Coronavirus news highlights: Kerala reports 26,701 new Covid-19 cases, 28,900 recoveries and 74 deaths

India reported 42,766 new cases in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said that over 66.89 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far, with more than 1.56 crore doses in the pipeline.

Pfizer on track for US vaccine boosters, Moderna lagging: Anthony Fauci

Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that officials were likely to soon get the regulatory go-ahead to administer Covid-19 vaccine booster shots made by Pfizer, although Moderna booster could take a little longer.

Read more here

Britain to require 'vaccine passport' for nightclubs

Britain's government has confirmed that it plans to introduce vaccine passports for nightclubs and large-scale gatherings from next month.

Read more here

Goa reports 72 new Covid-19 infections, 89 recoveries and 5 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Parameters to identify fake Covid vaccine shared with states and UTs

The Centre has shared aset of parameters withall states and UTs to enableservice providers and monitoring teams under the national Covid-19 vaccination programmeto identify any fake Covid-19 vaccines sothat they are not administered in the country.

Read more here

Kerala reports 26,701 new Covid-19 cases, 28,900 recoveries and 74 deaths

Active cases: 2,47,791
Total recoveries: 39,37,996
Death toll: 21,496

Test positivity rate is 17.17% in the state.

Andhra Pradesh reports 1,623 new Covid-19 cases, 1,340 recoveries, and 8 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Covid-19 curbs in Haryana extended for 14 days, online classes in residential varsities till October 15

The Haryana government on Sunday directed vice-chancellors of residential universities to continue conducting online classes till October 15, modifying its earlier order to plan the reopening of institutes from the upcoming academic session.

Read more here

Wealthy nations will have 1.2 billion Covid vaccine doses they don’t need

Wealthy countries face mounting pressure to divert Covid vaccine supplies to lower-income regions, with a new analysis showing they’ll likely have about 1.2 billion extra doses available by the end of the year.

Read more here

India coach Ravi Shastri tests Covid-19 positive, support staff isolate

India coach Ravi Shastri has tested positive for Covid-19 but the team have been cleared to continue with the ongoing fourth test against England at The Oval, the touring side said in a statement on Sunday.

Read more here

Easing of Covid-19 curbs to depend on oxygen availability, says Uddhav Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the easing ofCovid-19 restrictions in the state will be based on the availability of oxygen and it was "up to the people to prevent or invite a 'third wave' of the pandemic".

Inaugurating a virtual medical conference, Thackeray asked political parties to refrain from indulging in politics and demanding reopening of places where crowds cannot be avoided.

(PTI)

Russia's coronavirus cases surpass 7 million mark

Russia's coronavirus cases tally hit 7 million on Sunday, with the country reporting 18,645 new infections in the past 24 hours and 793 more deaths.

The latest figures took the total number of cases to 7,012,599, with the overall death toll at 187,200.

(Reuters)

Khurda, Cuttack account for 55% of new Covid-19 cases in Odisha

Two major coastal districts in Odisha -- Khurda and Cuttack -- have accounted for 55 per cent of theCovid-19 cases detected on Sunday, a health department official said. At least 805 more people have tested positive for the infection, of which 346 are from Khurda district, which comprises state capital Bhubaneswar, and 98 from Cuttack, the official said.

With the detection of the fresh cases, the state’sCovid-19 tally rose to 10,11,558, while seven more fatalities pushed the toll to 8,047, he said. Two deaths each were recorded in Angul and Balasore and one each succumbed to the infection in the districts of Bhadrak, Cuttack and Khurda.

(PTI)

Puducherry adds 103 new Covid-19 cases (PTI)

China administered total 2.1004 bn Covid-19 vaccine dose as of Sept 4 (Reuters)

3 fresh Covid-19 cases take Ladakh's tally to 20,578 (PTI)

Covid-19 recoveries edge out fresh cases in Arunachal

TheCovid-19 recovery rate in Arunachal Pradesh improved to 98.07 per cent after 114 people were discharged in a single day, a senior health department official said on Sunday.

The northeastern state now has 762 active cases, and a total of 52,276 patients have so far recovered from the disease, he said.

The Capital Complex Region - comprising Itanagar, Naharlagun, Nirjuli and Banderdewa areas - has the highest number of active cases at 143, followed by Lower Subansiri (104), West Kameng (52) and Lower Dibang Valley (50).

Arunachal Pradesh’s coronavirus tally rose to 53,302 with 85 fresh infections, while two more fatalities pushed the death toll to 264, the official said.

Altogether, 10,71,513 samples have been tested in the frontier state, including 2,993 since Saturday.

Meanwhile, State Immunisation Officer Dimong Padung said 9,96,954 people have been administeredCovid-19 vaccines thus far.

(PTI)

25 new Covid-19 cases in Thane, 3 more deaths; over 1 lakh vaccinations in one day

Japan to issue digital Covid-19 vaccination certificates in December

Japan will issue onlineCovid-19 vaccination certificates from December, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday.

The government plans to issue the certificates - which will be intended for overseas travel rather than domestic use - via a QR scan code through a smartphone app from around mid-December, the Nikkei said, without citing sources.

(Reuters)

42,766 single-day coronavirus cases, nearly 30K from Kerala alone

India on Sunday reported 42,766 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. Of these, Kerala alone accounted for 29,682 Covid-19 positive cases and 142 deaths.

Read more

Covid-19 cases push some California hospitals near ICU capacity

Hospitals in the heart of California's Central Valley are running out of beds in their intensive care units, state officials announced Friday, as a more contagious version of the coronavirus continues to spread primarily among the unvaccinated population.

Hospitals in the eight-county San Joaquin Valley region have had fewer than 10 per cent of staffed adult ICU beds for three consecutive days. State officials labelled it a “surge,” triggering special rules announced last month that require nearby hospitals to accept transfer patients.

(AP)

China reports 28 Covid-19 cases on Sept 4, unchanged from a day earlier (Reuters)

New Zealand reports 20 local Covid-19 cases (Reuters)

Australia's New South Wales reports 1,485 Covid-19 cases (Reuters)

Bengal reports 700 new Covid cases, 8 more deaths

West Bengal's Covid-19 death toll rose to 18,491 on Saturday after eight more persons succumbed to the disease, while 700 new cases pushed the tally to 15,51,364, a bulletin issued by the health department said.

South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts accounted for two deaths each. Other fatalities were reported from other districts.

Of the 700 new cases, 129 were reported from Kolkata and 115 from North 24 Parganas, the bulletin said. (PTI)

Mumbai: 1.3 lakh vaccinated on Sat; city top in terms of population covered

A total of 1.3 lakh people were vaccinated on Saturday in Mumbai, resulting in 80 per cent of eligible beneficiaries getting the first dose, making the metropolis the top ranked in terms of inoculation percentage, a civic official said. Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said 30 per cent of the city's eligible beneficiaries have been administered the second dose as well. (PTI)

Covid vaccination: Over 1 crore first doses administered in Delhi till date

Over one crore first doses in total have been administered in Delhi till date since the start of the Covid vaccination drive early this year, sources said on Saturday.

They said the total vaccine doses administered till September 4 stood at 1,40,95,736.

The present stock of doses will last another five days, according to the city government's vaccination bulletin. (PTI)