Coronavirus Omicron Feb 10 Live Updates: Gujarat Govt relaxes Covid-induced night curfew in 8 major cities till Feb 18

69% of adolescents aged 15-18 yrs have been administered 1st dose of COVID-19 vaccine; 14% given both doses: Govt (PTI)

Odisha's COVID-19 death toll climbed to 8,818 on Thursday as 21 more patients succumbed to the virus, while 1,480 fresh cases pushed the tally to 12,73,003, the health department said. The state had logged 1,712 cases and 22 deaths on Wednesday. Of the new fatalities, 12 were registered in Sundargarh, and Khurda district reported the highest number of fresh infections at 163, the department said in a bulletin. (PTI)

If other COVID variants don't hit West Bengal, then we can think of reopening schools for primary classes on alternate days: CM Mamata Banerjee (ANI)

Russia reported 197,076 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a record daily high, as the Omicron variant, which accounted for 70% of detected infections, continued to spread across the country. Russia also recorded 701 deaths in the past 24 hours, the government's coronavirus task force said. (Reuters)

Jharkhand on Thursday logged 318 fresh COVID-19 cases, 54 more than the previous day, taking the state's caseload to 4,32,487, a health bulletin said.

With no fresh mortality reported from any part of the state, the COVID-19 death toll remained at 5,314, it said. (PTI)

Reading and counting abilities of children in West Bengal have significantly reduced due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey carried out across several districts of the state. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER, West Bengal), a collaborative effort of the Pratham Education Foundation and the Liver Foundation, stated that 27.7 per cent children in Class 3 could read Class 2-level texts, compared to 36.6 per cent in 2018 and 32.9 per cent in 2014. It also said about 48 per cent of students in Class 5 can read Class-2 level texts, lower than the 50.5-per cent figure in 2018, 50.2 per cent in 2016 and 51.8 per cent in 2014. (PTI)

Ladakh reported 86 new Covid cases that took the infection tally to 27,148, officials said on Thursday. The number of active cases stands at 696 — 476 in Leh and 220 in Kargil, they said. The Union Territory has recorded 226 Covid-related deaths — 167 in Leh and 59 in Kargil, they said. No death was reported on Wednesday, officials said. As many as 163 patients — 98 in Leh and 65 in Kargil — were cured and discharged from hospitals, taking the overall recoveries to 26,226, they said. Of the new cases, 63 were from Leh and 23 from Kargil district, officials said. A total of 1,244 sample reports were found negative in Ladakh, they said. (PTI)

The COVAX global COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme has scaled back the number of doses allocated for North Korea, international aid organisations said, as the country has so far failed to arrange for any shipments. A website dashboard maintained by the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, shows the number of doses earmarked for North Korea now stands at 1.54 million, down from as many as 8.11 million last year. “Vaccines were allocated to (North Korea) on technical considerations to enable the country to catch up with international immunization targets in 2022 in case the government decides to introduce COVID-19 immunisations as part of the national pandemic response,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday. (Reuters)

AstraZeneca on Thursday forecast higher 2022 sales after the drugmaker posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as it gets a lift from its COVID-19 antibody treatment. The drugmaker, however, like rival GSK, warned that its gross profit margin from coronavirus products is expected to be lower than the company average for this year, while sales are expected to decline by a low-to-mid twenties percentage. (Reuters)

Nearly a third of older adults infected with COVID-19 in 2020 developed at least one new condition that required medical attention in the months after initial infection, according to an observational study published in The BMJ. Researchers from Optum Labs and Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health in the US noted that conditions involved a range of major organs and systems, including the heart, kidneys, lungs and liver as well as mental health complications. (PTI)

South Korea said on Thursday patients with mild coronavirus symptoms will have to treat themselves, aiming to free up medical resources for more serious cases, as new infections hit a fresh high because of the fast spreading Omicron variant. South Korea has largely been a COVID-19 mitigation success story, thanks to aggressive testing and tracing, social distancing and mask wearing. But as the highly infectious but less deadly Omicron variant began spreading, the government this month started to shift its strategy away from testing and tracing and towards self-monitoring, diagnosis and at-home treatment. From Thursday, authorities will only provide care to COVID-19 patients aged 60 and older or with underlying conditions, while others monitor themselves and seek medical help from designated clinics if their conditions worsen. (Reuters)

Vietnam warned on Thursday that its healthcare system could become overloaded, after seeing a surge in new daily coronavirus infections following its week-long Lunar New Year holiday. The Southeast Asian country reported nearly 24,000 new cases on Wednesday, compared to about 15,000 per day in the week before the annual holiday, when millions of people travelled to their rural homes and to tourist hotspots. (Reuters)

Japan's biggest wave of COVID-19 cases to date is showing signs of peaking though authorities are extending virus curbs into next month to try to bring down the rate of hospitalisations. Top medical adviser Shigeru Omi said on Thursday that health centres would shift towards focusing on care for the elderly and those at risk of developing serious illness. “While infections are still increasing, there's a relative slowing trend among working people in their 20s and 30s,” he told reporters after a health task-force meeting. (Reuters)

Vaccination rates are rising sharply among the elderly in Hong Kong, lifting from a relatively low base as an Omicron-fuelled spike in new COVID-19 cases and looming vaccine passes pierce long-standing inoculation complacency among the demographic. The government has announced vaccine passes will be required from Feb. 24 for people wanting to shop, eat out or use public facilities, a measure those who wanted more open border controls had been calling for since early last year. (Reuters)

Japan's biggest wave of COVID-19 cases to date is showing signs of peaking though authorities are extending virus curbs into next month to try to bring down the rate of hospitalisations. Top medical adviser Shigeru Omi said on Thursday that health centres would shift towards focusing on care for the elderly and those at risk of developing serious illness. (Reuters)

Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded a dip in new COVID-19 cases as eight people tested positive for the infection, 10 less than the previous day, pushing the total caseload to 9,951, a health department official said on Thursday. The COVID-19 death toll remained at 129 as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, he said. The union territory now has 168 active COVID-19 cases, while 9,654 people have recovered from the disease so far, the official said. (PTI)

With the addition of 282 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 7,06,461, while eight more fatalities pushed the death toll to 11,838, an official said on Thursday. These new cases and deaths were reported on Wednesday, he said. The COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 1.67 per cent, he added. (PTI)

Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple to reopen for devotees from 11th February adhering to health protocols. Only 50 devotees to be allowed to enter the temple at a time, says Pashupati Area Development Trust. (ANI)