Coronavirus News Highlights: India records 12,847 new Covid-19 cases; 14 deaths

Chhattisgarh on Friday recorded 78 Covid-19 cases at a positivity rate of 1.07 per cent, taking the tally in the state to 11,52,928, while the death toll remained unchanged at 14,035, an official said.

The 78 cases included 19 in Raipur, 14 in Durg and 11 in Bilaspur, while no new Covid-19 case was reported in 11 districts, he said. (PTI)

Today’s Covid numbers --

Delhi -1797 cases

Mumbai - 2,255 cases

Chennai - 286 cases

Bengaluru - 634 cases

The cumulative Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country reached nearly 196 crore on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said.

Over 13 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Friday till 7 pm. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late at night.

A total of 1,15,656 precaution doses of Covid vaccine were administered among those aged 18-59 years on Tuesday till 7 pm, taking the tally of such jabs given in this age group to 39,00,663, according to the Health Ministry data. (PTI)

Gujarat registered 225 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours.  The recovery count increased by 141 during this period to touch 12,15,033, taking the active caseload to 1,186. (PTI)

Telangana on Friday reported 279 fresh Covid-19 cases taking the statewide tally to 7,95,572. Hyderabad saw the highest number of cases with 172.

A health department bulletin said 119 people recuperated from the infectious disease and the the recovery rate stood at 99.26 per cent.  No fresh fatality occurred due to the infection and the death toll continued to be 4,111. (PTI)

At least 71 new cases of coronavirus were detected in Madhya Pradesh. With this, the central state currently has 421 active cases and the positivity rate stood at 1 per cent, the official said. (PTI)

The Covid-19 tally in Nashik increased by 28 to reach 4,76,334 on Friday, while the death toll stood unchanged at 8,899, an official said.

So far, 4,67,317 persons have been discharged post recovery, including 22 during the day, leaving the district with 118 active cases, he added. (PTI)

Mumbai on Friday reported 2,255 new coronavirus infections, a dip from the daily cases reported in the last two days, and two pandemic-related deaths, a civic official said.

The city now has 13,304 active cases. For the third time this week, the test positivity rate in Mumbai was above 15% at 15.39%. (PTI)

Jammu and Kashmir reported 22 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, taking the infection tally in the Union Territory to 4,54,442, officials said.

Seventeen fresh cases were reported from Jammu division while five cases were reported from Kashmir valley, the officials said. There are 124 active cases of the disease in the Union Territory, while the number of recoveries has reached 4,49,566, they said. (PTI)

US regulators on Friday authorised the first Covid-19 shots for infants and preschoolers, paving the way for vaccinations to begin next week.

The Food and Drug Administration's action follows its advisory panel's unanimous recommendation for the shots from Moderna and Pfizer. That means US kids under 5 — roughly 18 million youngsters — are eligible for the shots, about 1 1/2 years after the vaccines first became available in the US for adults, who have been hit the hardest during the pandemic. (AP)

Maharashtra on Friday recorded 4,165 new coronavirus cases, slightly fewer than previous day, and three pandemic-related deaths, the state health department said. State capital Mumbai alone reported 2,255 new cases and two fatalities.

The Covid-19 caseload rose to 79,27,862, and death toll reached 1,47,883. Active cases in the state stand at 21,749. Every district in Maharashtra has now active coronavirus patients.

Besides two deaths in Mumbai, another death was recorded from Jalgaon.The case fatality rate in the state stands at 1.86 per cent. (PTI)

China on Friday defended its tough “zero-Covid” policy after the US ambassador said it was causing serious damage to the global economy and foreign business sentiment.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the Chinese economy is recovering from the effects of the pandemic and “facts prove” the policy mandating lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing is “suitable for China's national conditions and has stood the test of history.” “We have full confidence that (we can) contain the epidemic, steady the economy and achieve the goal of safe economic development," Wang said at a daily briefing. (Reuters)

Odisha recorded 25 new coronavirus cases on Friday, 16 less than the previous day, taking the tally to 12,88,762, a health bulletin said.

The toll remained unchanged at 9,126 as there was no more death due to the pathogen in the last 24 hours. Fifty-three other coronavirus patients have died due to comorbidities so far, it said.

There are 185 active cases, while 17 more people have recuperated from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 12,79,398, the bulletin said. (PTI)

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is less likely to cause long Covid risk than the Delta variant, new research in the UK has found.

Analysis by researchers from King's College London of data from the ZOE Covid Symptom study app published on Thursday in a letter to ‘The Lancet' journal found the odds of experiencing long Covid were between 20-50 per cent less during the Omicron period versus the Delta period, depending on age and time since vaccination.

Long Covid is defined by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines as having new or ongoing Covid symptoms four weeks or more after the start of disease. (PTI)

Covd-19 test positivity rate (TPR) in Mumbai jumped over 15 per cent twice in the current week, civic officials said on Friday, as the metropolis battles a fresh surge in cases after the third wave of the pandemic waned earlier this year.

They said TPR jumped to 15.58 per cent on June 14, when 1,724 people tested positive for coronavirus out of 11,065 tests conducted that day and then again on June 16 the rate shot up to 15.11 per cent when 2,366 new patients were detected on the back of 15,656 tests in a span of 24 hours.

TPR is the proportion of positive cases out of the total tests conducted and it has witnessed a steady rise in the financial capital since the last one month. (PTI)

The Union Territory of Puducherry witnessed a spike in the number of new Covid-19 cases on Friday as 31 people were affected by the viral disease.

The UT had recorded 19 cases on Thursday. A release from the Director of Health G Sriramulu said Puducherry region accounted for 23 new cases out of the total 31 while Karaikal reported six, and Mahe and Yanam regions had one fresh case each.

The active cases tally has gone up to 100 with one patient admitted in hospital and 99 people recovering in home quarantine, the Director said. There were 77 active cases in the UT on Thursday. (PTI)

Once again, Covid-19 has spiralled in Maharashtra with the positivity rate hovering around 10 per cent. As of June 16, active cases stood at 20,634, a 13-fold spike from May 16, when the total number was just 1,526. Not only that, cases are jumping with alarming speed in most metros.

It has never been claimed that vaccinated people will never get infected. Also, if one gets infected, the chances are that they will be asymptomatic or have minor symptoms, Dr Rahul Pandit says. (Read More)

Over 5,300 challans were issued across Delhi between June 10 and 15 and fines to the tune of over Rs 26 lakh were imposed on those flouting Covid norms amid a surge in cases here, officials said.

However, the total fines collected was Rs 14,60,980, almost half of the amount of fines imposed by the districts. Officials explained that while some people pay the fine amount on the spot, there are others who pay the fine later in the court.

The enforcement team of the New Delhi district issued the maximum number of challans while the southwest district administration issued the least number of fines and recorded single-digit number on all six days between June 10 and June 15.

Delhi recorded 1,323 new Covid cases and two deaths on Thursday, while the positivity rate stood at 6.69 per cent, according to data shared by the health department. (PTI)

Thane district of Maharashtra has reported 934 new coronavirus positive cases, which took its infection count to 7,17,090, an official said on Friday.

These cases were recorded on Thursday, a day after the district saw 852 infections. On Tuesday, the district had recorded 607 cases.

There was no fresh fatality and the death toll in the district stood at 11,896, the official said, adding that the Covid-19 mortality rate stood at 1.67 per cent. (PTI)