Covid-19: All Updates

519 new Covid-19 cases reported in Goa, recovery rate improves to 80.68 %

The total confirmed cases of COVID 19 in Goa has gone up to 31,071 as 519 people tested positive on Friday while total number of people who succumbed to the infection increased to 386 as three people died on the same day.

According to Directorate of Health Services, 723 people recovered during the last 36 hours pushing the recovering rate to 80.68 per cent and total number of recovered patients to 25,071.

On Friday 325 patients opted for home isolation while 269 patients were hospitalised. As many as 1981 new samples were tested taking the number of total samples tested so far to 2,46,170.

Number of active cases in the coastal state stood at 5614.

Covid-19 cases spike in Thane

With 1,670 new COVID-19 cases, a tally has spiked to 1,67,013 in Thane district, the district authorities said on Saturday.

While, the death cases were surged to 4,302, with an addition of 33 he said.

The recovery rate of the district is 86.60 per cent (1,44,631), mortality 2.58 pc (4,302) and active patients were 10.83 pc (18,080), the official said.

An official from Palghar today told this correspondent that the total of positive cases in the district were 33,545 and deaths 641.

India adds 85,362 new COVID-19 cases in past 24 hours, 1089 deaths

India added 85,362 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, Ministry of Health data released on Saturday.

The tally of COVID-19 cases in the country now stands at 59,03,933. 

During the same period, India registered 1089 deaths due to the highly infectious disease.

There are currently 9,60,969 active cases in the country.

So far, 48,49,584 patients have been discharged from hospital.

The total death toll due to the disease in the country now stands at 93379.

WHO chief calls for meeting 35-bln-USD financial gap on COVID-19 response

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday urged the international community to help meet a financial gap of 35 billion US dollars for the "Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator" (ACT-Accelerator), a WHO-led global collaboration for the development of COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.

"We are not asking for an act of charity. We are asking for an investment in the global recovery," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing on Friday, adding that "The economic benefits from restoring international travel and trade alone would repay this investment very quickly."

Updated influenza vaccine advice targets protection of elderly and health workers

Amid a potential global shortage in influenza vaccines and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the UN health agency has advised countries to protect the elderly and health workers first.

The updated recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO), come as the northern hemisphere braces for the seasonal bug, which claims hundreds of thousands of lives from respiratory-related causes every year.

“There has in fact been an increased demand and we’re hearing now that countries that are trying to get influenza vaccine cannot get it”, said Dr Ann Moen, Chief, Influenza Preparedness and Response at the WHO.

(Image Credit: UN File Photo)

Fight against COVID-19: Johnson & Johnson's vaccine shows strong immune response

US pharmaceutical major  Johnson & Johnson's potential COVID-19 vaccine has shown development of a strong neutralizing antibody response in nearly all participants aged 18 years and older and was generally well-tolerated.

The company published an interim analysis from the ongoing Phase 1/2a clinical trial of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate (JNJ-78436735) on Friday.

" Immune responses were similar across the age groups studied, including older adults," the company said in a statement.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

India reports spike in Covid-19 daily cases, tally crosses 57 lakh

India, which has approximately 1.3 billion people, reported a spike in the daily cases of Covid-19 for the second consecutive day pushing the overall tally of infections to beyond 57 lakh.

In 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday mornings, the country has reported 86,508 cases while 1,129 people infected with the virus succumbed to the disease in the same period.

The Covid-19 toll has now touched 91,149.

In the last 24 hours, 87,374 Covid-19 patients were discharged from various medical facilities from across the vast country with a poor health infrastructure.

9,66,382 Covid-19 patients are still under medical supervision.

Focus on testing, tracing, treatment: PM Modi's urges CMs of seven states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with Chief Ministers of seven states via video conferencing where he emphasized the need to increase focus on "effective testing, tracing, treatment and surveillance" to bring the Coronavirus outbreak in the country under control.

The states that attended the meeting include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab, which are contributing maximum cases of the contagion daily.

Addressing the CMs of these states, Modi said, "I urge the honourable Chief Ministers to conduct a programme to interact with the people at tehsil-level or block-level to create awareness on safety protocols related to coronavirus. This can be done continuously for 7 days. Am sure this will help our messages reach the bottom-most tier of the population."

Beijing reports no new COVID-19 cases

No new locally transmitted confirmed, asymptomatic, or suspected cases of COVID-19 were reported in Beijing on Tuesday, the municipal health commission said Wednesday.

COVID-19: India registers 1085 new deaths

India registered  83,347 new cases in the past 24 hours as the COVID-19 tally in the country now stands at 5,646,011.

The highly infectious disease left 1,085 people dead in the past 24 hours.

The number of active cases in the country now stands at 968377.

The total number of discharged people are 4587613.

The death toll due to the virus, which is believed to have originated from China, stands at 90020.

West Bengal reports 3,182 Covid-19 cases, 62 deaths in 24 hours

West Bengal, the eastern state of India, reported 3,182 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours taking the overall of infections in the state to 2,31,484. 

62 people, who were infected with the virus, died in the same period. The Covid toll in the state now stands at 4,483. 

The discharge rate stands at 87.28% as 3,047 Covid patients recovered in the last 24 hours. 

(Image Credit: India Blooms File)

Covid-19: India records over 1 lakh cured cases, recovery rate 80.86%

India on Tuesday clocked a record number of cured or discharged cases in a single day amounting to over 1 lakh, the Health Ministry data said.

The recovery rate has improved to 80.86% with 1,01,468 recoveries that have also brought down the active cases below 10 lakh-mark, the data update said.

New cases registered since Monday were 75,083, and the overall Covid-19 cases tally of the country is now 55,62,664.

Presently, the country carries an active case load of 9,75,861, which was over 10 lakh till Monday.

(Image Credit: UNI)

India adds 75,083 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, tally crosses 55 lakh

India, which has been battered by the Novel Coronavirus pandemic despite months of lockdown, on Tuesday added 75,083 Covid-19 cases taking the tally of infections beyond 55 lakh.

With the fresh cases, the Covid-19 tally in the country has touched 55,62,664.

1,053 people, who were infected with the virus, died in 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday mornings, taking the toll to 88,935. 

DCGI approves Tata Group's low cost CRISPR Covid-19 test 'Feluda'

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given its approval for the commercial launch of India's first Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), Covid-19 test 'Feluda' developed by the Tata Group and CSIR-IGIB (Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology).

"This test uses an indigenously developed, cutting-edge CRISPR technology for the detection of the genomic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. CRISPR is a genome-editing technology to diagnosing diseases," said a release issued by the Ministry of Science & Technology.

Feluda, received regulatory approvals on Saturday from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for commercial launch, as per ICMR guidelines, meeting high-quality benchmarks with 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity for detecting the novel coronavirus, said the release.

The test kit, which honours Satyajit Ray's fictional Calcutta-based sleuth Prodosh Mitra aka 'Feluda', has been devised by two scientists of CSIR-IGIB. Feluda--short for FNCAS9 Editor-Limited Uniform Detection Assay--is expected to provide fast and accurate detection of the virus.

New Zealand relaxes COVID-19 restrictions

New Zealand's largest city Auckland will ease restrictions on gatherings at midnight Wednesday, moving down from COVID-19 Alert Level 2.5 to 2, with the rest of the country moving down from Alert Level 2 to Level 1 from midnight Monday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement at a press conference on Monday while no new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country on the day.

Auckland saw a second wave of COVID-19 community outbreak in August, with transmissions contained locally. Therefore, Auckland has maintained a higher alert level than the rest of New Zealand.

(Image Credit: Jacinda Ardern Facebook)

India adds over 86,000 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours

India, the country of 1.3 billion people, on Monday added 86,961 Covid-19 cases taking the overall tally of infections 54.87 lakh. 

1,130 people, who were infected with the virus, died in 24 hours between Sunday and Monday mornings. (Image Credit: UNI)