India logged 13,451 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,42,15,653, while the active cases declined to 1,62,661, the lowest in 242 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death toll climbed to 4,55,653 with 585 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 a.m.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 33 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 122 consecutive days now.
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Here are the latest updates:
Two samples in Karnataka found infected with AY.4.2
Although two samples from Karnataka were retrospectively found to be infected with AY.4.2 — a sub-lineage of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 — State health officials and genome sequencing experts say there is no reason to panic as of now.
Scientists have indicated that this new sub-lineage may be more contagious than the original Delta variant. AY.4.2 has now been declared as a ‘Variant under Investigation’ (VuI) in the U.K., where cases are on the rise. However, State health officials said there was no reason to panic as the two samples collected in July were retrospectively found to be infected with this sub-lineage during reanalysis of over 1,300 samples that were genome sequenced in the last few months.
Active COVID-19 cases lowest in 242 days
India logged 13,451 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,42,15,653, while the active cases declined to 1,62,661, the lowest in 242 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death toll climbed to 4,55,653 with 585 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 a.m.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 33 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 122 consecutive days now.
The active cases comprise 0.48% of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.19%, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. - PTI
Brazil senators recommend Bolsonaro face charges over COVID
A Brazilian Senate committee recommended on Tuesday that President Jair Bolsonaro face a series of criminal indictments for actions and omissions related to the world's second highest COVID-19 death toll.
The 7-to-4 vote was the culmination of a six-month committee investigation of the government's handling of the pandemic. It formally approved a report calling for prosecutors to try Bolsonaro on charges ranging from charlatanism and inciting crime to misuse of public funds and crimes against humanity, and in doing so hold him responsible for many of Brazil's more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths. - AP
Bengal’s decision to reopen schools, colleges hailed widely
West Bengal’s decision to reopen colleges and schools from November 15 has been widely welcomed by teachers, students and doctors alike, with many saying the move should have come earlier and that these institutions should have a mechanism for early detection of COVID-19 cases.
“In the U.S. and Europe, the effect of closure of educational institutions has been extensively studied and they are of the opinion that [the long closure] has decreased students’ life expectancy and caused economic damage that will take about 70 years to set right. We have to remember the closure has been much longer in India and therefore the effect is going to be huge,” Dr. Arjun Dasgupta, one of Kolkata’s leading ENT specialists, told The Hindu.
U.S. FDA panel backs Pfizer’s low-dose COVID-19 vaccine for children
The U.S. moved a step closer to expanding COVID-19 vaccinations for millions more children as a panel of government advisers on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer's shots for 5- to 11-year-olds.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously, with one abstention, that the vaccine’s benefits in preventing COVID-19 in that age group outweigh any potential risks — including a heart-related side effect that's been very rare in teens and young adults despite their use of a much higher shot dose. - AP
Covaxin nod: WHO seeks more data
The World Health Organisation’s technical advisory group on Tuesday sought “additional clarifications” from Bharat Biotech for its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin to conduct a final “risk-benefit assessment” for Emergency Use Listing of the vaccine.
The technical advisory group will now meet on November 3 for a final assessment.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech had submitted an EOI (Expression of Interest) to the WHO on April 19 for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of Covaxin. - PTI