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: The Rajasthan government has decided to end the night curfew in the state, which has been in place since the second wave of Covid-19 last year. Meanwhile, Gujarat said that the existing night curfews in 27 cities, including eight metros, will be extended till February 11.
India has recorded a single-day rise of 1,49,394 Covid-19 infections and 1,072 fatalities, 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.
South Africa is seeing more cases of the BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus variant and is monitoring it, but there is no clear sign that BA.2 is substantially different from the original Omicron strain, a senior scientist said on Friday.
Michelle Groome, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, showed in a presentation that BA.2 accounted for 23% of the 450 samples from January sequenced by South Africa's genomic surveillance network and the original strain 75%.Of the 2,243 samples from December that were sequenced, BA.2 accounted for 4% and the original strain 94%. (Reuters)
An Indian origin woman was sentenced to 10 weeks' jail for leaving her home several times to drink alcohol and socialise with friends during Singapore's circuit breaker imposed as a safety measure against coronavirus in 2020.
Letchimi, 37, a Singaporean who goes by only one name, pleaded guilty on Thursday to three charges under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures Act). Seven charges were taken into consideration during sentencing, according to a report by The Straits Times.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kenneth Kee said in court documents that various enforcement officers had come across Letchimi from April 5 to May 21, 2020, on six occasions when she breached safe distancing measures. (PTI)
Schools, colleges, and gyms will reopen in the city with strict Covid-19 protocols, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority said on Friday. The order said classes 9 to 12 will open in a phased manner and unvaccinated teachers will not be permitted. The night curfew will continue in the capital but will begin at 11 pm instead. Offices are now allowed to function with a 100 per cent capacity, the order added.
Our Delhi bureau is covering the latest updates on the reopening of schools in the national capital. Follow the Delhi live blog for more details.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Thursday said 78.49 per cent of children aged between 15-18 have taken at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine.
According to the minister, of the total eligible population of 33,46,000, at least 26,26,311 children have taken their first dose and 1,59,679 children have been fully vaccinated.
The health department started administering the Covid-19 vaccines to children on January 3. As the schools have reopened, the government will begin providing vaccines to the students at their school premises itself.
The Rajasthan government has decided to end the night curfew in the state, which has been in place since the second wave of Covid-19 last year. Since December 2021, the government emphasised on stricter implementation of the night curfew in wake of the Omicron outbreak.
In an order issued Friday, the state home department said the night curfew between 11 pm and 5 am would end, starting from Saturday.
The "milder" outcomes of infection from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 are likely due to more population immunity rather than the virus' properties, according to researchers in the US.
In a perspective article, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers noted that the perceived lower severity of Omicron infections is most likely due to factors related to the level of immunity in infected people.
The researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the US argue that previous exposure would likely have reduced the severity of a subsequent Omicron infection. The milder symptoms may also be due in part to Omicron's ability to cause breakthrough infections and reinfections, including in people with stronger immune systems who are better equipped to fight off an infection, they said. (PTI)
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)