Coronavirus India May 13 Highlights: Those travelling abroad can take precaution dose 3 months after second jab

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, becomes almost immediately nonviable if deposited on a cash banknote, according to a study. The research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests that the use of credit and debit cards over cash as a COVID-19 prevention measure is not advisable. The researchers found that the virus shows greater stability on plastic money cards, with the live virus still being detected 48 hours after initial deposition. However, no viable virus was detected on either cash or card that was randomly sampled in the study, the researchers said. (PTI)

Odisha reported 19 more COVID-19 cases on Friday, the health department said. The toll remained at 9,126 as there was no new fatality for the 10th successive day, it said. There are 121 active cases and 33 more patients recovered from the disease, it added. The new cases were detected after testing 14,608 samples, recording a positivity rate of 0.13 per cent. So far, the state has recorded 12,88,272 cases. (PTI)

Shanghai will try again to reopen in a few days after it has eliminated COVID-19 transmission among the population at large as an outbreak in China's largest city subsides, an official said Friday. The strict lockdown of the city — now in its seventh week but moved, lifted and reinforced at times to the frustration of residents — is part of the ruling Communist Party's “zero-COVID” goal that has exacted a mounting economic toll and that even the World Health Organization says may be unsustainable. The goal in Shanghai is to achieve “elimination in society,” meaning any new cases would only be in people already in isolation, Vice Mayor Wu Qing said at a news conference. That would allow for an “orderly opening, limited (population) flow, and differentiated management,” Wu said. No exact date beyond the middle of the month was given, nor did Wu say how the reopening would occur except that the city intends to gradually restore industrial production, education and medical services. (AP)

Telangana on Thursday registered 39 fresh coronavirus cases taking the tally to 7,92,474. Hyderabad reported the highest number of cases with 28. A health department bulletin said 28 people recuperated from the disease in the last 24 hours and the cumulative number of recoveries till date was 7,87,961. The recovery rate stood at 99.43 percent. No fresh fatality occurred due to the viral infection and the toll continued to be 4,111. The bulletin said 13,422 samples were tested on Thursday. The number of active cases was 402, it said. (PTI)

At least one person confirmed to have COVID-19 has died in North Korea and hundreds of thousands have shown fever symptoms, state media said, offering hints at the potentially dire scale of country's first confirmed outbreak of the pandemic. (Reuters)

South Korea plans to provide COVID-19 vaccines and other medical supplies to the North, President Yoon Suk-yeol's office said on Friday, a day after the neighbouring country confirmed its first outbreak of coronavirus. “We will discuss detailed plans for assistance with North Korea,” Yoon's spokesperson said in a statement. (Reuters)

Mizoram on Friday reported 50 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising the tally to 2,27,899, a health department official said. The death toll stood at 697 as no new fatality was reported since May 3. The daily positivity rate stood at 14.24 per cent and the recovery rate at 99.59 per cent, he said. The northeastern state now has 219 active cases, while 2,26,983 people have so far recovered from the disease. It has tested more than 19.26 lakh samples for coronavirus till date. According to State Immunisation Officer Lalmuanawma Jongte, over 8.53 lakh people have been inoculated till Thursday. (PTI)

North Korea said Friday that six people died and 3.5 lakh have been treated for a fever that has spread “explosively” across the nation, a day after its first acknowledgement of a COVID-19 outbreak. The true scale is unclear, but a big COVID-19 outbreak could be devastating in a country with a broken healthcare system and an unvaccinated, malnourished population. North Korea, which likely does not have sufficient COVID-19 tests and other medical equipment, said it did not know the case of the mass fevers. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said of the 3.5 lakh people who developed fevers since late April, 1,62,200 have recovered. It said 18,000 people were newly found with fever symptoms on Thursday alone, and 1,87,800 people are being isolated for treatment. (AP)

Scientists have developed an ultra-large scale computerised model of 1 million to 100 million individuals, closely representative of the Indian population, that they say can help assess the impact and progression of an infectious disease, including COVID-19, at the most granular level. The synthetic population model termed BharatSIM has been developed by using data from sources such as the National Sample Survey Office surveys and Census. Developed by researchers at Ashoka University in Sonipat, Haryana in collaboration with global technology company Thoughtworks, the tool is also being used to make predictions on COVID-19.

North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak after holding for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record-keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world. The outbreak forced leader Kim Jong Un to wear a mask in public likely for the first time since the start of the pandemic, but the scale of transmissions inside North Korea wasn't immediately known. A failure to slow infections could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated. Some experts say the North, by its rare admission of an outbreak, maybe seeking outside aid. (AP)

The union territory of Puducherry added two fresh coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours pushing the overall caseload to 1,65,801, a senior official of Department of Health said on Thursday. The two new infections emerged after the examination of 314 samples and the active cases rose to seven, Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release here. There were no fresh fatalities in any of the four regions-Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam- during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Thursday and the death toll remained at 1,962, he said. (PTI)

Shanghai authorities combed the city on Thursday for its last COVID-19 cases in the hope of clearing the way for an exit from a painful six-week lockdown, while Beijing curbed taxi services to keep a lid on its smaller outbreak. The Chinese commercial hub of 25 million people has in recent days been tightening its lockdown for a final push to eradicate the virus by the end of the month, having made some significant progress, according to data this week. Shanghai's mass testing detected just two new cases outside areas facing the strictest curbs on May 11, officials said on Thursday, but that was two more than none the previous day. (Reuters)

China's leaders are struggling to reverse an economic slump without giving up anti-virus tactics that shut down Shanghai and other cities, adding to challenges for President Xi Jinping as he tries to extend his time in power. The ruling Communist Party has declared its “zero-COVID” goal of preventing all infections takes priority over the economy. It is a decision with global implications and comes despite warnings by experts including the head of the World Health Organization that the goal might be unattainable. “We don't think it is sustainable,” the WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Tuesday. (AP)

Mizoram on Thursday recorded 55 new COVID-19 cases, 22 more than the previous day, with the tally rising to 2,27,849, a health department official said. The death toll stood at 697 as no new fatality due to the infection was reported for the last 10 days, he said. The daily positivity rate increased to 12 per cent from 7.73 per cent the previous day as the fresh cases were detected from 455 sample tests, the official said. The northeastern state now has 209 active cases. Forty-six people recuperated from the disease on Wednesday, taking the total number of recoveries to 2,26,943, the official said. (PTI)