You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the updates:
England opens COVID booster jab programme to 16 and 17-year olds
England's health service said it will expand its COVID-19 booster vaccination programme to include 16- and 17-year-olds from Monday.
Until now, booster jabs have been limited to 16- and 17-year-olds most at risk from the coronavirus.
"More than four in five adults in England have already been boosted, helping to protect them from severe illness," British health minister Sajid Javid said in a statement.- Reuters
Maharashtra to make prescription must for buying self test kits
Maharashtra government is planning to make doctor prescription mandatory for buying COVID-19 self-test kits from chemists after it was observed that people despite testing positive for the virus were not reporting it to government authorities.
State Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said few days ago that people not reporting a positive report is becoming a major issue and that needed to be tackled. He had also raised the issue in his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointing out that centre needs to look in to the matter.
Current COVID wave has peaked in Delhi: Minister
The current wave of COVID-19 has peaked in the city and cases are expected to fall now, Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Saturday.“In Delhi, the[COVID wave] peak has been reached... For the past five to six days, hospital admissions have been stagnant. This is an indicator that cases are decreasing in the city,” the Minister said.
Delhi on Saturday reported 20,718 new COVID-19 cases over 24 hours but the test positivity rate (TPR) was recorded at 30.64%, which is the highest in more than seven months.
With COVID-19 on the rise, cloud over Republic Day visit of Central Asian leaders
With COVID-19 cases still on the rise 10 days ahead of the Republic Day, the government is considering putting off plans to invite the leaders of five Central Asian nations as the chief guests to the parade, and holding a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually in Delhi this month. The contingency plans and a number of options to reduce the size of the Republic Day parade and audience were discussed at a meeting chaired by Mr. Modi on Saturday.
EC issues notice to Samajwadi Party over violation of COVID-19 norms
The Election Commission on Saturday issued a notice to the Samajwadi Party for organising a public gathering "in the name of virtual rally" at its Lucknow office in violation of COVID-19 norms.
Referring to Friday's event in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the notice stated that after considering the available material and extant instructions in the matter, the poll panel has decided to provide the party an opportunity to explain its stand regarding the "violations".- PTI
Tech sector got COVID-19 ‘windfall’ of $100 billion: HFS Research
The global IT and Business Process Management industry might have already seen a COVID windfall of $100 billion and Indian tech providers may have captured more than 50% of it, as per London-based HFS Research.
“The pandemic has no doubt accelerated tech adoption. We can attribute about $100 billion in additional IT/BPM expenditure by industries as a result of COVID. Over half of it may be going to Indian heritage providers,” Phil Fersht, CEO, HFS Research, told The Hindu,