Coronavirus news highlights: Kerala reports 6,169 fresh Covid cases; Tamil Nadu sees 1,066

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. Talking about the company's efficacy trials of its Covid-19 vaccine, he said that for the efficacy trials the company has taken 24 centres all over the country so that it has tier I ,tier II and tier III cities to capture the efficacy in a better way.

. The government is enhancing use of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system, which provides real-time information on vaccine stocks and storage temperatures across all cold chain points in the country to address the needs for distribution and tracking of Covid-19 vaccine.

. Researchers testing India's first indigenously developed vaccine candidate – BBV152, branded Covaxin - claimed that ithas displayed tolerable safety outcomes with enhanced humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in a wide age range ie., volunteers 12 years and above to 65 years and below.

. Total cases: 9,12,340

Total discharges: 8,86,547

Death toll: 12,038

Active cases: 13,736

. Total positive cases: 8,10,080

Total discharges: 7,88,742

Death toll: 12,024

Active cases: 9,314

A female passenger stands in a carriage of a train from the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) which resumed service, following a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, inChennaion December 23, 2020. Credit: AFP Photo

. Total cases: 6,19,618

Total recoveries: 6,01,268

Death toll: 10,347

Active cases: 8,003

. As many as 1,688 passengers arrived at the Mumbai international airport from the UK and other countries since Monday midnight and 745 of them were quarantined in the city, a civic official said on Wednesday.

In the wake of detection of a new variant ofcoronavirusin the UK, a new Standard Operating Procedure has been issued for dealing with passengers arriving from Europe and the Middle-East.

It could not be ascertained if any of these 745 passengers were found to have Covid-19 symptoms.

Around 2,000 passengers were expected to land at the Mumbai airport in the last two days, but only 1,688 had landed as of Wednesday afternoon, said an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

PTI

. Like many countries, India has suspended flights from Britain, where cases have soared because of the variant.

. Spectators shall be subjected to thermal scanning before entry into the open spaces earmarked for the events and they must follow requisite social distancing and wear masks, the government said in an official release.

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. Scientists said that there could be a chance that a new mutated variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus which is sweeping through the South of Britain has already made its way into Karnataka through airline passengers.

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. The virus was detected in 26 members of the Chilean military and 10 maintenance workers stationed at the Base General Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme in the Antarctic Peninsula, authorities said in a statement to 24 Horas, adding that they were tested after reports that some had developed symptoms.

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. She was under treatment at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital over the last few days. She was suffering from respiratory problems and kidney ailments. Her condition worsened by Tuesday after she suffered a heart attack and was under ventilator support.

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. Christmas and Thailand's love of elephants combined Wednesday when four of the giant creatures dressed as Santa turned up at a school just outside Bangkok, complete with huge coronavirus masks.

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. Meanwhile, in the United States, President Donald Trump rejected a massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress, branding it "a disgrace" as millions of Americans are suffering fallout from the pandemic.

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. India is likely to approve Oxford/AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use by next week after its local manufacturer submitted additional data sought by authorities, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

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. USPresident Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday not to sign a $892-billion coronavirus relief bill that includes desperately needed money for individual Americans, saying it should be amended to increase the amount in the stimulus checks.

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. Pulse oximeters are one of the most commonly used tools in medicine. The small devices, which resemble a clothespin, measure blood oxygen when clipped onto a fingertip, and they can quickly indicate whether a patient needs urgent medical care.

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. Pfizer Inc is close to striking a deal with the USgovernment to supply at least tens of millions of additional doses of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate next year in exchange for a government directive giving it better access to manufacturing supplies, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

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. A new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, recently emerged in the UK, sowing panicaround the world. Many countries, including India, have cut off air links to the UK as a result. The new variant is up to 70% more transmissible thanthe original SARS-CoV-2 strains, making it more fearsome.But a lot more needs to be understood about it.

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. Two returnees from the United Kingdom tested positive for Covid-19 in the city on Tuesday. Their samples areundergoing genomic testing to determine if they have contracted a new variant of thevirus.

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. British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc told Reuters on Tuesday its Covid-19 vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant, adding that studies were under way to fully probe the impact of the mutation.

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. As nation after nation rushed this week to close their borders with Britain, the moves brought back memories of the way the world reacted after the coronavirus first emerged broadly in the spring. Most of those initial travel prohibitions came too late, put in place after the virus had already seeded itself in communities far and wide.

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. President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday he will ask Congress for another Covid-19 relief bill when he takes office, insisting that Americans want Republicans and Democrats to work together again after Donald Trump goes.

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. A round-the-clock Covid-19 testing facility has been launched at the Kempegowda International Airport. Located near the arrival area of the terminal, the RT-PCR testing centre is managed and operated by Bengaluru-based Auriga Research Private Limited.

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. EU nationals and residents of EU countries will be allowed to enter from Wednesday providing they can show a negative Covid-19 test no more than 72 hours old.

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. The US government does not intend to impose Covid-19 screenings for passengers travelling from Britain after the emergence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant there, people briefed on the decision said.

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. Sources said Prasad reported slight breathing difficulty on Monday and gave the sample for the RT-PCR test. “Today (Tuesday), the results confirmed the infection with mild fever and (I’m) currently in isolation at Mallige Hospital,” Prasad said.

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