A woman receives a dose of Covaxin at a vaccination centre in New Delhi. (Reuters)Coronavirus Omicron India Live News: India reported a slight decline in new Covid-19 cases, with the country reporting 2,35,532 infections. As many as 871 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours, says Saturday morning’s Union Health Ministry update, which is considerably more than the 627 deaths that were recorded on Friday.
The daily positivity rate has reduced to 13.39% as well. The current number of active cases is 20,04,333, while 3,35,939 have recovered from the virus.
Meanwhile, the health woes of the patients infected with Covid-19 in the second wave still continues as many are being diagnosed with the long post-Covid complications of Avascular Necrosis (AVN), referred to as bone death. To find a clinical explanation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has submitted a proposal to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) seeking approval for a multicentric study to probe cases of AVN among Covid-19 recovered patients.
Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covaxin, on Friday obtained approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for conducting trials of its intranasal booster doses against Covid-19 (BBV154). According to news agency ANI, the trials will be conducted at nine different sites in India.
A woman wearing a protective face mask walks past a mural on a street, amidst the spread of the coronavirus in Mumbai, India. (Reuters)
Singapore has recently reported 198 cases of Covid-19 traced to the BA.2 Omicron sub-lineage, which appears to be more infectious than the more common BA.1, but hospitals are coping well in spite of the current wave infecting thousands of people daily, according to reports.
A total of 150 BA.2 cases were imported infections and the remaining 48 were local cases since January 25, 2022, the TODAY newspaper reported.
Investigations into the characteristics of BA.2, including immune escape properties and virulence, should be prioritised independently (and comparatively) to BA.1, said the World Health Organisation (WHO). (PTI)
The Rajasthan government on Friday decided to ease Covid-19 restrictions and ended the Sunday curfew in the state.
In an order issued by the state government, it was also announced that government and private schools in urban areas of the state will start functioning from February 1 for classes 10-12 and classes 6-9 will resume from February 10.
The order on Friday said that shops, shopping malls and other commercial establishments will be open till 10 pm every day. The order added that while the daily night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am will remain in place, from January 31, the Sunday curfew in place will end.
The schools and colleges in Pune District will reopen from February 1, Pune Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar announced on Saturday after chairing a Covid-19 review meeting in the city’s Council Hall.
He said that students of Class 9 and above (those above 15 years) will be vaccinated at the schools. “Orders of reopening of schools will be issued today. Mobile vans will be sent to schools for vaccination of the eligible students. A special room will be reserved in the school so that kids who need rest or medical attention after the vaccination can use them,” said Pawar.
Chinese are travelling to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year, the country's biggest family holiday, despite a government plea to stay where they are as Beijing tries to contain coronavirus outbreaks.
Some 260 million people travelled in the 10 says since the holiday rush started Jan. 17, less than before the pandemic but up 46% over last year, official data shows. The government forecasts a total of 1.2 billion trips during the holiday season, up 36% from a year ago.
"I know we are encouraged to spend the New Year in Beijing, but I haven't been back home for three years," said Wang Yilei, whose hometown is Tangshan, east of the capital. "My parents are getting old and they are looking forward to seeing me." (AP)
Hip-hop artist Kanye West will have to be fully vaccinated if he wants to play concerts in Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday, after media said the performer planned an Australian tour in March.
"The rules are you have to be fully vaccinated," Morrison told a news conference."They apply to everybody, as people have seen most recently. It doesn't matter who you are, they are the rules. Follow the rules, you can come. You don't follow the rules, you can't."
Morrison's remarks followed a report on Friday in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, citing industry sources, that said West planned to play stadium concerts in Australia in March. Representatives of West, who released his latest album, "Donda", in July, were not immediately available for comment. (Reuters)
The health woes of the patients infected with Covid-19 in the second wave still continues as many are being diagnosed with the long post-Covid complications of Avascular Necrosis (AVN), referred to as bone death.
To find a clinical explanation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has submitted a proposal to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) seeking approval for a multicentric study to probe cases of AVN among Covid-19 recovered patients.
India reported a slight decline in new Covid-19 cases, with the country reporting 2,35,532 infections. As many as 871 deaths have been reported, which is more than 627 deaths that were recorded on Friday, as per Saturday morning's Union Health Ministry update. The current number of active cases is 20,04,333, while 3,35,939 have recovered from the virus.
The daily positivity rate has reduced to 13.39% as well.
Omicron, the highly contagious coronavirus variant sweeping across the country, is driving the daily American death toll higher than during last fall's delta wave, with deaths likely to keep rising for days or even weeks.
The seven-day rolling average for daily new Covid-19 deaths in the US has been climbing since mid-November, reaching 2,267 on Thursday and surpassing a September peak of 2,100 when delta was the dominant variant.
Now omicron is estimated to account for nearly all the virus circulating in the nation. And even though it causes less severe disease for most people, the fact that it is more transmissible means more people are falling ill and dying. (AP)
Canada's beleaguered Conservative opposition leader is backing a trucker protest against the Liberal government's strict Covid-19 vaccine mandates, with critics warning the movement is led by far-right activists with a history of trying to incite violence.
The so-called "Freedom Convoy" — due to bring hundreds of trucks to Ottawa from east and west on Saturday — started out as a protest against a vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers, but has turned into a demonstration against government overreach during the pandemic with a strong anti-vaccine streak.
Some political analysts say embattled Conservative leader Erin O'Toole is now using the protest in a bid to gain more support. (Reuters)
On day 1 of the odd-even restrictions being lifted at markets, shopkeepers were seen directing customers to wear masks properly and maintain social distancing while shops sported posters on following Covid-appropriate behaviour. The district administrations have also restarted random testing at Metro stations and public places.
However, the footfall on Friday at usually busy markets at Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar and local residential markets was thin. Read More
Easing restrictions imposed earlier this month in view of rising Covid-19 cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Thursday decided to lift weekend curfew and odd-even rule for shops. See more pics here
Tamil Nadu on Friday added 26,533 new Covid-19 infections, pushing the caseload to 32,79,284, while 48 more deaths took the death toll to 37,460, the health department said. Recoveries eclipsed new infections with 28,156 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 30,29,961 leaving 2,11,863 active infections, a medical bulletin said.
Chennai accounted for the majority of new coronavirus infections with 5,246 followed by Coimbatore 3,448, Tiruppur 1,779, Chengalpet 1,662, Salem 1,387, Erode 1,261, while the remaining was spread across other districts. A total of 1,45,376 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 6,13,46,285, the bulletin said.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the capital has remained almost the same, even as the positivity rate dropped further. There were 4,044 fresh cases reported in Friday’s health bulletin, just over 200 cases short of the previous day’s 4,291 when the tally dropped below the 5,000-mark for the first time since the current surge began.
The positivity rate – the proportion of samples tested that return positive – stood at 8.60 per cent on Friday with just 47,042 tests conducted. In comparison, 60,080 tests were conducted every day on an average over the last seven days. Usually, when the number of tests increases, the positivity rate goes down. At the peak of the current wave, the positivity rate rose to 30.64 per cent, the data shows. Read More
Over 60 per cent of children aged 15-18 years have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday. He also congratulated the children, saying "Young India showed the way".
"Congratulations to all my young friends who have got vaccinated. Over 60 per cent children aged 15-18 years have received their first dose of vaccine against Covid-19," Mandaviya tweeted.
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday held a Covid-19 review meeting with five southern states and three Union Territories and emphasised that they should keep a close watch on emerging clusters and hotspots being reported in the third wave of the pandemic,.
In his meeting with his counterparts from Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep, Mandaviya reiterated that the five strategies of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate & adherence to COVID-Appropriate Behaviour, coupled with effective surveillance of cases, remain crucial for Covid-19 management. Read More
😷 Today’s Covid numbers: Delhi (4,044 cases); Mumbai (1,312 cases); Kolkata (481 cases); Bengaluru (15,199 cases); Chennai (5,246 cases)
For the first time since the latest surge in coronavirus cases began in Mumbai, the slum-dominated Dharavi area of the metropolis on Friday recorded no new infections, a civic official said.
Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, G- North ward, said new cases fell to zero in the densely-populated area after 39 days. It had recorded zero cases last on December 20, 2021. The area now has 43 active cases, 11 of them hospitalized, Dighavkar added.
Dharavi's coronavirus caseload is 8,581, of whom 8,121 have recovered. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation does not publish the number of deaths from the area. It had logged a record 150 new cases on January 6, 2022, before the numbers started dipping. Dharavi, teeming with shanties and micro-industrial units over 2.5 sq km area, has a population of around 6.5 lakh. (PTI)
Karnataka has issued new guidelines for home testing of Covid:
Mumbai on Friday reported 1,312 new Covid-19 cases along with 10 deaths in the past 24 hours. There are 14,344 active cases in the city.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to review the Covid-19 situation, public health preparedness, and response measures being taken in the view of Omicron variant in Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, via video conferencing at 3 pm tomorrow.