Coronavirus (Covid-19) India Live News: Bengaluru extends Covid-induced restrictions; Kerala reports 11,699 new Covid-19 cases

Pfizer Inc said on Monday it has started a large study testing its investigational oral antiviral drug for the prevention of COVID-19 infection among those who have been exposed to the virus. The drugmaker and its rivals, including U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc and Swiss pharmaceutical Roche Holding AG , have been racing to develop an easy-to-administer antiviral pill for COVID-19.The mid-to-late-stage study will test Pfizer's drug, PF-07321332, in up to 2,660 healthy adult participants aged 18 and older who live in the same household as an individual with a confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 infection.In the trial, PF-07321332, designed to block the activity of a key enzyme needed for the coronavirus to multiply, will be administered along with a low dose of ritonavir, an older medication widely used in combination treatments for HIV infection. (Reuters)

The count of COVID-19 cases in Nashik district of Maharashtra rose to 4,08,154 with the addition of 76 new patients on Monday, officials said. The coronavirus infection claimed two more lives which took the death toll in the district to 8,626, they said. Also, 163 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of recovered cases to 3,98,611, the officials said. As many as 25,67,494 swab samples have been tested till date, out of which 4,282 were examined during the day, they added. (PTI)

Karnataka reports 504 new #COVID19 cases, 893 recoveries and 20 deaths.Active cases: 12,804Total recoveries: 29,23,320Death toll: 37,746 (ANI)

Puducherry reported a fall in COVID-19 cases on Monday, with the Union Territory logging 37 cases, as against 78 on September 26, taking the overall tally to 1,26,127, a senior health department official said. With 28 cases, Puducherry accounted for most number of infections, followed by Karaikal (7) and Mahe (2). Yanam did not report any fresh case. (PTI)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Tuesday finally meet with members of the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaigning group, who for more than a year have sharply criticized his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson's Downing Street office confirmed Monday that the prime minister will hold a 'private meeting' with members of the group. (PTI)

The Union Territory of Puducherry witnessed a steep fall in the number of new cases of Covid-19 during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM on Monday, taking the overall tally to 1,26,127, according to the Department of Health. Director of the department G. Sriramulu said the number of new cases reported on Sunday was 78 and it fell to 37 today. The cases were identified at the end of examination of 3,619 samples and were spread over Puducherry (28), Karaikal (7), and Mahe (2). Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh, did not report any new case today. (PTI)

Kerala on Monday recorded 11,699 fresh COVID-19 cases and 58 deaths, which took the caseload to 46,41,614 and death toll to 24,661. The number of people who recovered from the infection since Sunday was 17,763 which brought the total recoveries to 44,59,193 and the number of active cases to 1,57,158, an official press release said. As many as 80,372 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, the release said. Among the 14 districts, Thrissur recorded the highest number of cases with 1,667, followed by Ernakulam (1,529), Thiruvananthapuram (1,133), Kozhikode (997) and Malappuram (942). (PTI)

The Delhi High Court Monday sought response of the Centre on a plea by a cancer patient seeking permission to take Covaxin as the second dose of vaccine as advised by the doctors, instead of Covishield which was administered to him as the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Justice Rekha Palli issued notice to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and asked the authorities to file a response to the petition while considering it as a case of special need. (PTI) 

China on Monday defended its visa curbs which have prevented thousands of stranded Indians from returning to Beijing, saying they are "appropriate" to control the spread of COVID-19 and do not target India alone, but are applied to even Chinese citizens coming back from overseas. Responding to questions on Indian ambassador to Beijing Vikram Misri's criticism of China's prolonged stringent travel restrictions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying also ruled out the easing of the curbs in the near future. (PTI)

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga's elder sister Lalvuani died of COVID-19 at a hospital on Monday. Lalvuani, 88, died while undergoing treatment at the Zoram Medical College (ZMC) near Aizawl. "It is with deep sorrow that I announce the demise of my beloved elder sister Lalvuani (88-years) this morning at 11:30 am," the chief minister tweeted. Lalvuani, the third eldest of seven siblings, was bed-ridden for months due to asthma and age-related complications, family sources said. (PTI)

Andhra Pradesh reported 618 fresh cases of coronavirus on Monday and six fatalities. In 24 hours ending 9 am on Monday, 1,178 infected people recovered, a health department bulletin said. The total COVID-19 positives touched 20,47,459, recoveries 20,20,835 and deaths 14,142, it said. The number of active cases fell down to 12,482. (PTI)

Bengaluru City Police Commissioner extends Covid-induced restrictions including night curfew (10 pm to 5 am) till October 11.

Thailand's coronavirus task force on Monday approved a plan to procure a combined 3.35 mln doses of the COVID-19 vaccines of AstraZeneca and of Pfizer and BioNTech, a spokesperson said.Should Cabinet grant final approval, 165,000 AstraZeneca doses and 2.79 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses would be procured from Spain and 400,000 AstraZeneca doses from Hungary, the spokesperson said. No timeframe for delivery was provided. - Reuters

More than 84.50 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories so far and nearly 21 lakh doses are in the pipeline, the Union health ministry said on Monday. Over 4.74 crore balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs for inoculation, it said. The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country, the ministry said. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain, the ministry stated. - PTI

The Kerala High Court on Monday said it will hear, after three days, the Centre's appeal against a single judge order allowing the second Covishield dose after four weeks from the first for those who want to take it earlier than the present suggested gap of 84 days. A bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly did not pass any interim order in the matter and listed it for hearing on September 30. The Centre has challenged the September 3 decision by Justice P B Suresh Kumar, which had come on a plea by Kitex Garments Ltd, seeking permission to administer the second dose of the vaccine to its workers without having to wait for 84 days. Kitex, in its plea, had said it has vaccinated more than 5,000 of its workers with the first dose and has arranged for the second dose at a cost of nearly Rs 93 lakh, but was unable to administer the same due to the prevailing restrictions The bench on Monday directed Kitex to, in the meantime, furnish the vaccination details of its employees, advocate Blaze K Jose, appearing for the company, said. - PTI

At least 73 per cent of Odisha's population and over 93 per cent of health workers have developed antibodies against SARS-CoV2, according to a recent sero-survey conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The survey was conducted in 12 of the state's 30 districts between August 29 and September 15 by experts of ICMR's Regional Medical Research (ICMR), Bhubaneswar with help of the Health and Family Welfare Department of Odisha government. The survey was conducted in the districts of Sambalpur, Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Khurda, Puri, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur. Sanghamitra Pati, Director of RMRC, Bhubaneswar said, of 5,796 samples collected from the community, it was found that 4,247 have antibodies. Similarly, 1,232 health workers out of 1,312 samples collected, have developed the antibodies, she said. - PTI

South Korea said on Monday it would begin inoculations next month for children aged 12 to 17 and offer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to those 75 years and above as the country starts to transition to normalcy by the end of October.South Korea, which has been battling a fourth wave of infections since early July, scrambled over the weekend to contain a surge in cases. Infections topped 3,000 for the first time fuelled by last week's public holidays.The vaccination advisory committee of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has ruled that the benefits outweigh the risks in vaccinating children. However, parents who have healthy children, such as those who do not have underlying conditions, are advised to weigh the relative benefits in making their decision, KDCA Director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a news conference on Monday. - Reuters 

A small-scale clinical study of the combined use of the AstraZeneca and Sputnik Light vaccines against COVID-19 has shown strong antibody growth in a majority of the study's participants, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said on Monday.The data was collected from 20 people who took part in a 100-person study in Azerbaijan that began in February. They first received the AstraZeneca shot followed by the one-dose Russian-made Sputnik Light shot 29 days later, RDIF said."According to the results of the interim analysis, a fourfold or higher increase in neutralising antibodies to the spike protein (S-protein) of the SARS-CoV-2 was found in 85% of the volunteers on the 57th day of the study," RDIF said. – Reuters

‘It is with deep sorrow that I announce the demise of my beloved elder sister Lalvuani (88-years) this morning at 11:30 am. A life so beautifully lived deserves to be beautifully remembered. She was diagnosed with Covid-19 on the September 27th, 2021,’ tweets Zoramthanga

In Iran's holy city of Qom, where Shiite scholars study and pilgrims travel to a shrine believed to be a gate to heaven, the Islamic Republic's coronavirus outbreak began and still rages to this day. While Iran works to vaccinate its 80 million people, many in Qom have not sought out the shots, authorities say. In one recent week, the city administered only 17,000 shots daily out of its capacity of 30,000, provincial health department chief Mohammad Reza Qadir said. One reason for that is a hesitancy by some based on religion. In the outbreak's first days, religious leaders were reluctant to close shrines and holy sites despite the risks of virus transmission in crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces. AP

Thailand will further ease its coronavirus restrictions later this week, the country's COVID-19 task force said on Monday.From Oct. 1, some more businesses, which include spas and cinemas, will be allowed to reopen in 29 "dark red" provinces listed under maximum control, including the capital Bangkok, the task force said. – Reuters

The Russian Direct Investment Fund and Vietnamese T&T group have reached an agreement on Sputnik-V vaccine supplies to Hanoi, the RIA news agency reported on Monday, citing Vietnamese ambassador to Moscow Dang Minh Khoi.The Southeast Asian country has already produced a first test batch of Russia's flagship vaccine against COVID-19. Vietnam previously said it would receive 20 million doses from Russia this year. – Reuters

Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 positivity rate dipped to 0.27 per cent, as the northeastern state reported only three new cases, a senior health official said here on Monday. Single-day recoveries continue to outnumber fresh cases as 38 more people recuperated from the disease on Sunday, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said. The three new cases pushed the virus tally to 54,352. A total of 53,755 people have recovered from the disease so far in the state, the official said. The COVID-19 death toll in the frontier state remained at 274 as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, the SSO said. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the state improved marginally to 98.90 per cent from 98.84 per cent the previous day, he said. Arunachal Pradesh currently has 323 active COVID-19 cases. Tirap district has the highest number of active COVID-19 cases at 57, followed by West Kameng (48), Lower Subansiri (36), Tawang (26) and Namsai (25). - PTI

In March, as wealthy Britain led the world in vaccination rates and almost half its people had received a shot, the organisation meant to ensure fair global access to COVID-19 vaccines allotted the country over half a million doses from its supplies.By contrast Botswana, which hadn't even started its vaccination drive, was assigned 20,000 doses from the same batch of millions of Pfizer mRNA vaccines, according to publicly available documents detailing COVAX's allocations.Other poorer nations, with fledgling vaccination drives at best, also received fewer shots than Britain. Rwanda and Togo were each allotted about 100,000 doses, and Libya nearly 55,000.The distribution was driven by the methodology used by COVAX, a programme co-led by the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi). Since January, it has largely allocated doses proportionally among its members according to population size, but regardless of their vaccination coverage.This made some rich nations, which already had many vaccines through separate deals with pharmaceutical firms, eligible for COVAX doses alongside countries with no vaccines at all.Six months later, COVAX is planning to overhaul the allocation methodology to ensure it takes into account the proportion of a country's population that has been vaccinated, including with shots bought directly from drugmakers, according to an internal Gavi document reviewed by Reuters

New Zealand is to begin allowing small numbers of vaccinated travellers to isolate at home instead of in state-run quarantine facilities as part of a phased approach to re-opening its borders, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.The pilot project starting next month will be open to 150 people, who must be New Zealand citizens or residents and are fully vaccinated, Ardern said at a news conference."While this is a pilot, it gives you a sense of where we intend to go on our borders," Ardern said, adding that the government was working on a wide range of options for allowing people back in safely."We're working on building a greater evidence base for a shorter periods of isolation in the future as well," she said.Currently, returning New Zealanders and residents have to stay at a state quarantine facility for at least 14 days. But the facilities have limited capacity and expatriate Kiwis have complained that are always booked up.In an opinion piece over the weekend, former Prime Minister John Key criticised the government's COVID-19 response strategy saying it was based on fear, questioned the slow vaccination rates, and said New Zealand should no longer exist as "a smug hermit kingdom". - Reuters 

India's vaccination Coverage crossed the landmark of 86 Cr (86,01,59,011)

More than 38.18 Lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered in India in the last 24 hours.

The union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands did not record any new COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours, a health department official said on Monday. The COVID-19 tally in the archipelago remained at 7,618, he said. The union territory now has only 13 active COVID-19 cases and all the patients are in the South Andaman district. The other two districts - North and Middle Andaman and Nicobar - are free from coronavirus, he said. Three more persons recovered from COVID-19 taking the total number of recoveries to 7,476, he said. The COVID-19 death toll remained at 129 as no new fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, the official said. The administration has so far tested 5,45,708 samples for COVID-19 and the cumulative test positivity rate is 1.40 per cent. A total of 4,36,070 beneficiaries have been inoculated so far, of which 2,88,441 have received single dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 1,47,629 have received both doses of the vaccine, he said. PTI

India reports 26,041 new COVID19 cases, 29,621 recoveries, and 276 deaths in the last 24 hrs as per Union Health Ministry

Total cases 3,36,78,786Total recoveries 3,29,31,972 Death toll 4,47,194 Active cases 2,99,620

Total vaccination: 86,01,59,011 (38,18,362 in last 24 hrs) - ANI

Thane has reported 266 new cases of coronavirus, raising the infection count in the Maharashtra district to 5,58,307, an official said on Monday. Besides these new cases added on Sunday, the virus also claimed the life of one person, which pushed the death toll in the district to 11,397, he said. The COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 2.04 per cent, he added. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,35,774, while the death toll has reached 3,275, another official said. PTI

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) government plans to unveil its roadmap on Monday for reopening the state from COVID-19 shutdowns, detailing the differing levels of freedoms to be afforded to citizens based on their vaccination status.With 60% of people aged 16 and over fully inoculated - above the national average of 52% - officials expect to reach their 80% target around the end of October, based on current vaccination rates."You will be surprised at what will be announced," Deputy Premier John Barilaro told 2GB radio. "If you want the freedoms we are talking about right across the board, you're going to have to be vaccinated."The state began easing some restrictions on Monday, including in the capital Sydney, allowing construction sites to return to full capacity and outdoor swimming pools to reopen with social distancing measures in place.Authorities on Sunday promised travel within the state will be permitted when the 80% threshold is reached. – Reuters

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War Two, according to a study published on Monday by Oxford University, with the life expectancy of American men dropping by more than two years.Life expectancy fell by more than six months compared with 2019 in 22 of the 29 countries analysed in the study, which spanned Europe, the United States and Chile. There were reductions in life expectancy in 27 of the 29 countries overall.The university said most life expectancy reductions across different countries could be linked to official COVID-19 deaths. There have been nearly 5 million reported deaths caused by the new coronavirus so far, a Reuters tally shows."The fact that our results highlight such a large impact that is directly attributable to COVID-19 shows how devastating a shock it has been for many countries," said Dr Ridhi Kashyap, co-lead author of the paper, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.There were greater drops in life expectancy for men than women in most countries, with the largest decline in American men, who saw life expectancy drop by 2.2 years relative to 2019.Overall, men had more than a year shaved off in 15 countries, compared to women in 11 countries. That wiped out the progress on mortality that had been made in the previous 5.6 years. – Reuters

China reported on Monday 35 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland for Sept. 26, compared with 29 a day earlier, according to the National Health Commission.Of the new infections, 13 were locally transmitted, the health authority said. That compared with nine local cases a day earlier.Eleven of the new local cases were found in Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province, while two were reported in the city of Xiamen in southeastern Fujian province.China reported 20 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, which it does not classify as confirmed infections, compared with 14 a day earlier.No new deaths were reported.As of Sept. 26, China had recorded 96,050 confirmed cases, with the cumulative death toll unchanged at 4,636. – Reuters

Australia's New South Wales state, the epicenter of the country's worst coronavirus outbreak, reported on Monday its lowest rise in COVID-19 cases in more than a month as it begins to ease some tough restrictions amid higher vaccinations.A total of 787 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases were reported, the majority in state capital Sydney, down from 961 a day earlier, according to a statement from the state health department. The state recorded 12 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities from the latest outbreak to 309.- Reuters

Japanese shares rose on Monday, led by cyclical stocks that would benefit from an economic recovery from the COVID-19 lows, as the country plans to lift its emergency measures this week, though caution after a sharp rally this month capped gains.The Nikkei share average was up 0.36% to 30,357.20 by 0208 GMT, while the broader Topix gained 0.39% to 2,098.94.The Nikkei rose more than 8% this month on hopes for a new political leadership and recovery amid falling number of coronavirus infections."Japan's new phase of economy was factored in today's market. Shares that were related to an economic reopening were strong," said Kentaro Hayashi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities."But overall, the market is going through a period of adjusting after a strong rally, which limited gains of those stocks."Japan's health minister said that the nation's COVID-19 infection situation is improving such that emergency conditions could soon be lifted in most parts of the country. - Reuters

Singapore reported a record 1,939 fresh COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including 398 cases from dormitories for foreign workers. The nation also saw two new fatalities due to the infection. Of the new cases reported on Sunday, 1,536 cases were reported from the local community and five people who arrived from abroad were infected, the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Singapore said. Many of the existing dormitory clusters have reported the infections, it said. The number of coronavirus cases reported at the cluster of Blue Stars dormitory for migrant workers rose to 283, after 40 new cases were reported. Twenty more cases were also linked to Woodlands dormitory cluster, which now has 104 cases. Avery Lodge dormitory had 30 new cases as on Sunday, taking the total to 238, while the North Coast lodge had eight cases leading to a total of 247 cases. The Bukit Batok Road/Plantation Crescent domitory had five cases, taking the total to 30. - PTI