Coronavirus news highlights: Maharashtra reports 2,498 Covid-19 cases, 4,501 discharges

India's Covid-19 tally stands at 1,02,25,272 and the toll is at 1,48,135. Ahead of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive, the Centre is conducting a dry run across four states on December 28 and 29 to test the readiness of the systems. The Centre has extended restrictions and instruction on surveillance and containment till January 31.

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Iran says Pfizer vaccine batch expected from US benefactors

An unidentified group of US-based philanthropists plans to send 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Iran in the coming weeks, Iranian media reported Monday, in a step that could bring the hardest-hit country in the Middle East closer to inoculating its citizens against the coronavirus.

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Manchester City's Premier League match at Everton postponed due to positive Covid-19 tests

German care home workers given five times vaccine dose

Eight care home workers in Germany were accidentally injected with five doses of theCovid-19 vaccine, local authorities said Monday -- but are suffering no serious ill effects so far.

The seven women and one man, aged between 38 and 54, are employees of a retirement home in the town of Stralsund in northeastern Germany. -AFP

Compulsory Covid-19 tests for all who entered Nagaland after Dec 20

In the wake of the emergence of a mutated strain of the virus in the UK, all persons who have come to Nagaland after December 20 have been asked to report to their district-level coronavirus task forces for compulsory Covid-19 testing, a senior health official said on Monday.

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People can hold celebrations within the premises of residential colonies strictly following Covid-19 protocols. No special events like musical nights, shows allowed at malls, pubs, restaurants, clubhouses: Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru -ANI

Brazil's vice president taking antimalarial drug for Covid-19

Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao is taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as part of an unproven treatment after contracting the novel coronavirus, his office said on Monday.

In a statement, Mourao's office said the vice president's health is "good" and he is continuing to self-isolate at his official residence in Brasilia after testing positive for the virus on Sunday.

President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the severity of Covid-19, while advocating for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment despite a lack of scientific evidence. He took the antimalarial himself when he caught the virus in July. -Reuters

There will be no new year celebrations at public places, due to Covid-19 and emergence of the new strain of the virus in the United Kingdom: Karnataka Minister Basavaraj Bommai -ANI

Maharashtra reports 2,498 Covid-19 cases, 4,501 discharges

4,501 patients discharged today; 18,14,449 Covid-19 patients discharged after full recovery until today; Recovery rate in the state is 94.4%.

2,498 new cases in the state today.

50 Covid-19 deaths reported in the state today. Case fatality rate is the state is 2.57%.

Out of 1,25,43,772 laboratory samples, 19,22,048 have been tested positive (15.32%) for Covid-19 until today.

Currently 4,52,535 people are in home quarantine and 3,138 people are in institutional quarantine.

Uttarakhand CM admitted to AIIMS in Delhi

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who tested positive for Covid-19 recently, was admitted to Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Monday with an infection in his lungs.

He was taken to Delhi in a helicopter in the morning on the advice of doctors after a slight infection was found in his lungs, an official said here. Rawat has undergone some important tests at the AIIMS, he added. -PTI

Delhi reports 564 new Covid-19 cases, 959 recoveries and 21 deaths -ANI

Delhi reports 564 new Covid-19 cases, 959 recoveries and 21 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Delhi Health Department

Total cases: 6,23,415

Total recoveries: 6,06,644

Death toll: 10,474

Active cases: 6,297

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issues order to extend guidelines for surveillance to remain in force upto 31.01.2021

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an Order today to extend the earlier Guidelines for Surveillance to remain in force upto 31.01.2021.

While there has been a continuous decline in the active and new Covid-19 cases, there is need to maintain surveillance, containment and caution, keeping in view the surge in cases globally, and emergence of a new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom (UK).

Accordingly, Containment Zones continue to be demarcated carefully; prescribed containment measures strictly followed within these zones; Covid-appropriate behaviour promoted and strictly enforced; and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) prescribed in respect of various permitted activities followed scrupulously.

Therefore, the focused approach on surveillance, containment and strict observance of the guidelines/ SOPs issued by MHA and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW), as envisaged in the Guidelines issued on 25.11.2020; need to be enforced strictly by States and UTs. -PIB

New coronavirus variant that spread in UK found in two people in Finland: Health officials

Sri Lanka welcomes first tourists despite new coronavirus strain

Sri Lanka welcomed its first foreign tourists in nine months Monday even as a new deadlier strain of the coronavirus gripped the island.

A charter flight carrying 185 passengers from Ukraine landed at a little-used airport south of the capital, which has been stricken by a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths.

In less than three months, the official number of coronavirus fatalities has risen from 13 to 191, while the number of infections has gone from 3,300 to more than 41,000. -AFP

India is a part of 'COVAX'. We will keep giving 50% of everything we make to India & to COVAX at the same time. India has such a large population that we will probably end up giving the majority of those 50 million doses to India first.

The first six months of 2021 will see a shortage globally. Nobody can help that. But we will see easing off by August-September 2021 as other vaccine manufactures also being able to supply: Adar Poonawalla, Serum Institute of India -ANI

We have 40-50 million doses of Covishield stockpiled. Once we get regulatory approvals in a few days, it'll be down to the Govt to decide how much they can take and how fast. We will be producing around 300 million doses by July 2021: Adar Poonawalla, Serum Institute of India -ANI

Macron to review Covid-19 situation on Dec. 29 amid surge in cases

French President Emmanuel Macron and some senior cabinet ministers will review the Covid-19 situation on Wednesday, the Elysee said on Monday, amid another surge in cases that has spurred fears of a third lockdown in France.

The European Union rolled out a massive Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday to try to rein in a pandemic that has crippled economies worldwide and claimed more than 1.7 million lives. -Reuters

EU says Pfizer to complete supply of first 200 million Covid-19 vaccine shots to Europe by Sept

The distribution of an initial 200 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech will be completed for the European Union by September, a spokesman for the EU Commission said on Monday.

"Distribution of the full 200 million doses is scheduled to be completed by September 2021," the spokesman told Reuters in an emailed statement.

He added that talks were underway to agree the delivery of a further 100 million additional doses which are optional under the contract sealed with the two companies. -Reuters

Work from home hits office demand; net leasing of office space dips 44% in 2020: Report

Net office space leasing fell 44 per cent year-on-year during 2020 to 25.82 million sq ft across seven major cities as corporates deferred their expansion plans and adopted 'work from home' policy for employees because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by JLL India.

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India's Covid-19 recoveries rise to 97,82,669, exceed active cases by over 95 lakh

India's Covid-19 recoveries rose to 97,82,669 on Monday and it exceeded active cases by more than 95 lakh, the health ministry said.

There has been a steady drop in the active caseload as the number of people recuperating daily have been outnumbering new infections recorded in a day for over a month now, it said.

Within a span of 24 hours, a net decline of 1,389 cases from the total active caseload was registered. The country now has 2,77,301 active cases, which is 2.72 per cent of the total infections recorded so far. -PTI

Classes for standard 10th and 12th will start from January 1: Karnataka Minister for Primary & Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar

People with severe Covid-19, secondary blood infections may have worse health outcomes: Study

People with severe Covid-19 who also had secondary infections in the bloodstream were sicker, had longer hospital stays, and worse health outcomes, according to a study that may lead to new treatment strategies.

The research, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, is the first to assess the microbiology, risk factors, and outcomes in hospitalised patients with severe Covid-19 and secondary bloodstream infections.

In the study researchers from Rutgers University in the US assessed 375 patients diagnosed with severe Covid-19 from March to May 2020. -PTI

Piecemeal data releases threaten to undermine Sinovac's Covid-19 vaccine

Fragmental releases of efficacy data for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac could undermine confidence in the shot, experts warned, as several countries prepare for mass inoculations with the vaccine.

Turkish researchers said on Thursday Sinovac's CoronaVac was 91.25% effective based on an interim analysis only to see a confusing readout the same day from Brazil which said the vaccine's efficacy was between 50% and 90%.

Brazil has also delayed release of its efficacy data on the vaccine three times, as Sinovac seeks to consolidate data from global trials that include Indonesia, Turkey and Chile. -Reuters

India to benefit from shifting of global supply chains from China: Survey

India could benefit from the likely shift in global supply chains from China to other economies in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a survey .

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Pfizer delays Covid-19 vaccine deliveries to 8 EU nations

Pfizer has postponed the delivery of new batches of its coronavirus vaccine to eight European nations including Spain, the Spanish health ministry said Monday, a day after the EU began its immunisation campaign.

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South Korea detects first coronavirus variant cases

Three cases of a particularly infectious coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Britain have been confirmed in South Korea, health authorities said Monday.

The three individuals are members of a London-based family who arrived in the country on December 22, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

They have been placed in isolation since testing positive for Covid-19 on arrival, the KDCA statement said. -AFP

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar hints at police action against untraceable UK returnees

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday hinted at stringent action against those returnees from the United Kingdom who were untraceable and had switched off their mobile phones.

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UK poised to approve Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as need for shot grows

The UK is poised to approve the Covid-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, giving the country another powerful tool to fight the pandemic as concern mounts over rising infections.

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There will be a discussion on school reopening in Karnataka today. There is no need to panic as the new Covid-19 strain from the UK doesn't have much effect: BS Yediyurappa, Chief Minister, Karnataka. (ANI)

South Africa records one million coronavirus infections

The country has now recorded 1,004,413 cases, with 26,735 deaths. With one of the strictest initial lockdowns in the world, South Africa avoided the high death toll that many experts feared.

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Andhra Pradesh: Krishna district officials conduct dry run of Covid-19 vaccination programme

The Krishna district administration on Monday successfully conducted a dry run of the Covid-19 vaccination programme by carrying out various exercises that go into the actual event whenever it begins.

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Daily recoveries outnumbered daily new cases for more than a month now. Total recoveries are nearing 98 lakhs (97,82,669). Recovery rate has also increased to 95.83%. The gap between recoveries and active cases is consistently widening and has crossed 95 lakh today: Ministry of Health.

Kerala reports maximum number of single-day recoveries with 3,463 newly recovered cases

72.99% of new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states/UTs. Kerala has reported a maximum number of single-day recoveries with 3,463 newly recovered cases. 79.61% of the new Covid-19 cases are from 10 states and UTs: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat is being shifted to AIIMS, Delhi from Doon Hospital in Dehradun: CMO

Freedom: Another casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic

Measures imposed by governments to fight the Covid-19 pandemic have squeezed civil liberties worldwide, with authoritarian regimes seeking to exploit the restrictions as a way to shore up their sometimes shaky control on fast-changing societies, rights groups say.

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India reports 20,021 new Covid-19 cases, 21,131 recoveries, and 279 deaths in last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry. (Pic credit: AFP)

People, not adhering to social distancing norms, visit Juhu Chowpatty amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Mumbai. Credit: PTI.

A total of 16,88,18,054 samples tested for Covid-19 up to December 27. Of these, 7,15,397 samples were tested yesterday: Indian Council of Medical Research.

Dry run for Covid-19 vaccine drive begins in four states

Ahead of the nation-wide Covid-19 vaccination drive, the Centre is conducting a dry-run across four states on december 28 and 29 to test the readiness of the systems put in place for the elaborate exercise.

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Covid-19 has ravaged United States, but may be the worst is yet to come

About 3.8 million people passed through Transportation Safety Administration travel checkpoints between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26, compared with 9.5 million on those days last year. Only one-quarter of the number who flew on the day after Christmas last year did so Friday, and Christmas Eve travel was down by one-third from 2019.

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Trump signs $2.3 triliion pandemic aid and spending bill, averting government shutdown

US President Donald Trump on Sunday signed into law a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package, restoring unemployment benefits to millions of Americans and averting a federal government shutdown in a crisis of his own making.

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Karnataka's Covid-19 numbers fell by 25% since start of December

The number of new Covid-19 cases identifiedin the state fell by 25.4% in the last 30-day period. However, statewide testing numbers also showed a small decline during the same period.

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West Bengal reports 1,435 new Covid-19 cases, 29 fresh fatalities.

1,122 Bengalureans flying in from UK tested for new Covid-19 strain

By Sunday, Karnataka had tested 1,587 travellersfrom the UKas part of ongoing efforts to determine if any have been infected by a new variant of novel coronavirus found in sizable numbers in the European country.

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The place hit hardest by coronavirus

Hospitals in Gallup are nearly full. Most stores are empty. The unemployment rate in the county where the city sits is one and a half times the national average. Earlier this month, it had the most cases per capita of any metro area in the United States, according to a New York Times database.

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Indian Covid-19 mutation 'N440k' found in one-third of Andhra Pradesh's coronavirus genomes

Indian researchers have found 19 coronavirus variants circulating in India with "escape mutations" that allow them to evade the antibodies generated by immune systems and one such variant is spreading fast in Andhra Pradesh.

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