January 31st Omicron Variant Cases and Deaths in India, Covid-19 Booster Vaccine Registration Latest Update: The West Bengal government on Monday further eased Covid-19 restrictions in the state. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced relaxation in COVID curbs. According to the new Covid guidelines, now the night curfew to be in force between 11 pm and 5 am instead of 10 pm-5 am. Restaurants, bars, and cinema halls are allowed to operate at 75% capacity. Parks and tourist places will be reopened with COVID safety protocols. According to the new Covid guidelines of the West Bengal government, Mumbai-Kolkata and Delhi-Kolkata flights to operate daily, UK-Kolkata flights to resume normal operations subject to RT-PCR test report to be carried by passengers.
The month of January is ending on a worst-possible note today as India saw nearly thousand Covid deaths today. The health ministry data is in and it shows the disturbing reality of the ‘mild’ Omicron variant. This is the first time in the current third wave that the country has posted such high numbers of coronavirus fatalities. During the weekend, the Covid deaths hovered around 800.
At a time when the government is hailing the vaccination record, this data is a grim reminder of the unpredictable virus. The official records show that 75 per cent Indians have received both doses of Covid19 vaccine. Some health experts have also said that the vaccine protection may have played a crucial role in the lesser number of Covid-related hospitalizations and deaths.
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Coronavirus India Live News: Covid-19 Omicron Cases in India Live Count, Coronavirus Lockdown, Night Curfew Guidelines and Restrictions Live Updates, Omicron Live News January 31st latest News
Maharashtra on Monday witnessed 15,140 new Covid-19 cases, 7,304 less than the day before, and 39 fatalities due to the infection, the state health department said, as reported by PTI. The latest additions pushed the overall caseload to 77,21,109 and the death toll to 1,42,611, it said. The total number of recoveries in Maharashtra rose to 73,67,259 after 35,453 patients were discharged during the day, leaving the state with 2,07,350 active cases.
Sunday restrictions on movement will continue on February 6, similar to January 23 and 30, to contain the surge in COVID cases in the state, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday. Only essential services will be allowed on Sunday, February 6, and district-wise restrictions based on the A, B and C categorisation would continue in the state, the CM decided in the COVID review meeting chaired by him, a state government release said. In the meeting, the CM also said that strict action will be taken against those denying treatment to seriously ill patients who are COVID positive and directed that it would be applicable on both private and government-run hospitals, the release said. (PTI)
Schools for classes 1-12 will be reopened in 17 districts; only classes 9 & above to reopen in Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Bokaro, Chitra, Deoghar, Saraikela, & Simdega. Gyms, stadiums, coaching centres to be open; night curfew in force from 8pm: Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta (ANI)
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says sorry for lockdown-flouting parties but says he and his government can be trusted. (AP)
Italian police said Monday they had broken up a ring of businessmen accused of cheating the government out of 440 million euros in tax credits that were granted as part of government measures to help struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Police said 35 people were targeted with arrest warrants, home detention or other restrictive measures and that authorities carried out 80 searches across the country, from Trentino in the north to Sicily in the south and points in between. (AP)
Delhi reported 2,779 new Covid-19 cases, 38 deaths on Monday. according to data from the health department. The National Capital also witnessed 5,502 recoveries, while the positivity rate stood at 6.20%. There are still 18,729 active cases in Delhi.
Tamil Nadu continued to witness a decline in fresh infections as the state reported below 20,000 cases on Monday. According to health department data, Tamil Nadu reported 19,280 fresh Coronavirus infections on Monday taking, its overall tally of Covid-19 cases to 33,45,220, while the net recoveries stood at 31,09,526 with 25,056 positive patients getting discharged after treatment. The state saw 20 fatalities in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 37,564.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has tested positive for COVID-19. (AP)
Haryana reported 3,563 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, while the positivity rate stood at 13.36%. The state still has 25,567 active cases. According to ANI, the total Omicron cases in the state increased to 307 o Monday.
Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 2,550 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the number of Covid-19 cases to 4,35,425, while 15 deaths due to the disease were reported in the past 24 hours, officials saidas reported by PTI. Out of the fresh cases, 974 were from the Jammu division and 1,576 from the Kashmir division of the Union Territory, the officials said.
With the detection of 8,062 fresh Coronavirus infections in Madhya Pradesh on Monday, the Covid-19 tally in the state reached 9,67,501, while the death toll increased to 10,618 after two patients succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, a state health department official said as reported by PTI. The positivity rate, or cases detected per 100 tests, decreased to 10.8 per cent on Monday from 11.49 per cent a day earlier, he pointed out.
Karnataka on Monday reported 24,172 new Covid-19 cases of COVID-19 and 56 fatalities, taking the tally to 38,09,467, and death toll to 38,998, respectively, accoroding to data from the state health department, as reported by PTI. The state on Sunday had reported 28,264 daily cases. There were 30,869 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries to 35,26,108, the health bulletin said. The total number of active cases across the state is now at 2,44,331.
Union Health Ministry on Monday said India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed 166.59 crore. Over 53 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm today, reports ANI. More than 1 crore precaution doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries for COVID vaccination have been administered so far.
As Coronavirus infections in Odisha saw a steady decline over the last few days, the state government on Monday relaxed night curfew by an hour and allowed Saraswati Puja in schools, according to a report by PTI. The night curfew will be in force in urban areas from 10 pm to 5 am, instead of starting at 9 pm, as per an official notification. Saraswati Puja will be allowed in temples without the participation of devotees, and in schools with a limited number of students, complying with COVID-19 protocols, it said.
Department of Education Chandigarh Administration in an order letter on Monday said all schools will start functioning physically in offline mode for classes 10th to 12th from 1 February, reports ANI. However, students will still have the option to continue with the online mode for these classes as well.
Maharashtra | Pune reports 3,762 new COVID19 cases, 7,953 recoveries, & 14 deaths, today. The total number of active cases has reached 59,204, reports ANI.
Karnataka reports 24,172 new COVID19 cases, 30,869 recoveries, and 56 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Active cases at 2,44,331
Positivity rate at 17.11% (ANI)
Mumbai reports 960 new COVID19 cases, 1,837 recoveries, and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Active cases 9,900 (ANI)
The Russian capital on Monday has started offering a domestically developed coronavirus vaccine to children in the 12-17 age group amid the country's biggest infection surge yet due to the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant. Omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, according to studies. Omicron spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more easily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus. Free shots of Sputnik M, a version of the Sputnik V vaccine that contains a smaller dose, became available last week to 12-17s in a number of Russian regions spanning from the region surrounding Moscow to the Urals to Siberia and the far east, with the capital being the latest addition to the list. (AP)
The German government has failed to hit its goal of vaccinating 80% of the population against the coronavirus before the end of January, roughly a month before lawmakers are expected to vote on a draft law on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. As of Monday, 75.8% of Germans have received at least one vaccine dose, which places the country behind European peers such as Italy, France and Spain, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit did not name a new target date for the 80% goal but said the aim was to raise the vaccination rate going ahead. Last week German lawmakers debated mandatory vaccination, which has faced resistance from politicians and the general public. (Reuters)
The Delhi Police has arrested three men who allegedly cheated people by posing as government officials facilitating booster dose to fight COVID-19 and hacking their WhatsApp account, officials said on Monday. “On the pretext of facilitating an Omicron booster dose”, the men used to hack the WhatsApp accounts by luring the victims to share the OTP of changing the account code through a conference call, according to the police. After hacking the WhatsApp account, they would access the victim's contact list, send distress messages to the relatives and acquaintances and demand money. (PTI)
Tripura reported 79 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, against 186 a day before, while the overall infection tally increased to 1,00,221, a health department official said as reported by PTI. The North-eastern state registered four fresh fatalities taking the death toll to 896. All schools, colleges and universities opened from Monday after a gap of one month in Tripura.
Kerala reports 42,154 new Covid-19 cases, 38,458 recoveries & 14 deaths in the last 24 hrs
Active cases stand at 3,57,552 (ANI)
As the Covid-19 situation appears to be stabilising in Madhya Pradesh, the state government on Monday decided to reopen schools, including residential ones, with 50 per cent capacity for students of classes 1 to 12 from February 1 , PTI reported.
Andhra Pradesh witnessed 5,879 new Covid-19 cases on Monday. The number of active cases in teh state came down to 1,10,517 as 11,384 patients recovered from the virus infections. The latest bulletin said nine infected persons also succumbed in the state in 24 hours. The cumulative Covid-19 cases in the state now touched 22,76,370, recoveries 21,51,238 and deaths 14,615, the bulletin said as repoted by PTI.
The Puducherry administration has extended the Covid curbs till midnight of February 28, according to a report by PTI. Secretary to Puducherry government (Relief and Rehabilitation) Ashok Kumar on Monday announced the extension of Covid-19 restrictions. The Secretary, in an order, said all social, entertainment-related gatherings would be prohibited. Restaurants, hotels, bars and liquor shops would operate with adherence to standard operating procedures. But, the beach road, parks and public gardens would remain open, he said and asked people to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to restore six-day work week for employees with immediate effect as COVID-19 cases continue to fall, reported PTI. The cabinet, during its meeting headed by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here on Monday, however, decided to continue the night curfew from 10 pm to 6 until further orders, an official spokesperson said.
Sikkim reported 53 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, taking its tally of Coronavirus infections in the state to to 38,152, a health department bulletin said as reported by PTI.The state had reported 127 new cases on Sunday. Sikkim's coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 429, as no fresh fatality was reported.
As the country began the Phase-2 of the vaccination programme for the children between age of 15 and 17, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have announced that they will reopen schools next month. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that from February 3rd, the physical classes will begin for students of class 8th and above. Colleges, universities and other educational institutions have also been allowed to conduct in-person classes.
Following protests of Spotify kicked off by Neil Young over the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, the music streaming service said that it will add content advisories before podcasts discussing the virus. In a post Sunday, Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek laid out more transparent platform rules given the backlash stirred by Young, who on Wednesday had his music removed from Spotify after the tech giant declined to get rid of episodes of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience,’ which has been criticized for spreading virus misinformation. ‘Personally, there are plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I disagree with strongly,’ wrote Ek. ‘It is important to me that we don't take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.’ Ek said that the advisories will link to Spotify's fact-based COVID-19 hub in what he described as a ‘new effort to combat misinformation.’ It will roll out in the coming days, Ek said. He did not specifically reference Rogan or Young. AP
Tokyo has launched a mass inoculation drive for COVID-19 booster shots at a temporary center operated by the military as Japan tries to speed up delayed third jabs to counter surging infections. Japan began administering booster shots to medical workers in December, but has only provided such inoculations to 2.7 per cent of the population after delaying a decision to cut the interval between the first two coronavirus shots and a booster to six months from the initial eight. Demand for the shots is intense: Online reservations that started on Friday resulted in all all slots for about 4,300 doses to be given at the center this week being filled within 9 minutes. The center is providing the vaccine made by Moderna, Inc. On a smaller scale, people 65 and older can get booster shots elsewhere. AP
Researchers at Pasteur-USP Scientific Platform have published a report stating that some people have been found to be transmitting the coronavirus, which is much longer than the normal duration of qurantine. This has triggered the debate whether the isolation period should be extended or not. The study shows that in some cases, it took as many as 30 days for Covid test to turn negative. This means that a quarantine of even 14 days may not be enough to control the spread of the virus.
Hong Kong's Secretary for Home Affairs resigned on Monday weeks after attending the birthday party of a delegate to China's legislature, where two of some 200 guests tested positive for COVID-19.Caspar Tsui was among 15 officials who went to the 53rd birthday of Witman Hung, a city delegate to the national legislature, before new COVID-19 restrictions came into force, but after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam appealed to people to avoid big gatherings.Tsui “brought the Hong Kong government into disrepute” and “did not meet the expectations of the general public”, Lam told a news conference.”I accepted his resignation,” she said.Hong Kong has followed China with a zero-COVID policy despite the economic costs and a rising psychological toll on many people of the tough restrictions aimed at keeping the virus at bay.Tsui said in a statement he had made a wrong decision to attend the banquet on Jan. 3 when all efforts should have been devoted to controlling the spread of the virus.”As one of the principal officials taking the lead in the anti-epidemic fight, I have not set the best example,” Tsui said. – Reuters
Canada is witnessing unprecedented protests against the vaccine mandate introduced by the Justin Trudeau administration. Over the weekend, hundreds and thousands of protesters had gathered in Ottawa to show their angst over mask mandates, lockdowns and vaccine rules. On Twitter, #canadahasfallen is trending since morning over the reports of the Canadian PM being taken to safe location amid the protests. The demonstration was initially aimed at denouncing vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada-U.S. border, but the movement has morphed into a protest against a variety of COVID-19 restrictions and Trudeau's government, an AP report says.
Australia reported its lowest daily COVID-19 deaths in two weeks on Monday while cases continued to trend lower as authorities braced for staff shortages in schools due to likely outbreaks as thousands of students return after their summer break.Most states will go through a staggered school reopening exercise this week as Australia battles the worst outbreak of the pandemic, with the fast-moving Omicron coronavirus variant spiralling cases to record levels.”There will be challenges and there will be bumps over these first few weeks,” Victoria state Deputy Premier James Merlino said during a media briefing on Monday. Merlino said a pool of about 350 retired teachers have been set up to support schools when they have to furlough staff.Masks are mandatory indoors for older children and millions of at-home antigen tests, still not readily available in many stores, are being rolled out to families free of cost, with children asked to undergo COVID-19 tests twice a week.About 40% of children aged 5-11 years have been administered their first vaccine dose, while around two-thirds of eligible Australians have received their boosters. – Reuters
Parliament's Budget Session began today with joint address by President Ram Nath Kovind. During his speech, President Kovind lauded India's spectacular vaccination success. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter to share the clip of the address and round of applause by lawmakers.
https://twitter.com/mansukhmandviya/status/1488031999650836485
Investigations into China's cold-chain sector has led to several managers, officials and business owners being punished for failing to meet COVID-19 prevention standards, the country's corruption watchdog said in a notice.The Beijing branch of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) accused several people involved in the cold storage business of management and supervisory failures when it came to controlling COVID-19.It accused one manager in an industrial park in southwest Beijing of “poor leadership and non-standard management that led to the spread of the epidemic”.Several officials have been expelled from the Communist Party and could face further criminal punishment, according to a notice published by the CCDI late on Sunday.After linking a number of local cases to the cold-chain industry, Beijing also promised earlier this month to tighten its screening procedures.China has been an outlier in asserting that COVID-19 can be transmitted via cold-chain imports such as frozen meat and fish, even though the World Health Organization has played down the risk. – Reuters
While the fatalities are on rise in India, the number of active cases are witnessing a downward trend. The Monday bulletin released by the health ministry shows that at present, India has 18,31,268 active Covid cases. There was a massive dive of over 50,000 cases in the last 24 hours, official report shows.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern returned a negative COVID-19 test result on Monday, but she will remain in self isolation until the end of Tuesday as per health guidelines, a government spokesman said.Ardern took a coronavirus test on Sunday after being exposed to an infected person on a flight to Auckland from the town of Kerikeri.”The Prime Minister has returned a negative COVID-19 test. In line with Ministry of Health guidance she is required to continue isolating until the end of Tuesday, February 1, or as otherwise advised by Public Health,” a spokesman to the Prime Minister said.The governor-general and other members of Ardern's staff who were on board the flight, have also been in self-isolation. – Reuters
India began vaccinating the children this year. The pogramme that began on January 3rd this year has seen a good response amid calls for reopening of schools. In National Capital Delhi, there are around 21,000 children between the age group of 15 and 17 that are now ready for the second jab. If completed on time, the fully vaccinated young population may help the officials in deciding about resuming the physical classes in Delhi.
The head of Cyprus' Orthodox Christian Church said on Sunday that he will suspend a dozen priests from his diocese because they refused to heed his call to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Archbishop Chrystostomos II told state broadcaster CyBC that most of the priests are also theologians who have swayed some of the faithful not to get vaccinated. The archbishop called the insubordination ‘unheard of’ and warned that the suspensions could be extended to six months or lead to the priests being defrocked. He suggested that some of the unvaccinated priests may be emboldened to defy him because of his frail health. – AP
The govt data released today may have shown a decline in daily Covid cases to 2,09, 918, it is the number of Covid deaths that is a sign of worry. For this first time in the third wave, India registered highest-ever number of corona fatalities so far. The morning bulletin says that 959 Indians died due to Covid in the last 24 hours.
The weekly data of new Covid cases show that India is witnessing an ebb for now. Will this trend continue or turn for worse during third wave peak in coming days?
