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | England to end COVID-19 curbs

As England's so-called "freedom day" draws near, excitement at the impending end of COVID-19 restrictions is tempered by worries of rising cases and downright fear among the vulnerable. Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to move England to Step 4 - the end of legal lockdown curbs - on Monday.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Nagaland reports 132 new COVID-19 cases, tally rises to 26,381

Nagaland's COVID-19 tally rose to 26,381 on Thursday as 132 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. The coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 516 as no fresh fatality was registered, it said. Kohima district recorded the highest number of new cases at 72, followed by Mokokchung (26) and Dimapur (18), the bulletin said.

The total number of recoveries crossed the 24,000-mark as 97 more people were cured of the disease. The recovery count now stands at 24,084.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | WHO chief says it was ''premature'' to rule out COVID lab leak

The head of the World Health Organisation acknowledged it was premature to rule out a potential link between the COVID-19 pandemic and a laboratory leak, and he said Thursday he is asking China to be more transparent as scientists search for the origins of the coronavirus. In a rare departure from his usual deference to powerful member countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said getting access to raw data had been a challenge for the international team that travelled to China earlier this year to investigate the source of COVID-19. The first human cases were identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Tedros told reporters that the UN health agency based in Geneva is asking actually China to be transparent, open and cooperate, especially on the information, raw data that we asked for at the early days of the pandemic. He said there had been a premature push to rule out the theory that the virus might have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan - undermining WHO's own March report, which concluded that a laboratory leak was extremely unlikely. 

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Sikkim bans socio-religious, entertainment activities for 30 days due to COVID-19 situation

The Sikkim government on Thursday imposed a ban on all socio-religious and entertainment-related activities for a month due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting, chaired by Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, officials said. According to officials, marriage ceremonies, pujas, birthday parties, and get-togethers will remain banned for the next 30 days, both in urban and rural areas of the Himalayan state.

Only in-house puja or rituals will be allowed, while there will be a complete ban on visitors to any religious place or institution in Sikkim, they said. The practice of serving food and beverages during funerals and last rites has been prohibited for the next 30 days, the officials said.

Sikkim is one of the worst-affected states recording a daily COVID-19 positivity rate of nearly 20 per cent during the second wave of the pandemic despite covering over 60 per cent of the adult population with first dose vaccination.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Over 39.49 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India so far: Health Ministry

The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India so far has surpassed 39.49 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. According to a provisional report at 7pm, more than 35.15 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Thursday. The ministry said 16,59,977 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 1,61,950 as the second dose in the age group 18-44 years on Thursday. Cumulatively, 11,97,36,449 people in the age group 18-44 years have received their first dose and 43,72,202 their second dose since the start of phase three of the vaccination drive.

Hello and welcome to Moneycontrol’s LIVE coverage of the novel coronavirus pandemic and its socio-economic impact. The COVID-19 outbreak has spread in at least across 192 countries and territories, infecting over 18.63 crore people. Stay tuned to this LIVE blog for the latest updates through the day