Coronavirus News Highlights: Mumbai reports 5,708 new Covid cases, 12 deaths

India's daily Covid-19 cases crossed the 3-lakh mark on Thursday as the country reported 3,17,532 new infections, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The Indian drug regulator's subject expert committee on Wednesday recommended full approval for Covishield and Covaxin, the two Covid-19 vaccines that have dominated the country's inoculation drive. Keep checking this space to get Coronavirus live updates on Deccan Herald.

World breaks daily Covid case record

The world registered a record-high average of more than three million coronavirus cases a day between January 13 and 19, fuelled by the Omicron variant, anAFPtally showed Thursday.

Read More

Raigad, Pune, Nashik have higher positivity rate: Rajesh Tope

The positivity rate in Maharashtra is 23.5% but districts like Raigad, Pune, Nashik, Nanded have a much higher positive rate. Despite the high positive rate, the hospitalisation rate is very less and 95% of the beds in the state are vacant: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope

J&K imposes restrictions on non-essential movement on weekends

In view of the surge in Covid cases, Jammu and Kashmir govt imposes complete restrictions on non-essential movement from every Friday (2 pm) to Monday (6 am).

Delhi sees 43 Covid deaths, highest since June 10, 12,306 cases. Positivity rate drops to 21.48 per cent: Health bulletin

The Covid-19 pandemic has made healthcare and pharma players billionaires and the makers of Dolo 650 -- the most prescribed medicine during the pandemic having sold more than 350 crore pills since the Covid outbreak in March 2020 -- are raking in themoolahtoo.

Read More

Delhi sees 43 Covid deaths, highest since June 10, 12,306 cases. Positivity rate drops to 21.48%: Health bulletin

Australian Open organisers deny slack Covid testing

Australian Open organisers insisted on Thursday their Covid-19 protocols have been "really successful" despite some top players pointing to lax testing at the first Grand Slam of 2022.

Read More

Current Covid-19 surge in India not witnessing increase in severe illness or death following high vaccination uptake: Govt

Covid deaths significantly less in third wave of coronavirus in comparison to second wave: Govt

11 states/UTs have more than 50,000 active COVID-19 cases; 515 districts reporting weekly case positivity of over 5%: Govt

'Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi & Rajasthan among top 10 'States of concern'

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi & Rajasthan are among the top 10 States in terms of active cases. Asia is showing a sharp surge in global contribution from 7.9% to approx 18.4% in 4 weeks. A sharp surge is also seen in Covid cases in India: Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary on Covid-19 situation

Omicron has not increased hospitalisation of elderly, UK Covid advisers say

A wave of Omicron coronavirus cases has not led to an increase in the hospitalisation of the elderly that was expected despite there being more cases in that age group, Britain's science advisers said in advice published on Thursday. "The increase in hospitalisations, which is anticipated following the observed increase in cases in older age groups, has not been seen so far," minutes from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) meeting on Jan 13 said.

Omicron: Is India testing enough?

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, India's testing rates and capacities have been discussed at length. With the onslaught of the third wave, low testing rates have become a point of concern. Recent guidelines by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommended no testing for asymptomatic people who have come in contact with Covid patients. This decision has come amid a severe rise in cases across the country.

Read More

Seems peak of 3rd Covid wave gone past in Delhi, after record single-day rise of 28K cases, 30% positivity rate: Health Min Satyendar Jain

Covid wave peak in Delhi may be gone, but still can't say we are out of danger zone, need to watch trend: Health Minister Satyendar Jain

Maharashtra govt allows schools to reopen from January 24

Puducherry logs 2,783 new Covid-19 cases, active infections cross 13,000 mark

The union territory of Puducherry recorded 2,783 fresh Covid-19 infections during the last 24 hours as the overall tally went up to 1,45,342 and the active cases broke the 13,000 mark, a senior Health department official said on Thursday.

Maharashtra schools to reopen from January 24: Education Minister

All schools in Maharashtra will reopen for all classes from January 24, state Education Minister said on Thursday.

"From January 24, we will be reopening schools for classes 1-12 with Covid-19 protocols. The CM has agreed to our proposal," Varsha Gaikwad, Maharashtra School Education Minister said. Read more

Covid vaccine booster provides effective antibody protection against Omicron, says Lancet study

A third dose of Covid-19 vaccine increases the level of antibodies that can effectively neutralise the Omicron variant of coronavirus, according to a study published in The Lancet journal.

Researchers from Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), UK, found that antibodies generated in people who had received only two doses of either the AstraZeneca or the Pfizer vaccine were less able to neutralise Omicron as compared to Alpha and Delta variants. (PTI)

Biden says nation weary from Covid but rising with him in White House

President Joe Biden acknowledged that the pandemic has left Americans exhausted and demoralised but insisted at a news conference marking his first year in office that he has “outperformed” expectations in dealing with it.

Facing sagging poll numbers and a stalled legislative agenda, Biden conceded Wednesday he would likely have to pare back his “build back better” recovery package and instead settle for “big chunks” of his signature economic plan. He promised to further attack inflation and the pandemic and blamed Republicans for uniting in opposition to his proposals rather than offering ideas of their own. (AP)

Why are men more likely to succumb to Covid-19?

It’s one of the most well-known takeaways of the pandemic: Men die of Covid-19 more often than women do.

Early on, some scientists suspected the reason was primarily biological, and that sex-based treatments for men — like estrogen injections or androgen blockers — could help reduce their risk of dying. Read more

Odisha logs 10,368 fresh Covid-19 cases, 7 more deaths

Odisha recorded 10,368 fresh coronavirus cases on Thursday, raising the tally to 11,77,462, while the single-day death count of seven was the highest in more than three months, the Health Department said.

The state had logged 11,607 new cases and six deaths on Wednesday. It now has 88,346 active cases, and 10,80,562 patients have recovered from the disease so far, including 6,785 in the past 24 hours.(PTI)

So far 9,287 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in India.

With 3.17 lakh new infections, India's daily Covid-19 cases cross 3-lakh mark

India's daily Covid-19 cases crossed the 3-lakh mark on Thursday as the country reported 3,17,532 new infections, according to the Union Health Ministry data. In the last 24 hours, the nation reported 491 deaths, taking the overall toll to 4,87,693. Read more

'No funds': Realities of India's Covid-19 vaccine funding

The Department of Biotechnology has disbursed less than 15 per cent of its Rs 900 crore fund on Covid-19 vaccine development promised more than a year ago while multiple government research agencies say they haven’t received any funding from a Rs 100 crore corpus set up under the PMO during the first wave of the pandemic. Read more

Assam's Covid surge after Bihu festivities continues

The surge ofCovid-19 infections in Assam after the harvest festival 'Bhogali Bihu' continued as 8,339 cases were reported on Wednesday, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said.

According to the reports of National Health Mission (NHM) in Assam on Wednesday night, the positivity rose to 12.89 per cent from Monday's 10.75 per cent.

With the new cases on Wednesday, the total tally in Assam climbed to 6,70,128 and 15 more fatalities pushed the toll to 6,248. (IANS)

Gujarat reports over 21,000 Covid cases

Gujarat on Wednesday reported 21,966 new Covid infections, taking the overall caseload to 9,77,078, officials said. (IANS)

Give Covid aid to orphaned kids, says SC

In an effort to provide some help to over 10,000 children who lost both their parents to Covid-19, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all state governments to reach out to thosechildren and pay them compensation.

The apex court, which was annoyed over non-disbursal of Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to the kin of those who lost their lives due to Covid-19, pulled up the state governments and summoned the Andhra Pradesh and Bihar chief secretaries virtually to seek explanation from them during the course of the day.

Good morning, readers. Welcome to your live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.