A woman receives Covid-19 vaccine at vaccination center located inside the National Theater in Prague, Czech Republic. (File, AP)Coronavirus Omicron India Live News: India has recorded a single-day rise of 1,49,394 Covid-19 infections and 1,072 fatalities in the last 24 hours, pushing India’s tally of cases to 4,19,52,712, and death toll to 5,00,055.
Meanwhile, the number of active Covid-19 cases in country has declined to 14,35,569, according to a Union Health Ministry update.
The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron has been found in five African countries, a World Health Organisation scientist said on Thursday, adding she was concerned about the development because samples of BA.2 may not be spotted as a form of Omicron. The BA.2 sub-variant has begun to replace Omicron’s more common “original” BA.1 variant in countries such as Denmark. Data from there suggests no difference in disease severity, according to another WHO official.
The UP Police’s Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested five people in Varanasi for allegedly manufacturing fake Covid-19 vaccines. The police said the group was functioning out of a rented house in the Rohit Nagar area.
The police said they recovered fake Covishield and Zycov-D vaccines, Remdesivir injections, and testing kits worth Rs 4 crore. Several machines used to manufacture the fake vaccines, injections, and kits were also seized.
Fresh infections of Covid-19 continued to decline in Gujarat with 7,606 cases, even as fatalities reported remained 34 on Thursday. On Wednesday, the state recorded 8,938 new infections and 34 deaths.
Looking at the existing Civid-19 situation in the state, the core committee meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday decided to continue the existing night curfew in 27 cities, including eight metros, till February 11. Other key points from the meeting are as follows:
➡️ A maximum of 150 attendees allowed for public functions including political, social, educational, cultural and religious gatherings.
➡️In closed spaces, 50 per cent of the space capacity, limiting to maximum of 150 attendees allowed.
➡️At wedding ceremonies, 300 attendees (open space) or 50 per cent of capacity (closed space) with a maximum of 150 attendees allowed.
➡️ Hotels and restaurants allowed to continue home delivery services for 24 hours.
West Bengal saw its daily tally of Covid-19 cases declining as the state logged 1,916 cases on Thursday. The state had registered 2,723 new infections on Wednesday.
It also reported 36 fatalities due to Covid-19, which took its toll to 20,723.
West Bengal’s positivity rate and recovery rate stood at 3.94 per cent and 97.91 per cent respectively on Thursday.
Germany's health experts are divided over whether the country is ready to ease Covid-19 restrictions as its neighbours start dialling back curbs.
Germany on Thursday reported a record of 236,120 new daily cases thanks to the more-infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus, but some health experts say it is time to put a "freedom plan" for how restrictions will be eased gradually.
"Formulating this Freedom Plan is now the most important task of politics," Andreas Gassen, the head of the KBV family doctors' association, told Rheinische Post newspaper on Friday. "We have to accept that with corona and at the same time continue to offer vaccinations for risk groups," Gassen added. (Reuters)
India added 1,49,394 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total virus tally to 4,19,52,712, while the active cases further declined to 14,35,569, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The death toll climbed to 5,00,055 with 1,072 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 3.42 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate improved to 95.39 per cent, the ministry said.
A reduction of 98,352 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 9.27 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 12.03 per cent, according to the ministry. (PTI)
The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron has been found in five African countries, a World Health Organisation scientist said on Thursday, adding she was concerned about the development because samples of BA.2 may not be spotted as a form of Omicron.
The BA.2 sub-variant has begun to replace Omicron's more common "original" BA.1 variant in countries such as Denmark. Data from there suggests no difference in disease severity, according to another WHO official.
"BA.2 ... has been reported in five countries, that is Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal as well as South Africa," Dr Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi told an online media briefing. "We are very concerned," she said, adding that BA.2 was proving hard to identify because it was not always picked up by the S-Gene Target Failure criterion, which is used to distinguish the original Omicron from other variants. (Reuters)
The director of the World Health Organisation's Europe office said on Thursday the continent is now entering a "plausible endgame" to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau.
Even if another variant emerges, Dr. Hans Kluge said health authorities in Europe should be able to keep it in check, provided immunisation and boosting efforts continue, along with other public health interventions. He said, however, this demands "a drastic and uncompromising increase in vaccine sharing across borders," saying vaccines must be provided to everyone across Europe and beyond. (AP)