Financial Express brings you the latest and verified Covid updates from India and around the globe. Check out here: India on Saturday reported 11,499 fresh Covid-19 cases in another day of decline in the active caseload as the country moves to completely reopen following a months-long disruption caused by the Omicron variant.
The country recorded 255 fatalities, while the total active caseload fell to 121,881 or 0.28% of total infections. With the third wave subsiding, India’s positivity rate has also fallen to 1.01%, while the national recovery rate rose to 98.52%, according to the latest Union Health Ministry bulletin.
The Centre has already asked states and Union Territories to consider lifting pandemic-related curbs, with the Delhi Disaster Management Authority already announcing a complete easing of curbs, including the reopening of schools for physical classes, from April.
Coronavirus India Live News: Covid-19 Omicron Cases in India Live Count, Coronavirus Guidelines and Restrictions Live Updates
Ladakh on Saturday reported 24 new COVID-19 cases, taking the union territory's infection tally to 27,971, while 42 recoveries brought down the count of active cases to 230, officials said. The death toll due to the disease remained unchanged at 228 and 168 in Leh and 60 in Kargil. – PTI
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 177 crore on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said. More than 25 lakh (25,20,820) doses were administered on Friday till 7 pm, it said. Also, so far over 1.98 crore (1,98,39,419) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night. The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2, 2021. (PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 95 fresh cases of coronavirus, taking the number of infections to 4,52,817, while no death due to the virus was reported in the past 24 hours, officials said. They said 65 of the new cases were from the Jammu division and 30 from the Kashmir division. The officials said Jammu district recorded the most cases as 227 infections were reported there, followed by 20 infections in Doda district. There are 995 active cases in the union territory, while the number of recovered patients is 4,47,074, they said. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu on Fridy added 507 new Covid-19 infections to the caseload of 34,48,088 while three deaths took the tally to 38,000 until now, said the Health Department. Recoveries eclipsed new cases with 1,794 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours. The total recoveries were 34,01,938 so far, a bulletin said. Among districts, Chennai accounted for the majority of fresh infections with 133 cases followed by Coimbatore 76 and Chengalpet 58 while the remaining were spread across other districts. Chennai, the State capital, leads in the overall cases with 7,49,605 infections till date. Ariyalur, Kallakurichi, Theni, Tirupathur recorded nil cases each while 22 districts saw the numbers in single digit. A total of 66,366 samples were tested thus pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 6,42,18,370 till date. (PTI)
With COVID-19 cases declining in Delhi, the cumulative number of patients under home-isolation has also fallen gradually, registering a steep drop of over 87 per cent in the past three weeks, according to official data. As on February 1, the city had cumulatively 12,312 home-isolation cases, which declined to 1,559 on February 24, and further to 1,483 on February 25. The number of containment zones also registered a dip to stand at 6,880 on February 24 from 37,116 on February 1, according to official figures shared by the health department. The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic. It took just 10 days for daily cases to drop below the 10,000-mark. Overall more than 750 Covid deaths were reported in Delhi during January, as per official data. The number of fatalities recorded in a day, too has registered a significant fall. (PTI)
Four more Covid-related deaths were reported in Haryana on Friday while 399 new cases pushed the infection count to 9,80,759, according to a health department bulletin. So far, 10,551 people have died from the infection in the state, it said. Of the new cases, 169 were reported from Gurugram while 22 were from Faridabad. The fatalities included two from Gurugram and one each from Panipat and Ambala, according to the bulletin. (PTI)
Delhi on Friday reported 460 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths due to the disease, while the positivity rate dropped to 0.81 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department. With this, the national capital's infection tally increased to 18,58,614 and the death toll climbed to 26,117, the latest health bulletin stated. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago stood at 56,984, it said. (PTI)
Nagaland on Friday reported five new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally in the state to 35,395, a health department official said. The coronavirus death toll remained at 755 as no new fatality was reported, he said. Nagaland now has 139 active COVID-19 cases, while 33,024 people have recovered from the disease, including 17 in the last 24 hours, the official said. The state had reported three new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. (PTI)
The Delhi government on Friday announced that it will give an ex-gratia amount of Rs 1 crore each to the families of 13 Covid warriors who lost their lives during the pandemic. The decision was taken during a meeting of the Group of Ministers chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday. In a statement, Sisodia said corona warriors of Delhi worked hard and sacrificed their lives, putting their service to protect humanity and society before their own lives. Saluting their spirit on behalf of the Delhi Government, the deputy chief minister said while this amount would not compensate for the loss the families of the deceased have suffered, it will definitely contribute in helping them lead a dignified life. (PTI)
Sikkim reported nine new COVID-19 cases, five more than the previous day, pushing the tally to 39,060, a health department bulletin said on Friday. East Sikkim district and West Sikkim logged four cases each, while South Sikkim district reported one case. The Himalayan state now has 78 active COVID-19 cases, while 37,795 people have recovered from the disease and 745 have migrated to other states. The COVID-19 death toll remained at 442 as no new fatality was reported in the last 24 hours. (PTI)
Mumbai on Friday reported 128 COVID-19 cases, the sixth day in a row when the addition to the tally was less than 200, and no fresh fatality, a feat that occurred for the sixth time this month, a civic official said. The tally in the metropolis is 10,56,207 and the toll stood unchanged at 16,691, while the discharge of 200 people took the recovery count to 10,35,626, which is 98 per cent of the caseload, he said. He said 88 per cent, or 113 of 128 new cases detected, were asymptomatic, with just 15 patients needing hospitalisation and two requiring oxygen support in the last 24 hours. Only 721 of the 36,102 beds earmarked for COVID-19 treatment are occupied now, the official said, adding that the active caseload of the city stood at 1,014. (PTI)
The COVID-19 tally in Nashik in Maharashtra stood at 4,75,601 on Friday after 40 cases were detected, while one death took the toll to 8,892, an official said. So far, 4,66,361 people have been discharged post recovery, including 126 during the day, leaving the district with an active tally of 378, he added. (PTI)
Kerala reported 3,581 new cases of COVID-19 and 177 deaths on Friday and took the total to 64,91,418 and 64,980 respectively so far. Of the deaths, six were reported in the last 24 hours, 43 occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents; 128 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court, the Health Department said. Among the districts, Ernakulam reported the most with 637 followed by Thiruvananthapuram 523 and Kollam 364. A total of 44,054 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, the department said in a press release. (PTI)
Andhra Pradesh recorded 280 fresh cases of Covid-19, 496 recoveries and two deaths in 24 hours ending 9 AM on Friday. According to the latest bulletin, cases now rose to 23,17,464, recoveries to 22,98,033 and deaths 14,722. The number of active cases declined to 4,709. Districts of east Godavari and Anantapuramu reported 44 fresh cases each, Prakasam 40, West Godavari 38, Visakhapatnam 34 and Guntur 28. (PTI)
Hong Kong on Friday reported another sharp jump in new COVID-19 cases to more than 10,000 in the latest 24-hour period as it battles its worst outbreak of the pandemic. The new daily case count reached 10,010, health officials said, after topping 6,000 last week and 8,000 earlier this week in a spiralling outbreak. The city has been reporting about 50 deaths a day, many among the unvaccinated elderly. The government has announced plans to test everyone in the semi-autonomous Chinese city of 7.4 million people next month as it tries to adhere to a zero-COVID policy modelled on the strict mainland China approach. (AP)
Germany's health minister warned Friday that the coronavirus pandemic isn't over yet, noting that the country is still seeing record infections and high numbers of deaths. The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's disease control agency, reported 210,743 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 226 deaths in the past 24 hours. Officials say laboratory data suggests there may be a large number of undetected cases. “We need to be careful not to think that the pandemic is over,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told reporters in Berlin. (AP)
Eighty per cent of the samples taken from those who died of COVID-19 in Delhi till February 22 this year had the Omicron variant, according to government data. Genome sequencing of 239 samples collected from the deceased showed 191 of them with the Omicron variant. The remaining 48 (20 per cent) had other variants of COVID-19, including Delta which fuelled the ferocious second wave of infections in April and May last year, and sub lineages. Overall, the Omicron variant was found in 92 per cent of the 626 samples analysed at genome sequencing laboratories in the capital till February 22 this year, according to the data. (PTI)
Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 12,84,323 on Friday as 345 more people, including 111 children, tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. The state's coronavirus death toll rose to 9,052 as seven more patients succumbed to the infection in Bargarh district. The state had logged 339 COVID-19 cases and zero deaths on Thursday. (PTI)
Puducherry recorded 14 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Friday taking the overall tally in the Union Territory to 1,65,690. In a press release, Director of Health G Sriramulu said the fresh cases were identified after examining 1,689 samples. The cases were reported in Puducherry (12) and Yanam (two). Karaikal and Mahe regions did not not register any fresh case, the Director said. (PTI)
In a meeting with CM and senior officials, it was decided to remove restrictions on offline classes in schools of 7 districts. Schools will be opened from class 1 onwards from March 7 but offline exams are not allowed till March: Banna Gupta, Jharkhand Health Minister in Ranchi (ANI)
China on Friday reported the highest daily count of COVID-19 cases arriving from outside the mainland in nearly two years, with infections mostly from Hong Kong as the financial hub grapples with a wave of infections. The mainland detected a total of 142 imported cases with confirmed symptoms for Thursday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday. That marks the highest imported caseload since the authority began classifying domestically transmitted cases and infected travellers from outside the mainland separately, in March 2020. (Reuters)
DDMA withdraws all restrictions as situation improves n people facing hardships due to loss of jobs. Schools to function fully offline from 1 April. Fines for not wearing masks reduced to Rs 500: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (ANI)
More than 1.9 million children in India lost a parent or caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a modelling study of 20 countries published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal. Globally, the number of children estimated to have experienced the death of a parent or caregiver as a result of COVID-19 has surged to more than 5.2 million, the researchers said. Estimates of the numbers of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and caregiver death nearly doubled in the six months from May 1, 2021 through October 31, 2021 compared with the numbers after the first 14 months of the pandemic, they said. (PTI)
Delhi | All #covid19 restrictions to be lifted, subject to positivity remaining below 1%. Night curfew to be lifted from Monday. Stress on COVID appropriate behaviour, Masking,Surveillance,Testing & Vaccination. Schools to do away with hybrid mode of classes from April 1: Sources (ANI)
Canada has become the first country to authorize use of a plant-based COVID-19 vaccine. Canadian regulators said Thursday Medicago's two-dose vaccine can be given to adults ages 18 to 64, but said there's too little data on the shots in people 65 and older. (AP)
Ladakh reported 19 fresh Covid cases, raising the union territory's tally 27,947, officials said on Friday. The active cases have come down to 248 — 228 in Leh district and 20 in Kargil district — with 55 more patients recovering from the disease in the past 24 hours, they said. The union territory has so far recorded 228 Covid-related deaths — 168 in Leh and 60 in Kargil. (PTI)
The Union Home Ministry on Friday asked states and union territories to consider relaxing Covid curbs for social, sports, entertainment, academic and religious events as well as night curfew hours in view of the substantial decline in the number of cases. Issuing COVID-19 guidelines for March, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also suggested the implementation of a risk assessment based approach on the opening of economic activities as suggested by the Union Health Ministry recently.
Japan said on Thursday international travellers showing proof of a COVID-19 vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson shot would be allowed in and be eligible for a shorter time in quarantine when border controls are eased next month. The J&J shot, which has not been approved in Japan, will join a list of three other shots that have been approved by regulators as sufficient for non-residents to enter, after a nearly two-year ban on such travellers. (Reuters)
Medicago's vaccine on Thursday became the world's first plant-based shot approved against COVID-19 after Health Canada cleared it for use in adults. The two-dose vaccine, which uses an adjuvant from GlaxoSmithKline to boost immune response, is the sixth COVID-19 shot to receive regulatory clearance in the country.
The number of cars and trucks blocking the streets outside New Zealand's Parliament was thinning Friday, although more protesters were expected to arrive for the weekend, including some by boat. For more than two weeks, protesters against coronavirus vaccine mandates have been camping outside Parliament, their numbers dropping during the weekdays and then swelling to the thousands over the weekends. (AP)
Anyone who tests positive for COVID in Hong Kong, including infants and children, are put into isolation facilities with no family contact allowed, as authorities enforce their “dynamic zero” COVID policy. As coronavirus cases hit record daily highs, the government plans to roll out compulsory mass testing for the city's 7.4 million people in March, exacerbating separation fears among many local and expatriate families. (Reuters)
➡️ More than 173.59 Cr vaccine doses provided to States/UTs.
➡️ More than 11.02 Cr doses still available with States/UTs to be administered.https://t.co/PV1Gxe6dulpic.twitter.com/5traxKnqe8
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) February 25, 2022
➡️ India's Active Caseload currently at 1,34,235.
➡️ Active Cases presently constitute 0.31% of Total Cases. pic.twitter.com/wm3mRzHelQ
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) February 25, 2022
➡️ Over 76.45 Cr COVID Tests conducted so far.
➡️ Weekly Positivity Rate currently at 1.48%.
➡️ Daily Positivity Rate stands at 1.28%. pic.twitter.com/GoxHM6QhyG
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) February 25, 2022
The Mizoram government has so far provided compensation of Rs 50,000 each to 420 of 652 COVID deceased people in the state, Chief Minister Zoramthanga has informed the assembly. Also, compensation of Rs 20 lakh each has been released to the next of kin of three volunteers of village-level task force who have died due to COVID-19 while executing their duties. The ex-gratia payment has been met from the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF), he said on Thursday. The chief minister said that the grant for COVID ex-gratia payment has been increased to Rs 49 crore from Rs 47 crore as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. (PTI)
Active case: 1,34,235 (0.31%)
Daily positivity rate: 1.28%
Total recoveries: 4,22,46,884
Death toll: 5,13,226
Total vaccination: 1,76,86,89,266 pic.twitter.com/kPbKxRCBzk
— ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2022
➡️ India’s Cumulative #covid19 Vaccination Coverage exceeds 176.86 Cr (1,76,86,89,266).
➡️ More than 32.04 Lakh doses administered in the last 24 hours.
➡️ More than 1.97 Cr Precaution Doses administered so far.https://t.co/fofFK4OVXG pic.twitter.com/sxNSAbQpT6
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) February 25, 2022
The COVID-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands remained unchanged at 10,015 as no fresh case was reported, a health bulletin said. The Union territory now has 18 active cases, while 9,868 people have recovered from the disease so far, including six in the last 24 hours. The coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 129 as no fresh fatality was recorded. (PTi)
With the addition of 57 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra increased to 7,08,138, an official said on Friday. These new cases were reported on Thursday. As the virus claimed the lives of three persons, the death toll in the district stood at 11,872. The mortality rate is 1.67 per cent, he said. In neighbouring Palghar district, the caseload has gone up to 1,63,340, while the death toll is 3,391, another official said. (PTI)
The Biden administration will significantly loosen federal mask-wearing guidelines to protect against COVID-19 transmission on Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter, meaning most Americans will no longer be advised to wear masks in indoor public settings. (AP)
